Welcome to the daily post of keith murray ON BIZ
Get RSS feed for KMOB
Connect to Keith Murray
Post archives
Tuesday
Dec072010

On being a smart consumer of government services: Is "saving" a $100M a big deal?

Is the sale price of something really a good one?

Whenever as consumers we're offered a sale price on something, our first reaction is to weigh the new [sale] offer in our heads to see of the touted price really represents a valid cut in what we're expected to pay in the first place.  After all, there are few other consumer issues more annoying than to find out one's been taken advantage of as a consumer by being offered a bogus price under the guise of something special.  

President Obama recently promised to save $100,000,000 out of the federal budget, all to help show how fiscally responsible his administration can demonstrate itself to be.  Because it was your money and mine before it was his, it stands to reason that the more he saves the better off the rest of us as consumers will be down the road.  

It's really your money we're talking about here.  

And, too, if politicians can work more efficiently--then you and I will not be taxed any more than necessary and in the end, end up with more dough in our pockets to consume, invest, and serve our own interests as we might define them, not the government's!  Thus, if pols are careful with our money, it all stands to reason we can begin to solve the national economic problem we have as well.  So, here's the question:  Is President Obama really offering to do something wonderful--or just make you think it's wonderful when it's really not.  

There's a difference between being partisan versus political.  

[BTW, if you were wondering this isn't a particular criticism of Mr. Obama, Democrats, or Republicans--they're all equal opportunity offenders when it comes to spending what once was and could again be the wealth of consumers.  Instead, it's a look at whether pols can fool us or not by offering to save $100M dollars.  I don't really intend to be partisan here, but I plead guilty to being political--because it's our money they're talking about spending, saving or, failing at the chance to treat it responsibly--it's our money they're going to ask for more of!]

You'll find this easy to figure out.

A friend and blog-follower from Maine called my attention to the following Youtube clip that shows--very dramatically--how much $100M really is when put into the context of the federal budget.  You might be surprised to find out how dramatically small a $100M dollar "saving" is.  Here take a look...  

Should one--as a consumer of government services--be impressed by this offer by President Obama?  In this case of "saving" money, you tell me, is $100M a big deal or not? 
_______________________________________________________________

Follow Keith's biz blog on Twitter for updates and see more of what he's reading about on his Facebook Page.

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

Reader Comments (1)

That was great at helping me understand how very very little we are being given back of our money.

December 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKathy

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
« Making a living after you're gone: The wacky world of personal finance after death. | Main | Spiderman invites you to part with your money: Either $100 or $65,000,000--which should it be? »