Bush spending cuts. Too little? Certainly. Too late? Probably.

Bush Lays Out Details on Spending Cuts :
"In all, the targeted programs include 99 that the White House wants to eliminate, for a total of $8.8 billion in savings. The president wants to save an additional $6.5 billion by cutting spending on 55 programs."

That totals slightly over $14 billion which sounds like a lot of money. As the late US Senate Minority Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-IL) said of the budget in a simpler time, "A million here and a million there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

Unfortunately, we are talking about a budget in excess of two trillions of dollars. And, more distressing, is that the Congress, which voted to get us into this mess, has a rather poor record of responding to pleas from the president for restraint. As this AP story posted on NewsMax.com points out, the Congress eliminated a total of four programs last year from a list of 130 which the Bush administration wanted to end.

But there is even more reason for taking with a grain of salt the real enthusiasm of this or any other administration for real spending restraint. On the OMB website, you can find a page-long list of new inititatives (that's bureaucratese for more ways to waste your money) included in the FY 2006 budget.