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The part that always blew me away about governmentese was when i realized that "budget cuts" meant the program isnt getting less money than last fiscal year, bu

The part that always blew me away about governmentese was when i realized that "budget cuts" meant the program isnt getting less money than last fiscal year, but their increase YoY has been reduced!

oddlyaromatic 9y ago
How else could you plan beyond one year, other than in reference to expected increases/decreases in subsequent years? Those expected increases can't be ignored in "the budget", so they are planned for and probably allocated before that fiscal year ever starts. If you reduce that increase, you absolutely cut the budget.
- losteverything 9y ago
  But to an idiot like me, the absolute amount should go down if it is a cut; not up! So if i spent $500 eating lunch at work two years ago; $600 last year and plan/allocated $610 this year i had a "budget cut?" no. I spent more. Thats how i think
  - Govindae 9y ago
    I suppose they should be talking about budget velcoties.
    - abakker 9y ago
      Ah, the mythical budget vector.
      - Govindae 9y ago
        Oh hey budget space must have an L1 norm. That's neat.
        abakker 9y ago
        Pretty soon, we'll see the new consulting offering from McKinsey: Vector-based Budgeting. Very useful helping to mathematically quantify your various business unit's planning cycles in infinite dimensional space. You thought ZBB was cool, VBB is even cooler.
  - TAForObvReasons 9y ago
    Think of the budget as a multi-year allocation. If Budget A from 2 years ago was "$500 this year, $600 next year, $700 the year after that" and now you reduce the allocation to $610, that is a budget cut from the original Budget A.
    - bluGill 9y ago
      Only if the budget was reasonable in the first place. All too often they "budget" far more money than is possible and then celebrate the cuts.
      - oddlyaromatic 9y ago
        This is two different things, not helped by the multiple meanings of the word budget. If the organization makes the budget (i.e. a spending plan) without confirming the funds (or knowing them through, say, a long term understanding), and don't get what they seek, of course that's not somebody else "cutting" their budget. That's just a budget you made up not being agreed to. But this is more about having an expectation of funding at a certain level from whatever source, and knowing that that will be your "budget" (now meaning a spending _limit_), then having that amount come down. You now have a smaller limit.

The part that always blew me away about governmentese was when i realized that "budget cuts" meant the program isnt getting less money than last fiscal year, but their increase YoY has been reduced!

oddlyaromatic 9y ago

How else could you plan beyond one year, other than in reference to expected increases/decreases in subsequent years? Those expected increases can't be ignored in "the budget", so they are planned for and probably allocated before that fiscal year ever starts. If you reduce that increase, you absolutely cut the budget.

losteverything 9y ago
But to an idiot like me, the absolute amount should go down if it is a cut; not up! So if i spent $500 eating lunch at work two years ago; $600 last year and plan/allocated $610 this year i had a "budget cut?" no. I spent more. Thats how i think
- Govindae 9y ago
  I suppose they should be talking about budget velcoties.
  - abakker 9y ago
    Ah, the mythical budget vector.
    - Govindae 9y ago
      Oh hey budget space must have an L1 norm. That's neat.
      - abakker 9y ago
        Pretty soon, we'll see the new consulting offering from McKinsey: Vector-based Budgeting. Very useful helping to mathematically quantify your various business unit's planning cycles in infinite dimensional space. You thought ZBB was cool, VBB is even cooler.
- TAForObvReasons 9y ago
  Think of the budget as a multi-year allocation. If Budget A from 2 years ago was "$500 this year, $600 next year, $700 the year after that" and now you reduce the allocation to $610, that is a budget cut from the original Budget A.
  - bluGill 9y ago
    Only if the budget was reasonable in the first place. All too often they "budget" far more money than is possible and then celebrate the cuts.
    - oddlyaromatic 9y ago
      This is two different things, not helped by the multiple meanings of the word budget. If the organization makes the budget (i.e. a spending plan) without confirming the funds (or knowing them through, say, a long term understanding), and don't get what they seek, of course that's not somebody else "cutting" their budget. That's just a budget you made up not being agreed to. But this is more about having an expectation of funding at a certain level from whatever source, and knowing that that will be your "budget" (now meaning a spending _limit_), then having that amount come down. You now have a smaller limit.