Bake Sales for Bombers

Its real, the day is upon us.
Remember, back in the day, the t-shirt that said "It will be a fine day when schools have all the money they need, and the Military has to hold a bake sale to build a bomber".  And kids were climbing in sillouette on a jungle gym?

Yep, got one of those t-shirts, yellow-beige with green text.  Stored away someplace, awaiting moving to a new house.  If I had a dollar for every t-shirt I've saved, I could probably have a nice down payment.

So this week, the U.S. House passed a FY 2013 budget template, handing certain $dollar amounts to the 12 different subcommittees responsible for appropriation.  The meta picture is that they are working with a budget amount $1.028 trillion, that is less than that agreed to in last year's summer budget drama.  Just like an ongoing mystery saga that is so horrible you cannot avert your eyes, I do wonder what new drama this coming summer will bring - or more likely they will keep me hanging, cspan episode by cspan episode, till the fall.  And force me to squander early morning and late nights trying to see how it all ends - does he get the girl?  Do we fall into the ocean, with or without global warming?  Or do we elect some savior who brings our economy back to the exceptional place it once was?

The President has already said the budget figure is $1.047 trillion.  Honestly, these numbers don't mean anything to me - they sound pretty close.  I mean we're not building a rocket to Mars or anything, what is .019 trillion between friends?  Except of course no one is friendly in Congress, its all out war.

So the line items for the various appropriation bills show:  $573 billion, as an outlay for Defense.  Sounds like a lot.  Another category that I am obligated to follow is Labor/HHS/Education - and, while the discretionary portion is small, the 'mandatory' amount is $593 billion.  This covers mandatory spending (which is not discretionary, so not subject to slashes unless they take dramatic and revolutionary action) - includes unemployment insurance, Medicaid, Medicare.

So we are paying out more in entitlement programs than we are spending on the military.  Of course this is all projected for Fiscal Year 2013.  Which starts in October. 

Lets see, if I wanted to bake something for my favorite missle sysetm - I liked the ones they used in Libya.  We were the only country armed and ready to step in, at a moment's notice.  War Powers Act?  Hmm, well the President can engage in war for up to 60 days without Congressional approval.  And he did so.

People like those chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They even sound healthy!  So if everyone in the country made a batch of cookies - sold them for $10, that is $10 * 300 million = $3 billion.  Sounds like enough for an arsenal of bombers.