Budget Woes

Politicians like to talk about cutting spending, and doing more with less, etc.  We've heard it all forever.  Now we're forced to do something real or we'll go broke for real.  But nobody's talking any specifics about what exactly they're going to cut.

Case in point: this bit from TPM:

"We've got to learn how to prioritize and do more with less in all areas of government," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at his weekly press conference today. "It just is what it is. In the terms of transportation, we've got to figure out ways how to leverage dollars, how to come up with innovative ways to address the nation's ailing transportation infrastructure."

So this is nothing new at all.  The only thing that's changed is that we have a new bunch of nephews and brothers-in-law who will suddenly discover their passions for Road Paving or Childhood Development or any number of business interests they can get into quickly once the Repubs start killing off federal agencies and funneling the dollars out to their private sector cronies.

These guys WILL NOT spend significantly less for any length of time.  They'll still spend the money, but they'll spend it outside the government, and then they'll claim they're keeping their promises.  I saw a story the other day saying they're going to reduce the FBI and DEA by some thousands of agents - how much are you willing to bet those jobs won't actually be taken over by private security contractors?

So here's the kicker: they'll use the high-sounding rhetoric of "Cutting the Budget" to hack away at the Democratic constituencies in the fed gov't, and bolster their own constituencies in the private sector.  Any bets?