One half of one percent

And we're supposed to be impressed? That's how much 'Bam intends to trim in the name of fiscal responsibility. That's the equivalent of skipping the cookies after lunch at McDonald's one day a month. For the numbers nuts among us, Investor's Business Daily crunches them.

Chump Change

Budget: $17 billion. That's the amount, out of a total $3.5 trillion in spending, that has been "cut" in the White House's latest budget. If this is some kind of joke, it isn't very funny.

After hearing the Democratic Party lay into President Bush last year for his "profligacy," "record spending" and "soaring deficits," we can't be blamed for expecting something else from the party now in power.

Instead, we get a 19% rise in domestic spending in 2010 from 2008 (2009 has been wildly inflated by stimulus spending), coupled with $17 billion in bogus "cuts" and record amounts of pork-barrel spending.

Even taking the $17 billion seriously, as Budget Director Peter Orszag says we should, that amounts to just 0.5% of total spending — not enough to make even a small dent in a federal budget deficit that will hit $1.2 trillion next year.

Even so, "$17 billion is not chump change by any measure," said Orszag. We disagree. It is chump change. And the average taxpayer is the chump. The new $3.5 trillion budget spends $11,475 for each American; the cuts amount to just $55.

[snip]

No cuts. More spending. Less defense. Bigger deficits. More debt. Our tax dollars at work.

Change! All that will be left in your pocket when the fascists are done with you.