“Budgeting and Financial Management” Please respond to the following. Note: Online students, please respond to two (2) of the following three (3) bulleted items.

• From the weekly readings, review Figures 5.1 and 5.2 in Chapter 5 of the textbook. Although the federal budget is for the year 2011 and the state budget is for 2009, you can see the revenue sources are very different. Analyze the overall manner in which the aforementioned budgets federalism and intergovernmental relations. Include two to three (2-3) examples of such support in order to validate your response.

• From the weekly readings and e-Activity, evaluate the level of the impact that political influence has exerted upon the budgetary process overall. Suggest three to four (3-4) strategies that the managers could deploy in order to influence the budget process.

• From the weekly readings, review the types of budgets presented, and respond to the following scenario: A friend who is a city manager once commented that he liked to put a so-called “radio” item within each budget—an item that would make a lot of noise and attract attention but could be “unplugged” easily. He said that after the council had focused all of its attention on that item and it was finally, the council would approve everything else with little question. Imagine that you are preparing a budget for presentation to the council. Propose two-to-three (2-3) tactics that you would use in order to attract attention to and distract attention from a particular line item.

N/B: Here’s the e-activity below.
Read the article “Budget of the U.S. Government – Discretionary Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings” (pages 173-176) here. Be prepared to discuss.