Debased Line
Budgeting
Charlie Earl
If you have
ever wondered why public employee unions believe themselves entitled to annual
raises and salary increases plus step raises, all you have to do is peruse the
federal budgeting system. Yes, I know the Congress, namely the Senate, has
failed to produce a formal budget in four years despite the constitutional
mandate requiring one, but the automatic nature of the baseline budgetary
structure insures that federal expenditures will INCREASE every year for every line
item that existed in the prior fiscal year. Last year’s allocation becomes the
BASELINE with a pre-determined increase for the current year’s spending. The
public sector unions know this, and they want “their fair share” of the
unending expansion of government’s costs. It is a nice gig if it weren’t so
fiscally devastating.
From Citizens Against Government Waste ( http://cagw.org ):
Baseline budgeting tilts the budget process in favor of
increased spending and taxes. For example, if an agency's budget is projected
to grow by $100 million, but only grows by $75 million, according to baseline
budgeting, that agency sustained a $25 million cut. That is analogous to a
person who expects to gain 100 pounds only gaining 75 pounds, and taking credit
for losing 25 pounds. The federal government is the only place this absurd
logic is employed.
To extend
this illogical madness even further… consider that all the stimulus spending
from the past has been integrated into the baseline, thus accelerating the
unsustainable spending curve. If we were living in the 18th Century,
our political “masters” might be forced to languish in debtors’ prison.
Wistfully I yearn for the reinstatement of some lost traditions. If our nation
has any tiny glimmer of hope for controlling our excessive spending, massive
deficits or suffocating debt, we must jettison irresponsible baseline
budgeting.
For all his
faults Jimmy Carter pledged to initiate a “zero-based” budgeting process. He
failed with the concept just as he did in so many ways. The zero-based system
operates with the premise that every budgetary line item begins anew every
year. The expenditure must be justified, effective and approved by Congress
every year. Unfortunately our federal budget has grown too large with too many
line items for Congress to have the sufficient time to sensibly provide
oversight. Rather than cope with the merits of the myriad of budget items,
Congress makes a leap of faith that all are necessary and worthy thus insuring
their continuation and their growth. Congress is either incompetent, lazy or
evil … or all of the above.
Baseline
budgeting is a cowardly scheme by government officials who are unable or
unwilling to do their sworn jobs. It is both a major driver of our fiscal mess
and a glaring example of our immoral profligacy. We cannot avoid a catastrophic
default unless we eliminate this costly curse from our national scene. Consider
that we cannot find 218 House members and 60 Senators who care enough about our
nation, its integrity and our future to eliminate this budgetary abomination.
How is this possible? Just the knowledge that there aren’t enough sensible
souls in Congress to repeal this mortally toxic gimmick should be enough to
undermine your faith in the future of our republic. Spending must go down
(preferably for only constitutional functions), indebtedness must go down,
regulation fever must go down, and the politicians and the citizens must wise
up. Baseline budgeting is a honey trap for fools, and we must extricate
ourselves before we are inextricably trapped … if we aren’t already. Our people
and our political leaders resemble the illegitimate offspring of Winnie the
Pooh and Honey Boo Boo. We are in a sticky mess, my friends.
Charlie Earl
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