The Picket Line — 29 January 2004

29 January 2004

Whoops, I’m sorry. Did I say a $477 billion budget deficit? I meant to say $520 billion:

President Bush’s new budget will project that the just-enacted prescription drug program and Medicare overhaul will cost one-third more than previously estimated and will predict a deficit exceeding $500 billion for this year, congressional aides said Thursday.

Zowch! Remember that the medicare bill just passed about a month ago? At the time the White House was insisting that it had a $400 billion 10-year price tag. Now that it’s been passed and signed into law, they say it’s gonna be more like $540 billion.

And earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office said they figured this year’s budget deficit would be $477 billion. Now the White House says that the budget they’re going to submit will have a $520 billion deficit.

How will Bush respond to this bad news? Give up? How about by increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts? Bet you didn’t guess that.

Thanks to Qiwi Lisolet at Catallarchy for giving a plug to the Picket Line.

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Have things really gotten that bad? → U.S. government is cruel, despotic, a threat to people → robbing the public and spending irresponsibly → huge deficits / debt / war financed on credit: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; So the Superbowl half time show gets me thinking about liberty and baseball and parables and virtue ethics and before long I’m disappearing up my own metaphor.; James Maule evaluates the Bush tax cuts and deficit spending and concludes that instead of taxing the rich, the government has shifted to borrowing from them (and from foreign governments) at attractive rates of interest. Somebody’s got to pay, though, and instead of paying the government now, taxpayers will be paying these wealthy debt-holders later.; Operation Bankrupt Washington continues. Also: Could homebrewing beer be the American equivalent to Gandhi’s campaign of homespun cloth?; The White House may borrow a ton of money to enact Social Security reform and then pretend that it hasn’t borrowed any money at all when it calculates the deficit. Don’t you wish you could use such creative accounting techniques? Also: foes of a new nuclear arms race manage to win a rare victory — the new nuclear weapons projects requested by the White House were dropped from the budget bill. And: 40%–50% of the food America produces is thrown away uneaten — go Freegans go!; A round-up of news on the torture policy, stupid budget tricks, and adventures in activism.; Connie Mack of Dubya’s tax panel is pretty casual about billions and trillions. And Cindy Sheehan calls for massive non-violent civil disobedience.; Poet and tax resister Brenda Hillman considers six practical steps for the overwhelmed activist. Also: Stop the presses! Congress is considering budget cuts! But wait until you see the punchline.; K.W. writes a letter home to explain why she “will continue to struggle to find the courage to be a tax resister.” Also: the financial health of the federal government takes another hit, but we all know that war is the real health of the state.; Christian attitudes about torture — maybe it’s those crosses they wear… Also: hidden government spending may have put your family half a million dollars in debt. And: more details about the death of the phone tax. Also: What would Jesus tax? And: Is the internet the opiate of the activists? What tactics are activists in meatspace coming up with? Also: a new look at the Whiskey Rebellion.; On this date in 1930, the Pittsburgh Sentinel told its readers “Salt Raiding in India to be Ended: Far More Serious Menace Now — Tax Resistance.” Also: War and Taxes at the Volokh Conspiracy.; More reports from the national NWTRCC gathering earlier this month. Also: a report on the barter economy, the federal government’s vast borrowing, an update on Charles Merrill’s tax resistance court battle for same-sex marriage rights, and the civil rights movement seen as a successful (nonviolent) revolutionary insurgency.; How I learned to stop worrying and love the national debt (it might be what finally reins in military spending). Also: a report of tax resistance in Germany between the wars.; Job Scott writes about his decision to eschew the Continental Currency and the taxes designed to keep it above water, while on the other side of the pond John Payne chides Quakers who preach against war but who buy government bonds that pay for it.

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