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Introduction
It is the prime duty of every government in the world to ensure its country puts in place a balanced budget. A balanced budget is the one that addresses all the crucial issues especially the ones concerning the public. Country’s priorities differ from country to country and so their policies (Peters, 2010). This may be partially due to country’s stage of development.
United States Policymakers
The policy makers in United States are actively involved in formulating crucial decision-making programmes concerning the nation’s progress. Bearing in mind that the country is the world superpower and so despite creating policies tackling their domestic issues, it must also formulate foreign policies regarding other countries. The US budget mostly tackles issues concerning security, economy, education, energy, social welfare among others (King, 2009). In the given scenario, the available funds cannot adequately cover all the required areas. Therefore as a policymaker, important areas that cannot be left behind have to be looked into. In US, anything to do with strengthening of the country’s economy is always given a priority since the nation gives financial aid to may countries and in particular third world nations. The country has to maintain its financial status quo of being the world’s largest economy (Bickers & Williams, 2001).
The other crucial area is the security and defense. The country’s defense system is equally important like its economy. This is because the country ought to have strong security and military equipments due to potential threats posed by the leading terror groups and its position for endless fight against global terrorism. Besides, the country sends its military troops to several countries for peacekeeping mission and other specialized activities, therefore having huge military and sophisticated military equipments is very important.
The implication of the given Scenario
As a policymaker, social security and other prior obligations have to be fully catered for since this concerns the well-being of US civilians. The people’s welfare is a priority therefore the amount totaling $1636 billion has to be accounted for. Again, national defense funds have to be provided to enhance the country’s security, which is a mandatory in the United States (Greenblatt, 2009). In situations of budget deficits, non-priority items can be ignored and their attention awaits the next fiscal year.
Therefore, non-discretionary payments for national debts for national debt of $260 billion can be ignored and instead the amount be diverted to president’s proposal for discretionary domestic programs. The domestic programs, though not a key priority is considered significant for the country’s progress. However, this amount cannot be fully catered for and it will have to be reduced to a greater extend up to a level where the budget is balanced i.e. the total revenues equals the total expenditures. Achieving a balanced budget is not easy. There are only few countries in the world with surplus budgets and such economies are usually referred to as ‘Tiger’ economies for example China (Greenblatt, 2009).
From the economic point of view, having surplus or balanced budgets is not advisable since it implies that the government is getting more from the taxpayer than it is spending. The deficits should therefore not be so great. The predicted deficit will result from the expected request for the Afghanistan and Iraq in which the United States is obliged to fulfill according to US policies. This is aimed at restoring international peace and security through fighting terrorism and the government has to set aside funds for such purposes (Henderson, 1998).
Conclusion
Proper planning and prioritization is very essential in achievement of the government’s objective of having a balanced budget. However, since balancing the total revenues and expenditures may not be possible the policymakers must ensure that the deficits are as small as possible. The United States budget is a unique one in the sense that it must incorporate some aspects tackling foreign affairs of other countries unlike other nations that only plan for their own domestic affairs (Su, Kamlet & Mowery, 1993).
References
Bickers, K. N., & Williams, J. T. (2001). Public policy analysis: A Political Economy Approach. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Greenblatt, A. (2009). State Budget Crisis. A Journal of CQ Researcher, 19(31), 11-15.
Henderson, E. A. (1998). Military spending and poverty. Journal of Politics, 60, 503-520.
King, S. (2009). US policymakers playing with fire as the dollar continue to tumble. Web.
Peters, B. G. (2010). American Public Policy: Promise & Performance. 8 Edn. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Su, T., Kamlet, M. S., & Mowery, D. C. (1993). Modeling U.S. budgetary and fiscal policy outcomes: A disaggregated, system wide perspective. American Journal of Political Science, 37, 213–245.
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