Leadership Institute 2011 - Visiting DC

The second trip to the 2011 Leadership Institute gave me an opportunity to get a better grasp of the budgeting process and the arcane terminology.

• Budget process and agencies (OMB, CBO, GAO, & CRS).
• PAYGO
• Sequestration

For those wanting to walk in the tall grass, then check out "CHIMPS" in the glossary cited here.

On first blush, the word "baseline" conjures up a static level line, but that is not how things work inside the Beltway.  The current CBO outlook  for fiscal years 2011 to 2021 reveals many of the critical assumptions. Another glossary for budgetary government-speak is extracted from the CBO outlook.

The Tax Policy Center (Urban Institute and Brookings Institution) published a very brief summary of the CBO's projection for 2008-2018.  The four short paragraphs reveal a great deal about what was known in 2008 and the critical factors left out of the analytical process.  In retrospect, the dangers of making projections with highly constrained assumptions should have been trumpeted far and wide by the media and the leadership of all of the political parties.

The program is a fine opportunity to learn about the inner working of government, lobbying, and policy.  Many "thanks" to the financial sponsors Pioneer and DuPont and the speakers because I truly appreciate the educational opportunity.