The federal government is gorging itself on the buffet that is the American taxpayers pocket book. The budget deficit is exploding and our children are being born into larger and larger debt. The future will not look kind on us for are unhealthy appetite and unwillingness to accept a smaller portion at the monetary dinner table.

President Obama is set to issue a challenge to his cabinet to cut costs by $100 million in the next 90 days. While the president was on the campaign trail he promised to go over the budget line by line cutting costs to save America money. This would appear to be the first step. This step is more of a political one however; cutting $100 million from the $3.67 trillion budget is not enough to make a different. We are talking about cutting less than %1 of %1 of the budget. This small cut accomplishes nothing to cut the lard that permeates the federal government. The president has taken a symbolic step in the right direction, but nothing is solved by symbolic gestures. This is equivalent to mixing in some green pees into your 2000 calorie dinner plate and claiming it’s healthier. This is a simple step to make yourself feel better about consuming the plate whole.

The money that President Obama is hoping to cut with his challenge to the cabinet is dwarfed by the earmarks that have already been proposed, by the senate and house, and is moving through the legislature process. $8.6 billion has been proposed according to the federal governments earmark website. The senate responds in kind to the president’s symbolic gesture with a gesture of its own, with a second serving of pork.