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I am all about transparency, that is my thing…it is probably a key reason that I do not find invitations to top secret meetings in my inbox very often. I just personally believe that the more that the average citizen knows regarding the challenges to be overcome, the more likely that they will be encouraged, if they have the interest and willingness, to contribute to the solutions.

Therefore, I am generally provided opportunities to organize areas that require a reasonable degree of transparency, because there are times when things need to be secret, and there are times when things simply need to be organized. So President scrabman asked me to chair the Economic Council for the remainder of this term, which is rather discomfiting since, even last week, I would have probably given my eye teeth for the opportunity to just be on the council, and as of Sunday night I am in a position of leadership.

But enough about me, this is about what you, the eAmerican public, should expect from the Economic Council in the next ten or so days…a federal budget.

The Scrabman administration can be fairly characterized by pragmatic and motivated. We, as a team, recognize that, regardless of the circumstances of our opportunity, the eUnited States will benefit from our drive for progress with specific results. We also recognize that, although in this instance time is short for results, we should always focus on our goals with a sense of immediacy. We are not here to revel in titles, we are here to deliver on our commitments.

My focus is drawing together the data and the discussions to produce a comprehensive draft budget. I figure I have ten days (hopefully more) with the authority and access necessary to produce it. Previously, the eUS government has worked on a cash basis, wherein, when something comes up that costs money, the President and Congress opened the collective wallets of the taxpayer (the Treasury, Fort Knox) and determines if there was enough cash (USD or Gold) to cover it. When the cash was there, they purchased it; and when the cash wasn’t there, rather than planning for the expense or deferring the expense for another payday, they would simply adjust the revenue stream through taxes so that, for all intensive purposes, payday came sooner.

Now, we have a choice, we can continue moving up paydays until we owe more than we can ever generate, or we can start planning our expenditures in a fiscally responsible manner. I think there is a myth that is perpetuated by the opaque nature of the Economic Council, that somehow planning cannot take place because of an assortment of barriers including lack of data, or lack of continuity stemming from the incredibly short election cycles.

To the first barrier, I can assure you that the data is available (and in most cases published) and simply requires organization and analysis. To the second barrier, I am convinced that if the citizens of America demand a Federal Budget, and further demand a reasonable itemization of that budget (wherein discretionary funds can effectively mask “top-secret-hush-hush” National Security types of expenditures) for review, then the continuity of a Federal Budget is no longer reliant on the motives of the producer, but instead is reliant on the demand of the consumers (that would be you America).

Our first efforts yesterday were focused on the development of categories of projected or scheduled government expenditure which must be addressed within the Federal Budget:

Primary Categories and Sub Categories (*Examples of use):

Infrastructure
--Constructions – Hospitals
--Constructions - Defense Systems
--Raw Materials (*Reserves)
--Manufactured Products (*Weapons Contracts)

Foreign Policy
--Alliance Fees
--War Declaration
--Discretionary (*Foreign Service)

Military
--Marines
--Army
--National Guard
--Discretionary (*Logistics)

Citizen Programs
--Department of Education
--Welcoming Committee/Meals on Wheels
--Discretionary (*New Citizen Fees)

While I will state that this may simplistic to most, it is a step forward from where we were at yesterday…in the coming days the focus will be to gather the data and determine the average and frequency of expenditures required for each category and a schedule of planned infrastructure investments. It is also critical to inform you that I will not be deciding the expenditure amounts (that is the purview of Congress and the President), I am simply going to collaborate with the other Economics Council members to provide a structure and options for implementation based on existing reserves and projected revenues.

I would also like to offer a special thanks to my Economic Council colleagues, and most especially ssomo, for their willingness and efforts in partnership on this project.

As these items are developed I will be looping you in as well through my paper, because it is your tax dollars that will eventually fund the federal budget, you have a right to transparency in budgetary planning.

If this information was helpful for you please vote this article up…and if you are satisfied with our progress, I urge you to re-elect Scrabman for as President of the eUnited States of America, April 5th, 2009, so that we have the opportunity to accomplish the next steps…enacting the federal budget and balancing revenue to the budget.