Reference no: EM132219821

The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and balancing By Irene S. Rubin.

ANSWER THE QUSTIONS FROM THE READING ( 2-3 paragraph for each question, 1 page total. Thoughtfully answer and support you opining with source from reading

1- Rubin chapter 1 page 9 There is a certain amount of agreement and coordination that needs to be found between the different actors within a governmental system. That is a statement that could be implemented into just about every area of government, but it is especially true when it comes to governmental budgeting.

All the way from the Chief Executive Officer's at the top to the citizens at the bottom, there needs to be cooperation and dialogue at every level in order to create an effective budgeting system that benefits the largest amount of people, regardless of status. Throughout chapter 1 from Rubin, we learned about all of the different actors that included legislators, bureau chiefs, the press and many more. These actors each play a role in determining the budget and the success of the budget as well.

There tends to be a lot of clashing between these groups and individual actors due to their "often clashing motivations and goals." ( Rubin 9). While there is a large amount of clashing between these actors, there needs to be coordination in order to make any forward progress.

Question: Which actor or group of actors do you believe is most able to effect the governmental budgeting system? Why did you choose who you chose?

2- Rubin chapter 1 page 9 ( pdf reading) states: "...many bureaucrats are more motivated by the opportunity to do good for people- to house the homeless, feed the hungry, find jobs for the unemployed, and send out checks to the disabled"

As a society, we tend to stereotype and caricature civil servants as bureaucratic workers who could care less about their job or even actively despise government (the "Ron Swansons" of government). Yet, this points out that in 2014, 95.3% of executives surveyed agreed that the work they do is important (Rubin, 9), which suggests that this stereotype often held in our heads is false.

Question: What do you think has given society this false representation of their civil servants? What about the budgetary process do you think contributes to this thought process?