Government Spending

It seems lost in the budget cutting news and rhetoric that significant cuts to private sector businesses are likely to occur as the federal, state, and local governments cut back on domestic spending across the board. Small and medium size businesses sell many goods and services to the government, and without necessary government spending, their private sector businesses (and accompanying employment) suffer also. These examples include mom and pop restaurants serving government workers locally and various vendors and contractors, whether to sell office supplies or specialized consulting expertise.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority's mobility program for the disabled looks like an expensive and unnecessary luxury. On a recent 20-minute trip to West Baltimore I spotted three of these vans that were either empty or had only a single passenger. This program must cost millions of dollars; how can we possibly afford it? If there is a justifiable need surely it can be met more efficiently by a private carrier. It seems there could be a good story here about an opportunity to cut excessive government spending.

I was dismayed to learn that my congressman, Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland's 2nd Congressional District, voted for an unconditional $2.4 trillion increase in the U.S. debt ceiling limit without instituting any fiscal controls or compromises. Fortunately, the motion failed 318 to 97. Providing that kind of credit increase without any concurrent spending cuts or caps would have signaled to the world that we Americans aren't serious about living within our means. Such a message is egregiously irresponsible.

The tea party's waning impact on the country's politics has been continuously reported since the movement's success in the 2010 elections. Well, the tea party has not gone away. In Indiana's primary election May 8, liberal Republican Senator Richard Lugar was beaten handily after 35 years in office by conservative rival Richard Mourdock, who was backed by the tea party ("GOP Senate stalwart falls," May 9). The liberal media and their supporters seem to believe that if they keep reporting tea party's death, it will simply go away.

WASHINGTON -- Even as the White House and Congress struggle to find a compromise plan to balance the federal budget, the outlook for the deficit continues to improve, and the shortfall is likely to come in smaller than either the Clinton administration or the Republican leadership had expected.Government officials attributed the improving outlook to a surge in economic growth and lower unemployment over the past six months that have helped generate more tax revenue and hold down government spending.

When it comes to teens having babies, it's a matter of pay me now or pay me later. You can pay for the programs that help teens understand sex and make good decisions about it, and you can pay for the health care services that provide them with options for contraception. Or you can pay for the misfortunes that are more likely to befall the child of a teen mother: health problems, behavioral and educational issues, and a greater likelihood of criminal troubles in adolescence and young adulthood.

The latest news on Maryland's economy has been disappointing at best. The state lost more than 13,000 jobs in May, one of the highest job losses in the country. But worse, the unfavorable monthly data comes on the heels of a U.S. Department of Labor report that ranks Maryland dead last in the nation in job creation over the last 12 months. That's not something to be taken lightly — losing 20,000 jobs over the past year amounts to a 1 percent hit to Maryland's employment base.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority's mobility program for the disabled looks like an expensive and unnecessary luxury. On a recent 20-minute trip to West Baltimore I spotted three of these vans that were either empty or had only a single passenger. This program must cost millions of dollars; how can we possibly afford it? If there is a justifiable need surely it can be met more efficiently by a private carrier. It seems there could be a good story here about an opportunity to cut excessive government spending.

WASHINGTON -- An unusual pattern of growth has emerged in the U.S. economy in the last few years that poses a predicament for the Federal Reserve as its top officials gather here today to decide whether to continue raising short-term interest rates.For the first time since the late 1940s, the economy is growing strongly despite a sustained drop in purchasing by federal, state and local governments.The private sector is the only engine of growth in this recovery, unlike every other recovery in the last four decades, in which government spending accounted for at least part of the expansion.

In Dan Rodricks Dec. 2 column ( "Tea party and GOP: Defending indefensible tax cuts") he cleverly combines his objections to the tea party philosophy of smaller government and reduced government spending with his objection to extending the Bush tax cuts for people making over $250,000. What Mr. Rodricks purposely ignores in his column are the results of the November elections. The election results firmly stated that the country does not have a tax problem, it has a job creation and a federal government spending problem.

There's a tendency among some to shorthand the ongoing federal budget debate as between Republicans who want to reduce government spending and Democrats who don't. This isn't really the case, as recent actions in the House have demonstrated. On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee took a close look at President Barack Obama's proposed $525.4 billion defense spending plan and decided that simply wasn't enough. The GOP-controlled committee voted to authorize nearly $4 billion more than what the Pentagon had requested for 2013.

I cannot understand what passes through the minds of people at The Sun when it comes to taxes and government spending. A recent front page headline declared that "Millions slip away from city as condo values set too low" (April 29). But how can a condo that was never sold owe "full taxes" even though it is not a significant drain on government resources? There is no trash, mail, sewer, education or medical demands from a unit that has never had an owner beyond the builder, and for which basic fire and police service needs are also minimal.

Regarding you editorial "Twice as nice" (April 25), my wife and I along with our kids went through credit card debt not once but twice. The second time we had to cut up the credit cards and simply decide that if we couldn't afford something, we wouldn't buy it. (Of course there were exceptions, such as medical emergencies.) What has always bothered me about government spending when as a nation we find ourselves deeply in debt - to the tune of some $15 trillion currently - the government always threatens to cut police, firemen, teachers or other vital public services.

Dear Mr. President: So far your election strategy can best be summed up as: "We're on the right track, my economic policies are working, we still have a long way to go, but stick with me and you'll be fine. " I'm afraid this won't be enough to win you the election. The recovery is too anemic, and the chance of an economic stall between now and Election Day far too high. Even now, Mitt Romney's empty "I'll do it better" refrain is attracting as many voters as your "we're on the right track.

What follows may sound like a message from the Dead Horse Beatings Division of The Aegis editorials operation, but it's a message that bears repeating: Government spending should be based on anticipated tax revenues, or, to put it another way, tax policy should not be adjusted simply because more government spending is approved. For the past several years, the state government, through a single term of a Republican governor and a term and a half from the current Democratic governor, has had the attitude that planning to spend more than is being brought in constitutes a "structural deficit" that can be resolved only by bringing in more revenue.

Your editorial on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal demonstrates why it will be so difficult to restore fiscal discipline to the federal budget ("Ryan's song and dance," March 21). Unfortunately, you have picked the wrong culprit. While criticizing Representative Ryan in his effort to balance the budget, The Sun glosses over President Obama's utter failure to make any serious effort at reducing government spending. You mention the president's "bipartisan deficit commission" but conveniently leave out the fact that the president has refused to implement any of its recommendations.

Your editorial on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal demonstrates why it will be so difficult to restore fiscal discipline to the federal budget ("Ryan's song and dance," March 21). Unfortunately, you have picked the wrong culprit. While criticizing Representative Ryan in his effort to balance the budget, The Sun glosses over President Obama's utter failure to make any serious effort at reducing government spending. You mention the president's "bipartisan deficit commission" but conveniently leave out the fact that the president has refused to implement any of its recommendations.

The tea party's waning impact on the country's politics has been continuously reported since the movement's success in the 2010 elections. Well, the tea party has not gone away. In Indiana's primary election May 8, liberal Republican Senator Richard Lugar was beaten handily after 35 years in office by conservative rival Richard Mourdock, who was backed by the tea party ("GOP Senate stalwart falls," May 9). The liberal media and their supporters seem to believe that if they keep reporting tea party's death, it will simply go away.

Make no mistake about it: there is an element of electioneering on the part of Harford County Executive David R. Craig's high-profile opposition to a plan by Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley to shift part of the cost of teacher pensions from the state government to the various county governments. Craig, after all, is about as formidable a candidate for the governor's office as Maryland's Republican Party will be able to enlist and he's made it clear he has the ambition to seek the state's top elected office.

That Aberdeen and Havre de Grace are to receive $170,000 in Community Legacy Program grants from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development seems like a positive development on first glance. A closer look, however, reveals a bit of state government spending that is discretionary, at best, in a time when the state government is moving in the direction of jacking up taxes on gasoline and any number of other things. The City of Aberdeen is to receive $50,000 which is to be used to help pay for improvements to the facades of businesses in the downtown district.