What is the role of the government? What should the government provide?

1. What is the role of the government?What should the government provide? • Defense • Health Care • Welfare • Transportation • Education • Parks • Food and Drug Safety and other regulation

2. Spending in 1930

3. Spending in 1960

4. Budget spending 2012

5. Projected estimates for 2017

6. What are the major changes? • Defense: 1930 12%  1960 35%  2012 24%  2017 18% • Health: 1930 4%  1960 3%  2012 22%  2017 28% • Welfare: 1930 3%  1960 6%  2012 12%  2017 9% • Transportation: 1930 17%  1960 8%  2012 3%  2017 2% • Education: 1930 19%  1960 14%  2012 4%  2017 3% • Pensions: 1930 1%  1960 9%  2012 22%  2017 24% • Interest: 1930 11%  1960 6%  2012 6%  2017 12%

7. Clock ticking to disastrous defense cutsBy William J. Bennett, CNN Contributorupdated 8:29 AM EDT, Thu August 9, 2012 (CNN) -- Without action from Washington, on January 2, 2013, the U.S. defense budget will undergo the most dramatic and dangerous cuts in its history. Because of the failure of the supercommittee to agree on a deficit reduction plan, THE 2011 BUDGET CONTROL ACT AUTOMATICALLY CUTS ABOUT $500 BILLION FROM THE DEFENSE BUDGET. These cuts fall on top of the already agreed-upon $487 billion in reductions. All told, the cuts would amount to about $1 trillion over a decade. The results would be nothing short of catastrophic. But don't take my word for it. On November 14, 2011, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta wrote a letter to Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham explaining the ramifications of the full sequestration defense cuts. Should these cuts take place over the next 10 years, he said, THE UNITED STATES WOULD BE LEFT WITH ITS SMALLEST GROUND FORCE SINCE WORLD WAR II; THE SMALLEST NAVY SINCE 1915; THE SMALLEST FIGHTER FORCE IN THE HISTORY OF THE AIR FORCE; AND THE SMALLEST CIVILIAN WORK FORCE IN THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT'S HISTORY. Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, testified on Capitol Hill in May that such cuts would leave the corps without "adequate capabilities and capacities to meet a single major contingency operation." NATIONAL DEFENSE IS ONLY 20% OF THE BUDGET, YET THE SEQUESTER SUBJECTS IT TO 50% OF THE AUTOMATIC CUTS. THE OTHER $500 BILLION WILL BE CUT FROM DOMESTIC PROGRAMS. Sequestration, which both Democrats and Republicans voted for, was intended to spur Washington to responsible action; it was never meant to be an effective deficit-reduction tool. No doctor operates with a pickax, unless, of course, he intends to maim his patient.

8. Who's to blame for threat of defense budget cuts? Last week on my radio show, "Morning In America," Sen. Graham said the full brunt of these cuts would mean "no more F-35s, no more modern fighters" and "it means that those who are serving in the military will be sent off to future wars ill-equipped and unprepared.“ Leaders on both sides of the aisle agree: SEQUESTRATION CUTS WILL GUT THE WORLD'S GREATEST MILITARY. Washington cannot, and must not, allow this to happen. And yet, the president and his administration seem preoccupied with leveraging defense cuts for political gamesmanship. Last week, the White House sent a letter to Capitol Hill saying it would exempt all military personnel from the cuts, thereby avoiding the political fallout from military voters and ensuring that the bulk of the cuts come to equipment, readiness, and weapons. We may have an army, but, if the cuts happen, little to arm them with. The remainder of the cuts will fall on the Defense Department's wide network of contractors. In a recent study, the Aerospace Industries Association found that the SEQUESTER CUTS COULD ELIMINATE MORE THAN 2 MILLION JOBS AND ADD 1.5% TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. … Now that the cuts will be disclosed in full view, one cannot believe the president would go against the wishes of his own secretary of defense and generals and allow the military to be subjected to these traumatic cuts and massive layoffs. Rather, the president seems to be engaging Republicans in a high-stakes game of chicken -- his demands, like tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans, or the threat of sequestration. Republicans shouldn't yield, but call this what it is -- reckless and dangerous politicking. After all, the president is the commander-in-chief. If he takes credit for the death of Osama bin Laden, he takes responsibility for welfare of the military and the safety of America.

9. Health Care

10. Welfare (TANF, food stamps)

11. Examining the Means-tested Welfare State: 79 Programs and $927 Billion in Annual SpendingBy Robert Rector May 3, 2012 Welfare Spending Increases under the Obama Administration Table 1 shows the growth in means-tested spending over recent years. In FY 2007, total government spending on means-tested welfare or aid to the poor was a record high $657 billion. By fiscal year 2011, total government spending on means-tested aid had risen to $927 billion, a 40 percent increase. President Obama’s increase in federal means-tested welfare spending during his first two years in office was two and a half times greater than any previous increase in federal welfare spending in U.S. history, after adjusting for inflation.

12. Transportation: From The Economist 08/09/2012http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/08/infrastructure Peter Orszag says “The unemployment rate remains stuck at more than 8 percent. More investment in roads, water systems, airports and other public infrastructure would bring both short- and long-term benefits. And state and local governments face ongoing deficits. So wouldn’t it be great if we could design an efficient way to channel tax subsidies to state and local governments to invest in infrastructure? Turns out we already have: the Build America Bonds program, which was a huge success in 2009 and 2010, but then expired. If you want an example of how political polarization is impeding sound economic policy, BABs would be hard to beat. Despite no credible argument against it, a divided Congress refuses to reinstate the program.”

13. education

14. No Child Left Behind: Some States Resisting Obama Administration Ed-Reform Requirements Sarah Garland Posted http://www.huffingtonpost.com : 08/10/2012 This piece comes to us courtesy of The Hechinger Report's HechingerEd blog. This week the Obama administration announced it had RELEASED A TOTAL OF 33 STATES FROM SOME NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND REQUIREMENTS with the approval of Nevada's application for a waiver from the law. "While well intentioned, the law's rigid, top-down prescriptions for reform have proved burdensome for many states," a statement from the U.S. Department of Education said. But some states seem to be feeling the same way about the Obama administration's own prescriptions for reform. Georgia is in a contentious battle with the feds over the money it won through the Race to the Top competition. THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION HAS THREATENED TO REDUCE THE STATE'S AWARD BY $33 MILLION AFTER GEORGIA CHANGED ASPECTS OF ITS TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEM FOLLOWING A PILOT PROGRAM. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal--who came into office after Georgia submitted its application for the grant--has said he refuses to "defend a system that we have been warned will not work," and fears lawsuits if he proceeds under the plan the feds originally approved. Hawaii is among a handful of other states that have also seen their grants jeopardized after missing deadlines and encountering other obstacles. In Illinois, federal officials are unhappy that the state is rolling out new teacher evaluations over the course of the next four years. That's too slow, the feds have said, and they're threatening to deny Illinois a waiver from NCLB requirements if they don't speed up.

15. Illinois officials have balked at the pressure to move faster, however, saying that rushing risks getting it wrong. (Many low-performing schools in Illinois have to introduce the new evaluations this year.) "It is really hard work to do well, and it is really high stakes, and we've got to be thoughtful," Chris Koch, the Illinois school superintendent, told the Chicago Tribune last month. "We are not trying to dodge anything. ... We've done a lot of hard work, and the feds should honor state sovereignty in this regard and let us work within the time frame we approved." Tennessee, which got its evaluation system up and running last school year, has faced criticism for moving too quickly, as has Louisiana, which is starting this year without having piloted some of the key components of its new system. The Tennessee Department of Education released an evaluation of its own evaluation system this summer. Among its findings, which were largely positive, the report also said the following: "District and school administrators spent considerable time in evaluation training demonstrating an understanding of the different levels of performance for observations, and all evaluators passed a test demonstrating this understanding. However, in implementation, OBSERVERS SYSTEMATICALLY FAILED TO IDENTIFY THE LOWEST PERFORMING TEACHERS, LEAVING THESE TEACHERS WITHOUT ACCESS TO MEANINGFUL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEAVING THEIR STUDENTS AND PARENTS WITHOUT A REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF IMPROVED INSTRUCTION IN THE FUTURE." Pushing states to hurry up or to follow plans that experimentation shows may be faulty might attract criticism, but the Obama administration would probably also be attacked if it gave away federal money with no strings attached. (Although conservatives who think the federal government is overreaching would certainly be pleased.) So far, no state that's applied for an NCLB waiver or won Race to the Top money has walked away.

16. July 31, 2012 In Washington, D.C., 305 kids are being paid $5.25 an hour to attend summer school. The plan is to prepare these rising ninth graders for the transition into high school. According to The Washington Examiner, the students chosen showed poor academic and behavioral records, and are at a greater risk of not graduating. In 2011, less than 60 percent of students in D.C. public schools graduated high school on time. The Washington Post reports this is a nearly 20 percent decline from the previous year. The classes are part of The Summer Bridge program designed to offer academic enrichment in English and mathematics. Ninety-five kids signed up on their own. To fill the rest of the slots, D.C. Public Schools looked to the Department of Employment Services. TheExaminer reports, "more than 300 students flagged by DCPS and who had signed up for the Summer Youth Employment Program were told that school would be their jobs this summer." Paying kids to go to summer school can be a powerful incentive and some experts see it as worth exploring. However, according to political consultant Chuck Thies, it could also be a "slippery slope.“ "How much will we pay going forward, and who will we pay, and what's the cutoff to get paid?" Thies said to The Examiner. "It's critical that we get at-risk students and underperforming students and failing students into the program, but I don't think incentivizing them with money sends the right message.“ The results of the program will be studied with the potential of expanding next year.

18. Pensions http://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt.asp#[192]

19. Pensions: CSRS vs. FERS: www.opm.gov • CSRS: The Civil Service Retirement Act, which became effective on August 1, 1920, established a retirement system for certain Federal employees.  • The Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) is a defined benefit, contributory retirement system.  Employees share in the expense of the annuities to which they become entitled. CSRS covered employees contribute 7, 7 1/2 or 8 percent of pay to CSRS and, while they generally pay no Social Security retirement, survivor and disability (OASDI) tax, they must pay the Medicare tax (currently 1.45 percent of pay).  The employing agency matches the employee's CSRS contributions. • CSRS employees may increase their earned annuity by contributing up to 10 percent of the basic pay for their creditable service to a voluntary contribution account.   Employees may also contribute a portion of pay to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).  There is no Government contribution, but the employee contributions are tax-deferred.  • FERS: Congress created the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in 1986, and it became effective on January 1, 1987.  • FERS is a retirement plan that provides benefits from three different sources: a Basic Benefit Plan, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).   Two of the three parts of FERS (Social Security and the TSP) can go with you to your next job if you leave the Federal Government before retirement. The Basic Benefit and Social Security parts of FERS require you to pay your share each pay period.  Your agency withholds the cost of the Basic Benefit and Social Security from your pay as payroll deductions .Your agency pays its part too. Then, after you retire, you receive annuity payments each month for the rest of your life. • The TSP part of FERS is an account that your agency automatically sets up for you.  Each pay period your agency deposits into your account amount equal to 1% of the basic pay you earn for the pay period.  You can also make your own contributions to your TSP account and your agency will also make a matching contribution.  These contributions are tax-deferred.  The Thrift Savings Plan is administered by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

23. August 3, 2012

24. http://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/strange-state-laws-congress-passes-strange-state-laws-every-year-30150760.htmlhttp://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/strange-state-laws-congress-passes-strange-state-laws-every-year-30150760.html