Crawl Across the Ocean

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Budget Day

Just a quick thought in anticipation of a flurry of budget reporting starting later today.

Could we please be spared reporting of $x billion for the military, $y billion for tax cuts and $z billion for the environment, only to read the fine print and see that the $x billion for the military is over 12 years and dependent on the results of some policy review, and the $y billion for tax cuts is over 5 years and is partly just the continuation of previously announced tax reductions, while the $z billion for the environment is over 4 years and half of it is money allocated in previous budgets which hasn't been spent yet?

Some rules:

1) How much per year?
2) For how many years?
3) How much is new money?
4) Is the money allocated for sure or conditionally?

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posted by Declan at Wednesday, February 23, 2005

5 Comments:

  • Amen.

    By Blogger Andrew, at 11:14 AM  

  • Hear, hear, Declan.

    I can understand why the government highlights the big numbers, but would it really kill the journalists to spend the 2 minutes with a calculator and tell us what it means, rather than just cribbing the numbers off of the press releases?

    Bah.

    By Blogger Jon Dursi, at 7:51 PM  

  • Exactly.

    By Blogger Babbling Brooks, at 7:20 AM  

  • Alas, it appears to be 'wait until next year' for some clear reporting on the budget by the newspaper crowd.

    If anyone out there is holding their breath, I advise you not to.

    By Blogger Declan, at 2:30 PM  

  • *whoosh*

    Thanks, Declan - I was starting to turn blue there. :P

    By Blogger Babbling Brooks, at 5:35 PM  

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