TRUMP BUDGET WORKS FOR TAXPAYERS, CUTS 19 PROGRAMS AND SAVES $3.1 BILLION
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 2017) — One of the initial aims of President Donald Trump has been met. On the campaign trail, Trump talked about taking the first steps, small though they may be, in trying to get Big Government off of citizens’ backs and out of their pockets.
The President’s budget increased funding for some departments (defense, homeland security, veterans’ affairs), and cut some (treasury, justice, HUD). The most significant aspect of Trump’s spending plan, however, is the elimination of 19 federal departments, agencies, and programs.
The eliminations would trim $3.1 billion from the budget — $9.43 per year per American. Compared to the an $18 trillion economy and an even larger debt, that may not sound like much, but THE PLANET blesses it. The reductions are a needed step in a new direction, one that tries to make more of less.
Here are the departments eliminated (source: Money dot com).
- African Development Foundation — You never heard of it. $28.2 million goes to Africa to “alleviate poverty.”
- Appalachian Regional Commission — $27 million for education in 12 one of the poorest areas of the country. Sounds good, but why was this a federal problem?
- Chemical Safety Board — $12.4 million. Truly?
- Corporation for National and Community Service — $1.1 billion. Community service should be generated locally through volunteerism.
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting — $445 million. Big Bird, fly away!
- Delta Regional Authority — $15.9 million. This money goes to eight states from Louisiana to Missouri and Kentucky. That’s where they practice “swamp politics.”
- Denali Commission — $19 million. The “economic and infrastructure projects” in Alaska will have to look elsewhere. “Joe’s brother-in-law” won’t like it.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services — $230 million in grants to fund “make work” jobs for bureaucrats.
- Inter-American Foundation —$22.2 million. Gigs like provide two jobs: a con job and a snow job.
- U.S. Trade and Development Agency — $80.7 million. Free trade should be free based on market conditions, not forced politics.
- Legal Services Corporation — $502.7 million. Subsidizes legal services for the poor. Ever hear of the Latin phrase, pro bono?
- National Endowment for the Arts — $149.8 million. This money supports “artists” across the country. An “artist” is someone who puts a crucifix in a pot of piss.
- National Endowment for the Humanities — $149.8 million. Ken Burns, we hardly knew ye.
- Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. — $140 million. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
- Northern Border Regional Commission — $5 million. The name says it all.
- Overseas Private Investment Corp. — $125 million. “Private?” Not on your life.
- U.S. Institute of Peace — $37.9 million, making the world less violent by paying an executive director to play solitaire on his Mac.
- U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness — $3.6 million. Two words: states’ rights.
- Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars — $10.4 million. This “living memorial” to the 28th president? We call it a “woody.”
As this list demonstrates, President Trump has government heading in the right direction. It doesn’t go far enough, but it’s a start.
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“The value of a thing … does not lie in that which one attains by it, but in what one pays for it.” — Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Love it. Thank you President Trump. Sounds like a lot of bureaucratic waste. If liberals try to get rid of Trump for any reason, Mike Pence will undoubtedly carry on the Trump agenda with an even more conservative twist.
Like all the cuts except for one – Corporation for Public Broadcasting. PBS is one of the few TV stations worth watching. Guess they’ll have to look for private funding now.
The big question is, how did all these wasteful departments ever get created in the first place?
The regressive dont want a needle exchange program. You get needles tossed in the grass where you cant see them and the kids walk down a street and get a needle with the most toxic killing drug in that discarded needle in their foot and your happy because you think a needle exchange promotes using .
So when an addict gets a clean needle, uses it, infects it, and tosses that into the grass how is that different? How is that fixing the problem?
And you do know when an addict gets a clean needle they do plan on using it? Then it’s dirty just like the one they turned in. That program does nothing to solve the problem, it’s just tax payer supplied money for the company making the needles and those handing them out. Wake up.
Reply to school committee: Yes! You are right–needle exchange and drug/heroin exchange is needed:))
Only good quality heroin should be allowed, not some cheap immitation and for that we need needle exchange program! Bravo!
…I don’t like Muslim countries for their civil rights violations, but
they managed to stay away from drugs and needles completely:))
So, we should learn some from them.
Trumps son Don Jr. Said he would meet with Russian lawyer to get new dirt on Hillary to influence the election and all of this is admitted by Don jr.What do you guys call this.
Opposition research.
What do you call the Clinton campaign hiring that firm to use an ex British intelligence officer to dig up FAKE ‘dirty dossier’ on Trump?
She lost, get over it snowflake
Reply to school committee: I call it–Democratic party histeria and
non-stop brainwashing campaign.
Hillary Clinton took money –several $Million from Ukrainian criminal/politician before election.
Hillary Clinton was involved in Moscow nuclear Uranium purchase.
All that is proven. Hillary was involved in about 14-16 national scandals during her life with some people being murdered or
as they say “commited suicide”
Reply to school committee about dirt on Hillary:
Let’s apply logic and common sense.
There was a lot of dirt on Hillary for many years, Dems didn’t want public to know about. Political and Legal scandals including “suicides”/accidents with Hillary’s friends who knew too much…
So, instead of cleaning their house and opening that to public, Liberals blame Trump for even trying to get that info!
Completely crazy Dem/Liberal approach.
So, they basically ready to fry anybody who simply shows
Hillary’s wrong doings.
When did the budget pass?
Not yet. This is the proposed budget.
So then this column is Satire?
I wonder if any of these statements are true?
(a) Donald Trump will release his tax returns
(b) Donald Trump declared business bankruptcy 4 times
(c) Donald Trump will balance the federal budget
(d) Donald Trump’s budget proposal relies on 4% GDP growth to avoid increasing deficits
(e) Donald Trump’s budget proposal is dead on arrival in Congress
Will 0bama release his college transcripts?
Seven famous people who survived bankruptcy
Abraham Lincoln. His face may now appear on the penny, but at one time, Lincoln didn’t have a single cent to spare. …
Henry Ford. …
Walt Disney. …
Milton Hershey. …
Burt Reynolds. …
H.J. Heinz. …
P.T. Barnum.
I’m glad to see someone associating Trump with his true peers, businessmen and celebrities, rather than political leaders.
Couldn’t care less about a and b. The rest do bear watching.
Reply to Johathan Melle:
#1 Donald Trump has No legal obligation to release his tax return.
#2 You and Hillary may declare the bankrupcy a few times or so
if Law allows that–you should not cry. Don’t like the bankruptcy Law? File the Bill to ban it and you,Dems already banned everything what moves in Pittsfield–plastic bags–Bann proposed,
sr\tyrofoam coffe caps–banned, Elefant circuces–banned, tobacco permits–illegally restricted to some number out of blue, cigars can’t be sold in Pittsfield less than $2 per cigar,Free speech limited to 3 min on Council meetings, Human Rights Commission–No Republicans, No conservatives appointed by her Dem/Liberal Magesty.
#3 Trump should balance Obama’s messed budget??? And you cry loudly for not balancing Obama’s mess fast enough?
Where have you been when Dem/Progressive Bama did it?
#4 Economy is not a space ship–it takes time.
The agencies eliminated add up to $3.1 billion which is a big number to me — maybe to you too– but its .0008 of a $4,100 billion ($4.1 trillion) Trump budget. It signals that constantly rising funding will not be the norm for any agency but has a trivial effect on the deficit and debt. The US Government is basically an insurance company with a military. To even come close to balancing the budget you have to reduce the rate of growth of the big four: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Military. Medicaid is the fastest growing of the big four over the next two years. You can see the constant pounding on GOPCare for reducing the rate of growth of Medicaid.
What’s the alternative to the growth in entitlements: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, VA, other programs?
These programs come with costs of trillions of dollars, but they also provide a lot of benefits to both people and society!
Once entitlements are given, they can never be taken away!
Until you run out of other people’s money.
Ebenezer Scrooge would say something like that! “Bah! Humbug!”
Or how about, “If there is no bread, let them eat cake!”
Or how about, “Throw your grandmother off the fiscal cliff!”
You must be reading Shecky Dickens as Charles never wrote any such thing.
Marie Antoinette never said , “If there is no bread, let them eat cake!” Attribution of this quote is the work of the liberal fascists who committed the French revolution.
Or bankrupt the country.
J Melle, you call things that we paid into entitlements. You’re full of it. I never agreed to have ss taken out of my paycheck, the government is the one who promised me care after serving ( I think I paid for it with my many years of service).
To me entitlements are all the give away we have to people who have never contributed anything including society.
Every penny is recycled back into the economy.
Americans wants medicare Medicaid and SS end of story,regressives dont want it because of brainwashing .
Working Americans pay into SS and Medicare via payroll tax so those are deserved entitlements. SSID, which is given out like candy is a different story in way too many cases. Our soldiers deserve VA benefits because they served our country, and often give life or limb. Medicaid is a huge problem – freebies handed out to those who don’t pay taxes, refuse to work, and burden the whole system with all the kids they have yet don’t take care of properly.
Get rid of Medicare for old people. End meals on wheels. End community Development Block Grant, and end Title III grants to keep poorly performing community colleges like BCC open with federal funds.
Medicare stays. Hard working people pay into it their whole lives. It’s an entitlement people are actually entitled to, like SS.
Torch you’re so funny.
Medicare is funded by people still working, not those who paid into it their whole lives. Convert it to HSA accounts if you want to keep it around.
Every “free thing” needs to be paid for, every public sector job has to be paid for. It’s great until you run out of other folks money like Greece did and um….Pittsfield
This is the Berkshire Eagle’s response to the article over the weekend that Berkshire County is in bad shape when it comes to jobs and its economy.
“Berkshire County is a region possessing special charms to all who live and visit here, among them being captivating scenery and an arts scene second to none. Less apparent to part-time sojourners, however, is the fact that there are really two faces to the Berkshires — the one being the more well-known destination spot and playground for the better-off, the other comprising a full-time resident population, many of whose lives remain a perpetual struggle for survival.
A recent economic study of the region that includes Berkshire County and surrounding areas of New York, Connecticut and Vermont has just been released by the non-profit Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (Eagle, July 15). It reveals, among other data, that a lack of available jobs is a reason that more than 30 percent of residents would consider moving out of the area. Sixty percent have trouble finding jobs for themselves or a family member. More significant and frustrating is the finding that labor force participation, which measures employment among the active workforce, sits at 50 to 75 percent in the region.
Contrast that last piece of data with a figure recently supplied to The Eagle by Heather P. Boulger, executive director of the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board: there are 4,800 companies in Berkshire County posting almost 2,000 job openings to the state Some of these jobs require technology training and skills, but 55 percent of them are entry-level and unskilled, according to Ms. Boulger. A great number require no more than basic computer skills, an honest work ethic, and the ability to take direction and communicate.
Meanwhile, the Berkshire Taconic report has found that the number of vacation and second homes in the region has increased by 28 percent from 2000 to 2014, yet 30 percent of the same region’s residents have trouble finding affordable housing. This disparity calls for concerted efforts to address its underlying causes.
These issues are not new and a regional effort has been undertaken by businesses, colleges and community leaders to address them by properly training the workforce and giving it incentives to fill vacant jobs that local companies are struggling to fill with competent workers. The Foundation’s findings, however, testify to the persistence of the issues the county faces even as educational institutions, business leaders and elected officials work to confront them.
In a sign that the various agencies involved understand that interdependency is the key to success, Berkshire Community College has just hired Jill Sasso Curtis as its new dean of community engagement, education and workforce development. Ms. Sasso Curtis plans to work with Ms. Boulger and the BCREB, as well as with other entities, both for- and non-profit, to determine what specific programs should be developed and taught by the college to meet the needs of local employers.
In addition, more of the kind of outreach that the BCREB is making in connecting a willing workforce with the right jobs will help overcome the discouragement and despair that job seekers experience when they fail to achieve success in their search. With imagination and cooperation, job-seekers can be matched with businesses seeking to fill vacancies and the income disparity can be narrowed.”
Which baboonic buffoon wrote this Pat?
Why aren’t BCREB and Berkshire WORKS combined with this ridiculous new position to decrease redundancy and streamline services to the students?
According to the article there are currently 2,000 jobs available in Berkshire County many of which are entry level and require only basic computer skills and the ability to communicate and follow directions. Now these are skills that many people in this area do have. The trouble is that the number is not correct. There are not currently 2,000 jobs available. A Berkshire Works employee told me that these numbers are not correct. It’s more like 500 are available and many of these require Bachelor’s degrees in engineering or computer science or are low paying retail type jobs. Again both extremes but nothing in the middle. Signs of a very weak economy.
Where is Ms. Boulger getting this false data?
If you torture the data long enough it will confess to anything. Anyone can manipulate numbers (aka lying) to support a point of view. Funny how the article never mentions that these entry level jobs pay crap wages with no or little benefits, and very little chance of advancement. Then they wonder why good workers don’t apply for them.
And of course, let’s not forget the Mayor’s use of the fake numbers to support her false claim there are plenty of jobs around here.
I thought progressives always tell the truth?
Yeah, BJ’s on the west side from drug fueled pavement princesses.
I once spent over one whole year of my adult life looking for a job in Pittsfield without success. I had better odds winning the lottery jackpot than finding work in the beautiful Berkshires. I moved away long ago, but I still read about how economically unequal Pittsfield still is. You are either wealthy or on welfare. There is no middle class. You have to be politically connected to find work in Pittsfield. Pittsfield will never change!
One day I spent a month in Pittsfield
I love every one of these cuts. And there could and should be more.
Trump’s my guy!
Trump approval rating one of the lowest in History, just reported on Ox.
They only polled progressives.
Polls are totally useless. But if they give you some kind of comfort because HRC lost go for it. But she still lost.
Trump is really a fool.
Don’t you think the politicians in Berkshire County are fools since this area continues its downward slide?
No Wall and no replacement of Medicare.
We’re Losing. Anyone get a Trump Job yet?
Anyone get a Linda Tyer job yet?
No comment
I believe there’s no coal on Mt. Greylock?
So many Trump grumps posting
According to the last BCC audit online, there were nearly $4.5 million federal dollars sent to the poorly performing school each year. If we cut federal funding completely to the community college, most of which would happen with the abolishment of the US department of education, it would equal $35 per Berkshire County Resident. Nearly 3.5 times Trump’s fairytale budget.
Therefore the message is the man can’t get it done, is as much a liar and thief as cLinton and has multiple wives and
children running the f-ing white house.
Planet? Kickbacks…..Sweetners…lo !
Trump will provide cheaper and it will be better coverage with small deductables…..when Will he do this Pat,planet,shakes..when?
Obviously Obama didn’t know how to provide better coverage with small deductibles either or his plan wouldn’t be imploding now. Liberals figured they would win the election and then change everything over to a single payer system like that would solve all the problems. You see what is happening with the parents in England who want to try other methods to save their child, but are being prevented by the government. That is socialized medicine. Government makes all the decisions on your healthcare whether you like it or not.
It isn’t different from insurance companies now. Insurance isn’t about keeping people alive, it is about making money.
Go to the Boston Herald site to lookup state pensions,and or state salaries…college,state police,state mental health worker,just write in a name
Former sheriff gets 100g.
another day on Planet Pat
From the American Spectator more info on the Charlie Gard case since there is no mention of it in this area:
“Most of the people following the macabre case of Charlie Gard were relieved when the British hospital holding the child hostage decided to let the 11-month old live until it has conferred with Perfidious Albion’s High Court. In a statement issued Friday, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) added that it had condescended to inform Charlie’s parents of the decision, “and will continue to keep them fully appraised of the situation.” In a sane world most observers would shout, “What in Hell does the court system have to do with this kid’s care and why are his parents treated as mere bystanders?”
Welcome to the brave new world of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), where fiscal chaos is rife, morally bankrupt bureaucrats collude with bewigged judges in scarlet robes to decide who deserves treatment, and pestiferous patients are expected to be grateful for “free” health care. For the happy few who have remained blissfully unaware of the grotesque saga of GOSH and its diminutive victim here’s some background on Charlie’s situation from the “Charlie’s Fight” website created by his parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, to raise public awareness of this perversion of medical ethics:
Charlie’s condition is caused by a disruption in the mitochondria, the part of the cell that provides energy to his muscles, kidneys and brain. There is a new treatment available which is a nucleoside bypass therapy, which could potentially repair Charlie’s mtDNA and help it synthase again by giving him the naturally occurring compounds that his body isn’t able to produce. It’s oral medication so it’s nothing invasive or harmful.
Charlie’s condition is extremely rare and uniformly fatal. Moreover, the nucleoside bypass therapy that his parents want to try is experimental and may require transporting Charlie to the U.S. Thus, the bureaucrats and doctors of GOSH decided that Charlie’s case is hopeless and that he should be taken off of life support. The boy’s parents disagreed with that decision and initiated a legal challenge against it, but they got nowhere in the lower courts and Britain’s High Court ruled against them. And, when the parents appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, it didn’t deign to hear the case.
Under ordinary circumstances, this would boil down to resources. The NHS, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, is running out of other people’s money. But, in Charlie’s case, money is not a problem. Gard and Yates have raised more than £1.3 million from sympathetic donors, so it would cost the NHS nothing to accede to their wishes. So, why won’t they set Charlie free? The answer is all too obvious: Socialized medicine isn’t about health care — it’s about power. The bureaucrats of the social democratic state see the resourceful individualism represented by Charlie’s parents as an existential threat.”
That’s the least of the problems in London Pat. There now is a current epidemic of ACID throwing, over 300 incidents in the last few months.In Pittsfield,heard on the scanner last night some knucklehead shooting at house windows.Mayor Tyer should get the troops together for a conference of the Ity’s Violence and Crimes it’s out of control, throwing money at it isn’t working.
I agree. I think they need to send the troublemakers out of the area like all of the criminals and bad guys were cleared out of New York City. The problem is there are so many of them here in Pittsfield and North Adams is bad for crime too.
Acid attacks are horrible. The damage they do not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. Hope these are not ISIS inspired attacks.
Republicans love torturing comatose vegetables like little Charlie Gard and Terry Schaivo.
It’s not Republicans, but his parents who are fighting to try an experimental treatment to keep their son alive. Whether you agree with it or not, they should have the right to do so if they can pay for it. This is about the parent’s right to care for and accompany their child to the end.
That’s why I think of you as Shakes His Cabbage Head.
Your father was a summer squash.
It is inhumane and will do nothing to give their son a meaningful life.
If you were brain dead tomorrow you want the machines on until you expire?
Charlie is under his parent’s care and this is about parental rights. Charlie may die anyway, but his parents have the right to make sure they have done all they could if that is what they want.
Absolutely Pat! They are the ultimate parents!
So the parent of a Jehovah’s witness should be legally able to refuse a lifesaving blood transfusion for their minor child and allow them to die?
As long as you’re happy paying for it. To keep hi alive and to house a convicted murderer after 25 years I jail would cost a bout 12 million dollars.
Question; In nineteen Hours a Parole board will decide whether or not to release O J Simpson, any predictions? I say Yes.
He’s coming to Pittsfield and Cliffy will be his probation officer.
I D G A F NO
Absolutely not., but it would give him the opportunity to look for the real killer.
The Juice could be loose. There are actually people out there that think he is innocent, Tripump was one of them.
The are people who believe Trump and OJ.are innocent.You know things are bad when the ITAM closes.
Trump and OJ have nothing to do with the Itam closing. The blame for the Berkshires going downhill belongs to the progressives. There is nobody else to blame because progressives are the only political party in this city, county and state. They are responsible for the current economic situation we are facing here in Berkshire County. The lack of jobs, out of control crime, and lack of responsiveness to the public are progressive failures. Not to mention the local media printing lots of fake news about the job situation in the county. Inflating available job numbers that we know are not accurate.
The planet advocate lying by the Trump family .
No one becomes that rich and successful by being honest.
Came across my inbox:
Townsquare Media, Inc. (NYSE: TSQ) (the “Company”) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 6 radio stations and two FM translators in and around the Pittsfield, MA market, from Gamma Broadcasting LLC and Berkshire Broadcasting Co., Inc. (the “Acquisition”) .In connection with the Acquisition, Townsquare is acquiring assets including 3 radio stations and 1 FM translator (WBEC-FM 95.9, WBEC(AM) 1420, WUPE(AM) 1110 and a FM translator broadcasting at 94.1) from Gamma Broadcasting LLC. Townsquare is also acquiring the capital stock of Berkshire Broadcasting Co., Inc., including 3 radio stations and 1 FM translator (WUPE-FM 100.1, WNAW(AM) 1230, WSBS(AM) 860 and a FM translator broadcasting at 103.3). Townsquare is a media, entertainment and digital marketing solutions company principally focused on small and mid-sized markets across the U.S. Our assets include 312 radio stations and more than 325 local websites in 66 U.S. markets, a digital marketing solutions company serving approximately 11,200 small to medium sized businesses,
I wondered what was going on with some of my favorite radio programs. All I would get is a fuzzy sound on the station at times all this week except in the afternoon. Does this mean all new programming?
The towers are being painted and the power needs to be turned down to protect the towers. When the painting is finished your programs will be returned to full strength.
Make that ” to protect the painters”
So how long before they start to shut down some of these stations?
Gesus I thought o j was doing the news.
O J said he would never never pull a weapon on anybody. R U Serious? O J should stay in Nevada and cut Cards for a living.
Regressives dont like good wages
How are the rich supposed to get richer if they pay a living wage?
Now Trump wants to know if he can pardon his family.
and ya gotta wonder….why would he even be thinking about that?
do you think maybe he is just a curious kind of guy Pat?
Please, read Agenda21 on google or youtube.
United nation adopted Global Government Plan they call
Sustaine Development for Globe with aim to redistribute the wealth from Western countries to 3rd World/ developing ones, with future objective for One World government as UN with cries about environment and population control. Our Dem/Liberals want no less than that–therefore, No borders needed, No immigration Laws.
Firearms should be confiscated, Free speech baned.