The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process

This is a perfect example of “be careful what you wish for…”

I wanted a detailed examination of the federal budget. This book is that thing. I did not like it.

The book goes deep into the process of the federal budget – how the different parties argue about it, and the tricks they use to disguise the things that they do. It’s very heavy on detail, with lots of sidebars about particular moments in budget history.

It is exactly what it claims to be. It turns out that I did not want this. When you go really, really deep on something, you get into weeds that you just don’t need to know. This book is a textbook (like, literally – I assume it’s assigned reading somewhere). It would be appropriate for someone in graduate studies of political science. (I have a bachelor’s in political science, and I never read anything like this in college.)

I’m not rating this, because while I didn’t like it (and I really just skimmed the second half of it), it is exactly what it claims to be, and I can’t fault it for that.

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