Chocolate-covered budget

Every once in a while you come across one of those deadbeats who always borrows money and never pays you back. Maybe his name is Larry. Larry just keeps spending more of your money and you become skeptical when he uses most of it to add to his vintage troll doll collection. \nFrustrated, you confront him saying, "Larry, you have to do something about this $4 trillion deficit."\nLarry is much like the United States. President Bush recently submitted his $2.57 trillion budget proposal to congress. The President has received criticism for leaving out itty-bitty details, such as the expense of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.\nThe administration is expected to request a supplemental $80 billion from Congress later this year to cover military costs. \nAccording to www.cnn.com, Bush's budget director, Joshua Bolten, said the additional military spending was left out because the amount needed could only be estimated. \nBush purposefully left the money out of the budget because he has his own plan to pay for extra military spending. I think he's going to sell candy bars.\n"Help the war effort. Satisfy your hunger with chocolate liberty goodness." \nIf everyone who voted for Bush in the 2004 election bought just one bar, they'd only run about $1,300 a piece. \nBesides, Bush doesn't have to rely on the chocolate mandate of the American people alone. He has friends. George Sr. and Babs like chocolate. And I know Tony Blair would buy one.\nBush's budget plan also failed to mention the added expense of the administration's plan to overhaul Social Security. White House aids said this omission also happened because of only having estimates on the cost, but we all know the real reason the president skipped that line in the budget. \nHe's going fund raising again. \nBut as I found out from a very irate high school band teacher -- selling candy is for sissies. If you're serious about raising some dough, the real money is in citrus fruit. Buy a case of naval oranges like any true American would.\nOne major difference between the United States and your deadbeat friend, Larry, is Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which says, "The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes." Bush is claiming that he can cut down on the deficit by the time he leaves office, yet he pledges to make his first-term tax cuts stick around. \nBut the one thing his plan does do is cut money that is squandered on stupid things like education, health and agriculture. Suggested budget cuts would affect 150 programs, a third of which are in education.\nMedicaid would take a hit and the administration plans to cut down food stamp payments by $1.1 billion over the next decade. Sorry, poor people. The good news is you can always sell candy. \nWhile Bush is suggesting some heavy cutbacks in funding for trifling programs like the environment, military spending is set to rise by 4.8 percent. Security and war efforts are important, but throwing loads of money into the military is careless, unless you have the candy bar sales to back it up.\nThirty-four billion 300 million dollars, 26,384,615 expensive candy bars, was appropriated to an experimental missile defense system, which failed twice already in testing. Funding for the missile system will be decreased this year, but it's just an example of how easily military money can be wasted. \nIn his State of the Union address, Bush said his budget planned to eliminate programs that "do not fulfill essential priorities." \nBut as a concerned American citizen I must ask. Just how many troll dolls does the Pentagon need?