Is the USA Un-Developing?

As budget cut talks begin in the USA, the priorities will become increasingly transparent. Reviewing the suggested budget cuts leaves an unsettling feeling that one of the World's superpowers is strategically planning for the 1970s, not 2012 and beyond. With severe slashes to social and environmental programs, and little review of actual strategic investments for long-term stability, the question of thought process surfaces. Are the leaders of the United States stuck in an antiquated mode of problem-solving?

Proposed Budget Cut Overview

President Obama and Congress have been working to curb 9% of nondefense discretionary spending by the government based on 2010 numbers to start to address the $14 trillion dollar national debt. Republicans, working to fulfill their campaign promise, are proposing $74 - $100 billion in budget cuts, which is more than what the President has called for at this time. There are disagreements for freezing domestic spending for the next five years at 2010 levels, President Obama's suggestion, versus 2008 levels, Republican's suggestion. One of Obama's major budget changes would be to end the Bush era tax cuts for the richest Americans along with freezing domestic spending that is expected to save around $1.2 trillion. The majority of other proposed budget cuts will come from mainly social and environmental programs with a few unexpected cuts to NASA, NIH, and the GSA Federal Building Fund. The highest cuts will include a combined $1.7 billion to the EPA, $1 billion from high speed rail, $1.3 billion from Community Health Centers, and $2 billion from Job Training Programs.

The cuts are highly controversial given their transparent bias toward business and preservation of current systems regardless of efficiency. President Obama stated that "Just as it would be a terrible mistake to borrow against our children's future to pay our way today, it would be equally wrong to neglect their future by failing to invest in areas that will determine our economic success in this new century." Yet both the President's suggested budget cuts as well as the GOP fall short of addressing the US's excessive spending today and the absolute necessity to create a foundation for future generations.



Mind Shift to the Millennium and Beyond

No government is perfect, but the extreme inefficiencies within the US government continue to cost taxpayers money during the worst economic downturn since the 1920s recession. Filibusters, a delay tactic from the 1800s, have been used extensively by both parties today, the 2000s. Due to these delays and other inefficiencies, the government often goes into Special Sessions to resolve unfinished tasks. Now shift toward the corporations that many politicians work to defend so dearly and take a look inside their operations. If a high level executive started reading the Bible from front to back to delay a Board decision, the individual would promptly be removed and not asked to return. If the top level talent couldn't get along to make a decision, there would be a lot of pressure for them to resolve their differences and get down to work before the company would pay them overtime. Paying employees overtime for a job they had ample time to complete, but purposely delayed is an equally ludicrous idea not to mention a waste of money. It would appear that the US government could learn a great deal from the companies, whose tax breaks they defend, in terms of efficiency and resolve to finish the tasks they started and were assigned. There are around 10,000 bills proposed in Congress annually, only 400 of those bills pass into law, giving bills a 4% chance of succeeding.

Reviewing the suggested budget cuts propel Congress' 1800s filibuster tactics to at least the 1970s, where oil is king, the environment is a dumping ground, and social issues are a little too "soft" to deal with head on. This does not sound like the approach of a developed country in the age of the millennium. It is shocking to find the antiquated thinking that road widening, business tax cuts, and protecting certain military investments that even the Pentagon has asked to stop funding is what is going to "save" the US from its ever-increasing deficit. This time warp comes at a critical time in our development, since the next 4 years will determine the environmental health of the next 100. Blatant failures to invest in mass transit, start to shoulder the responsibility for the country's greenhouse gas emissions, and support those most in need on the ground level are not typically found in proudly developed countries. The excuses range from the deficit to downright conspiracy theory, but one thing is clear, the government seems to be functioning in the past.

The United States remains one of the sole developed nations that has failed to make international commitments and set national standards on greenhouse gas emissions. It is so far behind other developed countries in terms of Mass Transit, that it is known abroad as the "Car Country". With unemployment rates still alarmingly high, multitudes of individuals are without healthcare, and a shocking amount of Americans going hungry every day. Investing in the people, the foundation, of a Country would appear to be the most logical investment, not cut.

With a thoughtful reshuffling of priorities and an eye to long-term sustainable development, the US has the potential to not only significantly cut its spending, but also provide a foundation for future generations to not just survive, but to thrive.

Photo Credit: Cox & Forkum