Miranda, over at Yielding Wealth, and I are participating in The Odd Blog Couple. The idea is to have two disparate (not desperate!) bloggers answer the same question and then compare answers.
You can imagine how psyched I was when we drew the question: If you could increase federal spending in one area and decrease it in another, what would you choose?
My mind was racing…
Increase spending? Education and health care.
Decrease spending? Military and highways.
Done and done.
Only it’s not that simple.
When I started thinking about it more deeply, I saw that there were no easy fixes…
A colleague yesterday advised that an underperforming school in an adjacent neighborhood reportedly spends more than $17,000 per student each year. And yet that school has not demonstrated a marked increased proficiency at all.
And while it’s easy to advise the government to find health care solutions for the uninsured, those of us who are insured are finding it tough, too. We shell out a bunch of money for what is billed as “good” coverage, only to be inundated with skyrocketing premiums (20% this year) and complicated rules (don’t even get me started on how difficult it was to get treatment for my 3 year old at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and it had nothing to do with the rules at CHOP!). Independence Blue Cross (my insurer) has squirreled away millions of dollars as “reserve” while paying over ridiculous sums to its officers. While the surplus varies for each Blue, Representative Phyllis Mundy reported in 2004 that “the surplus carried by Blue Cross of Northeastern PA at the end of 2002 was roughly five times that required by the Insurance Department. It was $303 million more than the minimum requirement.” Clearly, a lack of funding isn’t the problem. Blue Cross could afford to drop its premiums or fund health care for the under or uninsured; it chooses not to.
Throwing money at a problem doesn’t make the problem go away. Need more proof?
Iraq. Estimates of the cost of the war in Iraq range from nearly $500 billion to $1.2 trillion (NY Times, free registration required). And while my gut cries out to take some of that money away and use it for projects that will better benefit Americans, I know that cutting military funding isn’t a piece of cake. My brother is career military and he is not paid tons of money - his housing is not luxurious. Yet, our government has funneled millions of dollar to companies like Blackwater whose employees are paid high dollars to work in a “dangerous environment” (I know this because my brother-in-law was offered a substantial amount of money to work in Iraq). Ironic, isn’t it, that we’re willing to pay civilians to place themselves in harm’s way but not our military personnel who aren’t given a choice as to location.
And highways? As someone who doesn’t drive much, my first impression is to cut highway spending. I’m sure it’s not just me who wonders when, if ever, that pork barrel project on I-95 through Richmond will be completed… I think it’s going on ten years now. But then, a recent survey following the Minnesota bridge collapse shows a startling number of bridges that are in need of repair; my own state of Pennsylvania ranks first in structurally deficit bridges (note to Dad if you’re reading: don’t share that last part with Mom).
At the end of the day, this is what I figure. We pay enough taxes; if we keep spending under control, we don’t need to raise taxes. And it’s not the categories of expenses that are wearing us down. I don’t think it’s really a matter of pinching from one pile of expenses to fund another pile of expenses.
What we lack is priorities.
When we were little, my mom took us grocery shopping with her almost all of the time. She had a shopping list and a bulky rectangular-shaped calculator with an LED display. She had a budget of (initially) $100. She would buy what she needed first and add it up on the calculator as she went along. If, at the end, we had “extra” money for luxury items like JiffyPop popcorn and Coca-Colas in the old glass bottles, she bought them. If she didn’t, we skipped them. She never bought the popcorn first.
The problem with our government is that they don’t shop like my mother, they shop like my five year old. They fill the cart with whatever they want and hope for the best at the end. Our government needs to learn that you can’t buy the popcorn first.
So, at the end of the day, I can’t answer my own question (yes, I was the one who dreamed up the question). Not because I don’t want to and not because I’m copping out. But because I know that the problems with our current national budget aren’t about lack of dollars, or even inequitable categories of dollars, but about priorities of dollars.
What do you think?
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You can read other Odd Blog Couple posts here:
Fired With or Without Cause: Is This Fair?
How Do You Account For Getting Fired From Your Job Without Cause
Social Security & the Home Business Owner: What Should We Do?
Counting on Social Security? Your Next Project Better Be Your Retirement Plan
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