National Budget Visualized

Here's a great visual depiction of the budget President Obama has proposed, put together by the NY Times. Items of notes:

• According this this USA today graph, this budget is still larger than the federal income. We are still spending more than we make, like we have for several decades now. Under Obama's budget, we are going to add $1.1 trillion to our debt.
• Our interest on the existing national debt is s$474 billion this year, up 14% from last year.
• It is clear that the biggest spending is, as I have often asserted, in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Defense (ignoring the interest on the national debt since we really can't do anything about that except pay it).
• Most of the money in this budget is considered "mandatory" spending, meaning that previously enacted legislation (such as the Social Security Act) requires a certain level of spending. New legislation could be passed to overturn these mandatory spending requirements (such as a End Social Security Act, to make up an example) but the money funding the programs created by previous legislation is not up for grabs as a part of the regular budgeting process.
• The big spender not in the mandatory spending pool (called "discretionary" spending) is defense spending. Defense spending is the only one of the Big Three that can be changed without passing additional legislation.
• During the Bush years it was common for the normal budget to be augmented by "emergency" spending bills to fund the wars. This money is outside of the normal budget process and thus does not show up in the kind of graph the NY Times has put together. I don't know whether President Obama has any emergency spending legislation he is going to propose or not.
• Finally, just to be clear, the President doesn't officially get to set the budget for the year; he can only sign or veto a spending bill that Congress passes. Obama's budget is an opening bid in what will be probably a long negotiation before a final bill is arrived at that all parties can live with.

Short

Below is a fantastic little short movie that I'm watching on a regular basis now because it reminds me so much of where I grew up and what I love about it.

Growing is Forever from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

This Week in the Weather

A week ago it was 70 degrees outside. Today the high was 28 degrees. In the past week we had several inches of snow, some relatively fierce winds, and two days when Wichita State University cancelled classes. One of my professors who has been at the school 25 years says he can only remember one other time the school has closed due to weather.

It has been a cold week.

On the upside, pictures of the dogs in the snow are always kind of fun.