A Differing Point of View: Deficits are Created

All governmental budgets are made by people: your neighbors, maybe a relative or two, and elected officials. For the budget  to operate the Federal Government, a macro view is fairly straightforward.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), with the approval of the President issues a budget guidance memoranda to all the agencies of the Federal Government including the Supreme Court and Federal Court system. This guidance is a target amount of funds that may be allowed to be spent for the forthcoming year.  Each agency then develops and submits their budget request to back to OMB. OMB assembles all the budget requests  and develops a proposed Presidential Budget submission for the President’s Approval. That budget includes an estimate of where the money must come from; e.g., taxes, etc.

Thus, the President has decision authority to create a deficit when he submits his budget to the Congress to appropriate. He can do this in the budget guidance memorandum and when the OMB assembles his budget for submission to Congress. That is where budget deficits are developed. Of course, the Congress can appropriate more or less money than the President requests. Still, The President must sign or veto the appropriation bills passed by the Congress.

Another political action group (PAC) [Priorities USA] recently mailed out a flyer encouraging  voters to call their congressman and senators to support the President’s “plan to responsibly cut the deficit.”

The message promotes the morally corrupt class-warfare; i.e., tax the rich and protect the middle class. Somewhere in there the president has determined what the “fair share” is. Sadly, the very class he proposes to protect got a big part of the largest tax increase ever imposed on all Americans  in our nation’s history and we all will pay the price.

Bottom line: The President has created the deficit and he alone bears the responsibility to eliminate it. It has been three years since the Congress has passed a budget. Send President Obama an email or give the White House a call reminding him of his responsibilities.