What would you cut?

Onceler said:
Not me. Why don't you address your question to them?
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odd....it was the only thing you mentioned to cut, wasn't it?.....
Onceler said:
Defense is a no brainer; that can be cut by a third at least.

Personally, I'd favor privatization of SS; that would remove another huge program from the pie.

There are a lot of token things that people will mention, which might all add up, but they have to go after the big stuff if they really want to get it under control...
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The defense budget is larger than 20% of the pie, you must consider present military and veterans benefits, then there is nuclear, intelligence gathering, and the "black" budget. The total is staggering.
 
Dixie said:
You are aware that SS is not paid out of the federal budget, correct?
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Somewhat of a technicality, but you are technically correct. It is, however, considered the largest federal expenditure.

In terms of what we're discussing - the idea of both sides being willing to make cuts & concessions - it's a hairsplitting point & a distraction.
 
Onceler said:
Somewhat of a technicality, but you are technically correct. It is, however, considered the largest federal expenditure.

In terms of what we're discussing - the idea of both sides being willing to make cuts & concessions - it's a hairsplitting point & a distraction.
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Haha.. yeah, right. This is a very creative way to admit you've just been totally pwned, but remain defiantly committed to the battle!

In terms of what we're discussing, Social Security has nothing to do with it, because it's not paid for through the general federal budget.
 
Rana said:
The defense budget is larger than 20% of the pie, you must consider present military and veterans benefits, then there is nuclear, intelligence gathering, and the "black" budget. The total is staggering.
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$640-700 billion ...that's the "staggering" amount.... Which incidentally, is less than the amount Obama OVERSPENT from Jan-Jun 2011.
 
Dixie said:
Haha.. yeah, right. This is a very creative way to admit you've just been totally pwned, but remain defiantly committed to the battle!

In terms of what we're discussing, Social Security has nothing to do with it, because it's not paid for through the general federal budget.
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And herein lies a huge part of the problem. Instead of having a meaningful discussion about saving our budget, you go for quick gotcha points and stick to partisan "3rd rail" priorities.

As a libbie, I'm willing to privatize SS. That's a pretty big one, Dix. But when it comes to defense - our 2nd biggest expenditure - you have all kinds of caveats.

Nothing will ever happen until partisans on both sides (i.e. you) find a way to compromise. Unfortunately, politicians at the national level are more like you than me; they'd rather have the gotcha sound byte for their constituents, than have a meaningful discussion about saving the economy.
 
Onceler said:
And herein lies a huge part of the problem. Instead of having a meaningful discussion about saving our budget, you go for quick gotcha points and stick to partisan "3rd rail" priorities.

As a libbie, I'm willing to privatize SS. That's a pretty big one, Dix. But when it comes to defense - our 2nd biggest expenditure - you have all kinds of caveats.

Nothing will ever happen until partisans on both sides (i.e. you) find a way to compromise. Unfortunately, politicians at the national level are more like you than me; they'd rather have the gotcha sound byte for their constituents, than have a meaningful discussion about saving the economy.
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Yeah, let them privatize SS, I'll get mine, no matter what they do at this point!
 
Onceler said:
LOL - I guess cutting SS out of the fed budget is pretty insignificant.

You're really an epic hack, PMP.
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truth now....you didn't propose cutting any spending for SS, you proposed privatizing it, which merely shifts who receives money and who pays it out..........so since you're an equal opportunity cutter now, what would you cut in domestic spending besides the tokens you mentioned.....
 
Rana said:
The defense budget is larger than 20% of the pie, you must consider present military and veterans benefits, then there is nuclear, intelligence gathering, and the "black" budget. The total is staggering.
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as my link showed, (if you bothered to read it before you shot your mouth off, benefits for all government workers, including the military adds another 7%.......did that stagger you?....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
truth now....you didn't propose cutting any spending for SS, you proposed privatizing it, which merely shifts who receives money and who pays it out..........so since you're an equal opportunity cutter now, what would you cut in domestic spending besides the tokens you mentioned.....
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Privatizing would cut it - it doesn't "shift" money. It gets rid of the admin necessary to administer it.

The reason I brought up defense & SS is because they are the 2 biggest expenditures we have. Together, they make up close to 50% of the budget pie.

I'd cut just about everything else, btw. Are you through distracting on this yet?
 
Onceler said:
Privatizing would cut it - it doesn't "shift" money. It gets rid of the admin necessary to administer it.

The reason I brought up defense & SS is because they are the 2 biggest expenditures we have. Together, they make up close to 50% of the budget pie.

I'd cut just about everything else, btw. Are you through distracting on this yet?
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so what are your proposed cuts for the other 50% of the budget?.....
 
as far as "distractions" are concerned I see every conservative that's posted here say we need to cut everything.....yet you still pretend we aren't willing to cut defense.....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
so what are your proposed cuts for the other 50% of the budget?.....
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Okay, you're not through distracting. Hanging onto that hack liferaft.

Medicare can be revamped with significant cost savings. I'm not with some of the calls here to get rid of departments liked EDU & DEP, but they can certainly be reduced by a significant %, as can just about every other dept. The fat can be cut. I wish someone would take up Gore's project from the '90's, "Reinventing Government," which was tracking to save billions by eliminating unneeded bureaucracy. Slash pork projects. I'd probably cut some foreign aid, though I'd have to look at the details more closely.

Add all of that up, and you're talking about mainly peanuts compared to the cost of SS & defense, which is why I think those 2 are the most necessary to address. With most other departments, we're talking about cutting services people actually use. There is so much waste & so much spent on obsolete, unneeded programs in defense that it's not even worth comparing. We can cut one third easily, without losing our capability to protect the nation.
 
Jarod said:
What would you cut from the Fed budget to cut the debt?
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country-distribution-2011.png


Is this a trick question?
 
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