Stan Collender, Congressional budget guru, described a bleak U.S. economic forecast emphasizing that federal fi scal policy will shift from stimulating the economy to reducing the defi cit. What does this mean? Given that two-thirds of the budget is essentially untouchable, domestic spending on existing programs, such as education, will come under tremendous scrutiny. As budget cuts to public education increase from both state and national governments and public education quality declines in some areas, demand for private schools will go up, not down. In order to address the defi cit, taxes will most certainly increase (and might even include a value-added tax on top of income tax). While the squeeze will be felt by everyone, wealthier families will feel it most.

Collender offered that federal budgeting is not a rational process – rather it is a political one. Decisions are not objective, they are subjective. How do you compare veterans’ benefi ts with school lunches? One person’s sacred cow is another’s wasted program.