• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About

Radio America Online News Bureau

cuts

Voters Don’t Trust Democrats, Worries on Wall Street, Pentagon Purges Absurd Projects

March 11, 2025 by GregC

Listen to “Voters Don’t Trust Democrats, Worries on Wall Street, Pentagon Purges Absurd Projects” on Spreaker.

Join Jim and Greg on 3 Martini Lunch as they actually find a couple of good martinis today! They break down why voters still deeply distrust Democrats, assess the fallout from Monday’s market selloff, and examine the Pentagon cutting some very questionable projects.

First, they dive into a revealing poll from the Democrats’ own data, showing that a strong majority of Americans believe the left doesn’t care about them, disrespects hard work, and is overly obsessed with political correctness. With the 2026 midterms approaching, Democrats face a steep uphill battle to regain voter trust.

Next, they analyze the sharp declines in the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 on Monday. Even more concerning, experts warn that continued selling could be ahead due to uncertainty over tariffs and recession fears. With wildly varying economic forecasts, Jim and Greg discuss what this could mean in the coming months.

Finally, they shake their heads—and share a few laughs—at the 91 Pentagon programs just slashed by the Defense Department. From climate change to time itself, the bizarre and often absurd project names highlight just how much waste was lurking in the budget.

Please visit our great sponsors:

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.
Build your support system, with Betterhelp. Visit https://BetterHelp.com/3ML to get 10% off your first month.

Oracle will cut your cloud bill in half—new US customers only, offer ends March 31st! Check eligibility: https://oracle.com/MARTINI

Share

Filed Under: Afghanistan, Business, congress, Economy, History, Humor, Inflation, Military, News & Politics, Nuclear, polls, Social Media, Spending, Sports, Trade Tagged With: #WallStreet, 3MartiniLunch, cuts, DCCC, democrats, markets, midterms, Pentagon, recession, tariffs, Trump, trust, waste, work

Breaking Down the Budget Battle

May 26, 2017 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/5-25-brat-blog.mp3

President Trump’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year is coming under fierce criticism from Democrats and the media but a House Budget Committee member who spent 20 years as a college economics professor is impressed by Trump’s goals while warning that the president will need to address entitlement spending at some point.

The Trump administration released it’s $4 trillion budget proposal while Trump himself was overseas.  It calls for robust increases in national security spending while calling for considerable cuts to various government departments.  Democrats have labeled the budget as cruel and likely to cause children to die.  Republicans warn the final appropriations bills probably won’t look much like the Trump plan.

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Virginia, spent 20 years as an economics professor at Randolph Macon College.  He believes Trump is generally on the right track.

“Overall, I’m impressed,  It’s got the big pieces in the right place,” said Brat.  “The major piece I like is the policy aimed at getting three percent growth.  That will solve a lot of problems going forward,” said Brat, while praising the policies Trump is clearly emphasizing in the budget.

“It pluses up the military.  It tries to clean out the swamp.  It reduces some bureaucracy.  It balances in 10 years.  All of these are good conservative policies,” said Brat.

Brat says the Trump plan is a great improvement over what the Democrats are proposing.  In fact, he says they have no solutions at all.

“As a visionary document, we’re moving in the right direction.  Across the aisle on the Democrat side, they haven’t even ever put forward a budget that balances, not even in a 75-year window,” said Brat.

Brat and other Republicans admit getting what they want in the appropriations process won’t be easy since Senate rules require at least eight Democrats to approve any spending bills.  But while Democrats can gum up the process, Brat is acutely aware that voters will not accept failure when it comes to fiscal discipline.

“We should compromise but we shouldn’t give away the store.  In my view, the other side has given away the store too often.  On our side, we need to clean up some of this, rearrange the (entitlement) programs so the kids get sustained benefits over their lifetimes.  We’ve got to get the economy moving and some of that requires discipline,” said Brat.

“So our side gets hit hard but we need to step up to the plate and take it.  That’s our job and the American people expect us to get it straight,” said Brat.

But what about Democrats alleging children will die as a result of the Trump budget?  That allegation was especially targeted towards a proposed $800 billion in Medicaid cuts.  Brat says that’s dishonest reporting of the facts.

“The Democrats call them cuts.  They’re cuts from the baseline.  Medicaid still keeps increasing.  It just doesn’t increase at the pace it was going at, and that pace is bankrupting the country,” said Brat.  “Lot of politics going on right now but not much substance offered by the other side.  They’re great at hurling the insults but they’re short on the economic studies,” said Brat.

He also says White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney made it very clear how he want about finding places to cut in the Fiscal 2018 budget.

“He said, ‘Look, there’s no mystery.  It’s just like running a business.  You look at each of these programs one by one by one and you compare the benefits against the cost.’  He made it very clear the safety net is not in question,” said Brat.

Brat says Democrats and Republicans need to realize that calling for a trillion dollars in cuts is just the tip of the iceberg.

“Some on the left are giving us a hard time over trying to save a trillion dollars or so, but even if we save one trillion that leaves you with another hundred trillion dollar shortfall with Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, etc,” said Brat, who says failure to address the key entitlements will make 10-year spending cuts seem like loose change.

“Either you reform them and update them or else the kids get nothing.  The left is acting like ‘draconian’ cuts are going to hurt people.  Those cuts are nothing in comparison to the mandatory piece,” said Brat.

He says the clock is ticking loudly and time is short before entitlements engulf the entire budget.

“Those mandatory programs will account for 100 percent of all federal revenues in about 15 years.  That’s not a typo.  All federal revenues will be spent only on the mandatory.  That means there’s no money for the military, transportation, running government,” said Brat.

With that kind of looming fiscal crisis, Brat says the only path forward is to get every able-bodied adult into the workforce, and that’s where tax reform and tax cuts come in.  He says the demonizing of so-called supply side economics is bizarre.

“That term is used as a pejorative right now in D.C., supply-side tax cuts.  I taught economics for 20 years.  The demand side is all the people out there called consumers.  The supply side is also everybody out there that works for a living in business.  That’s the supply side,” said Brat.

He says it’s time for Washington to embrace the supply side again, since pumping up the demand side was a major flop.

“We’ve tried demand side stuff.  We’ve had bailouts, etc. that pumped money back into people’s pockets.  It gives you an instantaneous jolt, but if you’re serious about getting the economy growing you better incentivize business.  Trump probably won the election on that,” said Brat.

Brat believes doing tax cuts and tax reform right will set the stage for economic growth, which is the best hope for avoiding fiscal disaster in the near future.  He says tax cuts give businesses reason to hire, thereby beefing up the labor participation rate and bringing in more federal revenues through taxes.

“If we solve that one it’s huge,” said Brat.  “I think a lot of the worries go away if we get this economy rolling again.”

Standard Podcast [ 12:03 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: appropriations, Brat, budget, cuts, democrats, Medicaid, news, spending, taxes, Trump

Primary Sidebar

Recent

  • Mossad’s Masterful Bunker Trap, Trump Still Pursuing Nuke Deal, Dems Amnesty Delusion
  • Trump Keeps Iran Guessing, Supremes Uphold Tennessee Trans Law, More Dem Deportation Drama
  • Trump Warns Tehran, Does Trump Trust Tulsi? Mayor Bass Admits Exploiting Illegals
  • Iran Begs for Ceasefire, NY Times Unloads on Mamdani, Fake Cop Targets Minnesota Lawmakers
  • Israel Targets Iranian Nukes, How Trump is Navigating Israel-Iran, Sen. Padilla’s PR Stunt

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in