What the Budget Means to You

President Barack Obama released his 2010 Fiscal Year budget yesterday, and the numbers don't look good. Here's a crossection of stats about this budget bill:

• A $3.55 trillion budget plan for 2010, with additional immediate changes that would push spending to $3.94 trillion in the current year. Total Expenditures: $7.49 trillion.
• A projected deficit of $1.75 trillion for 2010, projected to be reduced to $1.17 trillion next year and tapering to $533 billion in 2012. This would still be $78 billion more than last year's record-breaking deficit of $455 billion.
• The $1.75 trillion deficit would be 12.3% of America's GDP. This is the second highest percentage for a deficit ever behind the post WWII 21.5% in 1945.

Where will the deficit reduction after this drastic run-up come from? Here are a few sources (all are currently in the budget except for raising the maximum tax rate):

• Taxpayers in the current top tax bracket of 35 percent would see their tax deduction for every $1 given to charity drop from 35 cents to 28 cents.
• $636 billion will come from a hike in the capital gains tax, the elimination of itemized deductions and expired tax cuts for people making over $250,00 a year.
• The President has also stated his desire to raise the top tax rate to 39.6% from the current 35%, although this is not currently in the budget.
• Taxing carried interest (the primary source of income for the manager in private equity and hedge funds).
• A number of taxes and the repealing of deductions for various energy production costs, mostly related to petroleum and natural gas drilling.

What does this all mean to you? Perhaps the most shocking numbers are the simplest math. Taking into account only the $3.55 trillion for 2010, with a US population is 304,059,724, a little more than a third of which filed returns (138,893,908), here's the math for the 2010 $3.55 trillion:

• $11,833 spent per American
• $25,573 spent per taxpayer (Unfortunately, this assumes all return filers are taxpayers and not just return recipients, which is not the case. Some estimates have the amount of actual taxpayers only about 60% of that number.)

It's a lot of math, and reading this post most likely made you a bit drowsy. But it's important. We're about to embark on one of the most massive spending plans in American history at a time when our industry is faltering, credit is impossible to secure and homes continue to be forclosed upon at an alarming rate. But this budget doesn't just include money for more bailouts and partial government takeovers- more than $600 billion is earmarked for a fund that will be used to begin a changeover to universal healthcare, and the budget also anticipates revenues from a CO2 cap-and-trade program that is only in the concept phase.

This budget is not what we need. It imposes taxes or allows to expire tax cuts on industry that contributes to the GDP in important ways while socking away money for socialized medicine. Cap-and-trade is not the best way to work toward reducing industrial emissions, the rise in capital gains tax discourages profits for businesses and it doesn't seem to me that reducing the tax deduction for charitable contributions is ever a good idea.

I will not pretend to suggest that the Republicans haven't recently "found" their love for fiscal conservativism partially in opposition to President Obama's policies, nor did they protest as George W. Bush racked up deficits during his presidency. But this massive increase in the national deficit is too great a risk for too little reward and the Republicans are right to stand against it. In a era where we all should be spending less and saving more, the government should be leading by example, not exhibiting reckless spending.

The party's over, it's time to tighten the belt and we all need to stop before we spend ourselves into a depression exacerbated by increasing foreign-held debts and ask if throwing money at the problem is going to work. It's not- we need a new solution.

Sources: Reuters, ABCNews, Breitbart, Telegraph

Lent

Just Give It Up (from Firstthings.com)
By David Mills
Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 9:07 AM

Our eldest, then about two years old, one day announced “I want . . .” but did not finish the sentence. My wife and I waited for her to tell us what she wanted — to be picked up and rocked? a cup of milk? her stuffed bear? — but again she said only “I want” and let her voice trail off. She said it a third time, still sounding equally unsure about what she wanted. And then, with a look of enlightenment on her face, said in a loud, firm voice, “I want!”

There, I thought, was the fallen human condition expressed. We are creatures of ravenous, indiscriminate desire. We want this and we want that, but most of all, We Want.

Hence the value of Lent, which begins today, and of an old discipline that seems, even among Catholics, to be now somewhat neglected: the traditional discipline of giving things up for Lent. Bookish people being as fallen as anyone else, we might take a brief break from the pressing issues and interesting intellectual questions to reflect on the value of this discipline. Giving things up for Lent has, in my experience, two obvious benefits.

The first is that you very quickly find out how much a hold the world has on you. This is a lesson to which the Christian will give intellectual assent, but few of us really see what it means. We like to think of ourselves being happy to give up anything for the Lord just like that, with a snap of our fingers, even our lives, but most of us find it hard to give up something that really doesn’t matter. You dream of standing up to the lions in the coliseum, and find yourself snapping at the waitress because the restaurant is out of your favorite dessert.

We are not in shape, and we are also delusional. Spiritually, we’re like the pot-bellied middle-aged guy in the speedo swimsuit at the beach, who is just shocked that the twenty-year-old girls in bikinis are not hanging all over him and cooing. He would have a better idea why were he to hit the gym.

I gave up coffee one Lent. I thought I could handle it. I wanted to feel the pinch, but I didn’t expect (or want) to feel walloped with a bat instead. I gave it up, and I found that I really missed it.

For one thing, I soon realized that I didn’t like coffee only for the taste, or for the caffeine, but for the rituals, of getting up from my desk and wandering to the faculty lounge to get another cup, of chatting with the colleagues on the way, of wandering back to my office to settle in again after a pleasant break. It just didn’t feel right, not getting up for coffee.

And there was the caffeine, or the sudden lack of it. For maybe three weeks I found myself with a sudden craving for Classic Coke, something I rarely drink, and getting up from my desk to walk across the seminary quad to the soda machine in another building, even when it was pouring rain, and I did so without the slightest idea why. Then I realized I’d only found, through some subconscious sense, a substitute source of an addictive drug and was happy to risk illness to get it.

The second benefit of giving things up for Lent is that you also find, at the end of Lent, how good are the things God has given you. The things you’ve given up come to you afresh, almost as if you’d never enjoyed them before. When you can have them any time you want, and do have them any time you want, you don’t enjoy them as God meant them to be enjoyed. At least I don’t.

I sat down at breakfast on Easter morning—we’d gone to the Vigil the night before, so that I really was breaking my fast at breakfast — and drank a big cup of very strong coffee. And it was really, really, really good. I haven’t enjoyed coffee that much for years, decades even. I suddenly had some idea how heroin addicts feel.

Now, after that Lent, I drink much more tea than coffee, but every coffee I have is a treat. It’s a far greater pleasure now, coffee is, than it was when I knocked the stuff down all day.

That’s one of my experiences with the discipline of giving things up for Lent. I learned something about myself, and not just how much a hold the world had on me but my subconscious ability to satisfy my worldly cravings even when I didn’t realize I was doing so. And I learned something also about the pleasures God has given us, which really are great pleasures, until we take them for granted because we have so much of them.

Even bookish types are addicted to the world’s pleasures, and perhaps more deeply so because we believe our tastes intellectual and refined. So just give up something. Almost anything will do, because once you give it up, you’ll want it. Start small, but start.

Snow Day, Part Deux

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Our morning began with the beauty and grandeur of 6+ inches of snow, a peaceful and serenely calm morning...

Suddenly, the peace was shattered by a crazed Great Dane puppy, romping through the first big snow of her life...After she had burned off all of her excitement, she posed in all of her regal beauty, for some winter portraits.
That was our morning...quite a a fun and exciting experience. No school again today, so another quiet and enjoyable day with my wife. Here's to snow days!
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The Woman of My Dreams

There are many things in my life that I do not deserve- my family, my health, my friends, but today I was reminded how much I don't deserve the wonderful woman that married me.

My first day of class was supposed to be today (more on that in a minute) and I have not been looking forward to heading back to class. Spring semesters are always more difficult for me to stay motivated, and this semester already seems to be no exception. However, when I woke up this morning, I found this sitting in the kitchen:

My wife assembled for me a veritable cornucopia of goodies for my first day of class. In the Kroger Sweet Shoppe bag is a bunch of Atomic Fireballs (one of my all time favorites) and in the envelope was a great card about her cold feet. It was a wonderful gesture by her on a day when she worked and was very tired. As I moved into the living room, I noticed that she had already set up the TV tray for my breakfast of waffles that she bought me yesterday. This day was getting better and better!

Then the view outside made me thankful for her once again:


That's right- 4 inches in Louisville=total shutdown of the city. In other words, no class for me today! But why does the snow make me more thankful for my wonderful wife? Well, she picked up an extra shift last night so that we can stay ahead with our finances as I finish school. Because of the snow, she had to stay at work this morning an extra hour, then it took her about four times as long to get home because of the condition of the roads. She is such a blessing to me, and I am amazed at her selflessness and sacrificial love. I have the best wife in the world, so I figured I would let you all know it! Enjoy your snow day.

Chrysler, Fiat and Why It's Gonna Be Bad...

The news broke about two days ago that Chrysler, by far the worst off of America's big three, will enter into a "global strategic alliance" with Fiat S.p.A. Hailed as the move that could save Chrysler, the alliance includes market sharing for both companies (they both exist in very different marketing environments with Chrysler having little presence in Europe and Fiat having no presence in America), Fiat's experience in helping Chrysler develop a successful business plan, Chrysler gets a fleet of small, fuel efficient vehicles and Fiat's engineering aide, while Fiat gets 35% equity interest in Chrysler. And Cerberus, the private equity company that acquired Chrysler from Daimler-Benz a few years ago, finally gets rid of the giant sucking sound that has haunted them since they bought the #3 US automaker. It seems like a great idea, right? Not so fast.

First, Fiat's vehicles would fill a niche that Chrysler's current lineup basically ignores, and it's a niche that is selling like hotcakes right now. However, it's not like Fiat's cars can hop the next boat across the pond, get plastered with all manner of Chrysler logos and then be sold to the American consumer. Emissions and safety standards have to be met, and a quick re-entry into the US marketplace for Fiat, a company that many Americans have never heard of, will be arduous, difficult and expensive from a marketing standpoint. Rebadging Fiats as Chryslers won't make the landing any softer, as Chrysler/Dodge doesn't have a very good reputation with the American consumer right now either. Maybe they can brand them all Jeeps (or not).

There are further concerns. On the heels of these moves, Daimler has announced that it is looking to offload its remaining stake in the company. Cerberus has stated that they would consider buying it, but with the current economic climate, who knows. The scenario could look something like this: If Daimler unloads their remaining 20% to Cerberus, their share would jump from 45% to 65%, with Fiat owning 35%. If Cerberus is smart, they'll avoid this scenario and continue to divest themselves of Chrysler. Then again, if Cerberus were smart, they probably wouldn't have bought a controlling interest in this train wreck of an auto company anyway. On top of this, Democrat Barney Frank today proclaimed, as only Barney Frank can, that if the Fiat/Chrysler thingamajig goes through, the government wants its bridge loan money back. Certainly a reasonable request, but at an unreasonable time. This would make this alliance an even more difficult feat to accomplish.


But all of these problems pale in comparison to the nearly immovable obstacle that Chrysler faces before becoming profitable again. Chrysler has had inventory control and dealer problems for at least the last three years- the long and short of it is, they have been building more cars than they can sell for a long time, and it hasn't been catching up to them so much as piling on top of them. They have even resorted to paying dealers to take excess inventory, which the dealers then unload any way they can. Some estimates put Chrysler over-dealered by at much as 75%, even in a scenario that includes selling Fiats through their existing network. The Big 3 all face dealer and inventory issues, but Chrysler's problems are the worst, and they've been going on the longest.

All of this means that if this works, it is still going to be a long and very rocky road for Chrysler to survive. And that's a very big "if." Don't get me wrong, I would love for Chrysler to survive, and it would be great to have some of Fiat's products here in the United States. I would hate to see the Viper, the car that began my interest in all things automotive, disappear along with the company that created it, and I still maintain that Jeep is some of the most valuable automotive property in the US market. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure- Chrysler's survival is anything but assured, and if anyone thinks they can coast to success after this deal with Fiat, they couldn't be more wrong.


Sources: Autoextremist.com, Autoblog.com

The Empty Public Square...

Richard John Neuhaus, 1936-2009
By Joseph Bottum
Thursday, January 8, 2009, 10:00 AM

Our great, good friend is gone.

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus slipped away January 8, shortly before 10 o’clock, at the age of seventy-two. He never recovered from the weakness that sent him to the hospital the day after Christmas, caused by a series of side effects from the cancer he was suffering. He lost consciousness Tuesday evening after a collapse in his heart rate, and soon after, in the company of friends, he died.

My tears are not for him—for he knew, all his life, that his Redeemer lives, and he has now been gathered by the Lord in whom he trusted. I weep, rather, for all the rest of us. As a priest, as a writer, as a public leader in so many struggles, and as a friend, no one can take his place. The fabric of life has been torn by his death, and it will not be repaired, for those of us who knew him, until that time when everything is mended and all our tears are wiped away.

Please accept our thanks for all your prayers and good wishes. I

n Deepest Sorrow,
Joseph Bottum
Editor First Things

I was saddened to hear of the passing of this great man. Two days ago I recieved his watershed work, The Naked Public Square, a book that defined a generation of evangelical engagement in the political sphere. I was fortunate enough to hear this man speak once, and upon reflection, I can only mourn the loss of a brilliant mind and passionate heart. Men like Richard John Neuhaus do not come along every day, and we have not only lost a champion of orthodoxy, but a man whom we would all do well to imitate in thought and deed.

It's Cold in Here!

I came across this interesting data on the internet a few days back, and thought I would share the wealth. Everyone I am sure remembers that Polar Bears were put on some stage of the endangered species list, mainly as a tactic to open doors for more global warming initiatives. The reasoning was that with the warming of the globe and the melting of all the polar ice, the bears were all going to drown and go extinct. You've all seen the image of a poor polar bear swimming, exhausted, searching for the ice that has turned into water because I drove my car to work this morning.

Before I go any further, let's get a few facts straight. First, polar bears don't drown- they are actually excellent swimmers. They have been spotted in the open ocean as far as 200 miles from land. Certainly they hunt at the polar ice/water's edge, so I suppose if that edge were to disappear completely all the seals they kill there would disappear...or would they? In any case, it's also important to note that according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, this loss of the polar bear's range would take at least the next 100 years. This won't happen tomorrow.

The info from the University of Illinois Artic Research Center is shockingly boring and even more regular than one could imagine. Rapid ice melt last summer was decried as the beginning of the end (of the world), despite the fact that an ice-free pole has occurred before, and is both normal and natural. However, all the sky-is-falling talk may be premature: as the year ended, the study showed that polar ice ended on a high note (as polar bear populations continue to soar). In fact, ice levels sit at almost exactly where they were in 1979, which I believe was shortly after the mini Ice Age golbal hysteria had passed. Certainly this isn't conclusive proof that Global Warming is a myth, or that it is a non-naturally occurring phenomenon. But it's important to remember that scientific studies and suggested causation for the current climate do not point to a clear consesus, and there's a lot more to this idea than the assertion that big bad humans are killing the planet. Remember that next time you see a commercial with a sad polar bear...he'll probably be okay.