GOP fuzzy on budget math. Why a CPA is needed in Washington NOW!

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>> end!

>> we will also get right to work to reduce the deficit which next year alone will save the tax payers $100 billion.

>> cut government spending to prestimulus, prebailout levels, saving immediately $100 billion.

>> now that was during the elections. then the republicans kept saying we’re going to cut $100 billion. trust me, trust me. well, i didn’t. i didn’t trust them. i didn’t believe it for a second. and the gop went on to make that promise a center piece of their pledge to america, saying they would make the cuts to f they win control of the house in midterms. today they announced their actual plan. turns out, they could only find $32 billion in cuts. look at that. what a shame. they said no, no, no. we’re going to actually cut $58 billion, but there’s only eight months. if you do the math it’s only 32, but we should get credit for more and it’s almost close to $100 billion. no, it’s not. it’s not close. $400 billion is how much the republicans added alone by insisting on the bush tax cuts. so let me do the math for you. $400 billion minus $32 billion. that equals $100 billion in cuts? i know republicans think math has a liberal bias. but the committee chairman paul ryan should do the real math and here’s the real math. $400 billion minus $32 billion meaning they they have $368 billion to make up to get to square one. and then the republicans would still have to find another $100 billion to make good on the real promise, the promise you just saw. but let’s just leave all that aside. and look at the $400 billion they added to the deficit. they took out a whopping 8% from that $400 million. wow. when republicans say they care about balancing the budget, it is simply not true. it isn’t within miles of true. they just put another $368 billion hole in the budget and that was mainly to help the rich. they are the ones who believe in redistributing wealth, giving tax breaks to the rich and then cutting programs to the middle class. that’s gop 101. by the way, paul ryan hasn’t even said exactly where the $32 billion in cuts is going to come from. he says that will be up to the different committees to figure out. bold, very, bold. but they have indicated they’re coming to the epa first. taxes ftarks cuts for the rich. pollution for you. you see i’m worked up. tell me where i’m wrong. this isn’t $100 billion, is it?

>> what we’re witnessing is what i call — and i’m trying to trademark this. the fiscal clown show. one of those deal where is the little car comes up and one clown comes out and another. and they’re every stripe, conservative republicans, moderate republicans. and actually president obama himself has played a big role until this, because the first thing that happened after the election, he was saying well, we’re not going to let taxes — the tax cuts extend for those above $250,000 because hey, our deficit is above $1 trillion. then, of course, he signed off on that. so this is a bipartisan fiscal clown show affair. and i think what people need to know about the deficit hawks is that 98.5% of them are not serious or to be believed. it’s something you wield at a cugel to have hit your opponent over the head with. then when time comes to govern, it’s never a good time to cut taxes or spending. there’s a famous line, give me chasity but not quite yet. live me austerity, but not until after the next election.

>> there’s three real deficit hawks in the country and i’m one of them. i don’t believe in any of the tax cuts. i didn’t want them for the rich or even the middle class. because it puts a $400 billion hole in the budget and we can’t deal with that. the president said we’ll give reasonable tax rates but two years from now. but having said that, the republican party, this is their big thing. this is what they run on. look, i’m the guy who balanced the budget. but they’ve never balanced the budget. reagan didn’t balance the budget, george bush didn’t balance the budget. are nay stupid or do they think their followers are stupid? who can’t do math?

>> that’s a difficult choice. maybe it’s both. the difficult thing is governing, which they haven’t had to do the last couple of years and they did a poor job of, it’s much harder than campaigning. you see this with health care. they’ve been saying for a year, we’re going to repeal and replace. well, they vote to repeal, the replacement is something they haven’t had time to work something out. they run on the balanced budget, rolling it back to 2008. there have’s a difference between saying we shall not spend an “x” amount of money. paul ryan can say that without implementing it. and the approach aye tors saying this line is going down 80%, this line is going down 50%. nobody seems to have gone through that exercise. that was always put off until after the election. and i think actually, we’re now in a situation where they’re going to say well, look, the senate is not going to take it up. and obama is not going to sign whatever we do anyway, so really, what’s the point. it’s symbolic without saying by the way, we want to cut education spending 90%.

>> right, we would be really tough, except for the democrats. oh, we would balance the budget but these republicans! either way, we had to give the tax cuts to the rich. this is redistribution of the wealth. when it comes to cut, you say i’ve got to cut entitlements and social security, i’ve got to give you more pollution. isn’t that redistribution of wealth to the top?

>> the misdirection is even beyond that. we hear people say we have an entitlements problem. that’s going to sink us in the long term. social security, aside from not being 234 trouble has helped keep us solvent for all these years. over the last 20 year, these surpluses have built up, they don’t put them in the lock box that also gore talks about. if we hadn’t been spending that social security surplus, the national debt would be even larger. so there is a lot of misdirection about who needs to pay and whose hide that should come out of to deal with the long-term structural imbalances that we have.

>> absolutely right. and they’re going to come to raid social security and say sorry, the money is gone. when that happens, i’m going to explode. you think i’m angry now, wait till you get a load of me then. thanks so much for joining us. really appreciate it.

About William Brighenti

William Brighenti is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and Certified Business Valuation Analyst. Bill began his career in public accounting in 1979. Since then he has worked at various public accounting firms throughout Connecticut. Bill received a Master of Science in Professional Accounting degree from the University of Hartford, after attending the University of Connecticut and Central Connecticut State University for his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. He subsequently attended Purdue University for doctoral studies in Accounting and Quantitative Methods in Business. Bill has instructed graduate and undergraduate courses in Accounting, Auditing, and other subjects at the University of Hartford, Central Connecticut State University, Hartford State Technical College, and Purdue University. He also taught GMAT and CPA Exam Review Classes at the Stanley H. Kaplan Educational Center and at Person-Wolinsky, and is certified to teach trade-related subjects at Connecticut Vocational Technical Schools. His articles on tax and accounting have been published in several professional journals throughout the country as well as on several accounting websites. William was born and raised in New Britain, Connecticut, and served on the City's Board of Finance and Taxation as well as its City Plan Commission. In addition to the blog, Accounting and Taxes Simplified, Bill writes a blog, "The Barefoot Accountant", for the Accounting Web, a Sift Media publication.
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