It's just paying what we already owe...

[Dixie - In Memoriam]

As the debt/default crisis lingers on, I am hearing more and more talking head liberals make the point that the debt ceiling increase is "just paying for things we've already done." That, regardless of spending cuts, or tax increases, it won't eliminate the need to increase the debt ceiling.

Well, a lot of what "we've already done" is in the form of funding for Obamacare. Some estimate as much as $500 billion, is affiliated in some way, with the mandates in Obamacare, so there's a bunch of money for "things we've already done" which can be rescinded and used to pay our debts. There is still a good deal of the stimulus money lying around, all the money for those shovel-ready jobs that weren't as shovel ready as we thought... that money could also be rescinded and used to pay our debts.

We hear a lot of fear mongering, even from the President, who "can't guarantee those checks will go out on August 2..." Old people and poor people are going to be cut off... we're literally pushing granny over the cliff... you've all heard the scoop. But ya know... before we resort to such drastic measures, why couldn't we divert some federal funding from ACORN and MediaMatters? If old people might have to eat cat food, why can't we maybe eliminate a few billion in funding to universities to study the mating habits of some endangered species? If poor people aren't going to be able to go to school, why can't we use some of the money appropriated for turtle tunnels under interstates, or strategic helium reserve storage? You know, the billions upon billions we are spending for absolute nonsense like that, instead of making sure seniors don't have to eat cat food? It just seems to me, there is a lot of things we can defund and suspend, before we have to cut SSI beneficiaries off and stop government checks.

 

[Tags]

Well, a lot of what "we've already done" is in the form of funding for Obamacare. Some estimate as much as $500 billion, is affiliated in some way, with the mandates in Obamacare, so there's a bunch of money for "things we've already done" which can be rescinded and used to pay our debts. There is still a good deal of the stimulus money lying around, all the money for those shovel-ready jobs that weren't as shovel ready as we thought... that money could also be rescinded and used to pay our debts.

I wasn't aware of any substantial amounts of unused stimulus money laying around. Do you happen to have a source?

 

[cancel2 2022]

As the debt/default crisis lingers on, I am hearing more and more talking head liberals make the point that the debt ceiling increase is "just paying for things we've already done." That, regardless of spending cuts, or tax increases, it won't eliminate the need to increase the debt ceiling.

Well, a lot of what "we've already done" is in the form of funding for Obamacare. Some estimate as much as $500 billion, is affiliated in some way, with the mandates in Obamacare, so there's a bunch of money for "things we've already done" which can be rescinded and used to pay our debts. There is still a good deal of the stimulus money lying around, all the money for those shovel-ready jobs that weren't as shovel ready as we thought... that money could also be rescinded and used to pay our debts.

We hear a lot of fear mongering, even from the President, who "can't guarantee those checks will go out on August 2..." Old people and poor people are going to be cut off... we're literally pushing granny over the cliff... you've all heard the scoop. But ya know... before we resort to such drastic measures, why couldn't we divert some federal funding from ACORN and MediaMatters? If old people might have to eat cat food, why can't we maybe eliminate a few billion in funding to universities to study the mating habits of some endangered species? If poor people aren't going to be able to go to school, why can't we use some of the money appropriated for turtle tunnels under interstates, or strategic helium reserve storage? You know, the billions upon billions we are spending for absolute nonsense like that, instead of making sure seniors don't have to eat cat food? It just seems to me, there is a lot of things we can defund and suspend, before we have to cut SSI beneficiaries off and stop government checks.

You could certainly start with cutting back on the 700+ military bases around the world, that would release several hundred billion for a start.

 

[Dixie - In Memoriam]

I wasn't aware of any substantial amounts of unused stimulus money laying around. Do you happen to have a source?

You're free to research it for yourself, much of the stimulus has not been spent, for whatever reasons. I think I read the article in WSJ a few months ago.. only about half of the money is accounted for in actual appropriations so far, that means half of it hasn't been spent.

You could certainly start with cutting back on the 700+ military bases around the world, that would release several hundred billion for a start.

Actually, that would save us approximately $60 billion per year, but then... we'd have to figure out what to do with the displaced personnel, we could probably put some of them on the borders, but we'd still have to pay their salaries. So we save a few billion by closing all those bases, but we spend no telling how much as a result. Plus, we no longer have strategic advantage when the world goes to hell in a hand-basket, and we have to prevent nuclear Armageddon or something. Now, I guess we can be naive and pretend the world will always play nice and we'll never have the need to have a strategic military advantage, but in the past, this thinking has cost us millions of American lives.

 

[cancel2 2022]

You're free to research it for yourself, much of the stimulus has not been spent, for whatever reasons. I think I read the article in WSJ a few months ago.. only about half of the money is accounted for in actual appropriations so far, that means half of it hasn't been spent.



Actually, that would save us approximately $60 billion per year, but then... we'd have to figure out what to do with the displaced personnel, we could probably put some of them on the borders, but we'd still have to pay their salaries. So we save a few billion by closing all those bases, but we spend no telling how much as a result. Plus, we no longer have strategic advantage when the world goes to hell in a hand-basket, and we have to prevent nuclear Armageddon or something. Now, I guess we can be naive and pretend the world will always play nice and we'll never have the need to have a strategic military advantage, but in the past, this thinking has cost us millions of American lives.

Actually I was wrong the number is nearer to 1000 bases, with over 200 in Germany alone. I agree that the savings would be less than I stated originally but there should also be big cutbacks on the huge number of white elephant projects which are basically just toys for the boys. The number of military personnel also needs to be cut back, these no longer make sense post Cold War. It just doesn't make sense that the US is responsible for over 90% of the world's military spending. The US needs to be meaner and leaner, there is a massive amount of bloat and wastage in the system.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12785

 

[Tags]

Just FYI, this is from Feb 2011. I don't know if it has changed.

"At most, only about $7 billion of the $814 billion in economic recovery money awarded under the 2009 federal law hasn't already been spoken for, according to the latest White House estimates."

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Dixe is long on opinions, short on facts.



If the Teabaggers were serious about cutting spending, why didn't they propose Congresswoman Betty McCollum’s amendment (#153) to reduce the Department of Defense’s spending on military musical bands by $120 million.




Adopted as part of the fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill (H.R. 1540), this amendment will cap Pentagon spending on military bands at $200 million.






http://shoreviewpost.com/news/2011/...to-limit-pentagon-spending-on-military-bands/

 

[apple0154]

As the debt/default crisis lingers on, I am hearing more and more talking head liberals make the point that the debt ceiling increase is "just paying for things we've already done." That, regardless of spending cuts, or tax increases, it won't eliminate the need to increase the debt ceiling.

Well, a lot of what "we've already done" is in the form of funding for Obamacare. Some estimate as much as $500 billion, is affiliated in some way, with the mandates in Obamacare, so there's a bunch of money for "things we've already done" which can be rescinded and used to pay our debts. There is still a good deal of the stimulus money lying around, all the money for those shovel-ready jobs that weren't as shovel ready as we thought... that money could also be rescinded and used to pay our debts.

We hear a lot of fear mongering, even from the President, who "can't guarantee those checks will go out on August 2..." Old people and poor people are going to be cut off... we're literally pushing granny over the cliff... you've all heard the scoop. But ya know... before we resort to such drastic measures, why couldn't we divert some federal funding from ACORN and MediaMatters? If old people might have to eat cat food, why can't we maybe eliminate a few billion in funding to universities to study the mating habits of some endangered species? If poor people aren't going to be able to go to school, why can't we use some of the money appropriated for turtle tunnels under interstates, or strategic helium reserve storage? You know, the billions upon billions we are spending for absolute nonsense like that, instead of making sure seniors don't have to eat cat food? It just seems to me, there is a lot of things we can defund and suspend, before we have to cut SSI beneficiaries off and stop government checks.

People talk about Democratic "inspired" class warfare. Take a listen to "http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/13/president-obama-s-framework-4-trillion-deficit-reduction" from 21:00 to 22:00. Just one minute.

Talking about the Republican plan here's what Obama had to say.
(Excerpt) They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in health costs. (End)

That's Republican style class warfare.