Sometimes there is something so mind-bending that you have to laugh, and then you realize that the people around you don’t get the joke.
On Thursday, Barack Obama announced a federal government budget of $3.9 TRILLION DOLLARS, a deficit projection of $1.6 trillion dollars, with a speech that focused on the cuts he is making.
Let me repeat, the speech and the news reports that followed focused almost exclusively on proposed cuts that would reduce the increase in the budget by less than one-half of one percent.
From the Wall Street Journal :
On Thursday, Barack Obama announced a federal government budget of $3.9 TRILLION DOLLARS, a deficit projection of $1.6 trillion dollars, with a speech that focused on the cuts he is making.
Let me repeat, the speech and the news reports that followed focused almost exclusively on proposed cuts that would reduce the increase in the budget by less than one-half of one percent.
From the Wall Street Journal :
“These savings, large and small, add up,”
Obama said in remarks after the release of the budget documents.
I should note that the news articles refer to a budget of $3.4 or $3.5 trillion dollars (Reuters)while the White House budget report puts the government outlays at $3.938 trillion and the deficit at $1.752 trillion.
Who are you going to believe? It’s a safe bet that they are all lying.
But the unreal part of the reporting was the headlines and the emphasis: exclusively focused on the trivial “cuts” that Obama proposed and that even he admitted were trivial.
Via Glenn Reynolds we learn that it was Obama himself that told reporters to focus on the trivial, and they responded – in spades:
Associated Press: Obama touts $17 billion 'lot of money' budget cuts
Washington Post: Democrats Assail Obama's Hit List
The remaining staff at the Virginian Pilot took Obama's directions to heart with the headline (on page 6): "Budget would cut, kill 121 programs" I'm not kidding! (Not found on the online-version).
I should note that the news articles refer to a budget of $3.4 or $3.5 trillion dollars (Reuters)while the White House budget report puts the government outlays at $3.938 trillion and the deficit at $1.752 trillion.
Who are you going to believe? It’s a safe bet that they are all lying.
But the unreal part of the reporting was the headlines and the emphasis: exclusively focused on the trivial “cuts” that Obama proposed and that even he admitted were trivial.
Via Glenn Reynolds we learn that it was Obama himself that told reporters to focus on the trivial, and they responded – in spades:
Associated Press: Obama touts $17 billion 'lot of money' budget cuts
Washington Post: Democrats Assail Obama's Hit List
The remaining staff at the Virginian Pilot took Obama's directions to heart with the headline (on page 6): "Budget would cut, kill 121 programs" I'm not kidding! (Not found on the online-version).
More later.
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