Activities that require a computer in my life include:
Communicating with others through email and messaging apps
Researching and gathering information online
Writing papers and documents
Creating and editing presentations
Managing my schedule and to-do list with a digital calendar
Streaming music and videos
Online shopping and banking
Playing video games
Graphic design and photo editing
The hardware in the computer I use for school includes:
8 GB of RAM
256 GB of hard drive space
CPU manufacturer: Intel
CPU speed: 2.7 GHz
The computer with this listed hardware will meet my needs for school. The amount of RAM will allow for smooth multitasking, and the hard drive space will be sufficient for storing a moderate number of files. The CPU speed is also fast enough for running most programs without experiencing significant slowdowns. However, if I were to use the computer for more demanding activities such as video editing or 3D rendering, I might need a more powerful processor. For example, if the computer is being used for more resource-intensive tasks such as video editing or 3D rendering, a faster processor and possibly more RAM may be necessary to achieve optimal performance. On the other hand, if the workload is primarily focused on basic tasks such as word processing and internet browsing, the computer’s hardware will likely be sufficient.
In general, more powerful hardware such as a faster processor, more RAM, and a larger hard drive will be able to handle heavier workloads and allow for better performance. Yet, it is also important to consider the trade-off between hardware power and cost. More powerful hardware will typically come at a higher price point, so it is important to strike a balance between performance and budget.
Careless spending can affect many people and substantially impact their financial future. For example, excessive spending on one category of products every week can lead to people not knowing where their money is going. Daily stress can also result in compulsive spending on items that seem comforting at the time but are ultimately unavailing. Meanwhile, the process of creating a budgeting plan for a person with numerous debit and credit accounts or a couple or family with several joint and individual accounts can be highly challenging.
The Solution
Creating a spending plan can be made easier with a budgeting app that allows individual and joint accounts. The budget manager app will allow tracking expenditures in different categories, including food, expenses on eating out, rent or mortgage, housing and utilities, transportation, entertainment, and any other categories. Furthermore, it will allow the users to create additional categories and subcategories to help establish what items they spend the most money on. The users can link their bank accounts to the app to automatically create entries from the notifications received from the bank. In addition, the app will be able to analyze printed receipts. The app’s joint accounts will gather data from more than one device. A spending analysis will be available every week or month.
The Benefits of the Solution
The proposed budgeting manager app is highly beneficial for users who have multiple accounts or who want to track the expenses of all family members in one app. The app will store information from all bank accounts and illustrate the overall balance to make budgeting easier. In addition, the user will not need to create most of the transaction entries as they will be added automatically from bank messages and notifications. The main benefit of the app is the analysis of each user’s spending habits and earnings, with charts available to track expenditures in every category in any given period. Finally, the app will help create a budget plan, accounting for all scheduled transactions and planned purchases.
Target Market Segments
The app is aimed at three major market segments: college and university students, working professionals, and family units with multiple accounts. Overall, the described sectors are extremely broad and include persons aged 18 and over of any age, education level, and household income. The broad inclusion of the target market segments is justified as any category of users can be interested in tracking their expenses and learning to budget efficiently. For example, students need to plan their spending to pay for their education, while working professionals and families are likely to plan for significant expenditures such as a mortgage or buying a vehicle.
A Person Interested in the App
A persona in the working professional target market is Nick. Nick is 29 years old male front-end web developer working in a freelance capacity. He has several regular clients and usually works on numerous contracts, ensuring an average yearly income of approximately $85,000. Living alone in a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica, Nick pays $4,150 in rent every month. He does not budget his expenses, only setting aside money for the rent. As a result, he often finds himself low on funds. Nick is unsure of what he spends the most money on and finds he needs to plan for even urgent purchases.
Nick has a 2002 Chevrolet Camaro that needs constant maintenance, despite rarely being driven. In addition, although Nick primarily works from home, except for breakfast, he does not cook for himself, preferring to order food from restaurants. He also visits bars and restaurants with his friends weekly. Furthermore, Nick often updates his photography and hiking equipment and buys new guitars for his collection. Overall, the budgeting manager app will help Nick understand his expenses, determine what items he spends the most money on and plan his expenses a month ahead. The app will help him regulate his expenses in specific categories and realize what aspects of his lifestyle are the most costly.
As-Is Spending Flow Diagram
As-Is flow diagram demonstrates how the person from one of the target market segments, Nick, spends money in any given month. After receiving his monthly salary or remuneration for a project, the only planned expenditure Nick plans for is the rent payment. Thus, money for the rent is either set aside or paid to the owner/agent. Expenses, such as food or eating out, car maintenance, purchasing new equipment, hobbies, and others, are not budgeted in advance. The same scheme is repeated in the next month, without the spending being analyzed or a budget plan for the next period being designed. No changes to the spending patterns are made in this scenario.
To-be Spending and Budgeting Flow Diagram
The use of a budgeting manager app will help Nick evaluate and plan expenses. Thus, after the salary is received, he can pay the rent and then analyze the funds left to have a general understanding of the money available to him during the period. During the months, the app will allow Nick to document all his expenses, including daily food expenditures, various purchases, car maintenance charges, and other costs. At the end of the tracked period, spending habits are analyzed to determine what categories Nick spends the most money on and how these patterns can be addressed. Then, the budget for the next month can be created considering this information, with the whole process being repeated in the next period. Overall, using the app, Nick will have a better understanding of his expenses and will be able to spend his money with more awareness and have savings.
The article under analysis is entitled “Opioid epidemic may have cost US governments $37.8 billion in tax revenue.” The piece appeared in Science Daily on April 11, 2019. The authors provide the estimates of the budget losses in tax revenue associated with opioid use disorder (Penn State, 2019). It is stressed that Pennsylvania saw a decline of 68,000 employees in the labor market and almost 6,100 deaths due to opioid overdose. The authors also claim that the investment in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse disorders can mitigate the financial burden by bringing people back to their working places.
The problem discussed in the article has a direct effect on the community as many people’s socioeconomic issues aggravate due to these individuals’ addiction. People lose their jobs and social ties, which often has a negative influence on families and children. Of course, opioid misuse leads to substantial financial losses as well. Therefore, it is essential to invest funds in the creation of effective programs that could ensure the proper use of opioids. Healthcare professionals and educators should be involved in these projects as people should be informed about ways the disorder can develop and its negative impact on people’s lives.
Opioid misuse is a serious public health issue that has a considerable negative impact on the residents of Pennsylvania. People have limited access to high-quality healthcare services associated with this disorder treatment and prevention. Americans start using opioids due to various reasons including peer pressure or relative availability of drugs. However, the vast majority of misusers develop an addiction after taking prescribed opioids. People have to tackle such associated problems as depression, anxiety, isolation, and overall health deterioration.
The initial reflection was focused on finding the optimal financial distribution for my daughter’s school enrolment. In that way, proper budget management and alternative options involving taking out grants and loans were highlighted as the best options. Still, this presumption, although based on credible theoretical knowledge, must be proven through empirical research. One effective method of measuring the impact of additional financial support includes conducting an experiment.
The investigation of the research problem falls under the quasi-experiment category. A quasi-experiment is a research design that is conducted in less controlled conditions (compared to a true experiment) with the participation of comparable participant groups (Bachman & Schutt, 2019). The particular research method proves to be more suitable for the issue as it allows for the more selective recruitment of participants. Moreover, a non-equivalent control group design would offer more practical results for investigating the different money management strategies.
In the quasi-experiment, the control group would comprise a group of students paying the school fee without additional financial support. The participants would form a group of 6-10 people from different schools but with relatively similar tuition. Presumably, the age of the group members would remain similar as well, although slights variations would have minimal impact on the course of the study. In that way, the control group serves the purpose of demonstrating the financial state of students without external budget support.
Furthermore, the treatment group includes those participants who referred to additional resources to support their education. The number of participants would have to be the same to match the control group. Moreover, to ensure maximum practicality, the original fees and loan amounts of each participant must remain within a narrow range. The main point of the particular group is to openly demonstrate the usefulness or lack thereof of various budget-based strategies.
The process of selecting the participants follows the structure of aggregate matching. The term refers to a method of selection that is based on participants with similar characteristics that would be valuable for the research purpose (Bachman & Schutt, 2019). In this way, the comparison and treatment groups share similar educational backgrounds and financial states, but only one would utilize more than one source of income. Moreover, the selection method does not involve random sampling, as the participants are chosen based on predetermined attributes related to the investigation’s main aims.
As with any research design, certain threats to validity must be discussed. Firstly, the samples size of the research design severely limits the generalizability of the results to real-life situations. In order to improve the external validity, the number of participants would have to be increased, although realistically, that would become more difficult to manage. Secondly, a threat to the internal validity of the study could result from external factors affecting the financial state of the participants rather than then loans or grants used. To improve the internal validity, the researchers would have to instruct and then debrief the participants clearly.
The purpose of the experiment is to investigate the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. In this case, the independent variable is represented by the loan sum taken by each participant, measured in USD. The effect of the independent variable on the financial state of each participant is the dependent variable, measured in the total sum of USD left after paying the school fees. Hence, the two variables will aid in highlighting the optimal method of maintaining one’s budget in cases of mandatory fees.
Reference
Bachman, R.D., and Schutt, R.K. (2019). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice. Sage.
In both 2011 and 2012, the issue that was most discussed in America was the issue to do with addressing the budget deficit. In 2011, it was struggling to recover from unemployment but this continued to persist as a national disaster (Krugman A21). Unfortunately, there was a misconception that the disconnected Congress was the cause of the suffering of the common person in America.
People blamed the political culture for some of the failures and struggles in the nation. Despite the fact that people in Washington talk about debt and deficit, they have no idea about what they are referring to. It is also unfortunate that those who talk most about it have the least knowledge about it.
The so-called experts in the field of economics, who are relied upon by the Congress for such information, have been recorded to have provided false information severally. They have repeatedly provided false information concerning the short-term effects of budget deficits.
Heritage foundation provided forecasted that interest rates would soar high. It also seems that information about the long-term effects of budget deficit is also unknown to the Americans. The politicians’ understanding about debt seems to be very wrong.
Many Americans are worried about the effects of the deficits in the future. They believe that they will need to pay back the money they have been borrowing. In order to pay the interest, taxes must be levied. This would also impose some costs on the economy.
This would occur because it would cause allocation of resources in ventures other than those that are productive in order to avoid and evade tax. However, these costs are not as dramatic as what some have thought it to be.
Various governments easily lived with high taxation rates earlier than they are able to live with currently. The situation is different now. Therefore, debt surely matters to any economy. The American government needs to increase government spending in order to get the country out of the unemployment trap.
Critique
The national debt of a given country is the cumulative stock of debt that the government owes the lenders. From the article above, the cumulative debt in 2012 would be that from previous years including 2011. Debts and deficits are a real problem to any economy due to a number of reasons.
Firstly, it hampers the use of fiscal policy. It usually occurs as the government acquires benefits without considering the costs. Debts and deficits may also lead to the crowding effect. This is whereby interest rates increase due to increased deficits. This effect also leads to the reduction in the investments and possibly the total exports made by the given country.
There is an effect in the government savings since it is reduced. Consequently, this causes the reliance of the country on foreign borrowing or it may lower its investments. In the long run, if the investments decrease, it may damage the economy. Older generations usually enjoy the benefits from the debt but the later generations would pay the price.
They will have to repay the debt. This would be in the form of interest payments and deprivation of new initiatives. According to the article, lack of employment was one of the most disturbing issues caused by the debt and deficit issues. However, in some cases, debt may not be overly harmful. This is because it may come with some tangible benefits.
Works Cited
Krugman, Paul. “Nobody Understands Debt.” New York Times 2 Jan. 2012: A21. Print.
A recession can be defined as a continued decline in the Gross domestic product (GDP) as well as the employment rate of a particular state thus resulting in a poor and declining economy (Peck, 2011). The GDP is relatively a good measure of a country’s level of production.
Recently, there has been an increased rate of recession in the U.S. thus compelling the federal government to cut its budget so as to realize a higher economic growth rate. Due to the recession, the government has been under intense pressure to cut its spending on Texas.
This move will have a great impact on the various economical sectors within Texas and thus the need to identify potential areas where the budget can be cut without adversely affecting the economic state of Texas.
Government expenditure
Areas of high government expenditure in Texas include: education, public safety, transportation and social services. According to Heinrichs, education for instance is a sector that has suffered greatly in budget allocation (Heinrichs, 2012).
The future of Texas and any other state lies on the scholars and thus the need to increase spending on this sector of the economy. Currently, government spending on education per pupil in Texas ranks among the lowest in the country which poses a great risk on the future of Texas.
The National Education System reported that the average spending of Texas is 8,908 dollars per pupil which is below the average national spending per pupil of 11, 463 dollars. As such, cutting the government spending on education in Texas will have far reaching impacts on the future of the education sector as well as the quality of education delivered to the pupils.
Additionally, technological developments might end up being affected in the long run due to inadequate knowledge within the future generation.
Peck notes that the transport sector in Texas has been experiencing a massive growth rate and expansion programs which have seen planning and construction of highways become the center of attention on government’s spending (Peck, 2011).
Texas spends over 95% of the total funds allocated to the state through the State Highway Fund in the planning and construction of highways. Such heavy spending has seen the state of Texas ranked as the highest of the 49 states combined in government expenditure.
The increased spending by Texas is highly attributable to its bi-annual budgeting and as such, cutting the budget allocation on roads will go a long way in reducing government expenditure in Texas.
There is already a good transport network in Texas and therefore, cutting the government expenditure on development of road networks will help a great deal in averting the recession in the U.S.
Peck points out that the public safety and corrections sector has been rated as the fourth largest area where the government’s expenditure is high (Peck, 2011). This is highly attributable to the high number of people detained in prison.
The high number of inmates is due to an increasingly high population and the heavy penalties as well as stricter sentencing imposed on prisoners. This has seen the government spend approximately 5% of its total net state spending towards the welfare of the inmates in the state prisons.
The total number of incarcerations has been on the increase in the recent past thus the budgeted amount for Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) has been growing at double-digit rates annually. By reducing the number of incarcerations, the government can in turn cut down the budget allocated to the TDC.
For instance, inmates who have committed minor offences can be put on a community service program so as to avoid overpopulating the prisons and thus cut down the cost incurred in the public safety sector.
Conclusion
Although the idea of cutting the budget is not an informed decision, the government can reduce its expenditure in sectors that cannot be adversely affected by cutting down their budget. This will help to rescue the current state of recession and thus improve the economic growth rate of the country.
References
Heinrichs, A. (2012). The great recession. New York: Children’s Press.
Peck, D. (2011). Pinched: How the Great Recession has narrowed our futures and what we can do about it. New York: Crown Pub.
Passing of budgets is a regular exercise that mainly occurs annually. There are several stages that accompany public budgeting process, which entail preparation and submission, approval, execution, and audit and evaluation. Budget process is a timeline activity with preparation of the budget as the first step in budget cycle. For Federal budget, budget preparation is concerned with compiling a draft budget, for presenting to the congress.
Preparation of the budget is an internal activity for the executives. During federal budget preparation, the fiscal policy is set followed by determining the total available resources for spending. At preparation juncture, the office of management negotiates with appropriate departments about allocation of funds.
However, the office of management is responsible for putting expenditure ceiling for each department. After drafting the budget, the office of management presents it to the president for review and make final ruling mainly on the contentious issues (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2008).
After coming with a comprehensive budget draft, the present takes the budget to the congress for approval. The budget has to get the approval of the congress in order to become effective. Before the approval, the congress scrutinizes the budget proposal from the executive.
This entail the congress assessing the setting of the fiscal policy, sources of revenues, as well as the expenditures. The role of the congress is to reject, approve, amend and in some cases substitute the budget proposal with their own budget format. Some government budgets requires passing of separate legislations for appropriation and alterations to the tax code. Some governments on the other hand take into consideration a unified budget bill as in the case of the federal budget.
However, the most important aspect in this stage is a comprehensive scrutiny of the budget proposal, irrespective of the adopted legislation. In public budget cycle, authorization of all public spending and taxation make sure that the rule of law in public finance. The duration that the budget proposal takes before approval varies from one country to another.
In the United States of America, the congress spends approximately eight months in reviewing the budget proposal presented by the executives before making their final ruling. Budget scrutiny takes a considerable time to increase its influence. Once the congress approves the budget proposal, the budget process proceeds to the next stage of implementation (Nikol, 2011).
The execution of the budget commences with the starting of the fiscal year. The implementation of the approved budget is mostly in the powers of the executives. The congress and the treasury play a significant role in ensuring that the apportioning of the funds is as per the approved budget. In some case and mainly in developing nations, budget allocated funds is sometimes used for other purposes rather than the purpose approved.
This results to adverse effects on the vulnerable groups that have less political influence. The congress does not allow misallocation of funds already approved for certain spending. To avoid excessive adjustments the congress keeps a close eye on the spending of the allocated money as well as funds apportioning.
Moreover, to avoid the undermining of the authority, the through-unwarranted adjustments, Congress make sure that any significant adjustment to the budget is captured in supplement apportions, which has been approved by the congress. During the adjustments, the congress should make sure that there is thorough scrutiny of the proposals presented in similar manner to the scrutiny of the budget formulation process.
Transparency is very important in public budget cycle. The implementation stage in public budget cycle is critical. This is because the allocated funds are likely to be deviated to other spending because of urgent cropping needs. For example, the funds allocated for spending in the infrastructure are often deviated if there is a natural disaster such as floods and storms that require immediate attention.
Therefore, despite the highly accurate forecasting process that accompanies the federal budget process, there are some new urgent public spending that are difficult to anticipate and therefore strict adherence to the budget is rare. During the budgeting process, the budget takes in account such considerations. Such concerns help in making sure that the budget remains authoritative even during instances of difficult economic crisis.
In response to such eventuality, the contingency reserve sets aside some funds for adapting the budget to cater for the emergencies or changing circumstances. In order to ensure accountability and transparency, the congress makes sure that it monitors the use of contingency reserves accordingly.
The use of any contingency reserve should follow approval of the congress. The fund set aside as contingency reserve should not be excessive to avoid causing inflation. Apart from the aforementioned aspects, other factors inhibit proper implementation of the federal budget.
For instance, introduction of new legislation like increasing entitlement such social grants brings conflicts with the budget constraints or medium terms of expenditure. Therefore, in the process of formulating policies, appropriate stakeholders should factor in short-term as well as long-term budget implications of the proposed legislations. The audit and evaluation stage follows the execution stage (Saturno, 2004).
In the audit and evaluation stage, an independent body such as an audit court analyzes the federal accounts and financial statements in order to establish whether the executives used the funds allocated by the budget appropriately. After the audits finish their investigations, they hand over the findings to the congress. After a thorough scrutiny of the findings presented by the audit team, if the congress finds that the audit and evaluation process is effective, the recommendations that by the audit team are incorporated in future budgets.
The incorporation of the audit recommendations helps in continuous improvements of future budgets and overall enhancement of public financial management. The law requires the auditors to present their findings as soon as possible after finishing their investigations and compiling the report for accuracy and accountability purposes.
Long delays in submitting the auditing findings may hinder accountability in instances where executives who are responsible for any loss of funds have retired or moved to other sectors. Moreover, public interest is mainly on current issues. In addition, delays in submitting the findings may result in difficulties in pursuing disciplinary measures of the responsible culprit (Schick & Lostracco, 2000).
The public budget cycle for the federal government is important as it ensures that there is a proper allocation of funds for appropriate departments to execute their functions accordingly. In addition, it ensures that there is transparency and accountability for executives who oversee the budget implementation process.
In conclusion: budgeting is not an event, but a process. The budget cycle does not occur in a distinct form, but rather in a continuous and interconnected manner. The role of the congress in the budgeting process should entail budget approval and review of audit findings. In addition, the congress should request for important documents used during the drafting phase. Moreover, the congress should access actual and estimates data of the revenues and expenditures to assist in monitoring the implementation process.
Reference List
Lee, R.D., Johnson, R.W. Joyce, P.G. (2008). Public budgeting systems (8th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. IS.
The federal budget is an important instrument used by the Congress to distribute resources and influence federal policies. The budget cycle for a single year takes about three calendar years to be completed. The managerial agencies open the budgetary procedure by assembling complete budget requests in the fiscal year before the President’s budget obedience.
Usually, numerous agencies commence working on their budget estimates during the summer before the onset of the fiscal year. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) supervises the development of budget estimates from these agencies. The president is then expected to present a budget before the Congress on the first Monday of February (Levit, 2011, p.1).
Budget Baseline Projections
Financial plan Baseline projections review the brunt of future legislation on the budget. The CBO calculates current law baseline projections based on the postulations outlined in the budget enforcement legislation. Estimates based on these postulations usually produce superior revenue projections and slower growth of discretionary expenditure relative to scenarios autonomous forecasters perceive as likely.
There are certain assumptions incorporated by CBO baseline projections: that the 2001/2003/2010 tax reliefs expire after 2012; that discretionary expenditure stays unchanged in inflation-adjusted terms; that sharp cutbacks in Medicare’s payment rates for doctors’ services will commence at the end of 2011 as planned; and that protraction of unemployment benefit will end on 31st, 2011 as planned.
Nonetheless, CBO offers estimates of these overheads independently from its baseline (Levit, 2011, p.2).
Federal Spending and Revenue Trends
The federal spending accounted for about 21.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) whereas federal revenues were estimated at 18.1% of GDP over the last four decades. Since FY 2000, the US has experienced a budget deficit as a result of imbalances between spending and revenues (Table 1).
Table 1: Federal Budget: Total Expenditure and Revenues, FY2000-FY2010
(As percentage of GDP)
Fiscal Year
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
Expenditure
20.6
18.4
19.8
20
19.8
24
Revenues
18.1
18.4
16
18
18.4
15
Source: Levit, M.R. (2011). The Federal Budget: Issues for FY2011, FY2012, and Beyond. Washington, D.C., Congressional Research Service
For instance, in FY2010, the regime used up over $3.49 trillion in contrast to the $2.2 trillion in proceeds during this time. In addition, between the fiscal years 2008 and 2010, expenditures grew by $472.8 billion whereas revenues shrank by $362.1 billion (Levit, 2011, p.3).
Federal Spending
Federal expenditures are usually split into: mandatory, discretionary, and net interest categories. Mandatory expenditure includes expenditure on entitlement programs such as Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The Congress enacts laws that stipulate eligibility requirements for entitlement programs. The Congress usually sets aside funds for entitlement programs based on the number of people who qualify.
Optional expenditure on the other hand is a matter of yearly congressional appropriations laws. Net interest encompasses interest payments made by the government on the debt held by the public. In the fiscal year 2010, discretionary expenditure was about 9.28% of GDP. Discretionary expenditure, as a percentage of GDP, has been rising by 8.2% every year since FY2000.
Increases in discretionary expenditures during this period (FY2000-FY2010) are mainly attributed to the US’ overseas military operations, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq (Levit, 2011, p.5). During the fiscal year 2010, mandatory expenditure was estimated at 55.2% of the aggregate spending, discretionary expenditure totaled 38.9% of aggregate spending, and net interest was about 5.6% of aggregate expenditure.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security alone make up 42.9% of aggregate federal expenditure. Given that discretionary expenditure is slightly above 33% of the aggregate federal spending, a number of budget experts propose that any major federal outlay cuts must take into account reductions in mandatory spending.
However, other experts argue that reductions in mandatory expenditures would have a negative impact on many households. Nonetheless, since CBO projects that the mandatory expenditure will increase to 14% of GDP in FY2021, action is required to reduce projected deficit levels and reinstate long-term fiscal health (Levit, 2011, p.6).
Federal Revenue
In the fiscal year 2000, total revenues were 20.5% of GDF. However, in FY2010, total revenues collected were 14.8% of GDP, the lowest level ever in the last six decades. Federal revenues have remained low for several years due to tax relief provision and economic recession. It is projected that federal revenues will remain low in FY2011.
The long-term federal revenue prospects are dependent on the legislative actions of Congress on potential tax reform and speed at which the economy recovers from the 2008 financial crisis. According to the CBO baseline projections, revenues are expected to increase to 20.7% of GDP in FY2021. These projections are based on the assumption that some specific tax provisions end as planned under the current law.
Consequently, tax rates will increase hence boosting revenue collection. “The major source of federal revenues has long been individual income taxes. For example, individual income tax revenues in the fiscal year 2010 were estimated at 6.3% of GDP” (Levit, 2011, p.6).
Federal Response to Economic Crisis
The federal government adopted exceptional remedial measures to address the 2008 financial crisis. For example, in February 2008, the Congress approved a $150 billion package (Economic Stimulus Act, 2008) to boost consumption levels through reimbursements to taxpayers and allowing business organizations devalue capital investments.
Furthermore, the head of state signed into law the ARRA ACT of 2009, a second incentive package that is intended to kindle economic growth.
The ARRA enclosed provisions that are now approximated at $820.8 billion in augmented mandatory and optional expenditure and decreased tax revenue for the FY2009-FY2019 period. “CBO projects that over 86% of ARRA’s direct effect on the deficit will take place the FY2011 ends” (Levit, 2011, p.10).
These economic stimulus packages aim to bolster several state and local government programs such as: school funding, Medicaid, tax rebates, prolonged unemployment benefits as well as increased funding for transportation projects (Levit, 2011, p.10).
Appropriations in the 2011 Fiscal Year
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act 2010 were signed by the President into law on December 17th, 2010. This law had many provisions, such as the reinstatement of the estate tax up to 2012, the expansion of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax rebates up to 2012, and patching the optional minimum tax up to the expiry of FY2011.
In addition, the emergency unemployment benefits were prolonged under this law (Office of Management and Budget, 2011, p.16). The employee share of the payroll tax was also reduced by 2% until the expiry of FY2011. According to the present law, CBO projected that the expenditure and revenue actions in the bill would amplify the deficit by over $389 billion in FY2011 and by $467.9 billion during the FY2012-FY2020 (Levit, 2011, p.12).
California’s State Budget
In recent years, the state of California has been compelled to make hard choices to plug the budget gaps, for example, taxes were increased provisionally. In addition, the Proposition 98 Guarantee was decreased from $56.5 billion to about $49 billion. Overall, $103.5 billion in budgetary cuts were implemented between FY2008 and FY2010 (Brown, 2011, p.1).
Even though the financial crisis has been the main cause of California’s budget deficit, the state had structural budget deficit prior to the economic recession. The budget gap for California State is projected to increase to $25.3 billion in the FY2011-12. This gap is composed of a budget-year deficit of $17.3 billion and a current-year deficit of $8.1 billion.
There are several factors that contributed to the anticipated shortfall in FY2011-12. For example, the budget plan implemented in FY2010-2011 was based on impractical assumptions, such as financial assistance from the federal government and on expenditure cuts that were not implemented. In total, these factors ($3.5 billion in federal assistance and $1.8 billion cuts) increase the budget gap by $5.3 billion (Brown, 2011, p.4).
Bridging the Budget Gap
In order to reinstate the power of local government to make sound decisions, increase efficiency in government operations, and ensure the sustenance of core services, the governor proposed several remedial measures to bridge the budget deficit. As illustrated in Table 2, the budget consists of $ 26.4 billion in revenues, expenditure cuts, and other measures to reduce plug the deficit in FY2010-11 and beyond.
Table 2: California’s State Budget: Budget Estimates (Dollars in millions)
Fiscal Year
2010-11
2011-12
Total
Percentage
Expenditure Reductions
420
12,076
12496
47
Revenues
3162
8863
12025
46
Others
505
1378
1883
7
Total
4087
22317
26404
100
Source: Brown, E.G. (2011). 2011-12 Governors’ Budget Summary. Sacramento, California, State Capital.
The budget decreases expenditure by about 12.4 billion. It comprises considerable cuts to several key programs, for example, $1.4 billion to California’s welfare-to-work program, $1.6 billion to Medi-Cal, $ 1 billion to the California State University and University of California, over $579 million to employee reimbursement and state operations, and $750 million to the Department of Development Services (Brown, 2011, p.5).
The California’s budget also contains some elements of borrowing and savings. “These consist of $1.6 billion in property tax shifts, $1.7 billion in borrowing from special funds, $0.9 billion from Proposition 63 money to finance community mental health services and $1 billion from Proposition 10 reserve to finance children’s programs”(Brown, 2011, p.6).
Implementing the budget’s long-term solutions is the best way to purge the structural gaps in the future. As a result, the proposed budget demands for a hastened timeline to reinstate balance to the State’s budget. The proposed budget assumes that all relevant legislative amendments will be passed by the legislature and signed into law to implement budget solutions (Brown, 2011, p.6).
Revenue Estimates
California is currently recovering from the 2008 economic crisis. This recovery is apparent in the underlying revenue estimates for the majority of California’s key revenue sources. The recently passed legislation has altered the pattern of California’s General Fund revenues.
For instance, the Business Act [2008] limited the use of business tax credits (by 50%) to compensate taxpayer’s pre-credit responsibility for big businesses in FY2008-09. the impact of this restriction was to augment revenue by about $352 million in the FY2008-09, by $274 million in FY2009-10, and by about $7.9 million in FY2010-11. in addition, the Budget Act [2008] allowed corporations to share their credits with members in their association, commencing in FY2010.
The impact of this provision was not evident until the FY2009-10 when the anticipated revenue is $54.9 million (Brown, 2011, p.36). This provision is projected to cause a revenue loss of about $235 million and $340 million in FY2010-11 and FY2011-12 respectively (Brown, 2011, p.37).
Employee Compensation and Retirement
In FY2011-12, salaries for state employees are estimated to cost about $6.9 billion while other benefits such as retirement contributions and health care are estimated to cost $3.3 billion, General Fund. Consequently, reducing salaries and benefits outlays continues to be critical to closing the budget gap. There are several proposals outlined in the General Fund budget to bridge the deficit.
The first proposal relates to Personal Leave Program. The proposed budget mirrors savings of $71.5 million accruing from the personal leave program and extending into FY2011-12. The second proposal relates to the Reduced Employee Compensation Costs. A decrease of $308.3 million attained via a 10% reduction in take-home reimbursement for the 6 bargaining units without agreements.
These savings will be realized via joint bargaining. Core Health Care Option is the third proposal outlined in the budget. In FY2010-11, healthcare benefit outlays for retirees and active employees are projected at 2.3 billion (Brown, 2011, p.177).
In order to reduce healthcare expenditures for retirees and state employees, the budget incorporates an additional core health plan to the present plan options in order to save over $71 million from the anticipated rise in the FY2012 health rates. The core health plan would grant essential healthcare insurance at a lower premium.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) will be empowered by the legislation to: bargain and append a core healthcare plan option to the current range of healthcare plans; and include a state agent in the healthcare contract consultations for the purpose of making adjustments to the core healthcare plan option and promoting the inclusion of cost-effective options within the current plans (Brown, 2011, p.178).
Lancaster County: Budget Estimates FY2010
The management staff of the Lancaster County prepared comprehensive budget estimates on the financial activities of the county for the FY2010. Since FY2004, the County of Lancaster has never experienced a budget deficit (Table 3). For example, in FY 2004-05, total revenues were estimated at $16.6 million while total expenditures were $16.3 million during this period.
Table 3: Lancaster County: Total Revenues and Expenditures, Fy2004-FY2010
(Dollars in millions)
Fiscal Year
Total Expenditure
Total Revenues
2004-05
16372
16614
2005-06
18260
16903
2006-07
19431
18944
2007-08
21109
21544
2008-09
21323
23550
2009-10
21534
23521
Source: Russell, J. (2010). County of Lancaster, Virginia: Annual Financial Report. Virginia, County of Lancaster.
In spite of the 2008 financial crisis, the total revenues collected in the County of Lancaster in FY2009-10 was the highest ($23.5 million) since FY2004-05 (Russell, 2010, p.61). In FY2010, unemployment rate for the County of Lancaster was 8.5%. In addition, revenues from taxable sales reduced by 3.5% during the 2010 fiscal period. As a result, the County’s budget for FY2011 decreased by about 2.3% (Russell, 2010, p.9).
Priority of Funding
The Lancaster County offers government services in eight key operational areas. These areas and percentages of total funding are: Judicial Administration- 3.2%; General Government Administration- 6.1%; Public Works-5.7%; Public Safety- 19.5%; Education- 50.7%; Health and Welfare- 11.8%; Community Development- 2.1%; and Parks, Recreation and Cultural-0.9% (Russell, 2010, p.3).
Overview of the Lancaster’s Budget
The budget statement for the County of Lancaster has three key aspects: Government financial reports; Fund financial reports; and Notes to the financial reports.
The government financial reports provide general overview of the financial status of the County. Moreover, the government financial reports differentiate roles of the Lancaster County that are mainly financed through taxes and intergovernmental revenues obtained from user fees and other charges.
The governmental activities of the Lancaster County include: courts; general government; sanitation; police services; social services; and education. The Fund financial reports are a cluster of accounts that are used to manage the manner in which the Counties resources are distributed for certain activities.
The notes to the financial reports provide supplementary information that is critical to a full comprehension of the data contained in the government and fund financial reports (Russell, 2010, p.5).
The government statement reflects activities such as public works, public safety, and welfare services, which are financed through general government revenues (sales tax, property tax, fines, permits, etc). The statement of activities decreases gross expenditure via contributions, related program revenues, and capital grants.
The legislative fund fiscal reports are prepared using the attuned accrual basis of secretarial and the present fiscal resources extent benchmark. Revenues are acknowledged on the basis of their availability.
They are treated as available only if they are collectible in the present financial period in order to be used to offset current expenditures. Accordingly, the County of Lancaster deems revenues to be available if they are collectible within 60 days after the expiry of the current financial period.
“Expenditures are usually recorded when an expense is incurred. Nevertheless, debt service spending and spending related to compensated claims, absence, and judgments are documented only when reimbursement is due” (Russell, 2010, p.20).
The fiduciary funds of the Lancaster County are documented in the financial reports by type. Given that these resources cannot be used finance activities of the local government, they are not included into the government financial reports (Russell, 2010, p.20).
Franchise taxes, property taxes and licenses related to the current fiscal year are perceived to be subject to accrual and are thus documented as revenues in FY2010. Consequently, personal and real taxes are documented as receivables and revenues when payable.
Utility and sales taxes, which are amassed state agencies and forwarded to the County of Lancaster are treated as receivables and revenues if they are collectible within 60 days after the expiry of the FY2010. In addition, permits, licenses, rents and fines are documented as revenues when collected.
Intergovernmental revenues- from state, federal and other grants to be used to fund specific outlays- are documented in the fiscal period to which the funding applies. All other sources of revenue are perceived to be available and measurable the moment they are received by the government (Russell, 2010, p.20).
Governmental Fund
The County of Lancaster uses the General Fund to finance its operations. The fund is mainly used to document all financial resources and transactions of the County. The main sources of revenues are: local taxes; property taxes; licenses; federal grants; service charges; permits; and income interests. A major segment of the General Fund is mainly used to fund the activities of the Component Unit School Board.
Capital Projects Funds is used to finance the construction or procurement of major capital assets. Special Revenue Funds are used by the County to document incomes from specific sources of revenues (except major capital projects) and requires different documentation as stipulated by the current legislative provisions (Russell, 2010, p.21).
Long-term Obligations
In the government financial reports, long-term obligations are documented as expenditures in the relevant business-type activities and governmental activities. With esteem to the fund fiscal reports, legislative fund sorts deed bond premiums as well as issuance costs of the bonds during the current fiscal period.
The nominal value of debt issued and payments on debt issuances are documented as other sources of financing whereas concessions on debt issuances are documented as other expenditures incurred. The costs of bond issuances are documented as debt service outlays (Russell, 2010, p.24).
References
Brown, E.G. (2011). 2011-12 Governor’s Budget Summary. Sacramento, California, State Capital.
Levit, M.R. (2011). The Federal Budget: Issues for FY2011, FY2012, and Beyond. Washington, D.C., Congressional Research Service.
Office of Management and Budget. (2010). Fiscal Year 2012: Budget of the U.S. Government. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office.
Russell, J. (2010). County of Lancaster, Virginia: Annual Financial Report. Virginia, County of Lancaster.
The department of security in the city faces a challenge of an increasing workload attributed to an ever-increasing city population of 5% per annum. For the last six years, the department of city security has not conducted any recruitment for an additional police force. The increased workload due to the increased number of calls at the call centre requires that the department propose an additional five police officers.
The city statistics and survey conducted reveals that the rate of crimes has reduced significantly in the last six years. Although one of the members of the security office cites an increased crime rate, the record disputes this allegation based on the hard figures.
In this presentation, the chief of the police (COP) anticipates to face two critical objections to the proposal from the city council office. To achieve its objectives, the chief of the police shall deliver relevant justifications for the proposed increase of the number of police by about five officers.
Justification by the chief of the police for hiring the five police officers
Justification One
Our security office proposes to hire additional five uniformed police officers. Currently, the office operates with thirty uniformed police officers allocated to conduct all duties relating to law enforcement, civil request, crime prevention, and court security responsibilities (Auerbach, Burch & Gale, 2010). City censuses conducted suggest that the population growth increases by about 3% to 5 % every year.
Currently, the city has an estimated population of about 75000 citizens. This implies that six years ago, the city’s population was about 30% less than the present size, which translates to a population of 57, 000. The statistics reveals that the police-citizen ratio for the last six years was 1: 1900.
This shows that the ratio has greatly deteriorated for the last six years, hence resulting to inadequate security services rendered to the city residents. Apparently, the city’s security office has not hired any additional officer for the last six years.
Justification Two
For the past few years, the office together with its police and support staff have encountered a constant strain due to the complexity and the increased number of service calls. Additionally, the office has acquired many other duties and assignments that relate to responding to the city’s resident needs and city visitors.
To align the city with the standards of security, the office has found it necessary to supplement its routine patrols with additional personnel via utilization of overtime scheduling (Auerbach, Burch & Gale, 2010). Although the office has carefully managed and monitored the overtime schedules and costs, the resultant costs have been above the budgetary allocations for our office.
Throughout the last three years, the city security office undertook the extra responsibility of conducting investigative roles for motor accidents on the city’s roads under the request of the Central security department of the county.
This has made our security office to become the fundamental security and law enforcement agency and as such, it must set up mechanisms to increase its security work force to take care of the city security dynamics (Auerbach, Burch & Gale, 2010). The additional police officers are requisite to maintain a high response rate for the increased number of both emergency and non-emergency calls through the call centre.
Our security department anticipates creating a viable security system capable of addressing security and legal issues while responding to citizen’s queries. To enable our office to offer distinguished services to its city residents, the office intends to hire five additional police officers. The process projects that this hiring process will facilitate an achievement of two fundamental objectives:
The department projects to achieve a police-citizen ratio of one for every 2100 citizens for the next two years.
To increase the citizen query response rate by approximately 30% after the hiring process.
Anticipated Questions
The chief of the police anticipates that the city council will raise questions aimed at examining the viability of the need for additional police officers (Mikesell, 2010). Therefore, the COP expects three critical questions during the presentation. The following constitutes possible questions.
To what extend has the need affected the operations of the security office?
When did the office begin to observe the need for additional police officers?
Does the proposal respond to an increased workload, and if so, could the creation of overtime hours help to resolve the challenge?
Is there a correlation between the number of police officers and the quality of service delivered?
Objections to the proposal
Objection One
The first objection that the department of police anticipates from the city council is an argument that adequate community policing does not draw advantage from increasing the number uniformed officers.
This argument relies on a proposition that the practice tends to raise the participation rate of citizens in the control of crime within the city. The number of additional police to correct the police-citizen ratio will not increase the effectiveness of the department.
In tackling this objection, it is imperative that the city council becomes aware that increasing that increasing the number of police officers would be beneficial in creating perceived safety. According to surveys conducted, the results indicate that increased number of police officers shall make people feel safer.
This feeling is possible, especially where the pollution of the city does not harbor feelings of police brutality (Mikesell, 2010). The scenario means that when people feel safer, they are likely to venture into participating in the general safekeeping of the city environments.
Objection Two
The second objection that the presentation anticipates from the city council is the additional number of police officers would put a strain on the already limited resources. The office of the city council believes that the budget allocation for the city police department cannot sustain an additional cost beyond the existing limits. The city council proposes that an additional police force will result in an exaggerated cost (Mikesell, 2010).
In its objection, the city council proposes the use of overtime scheduling for the current number of police officers. However, in explaining the need for an additional number of police officers, the council has prepared preliminary budgetary expenses for the overtimes. In our submission, records indicate that overtime hours have a capacity to exceed the normal budget by 20% as compared to if the council hirers these numbers.
Conclusion
The paper presents a proposal to increase the number of uniformed police officers by five. The city security office faces an increased workload spotted about three years ago. In justifying the proposal, the chief of the police reveals that the city census has shown a population increase of about 3-5% per annum.
The chief of the police submits to the city council that hiring the police force will increase the response rate t the call center by about 30%. Additionally, the chief of the police has shared with the city council that surveys conducted suggest that an increased number of police officers have the capacity to bring about safety if the city residents do not harbor perceptions of police brutality.
References
Auerbach, A., Burch, R., & Gale, W. (2010). The federal budget outlook. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution Pres.
Mikesell, J. L. (2010). Fiscal administration: Analysis and applications for the public sector (8th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
The American constitution gives the Congress the mandate to provide for the common defense of the nation as well as its general welfare. However, it does not provide information that defines the term ‘common defense’. Additionally, it does not give any specific guidelines for the budgetary allocation of the defense budget. For the last few decades, most of the Americans were of the opinion that common defense entails the activities of a single agency, the Department of Defense (DoD), in enhancing national security (Brook 33).
However, national security can only be achieved by coordinating the several state agencies and requires sufficient funding/budgetary allocation. The defense budget cuts are making many Americans feel insecure since all the agencies involved may not be able to function effectively due to the lack of funds and the development of modern threats to national security. The defense budget cut will impair the efficiency of the bodies responsible for the maintenance of national security.
Defense budget in the U.S
A significantly large portion of the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is used in funding the agencies under the National Security Council. The agencies include Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Treasury and the Department of Transport among others. The increase in military expenditure began after the Second World War. Prior to the War, the budgetary allocation of national defense was less than 2% of the GDP.
This proportion increased during the war whereby national security expenditure required a third of the GDP. According to Wilkerson and Williams, the expenditure dropped after the Second World War to less than 7% of the GDP (50). However, the expenditure rose again to over 14% due to the Korean War, Cold War and the Vietnam War during the 1950s and the 1960s.
Towards the end of the1970s, the expenditure on national defense had dropped to 7% of the GDP and the decline in the expenditure/budget continued for the next two decades. In 2000, the national defense expenditure had dropped to 3.8% of the GDP, which is the lowest expenditure that has ever been recorded in the history of the U.S. Over the last one decade, national security has exhibited an increasing trend in its expenditure.
The increase of the national defense budget over the last one decade is justifiable. The United States has been experiencing some non-traditional threats to national security. They include terrorist attacks from some of the world’s famous terrorists, drug trafficking and cyber attacks, which threaten the well-being of the United States.
Other forms of national threats include the spread of infectious diseases and energy threats. Besides the potential threats, the other factor that calls for sufficient funding of the national defense system is the complexity of the contemporary global security environment.
Its key features include stiff competition for the scarce natural resources, population changes and economic struggles. Additionally, many nations are fighting for not only regional but also global power, a battle that the Americans have to face. The recent advancements in technology also pose a threat to the national security system since a single computer command can cause as much damage as the previous decades armed forces.
For effective national security, the Congress has to consider the different parties that should be involved in ensuring national security. This stands as a fundamental aspect in strengthening the national defense capacity. The main areas that have to be addressed keenly are diplomacy, defense, intelligence, strategic communication systems, homeland security and the general economic development of the nation. Coordination of all these areas is essential in providing defense against any form of modern threats.
The reduction of the national defense budget may hinder the coordination of various parties responsible for maintaining national security due to the lack of sufficient resources. Consequently, the United States will be vulnerable to the insecurity from both local fugitives and terrorist groups.
Research has shown that the in the past, United States always regretted the reduction of the national security budget (for both the Department of Defense and the intelligence community). The lack of huge conflicts that call for strong defensive mechanisms should not be a guide to the reduction of the defense budget.
If the government does not invest adequately in building the nation’s defenses, then it might find itself in the future rebuilding them in case of an attack. As aforementioned, the modern forms of security threats such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, biological and chemical attacks call for America to build effective defense against them.
The effects of the cut to national security
The reduction on the amount of money allocated to national defense reduces the capability of maintaining national security, an aspect the U.S cannot afford since other nations are embarking on strengthening their weapons. For instance, China has been able to field diesel submarines, an aircraft carrier, cyber-weapons and a J-20 stealth fighter.
It has also build ‘carrier-killers’ and among other missiles, a satellite-killer ballistic missile. China is able to contest the freedom of movement of the Navy in the Western Pacific. The other nations that present a threat to the United States national security are North Korea and Iran due to their involvement in the development of weapons of mass destruction.
Terrorist groups also present an eminent attack on the Americans. Such groups include the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, Al-Shabab in Somalia as well as the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Boot 17). These terrorist groups threaten not only the American interests abroad but also the American homeland. For instance, Pakistan’s Taliban recently sponsored an attempt of a terrorist attack to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Additionally, another terrorist group (AQAP) attempted to mail parcel bombs into the U.S soil.
The fact that the American military forces are unable to ascertain the safety of the U.S navy base in Guam, Okinawa and other places shows that the national defense requires more resources. The cut on the defense budget not only threatens the maintenance of the American military power but also narrows its chances of expansion an aspect that threatens the ability of the national defense forces to provide security to the U.S citizens.
The American Navy is one of the most important military instruments in the nation. Most of the times, its operations are based many miles from U.S shores and it does not require any authorization from other sovereign nations to do so an aspect that extends the defense perimeter of the U.S Homeland security.
This gives it the ability to perform some of the roles of Homeland security boosting the national security. It is able to perform surveillance of both airborne and seaborne threats besides gathering information for security purposes. It is also able to disrupt terrorist attacks ashore since there is a decrease in the acceptance of U.S troops stationing abroad.
The navy plays other important roles as far as national security is concerned. It provides for modulated military response, effective conventional deterrent and bolsters critical security balances (McGrath 50). It provides America’s survivable nuclear deterrent besides fostering defense, diplomacy and development.
However, the Navy is currently facing some threats. Certain nations e.g. China have heavily invested in the development of a series of networked and technologically advanced weapons and sensors with the aim of denying the United states’ naval forces the freedom of maneuver, which is the primary source of the U.S sea power. The military drawdowns over the past four decades led to a 33% reduction of the resources of the Department of the Navy.
This includes 18% reduction of its work force and a similar reduction of its battle force. It is evident that the naval force is already strained. Therefore, any further cuts that affect the availability of resources will be affecting a force that has already grown smaller and worn out due to its participation in wars in the past. The result would be the inability of the navy to not only maintain but also to gain sea control, which is currently threatened, posing a threat to national security.
It is evident that the cut of the defense budget will reduce the number of personnel in the various bodies that deal with the maintenance of national security. Some of the cuts such as the reduction in the number of F-22 fighters, missile defense interceptors, navy cruisers, strategic delivery systems and missile-defense interceptors are detrimental to the integrity of the national defense forces.
Rumsfeld notes that such reductions “leave America ill-prepared for a conventional conflict and erode the strong deterrent necessary to prevent it” (5). There will also be a reduction of the number of the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, correctional officers, federal prosecutors as well as the Customs and Border Patrol/protection agents.
According to Fields and Block, customs and border protection personnel constitute a relatively large proportion of the homeland security-more than a third (15). Their role being the inspection of every person and product that enters the U.S, the cut will increase the polarity of the U.S borders due to lack of sufficient personnel. The cut will also occur in the Federal Aviation Administration lowering the body’s ability to carry out its duties i.e. to manage and oversee the nation’s airspace.
Its ability to control air traffic will also be impaired paving way for space attacks. The agricultural sector’s ability to inspect all the food-processing plants will be undermined. As a result, the safety of the food products available in the American market might be jeopardized due to the processor’s deliberate failure to meet all the food production standards. This poses a threat to the health of the people.
The cut on the defense budget will affect the operations of the National Security Space Architect (NSSA). NSSA was established to enhance the co-operation of the DoD and the intelligence community. It develops, coordinates and integrates the space system architectures of the two bodies for the provision of better defense.
Ferell stated that the NSSA is embarking on a comprehensive plan for enhancing national security that projects the space and programmatic needs of the two bodies (5). He added that the project would need some assets that are necessary for the acceleration of the certain technologies that may not be available with the resources that are at their disposal. Lack of sufficient funds will slow down or even sabotage the acquisition of the technologies, which renders the U.S defenseless.
The proponents of the cut on the defense budget argue that the amount spend on the U.S armed forces undermine the economic development of the nation which is the backbone of national security. Research has shown that currently the national defense spending, which also includes all supplemental appropriations, accounts for less than 5% of the GDP and less than 25% of the federal budget.
Compared to the national defense expenditure of most of the last century, the current expenditure is low implying that the budget does not need to be cut-it is eminently affordable. Following the report of the bipartisan Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel chaired by Stephen Hadley and William Perry, to achieve full military ability for national security, the U.S needs to increase the budgetary allocation for defense.
The panel found out that there “is a growing gap between our interests and our military capability to protect those interests in the face of a complex and challenging security environment” (Boot 18). The reduction of the national defense budget implies that the nation will not be able to achieve all its interests as far as national security is concerned which may instill fear in the citizens.
The defense budget cut will have a negative impact on the already strained military health care. It will lead to the provision of poor medical services to the military personnel lowering their productivity. Consequently, the efficiency of the military in providing national security will decline which is a great risk to the American community. The effect will not only be felt within the military but also to all the civil servants whose sole duty is to ensure the security of the nation. The nation will become vulnerable to foreign pressures.
The United States may not be able to defend itself against rogue states such as Iran without a fully developed missile defense system. The system is expected to be operational in 2018 (Armellini 1). The defense budget cuts may slow the process of developing such an important defense tool rendering the nation unable to protect itself effectively from missile attacks from not only rogue nations but also terrorist groups.
Additionally, the United States government needs to increase the availability of the number of unmanned drones and more forms of spy plane technology to enhance national security. The lack of enough funds for such technologies would increase the number of security threats due to missile and other airspace attacks.
The armed forces would not be able to defend the nation effectively in such attacks. Owing to the global technological advancement in the development of weapons, the United States requires a continual upgrade of their technologies, which may not be possible due to lack of resources. In such an instance, the national defense system will not be able to protect the nation against attacks in the near future.
Since 1990, the force has exhibited a declining trend. For instance, during that time, the navy had 546 ships and this figure has reduced to 288. The army currently has 45 brigades as compared to 76 brigades in 1990. Research has also shown that the air force had twice as many fighter squadrons and bombers as there are today (Merklinghaus 17).
The armed forces need to recruit more personnel since it is ageing with time. If the cuts of the national defense budget push through, the United States will end up in an unbalanced defense force that is not modernized which may affect the lives of many Americans.
Conclusion
The defense budget cut will impair the efficiency of the bodies responsible for the maintenance of national security. The cut hinders the development of technologically advanced weapons rendering the nation defenseless. The lack of sufficient funds will result into the provision of poor healthcare services to the armed forces lowering their ability to defend the nation against attacks.
The cut will force the National Security Council to down size on its personnel, which is detrimental to national security especially due to the increased polarity at the borders. The decrease of the strength of the United States defense forces will render the nation vulnerable to the attacks of terrorist groups such as the Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban among others. Other nations such as Japan, North Korea and China are heavily investing in advancing their weapons.
The defense budget cuts will pave way for these nations to overpower the U.S, which is a threat to the nation. Politically, the 2012 general elections will determine the fate of national defense depending on the elected president since the candidates hold different opinions concerning the national defense budget.
Works Cited
Armellini, Mark. “Roundup: Dramatic US Defense Cuts on the Way, Panneta Warns NATO.” McClatchy-Tribune Business News, 1.3 (2011): 1-6. Print
Boot, Max. “Slashing American Defense: A Suicidal Trajectory.” Commentary, 133.1 (2012): 14-19. Print.
Brook, Douglas. “Budgeting for National Security: A Whole of Government Perspective.” A Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management,4.1 (2012): 32-57. Print.
Ferell, Stephen. “NSSA Eyes National Security Plan to Outline Future Budget Needs.” Defense Daily International, 3.12 (2002): 1-5. Print
Fields, Gary, and Block, Robert. “Homeland Security Freezes Hiring; Potential Budget Shortfall of $1.2 Billion is Affecting two Big Front-line Units.” Wall Street Journal, 4 (2004): 15-16. Print.
McGrath, Bryan. “The necessity of Dominant American Sea Power.” U.S Naval Institute Proceedings 137.1 (2011): 48-53. Print.
Merklinghaus, Dennis. “Are the Cuts to the Defense Budget Necessary?” News Digital Weekly, 3.44 (2011): 17. Print.
Rumsfeld, Donald. “The Peril of Deep Defense Cuts; Our country has taken an axe to the national security budget after every war of the 20th century. And every time we later regretted it.” Wall Street Journal, 21 (2011): 5-11. Print.
Wilkerson, Chad, and Williams, Megan. “How is the Rise in National Defense Affecting the Tenth District Economy.” Economy Review, 2 (2008): 49-80. Print.
