Federal College Aid Cuts Planned

It really is frustrating. President Bush's Administration has decided to freeze Pell Grant funding at the current level and eliminate Perkin's Loans. Not only is our deficit ballooning, but vital services and funding are being cut. Sadly, we all know where that funding is going. It's called funding for "homeland security" tied to a war. Although, recent elections indicate all the United States is doing is increasing tensions. It's a slippery slope.

So, what does this mean? It makes college less accessible to even more people. Despite this, the United States has let its manufacturing sector almost disappear. So, people need more education to escape poverty; yet, the government is making it more difficult to get an education. So, if approved, the end result will be an even greater gap between the poor and the rich. The "American Dream" sounds nice. But, watch out, it's fleeting with changes like this one.

Bush's Budget

President Bush recently unveiled his budget. It's even worse than his State of the Union Address. Every time I think he might be waking up a bit and seeing the current reality, he proves me wrong. He wants to make past tax cuts permanent, which is nice. However, the deficit is projected to hit a record $423 billion. So much for conservative fiscal policy.

Then one has to look at how the record spending is planned to be distributed. The military, of course, will see a huge increase. Most level-headed people knew Iraq would turn into what is has, and it has been a financial sink hole. This is despite other nations continuing to actually tell us they have weapons of mass destruction. Oops.

President Bush emphasized the need for the U.S. to remain competitive economically. Despite that, he plans to cut funding by $59 million to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program. It's one of the few tools that can be used to keep the U.S. somewhat competitive in manufacturing. With that said, hopefully his American Competitiveness Initiative will pick up some of the slack.

Here's the shocker. Of the planned cuts and reductions, over one-third reside in education. This makes No Child Left Behind even more laughable. Of course, even worse, is programs like the American Competitiveness Initiative will be a waste if our students aren't competitive. But, as Bush said, "My administration has focused the nation's resources on our highest priority -- protecting our citizens and our homeland." Sigh.

Finally, he, in effect, cut some healthcare related services tied to Medicare. While increased efficiency is desperately need in healthcare, he didn't really address that issue. Instead, he called this a "spending control" despite it lacking a real plan to reduce spending, as opposed to services and quality of life.

Finally, while he does plan to cut into the deficit down the road, even this year's budget is optimistic as it includes money he won't likely see. While the American Competitiveness Initiative and the focus on energy are a plus, the rest was disappointing. Americans can look forward to a record deficit, despite seeing very little of the spending benefit. But, don't worry, it'll be chalked up to "security." Too bad it's at the expense of quality of life. Oh, and don't worry, we'll pay for this fiscal irresponsibility long after he leaves office.

A Disappointing State of the Union Address

The address seemed to be high-level, but largely empty on real plans. The biggest disappointment, in my opinion, was the lack of real planning for the beleaguered United States healthcare system. He devoted a mere two paragraphs to the topic. The only real concept mentioned was tax-free healthcare savings accounts. Clearly, the U.S. will need to see more than that to increase the amount of coverage and decrease the burden on businesses that is helping make the country less competitive.

On the bright side, he did bring some attention to the energy crisis. While it's a positive sign, we'll have to see if this is more than rhetoric tied to a hot topic. The president recently signed a bill providing tax breaks to producers for oil and gas drilling. So it seems inconsistent with recent actions. However, if he really puts money towards research that will make new technologies (and current ones like ethanol) more likely to become more mainstream, it can only be a positive.

He of course emphasized the need to stay the course in Iraq, as expected, which is probably the only option at this stage. Although, particularly depressing was the arrest of Cindy Sheehan for wearing a shirt that said "2,245 dead. How many more?". Given how the country is supposedly focused on spreading freedom, it seems odd to remove freedom of speech (actually, she didn't say anything, clothing maybe?) from the United States House of Representatives. They seem to now admit it was a mistake, perhaps they realized the hypocrisy.

All in all, it was clearly a more cautious speech, likely because of his sub par approval ratings. The war continues to take up a lot of time and money. Hitting on oil is positive. The lack of plans for healthcare and the economy is concerning. Hopefully it won't be more of the same, but the speech seemed close to the status quo.