The guy is Reagan, without the flexibility in policy decisions.

From the NYT:

"By announcing it on Monday, the president effectively will preempt Republicans who have been talking about making such a move once they take over the House and assume more seats in the Senate in January.

The number of federal workers making more than $150,000 a year has grown ten-fold in the past five years and doubled since Mr. Obama took office, USA Today reported earlier this month. Since 2000, federal pay and benefits have increased 3 percent annually above inflation, compared with 0.8 percent for private sector workers, according to data cited by the newspaper."

Point 1: So because the GOP wants to do this in January, Obama decided to preempt them by doing the same thing?!? So he gets credt for...being a Republican in advance?

Point 2: The comments about the wage increases in Federal worker salaries are off the mark. The point isn't that government workers are paid too much, or get too many raises - the real issue is why non-Federal workers don't get appropriate wage increases. Wages should outpace inflation: that's how you make people better off in the long run. The "solution" here is to drag everyone down into the hopeless salary stagnation that non-government workers have suffered in for decades.

...(cues up Nirvana...)

Just what Dems need, with an incoming Republican Congress more polarized than with Clinton. At least it seems that so far, Obama keeps his fly zipped.

it might not be change I can believe in, but compared to McCain/Palin or Romney/Huckabee, I'll still vote for 'im (a little smoke-n-mirrors still beats a clear kick in the balls, imo)

"In theory, theory is the same as practice. In practice, it ain't." -- Yogi Berra

Then this would seem much less hypocritical than the times when these folks, with their super duper health plans, decide that everybody else does not get to have even minimal health care in the US!

for a couple years... :(

is precisely defense spending, and that is what is preserved from cuts at this point.

At $700 billion, the Defense bill has doubled since 2001. At minimum defense spending should be brought back to 2000 levels, or at $350 billion annually.

THAT would be a $350 billion savings year in and year out. What we cannot afford is this new super-sized military budget.

With that kind of saving we can probably afford the $6 billion a year that a spending freeze saves. The reality is that its not savings at all, because departments cover the 'savings' with staff cuts and raises continue apace.

In the present reality, it is a public cut that can be announced and accomplished by fiat within the Executive.

If your vote in the House or Senate is against any budget or part of for that budget (appropriations bill), you get no Federal Funds spent in your district.

Easy to accomplish:

"The spending for your district is under review for possible and not yet approved."

Shows that he's willing to break down our economy further, but he's not willing to cut the part of our system that is most unproductive and represents far and away the largest pool of potential savings.

Shutting down the war machine would be the single biggest step we could make, both towards balancing the budget and towards improving our security.

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"In the netherlands most of us do not ware a helmet. Also most of us do not have a gun. Still we get very old." - jojo

The only thing shrinking is the likelihood that bonds will get paid back. Energy prices up, commodities up, food up, real estate varies, where is all this deflation?

Let me play devils advocate that I think this is a decent idea, given that today the Federal Reserve is barely able to execute it's Ceremonial Magic POMO electronic money creation. It sucks that the civil service professionals are not getting stepped up the salary grades, but we don't have the money, and this is happening at all levels of government.

I like the idea that SEC pornsurfers and other assorted fail operators don't get salary steps. My friend in the Navy makes like $17K salary, he keeps stuff working a lot better than arsonists & jacobins at the shadier agencies.
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Hongpong.com