Customer Reviews of the Year in Federal Fiscal Policy
12/14/2010
Fiscal policy determines a lot of things in your daily life. From the number of food inspectors that USDA can employ, to the availability of FBI agents to track down suspected terrorists, to the quality of the roads you drive on, fiscal policy is what makes this country tick. If you were running a country and were shopping around for fiscal policies, would those proposed in 2010 by Congress and President Obama be the first ones you'd grab off the shelf? Before you buy, you may want to consider what other customers thought about the Fiscal Policy of the United States of America in 2010.
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Fiscal Policy of the United States of America in 2010[Used] by United States Congress & President Barack Obama
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(Product Description
From United States Congress & President Barack Obama, 2010 Fiscal Policy of the United States of America determines a lot of things in your daily life. From the quality of the roads you drive on, to the availability of government services in your hometown, to the ability to understand what is going on in the entire fiscal process, Federal Fiscal Policy is important. This year, we have done great things with fiscal policy! We’ve made huge strides in spending transparency, contracting transparency, and government performance. We have yet to perfect the spending process or zero in on the perfect spending levels, but we are working on it.
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Customer Reviews
Really Helpful Reviews
89 of 100 people find this useful:
Its spending process is as broken as my first marriage
By BipartisanBlues535 (Des Moines, IA)
Ugh, why can’t Congress ever pass the yearly federal budget on time? It’s honestly one of the worst things about this year. Things were working okay when I first got it, but this year, the spending process completely broke down. Congress hemmed and hawed, dragging its feet on every aspect of the budget process, as congressional Democrats apparently couldn’t get it together. They never were able to agree on overall spending levels, which meant no joint budget resolution. The House totally whiffed on passing a budget resolution (instead passing “the functional equivalent” of one), the first time it hasn’t passed a budget resolution since the modern budget process was created in 1974.
Even worse, Congress did not pass any appropriations bills. None!!! At all! Usually by the start of the fiscal year, Congress would have passed at least some of the spending bills. Like one or two non-controversial ones, such as one for Agriculture or one funding the Legislative branch. But no, the House only passed two and the Senate didn’t vote on any. So we’re now almost three months into fiscal year 2011 and do not have a budget. What a joke. Now Congress is trying to pass either an omnibus or a year-long continuing resolution, but it's not clear if either will ever pass.
I gave this year zero stars because, honestly, I can’t think of how it could be any worse. I mean, I guess they could have not even tried... Government shutdown, here we come!
218 of 435 people find this useful:
but why r the spending levels soooo low???
By DeficitHawkHuntr (Florence, MA)
You’d think with Congress taking so long, the budget would at least be large enough to protect the public, provide an important safety net for working families, and maintain the myriad services that all Americans depend on, right? WRONG. It seems like every time Congress debated spending, they were only talking about cutting, especially when it came to non-security discretionary funding, which is most of the human needs budget. First, in February, President Obama put forward an FY 2011 budget that included a three-year non-security discretionary freeze (what, security spending is better than everything else?). Then, two senators tried to set draconian discretionary spending caps, which would have slashed non-security spending by 15 percent in FY 2012. Although legislators thankfully voted the caps down, the margin was too close for comfort. More recently, the President’s Deficit Commission came out with its plan to reduce the deficit, which slashed federal spending and the federal work force. Double whammy!
Now, in the lame-duck, they’re trying to pass some kind of spending bill, but it’ll probably be at the FY 2010 level or below, meaning a cut in real dollars. We need more government spending, not less. Talk about disappointing!!!! I would not buy this again.
36 of 49 people find this useful:
Fiscal transparency isn’t great, but way better than the 2009 model!
By hughesad313 (Los Angeles, CA)
Not bad. I was hoping for full multi-tier reporting in the Recovery Act, where anyone who touches at least $25,000 of federal money has to report on how they used it. But while I didn’t get it, the Obama administration did manage to enable sub-award reporting for USAspending.gov, the website for all federal contract, grant, and loan spending. Now we can see further down the money trail than ever before, although hopefully the administration will go to full multi-tier soon!
Also, Congress used Recovery.gov for non-Recovery Act spending, which is an interesting development. Maybe they’ll start extending Recovery Act reporting requirements, such as recipient reporting and actually useful narrative fields, to all federal spending? The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) did better fiscally than expected, but wasn’t a hit as far as transparency is concerned. The Federal Reserve refused to disclose its recipients until it was forced to by a court.
On my wish list for 2011 is improving data quality on USAspending.gov, which is not great right now. I’d also love to see it integrate other data sets, like campaign contributions or the text of contracts. Then I’d add a couple stars to my review. But all in all, the manufacturer is definitely proving that it’s learning its lessons when it comes to fiscal transparency. Can’t wait for the 2011 model!
123 of 456 people find this useful:
Sen. Landrieu is a Lew-ser
By LandrieuWatch52 (New Orleans, LA)
This isn't really about 2010's fiscal policy, but I've just got to rant here. Back in June of this year, Peter Orszag, Obama's OMB director, stepped down after almost two years on the job. Obama picked Jack Lew, one of President Clinton's OMB directors, to replace Orszag. Everyone loved Lew, and he cruised through two Senate hearings and easily passed two committee votes. Since Lew had presided over the last period of budget surplus, it was assumed he'd be a valuable asset given the current budget problems.
But, just as everything was looking good, a senator from Obama's own party, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), placed a hold on Lew! Landrieu objected to the administration's deepwater drilling moratorium, so she wanted to make sure she was being heard. And she certainly got the administration's attention. After a month or so, Obama gave in and agreed to drop its moratorium. But Landrieu still refused to let the Senate vote on Lew! What the heck?
Landrieu finally agreed to drop her hold when the administration promised to allow more drilling permits, among other things. When Lew came up for a vote that very night, the Senate approved his nomination unanimously, proving just how popular he was. Just goes to show you how broken the Senate is.
72 of 104 people find this useful:
Federal Tax Policy. What Federal Tax Policy?
By WhyDoTheRichGetToKeepAllTheirMoney (New York, NY)
Where to begin with this thing? When Congress convened at the beginning of the year, it knew that the Bush tax cut provisions would expire in twelve months' time. What did Congress do about it? Zip. It had already allowed the temporary expiration of the estate tax to come down to the wire and failed to do anything about it at the end of last year, so you would think that members would have kept that in mind with the rest of the Bush tax cuts. BUT NOOOOOOO! They decided to let the issue drag on, and when it seemed like a perfect opportunity to deal with them right before the midterm elections, Democrats punted, deciding to take up the tax cut issue in the lame-duck session.
Where do we stand now? Well, the president just reached a compromise with the Republicans and had to give them EVERYTHING they wanted just so the government could help out poor and unemployed people. So take a guess as to why I’m not so hot on this.
Oh, and it's not like the rich can't afford to chip in a little more, either. In February, the IRS released data on the 400 richest taxpayers from tax year 2007, and a blogger at the Wall Street Journal noted that these richest of the rich were worth three times (!) as much as they were in 1992 (and yes, that's adjusting for inflation) and paid an effective tax rate of just 16.6 percent. Over this same time period, the average income of the middle class increased by just 13 percent, and even the richest five percent, who aren't exactly poor, only saw a 27 percent jump in average income (when adjusted for inflation).
254 of 377 people find this useful:
Federal Contracting Not Flushing as Much Taxpayer Money Down the Toilet
By xxNorthrupGrumblingxx (St. Louis, MO)
This was a little good and a little bad. First the good. The Commission on Wartime Contracting continued to call out the cheaters, schemers, and crooks within and without the government contracting racket. The administration also continued to follow through with the president’s prescriptions laid out in his March 2009 contracting memo. The administration reduced no-bid and high-risk federal contracts and began taking the first steps toward making government contracts universally recognizable across government, which will allow the public to see what’s going on.
And now, the bad. The International Stability Operations Association (ISOA) decided to put together a code of conduct that it said it will hold security contractors to and supposedly all the problems in that industry will go away. I’m not holding my breath. Also, the administration kept dragging its feet on implementing a high-road contracting policy that would really help the government get quality and affordable work from its contractors. Maybe next year.
199 of 301 people find this useful:
Tough to Measure that Government Performance, but Getting Easier
By pencilpusher79 (Arlington, VA)
I’ve got to say that I was kind of impressed with this. Not only did the administration implement quite a few no-nonsense solutions within the IT realm – which will lead to better and much less wasteful spending on the basics that allow the government to operate in this digital age – but it put together systems to crack down on improper payments and contractors who avoid paying their taxes. The efforts, which are part of a larger package begun by the administration called the Accountable Government Initiative, are designed to bring greater accountability and transparency to the federal government. Also, the administration began the process of making more contracting information available.
The only minus was that the administration’s effort still hasn't reformed the definition of "inherently governmental," and a federal pay freeze is really going to hurt efforts to beef up the procurement workforce with quality candidates and keep them in the government. All in all, though, things could be worse.
451 of 507 people find this useful:
Earmark bans aren't the answer
By P0rkUlus
Look, I happen to think a few bucks to study volcanoes might be well worth the $ should Yellowstone blow, so I can't say I really hate the pork. Even if you're not a fan of teapot museums, I really don't understand your hyperventilating over this tiny bit of the budget (a measly one percent!). It seems like every year someone is calling for a ban on them. This year, congressional Republicans finally made good on a campaign promise and agreed to not request any earmarks for the coming fiscal year. Although, it looks like some Republicans are trying to get around the ban by redefining what an earmark is. You want "out-of-control" and non-transparent spending? Take a peek at the Pentagon's checkbook.
Image in teaser by flickr user Warren H, used under a Creative Commons license
