Government Spending

In three news conferences last week, President-elect Barack Obama began to outline an economic stimulus and recovery program involving public works, tax breaks and new federal funding for energy research. The planned initiatives provided a spark of optimism amid the nation's worsening financial outlook, but elements crucial for a sustained recovery are yet missing and many important details remain to be filled in, economists say.

Since President-elect Barack Obama laid out plans for the largest injection of federal spending into the economy since the New Deal, just about everyone has started angling for a piece of the action.

There's a giant Christmas tree all lit up outside California's Capitol. But inside, the place is hardly filled with tidings of joy. This has not been a season to be jolly. The state faces a real danger of running out of cash by spring. Major highway projects already are being delayed because the state can't sell bonds. It's facing a $15-billion deficit in the fiscal year that ends June 30 and, if nothing's done about it, another $25-billion-plus for the next fiscal year.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee called for an across-the-board cut in federal spending to finance a $10-billion package of anti-drug funding--some $2 billion more than the $7.9 billion proposed by President Bush. The sweeping proposal by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.

HEY, is that any way to talk about the mayor of Los Angeles? In the play "Water & Power," written by Richard Montoya for the comedy troupe Culture Clash, a character describes Antonio Villaraigosa like this: "Underneath those expensive suits beats the heart of a homey who got kicked out of Cathedral High." Is that insolent evaluation OK with His Honor? "I love those guys, I really do," Villaraigosa replies.

The California Arts Council -- already the lowest-funded state arts agency, per capita, in the nation -- will take a $17,000 cut under the 2007-08 proposed budget submitted Wednesday by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Under the proposal, the budget will be slashed from $5,303,000 to $5,286,000. The biggest chunk of funding, $2.8 million, is expected to once again rely on motorists who voluntarily pay extra for arts-supporter license plates. The plan calls for $1.

By the time the Vietnam war ended in 1975, it had become America's longest war, shadowed the legacies of four presidents, killed 58,000 Americans along with many thousands more Vietnamese, and cost the U.S. more than $660 billion in today's dollars.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke delivered a stern warning to Congress on Thursday to address the national debt, saying spiraling government spending could lead to a "vicious cycle" of even bigger federal budget deficits. "The longer we wait, the more severe, the more draconian, the more difficult the objectives are going to be" in responding to the crisis, he said. "The right time to start was about 10 years ago." Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.

In a bid to balance the federal budget in five years, President Bush will seek cuts in several key programs. But the spending blueprint he sends to Congress on Monday leaves room for some sweeteners, according to administration officials. Under the Bush plan, grants for college students would rise after remaining stagnant for three years, and some parts of the No Child Left Behind Act would receive additional funding.

When the Bush administration unveils its annual spending request today, it is expected to ask for a defense budget of $481 billion -- near historic highs, even when adjusted for inflation. It will also ask for additional funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, taking the cost of those wars this year to close to $165 billion, and will present estimates for next year's costs that would push war spending above the total cost of the Vietnam War.