The Great Austerity Budget

If and when it happens it will be the next bailout in our country. When the Federal budget for 2011 is finally agreed upon, the Democratic party will have officially bailed out on the American public. When, what I believe should be referred to as the GAB (Great Austerity Budget) becomes law, the ever shrinking backbone of the party in control of the Senate and the presidency will have officially vanished.

"Job Growth Could Stump Obama's Critics" recites one of my favorite recyclable quotes from the President :“You should know that keeping the economy going and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed each night.”

We are now told that unemployment is, excruciatingly slowly, ticking downward. The lesson we should learn is that pumping money INTO the system, keeping the flow going from the federal government, is critical to maintain the possibility of continued job growth. And yet we have a Democratic party that has already agreed to reduce the budget by $10 billion dollars for 2011 and would be willing to allow the number to rise to somewhere between $33 billion and $61 billion, depending on sources quoted. How does this help the American people? The inevitable consequence of taking money away is that jobs will be lost, the unemployment figures that the Democrats now point to as a measure of success will get ever uglier and the recession will take even stronger hold upon us.

In the face of a threat of a government shutdown, there is the great capitulation of 2011. Before voting for the Republican plan of how to bring us back to health, the Democrats in Congress should think of the President. You don't want him up all night, worrying that we have gone down the wrong path for the sake of appeasing the opposition. So too, you don't want to be up all night worrying that those who have been your staunchest advocates will abandon you, as you seem so willing to abandon your core beliefs.