What would you cut?

Well, first is 10% admin cut across the board. Every federal department, no debate.

Congressionl pay and benefit cuts (almost entirely symbolic, but every penny adds up)

Privatize SS, slowly (Starting with opt outs for everyone 26 and younger)

Defense.....oh god where to begin. 25% across the board, close all overseas bases except Diego Garcia, and possibly Turkey. 6 year draw down of forces to total active duty around 750,000. Surplus off everything we're not using, especially older aircraft since the Air Force is so needy with the F-35 program. I'm sure I can think of some more things to cut.

TSA=gone

ATF=gone

DEA=gone

Homeland Security=gone

Business subsidies will be reduced to 0 over a 5 year period, small businesses (under 500 employess) will be exempt from this and allowed certain subsidies, but not at the same level we have currently.

Federal pay freeze for all government employees with 12+ years. The freeze would last 5 years. Retirement after 30 years for any benefits instead of 20.

End war on drugs, full pardons for all non-violent offenders and complete restoration of rights along with expunging of all drug related charges from all records.

This is the bulk of what I'd cut. There would be other budgetary cuts, like 5% to the Dept Edu, 10% to Dept Agriculture, and cutting our presence in the UN/international aid, but those aren't as big as the ones I've listed.
 
There is nothing we can cut that won't effect someone. Many here are clamoring (as usual) for cuts in defense, because they view defense spending as something we can have less of, without dramatically effecting someone, but that is so very untrue. Cuts in defense budgets mean bases will close, and that has an enormous economic impact on entire communities. Does this mean we shouldn't cut defense? Not what I am saying... we just need to be aware of the ramifications. Generically saying we are going to cut 30% or 25%... is not the answer, that WILL result in base closings and economic disaster for many. That's not what we want! A much better approach, in my opinion, would be to select a bipartisan commission to find waste and redundancy in the system. Foreign installations that are no longer beneficial to us in terms of strategic logistics, should be the bases closed first, if we are going to close bases at all. I think there are BILLIONS that can be saved by eliminating obsolete programs, including most of our weapons programs, which are obsolete before we get them completed because of how slow the government works as opposed to how fast technology is advancing. Foreign aid can be cut, but again, we need to carefully consider the consequences, and not view all foreign aid the same.

Entitlements. Protect the starving children and sick old people, but look at the standards for claiming 'disability' under SS, and get rid of about half the parasites, who simply have the 'disability' of being lazy and not wanting to work. Any government assistance, with the exception of Social Security retirees and those with legitimate disability, should be subject to some time period... I'd say, two years at the most. If you haven't gotten back on your feet in two years, the government doesn't need to keep supporting/enabling you. UE benies, back to 26 weeks like it always has been.

Subsidies... again, we hit something that a lot of people can't relate to... most of us don't get subsidized, so we figure this is 'wasted money' because we don't see any of it... but we do see the results of it, a lot of the time, we just are unaware. We need to look at what we subsidize, and evaluate how well it is working to achieve whatever objective prompted it to begin with. If the objective is not being met, we need to eliminate the subsidy. If there is a cheaper way to meet the objective, we need to look at it. I would imagine there is a lot we could cut, but again, we need to be very careful with the scalpel here.

Get rid of Federal agencies we don't need. The Department of Education, to name one. State boards are fully capable of administration when it comes to education, we don't need a redundant Federal agency to do the same thing.

Finally, enact the Line Item Veto and start electing Conservative presidents who will use it. This alone, would eliminate billions in waste on pork over time.
 
Dixie said:
Get rid of Federal agencies we don't need. The Department of Education, to name one. State boards are fully capable of administration when it comes to education, we don't need a redundant Federal agency to do the same thing.
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block grants to the states would eliminate nearly a third of DE funding that never leaves Washington and gets swallowed up by bureaucracy.....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
block grants to the states would eliminate nearly a third of DE funding that never leaves Washington and gets swallowed up by bureaucracy.....
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1/3 of the funding never makes it to the states?? If that is true, then yes, block grants would be a superior way to get money to states that can't afford to run their schools. I'd prefer to end DoE, but i understand the need for federal monies to poorer states.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I essentially agree. SS is an easy fix. Just index the payroll tax cap to the rate of inflation and hire Italian mobsters to kill any politician who wants to borrow from SS surplusses. The big driver in health care costs is the lack of access to primary care. One of the issues that has to be addressed is the monopoly the AMA has on medical education and how they artificially keep low the numbers of Med School seats available, keeping the costs for a medical education high which deters students from persuing primary care career which don't pay as well as specialized fields (though they still pay damned well compared to median wages) but that has nothing to do with cutting costs. The new reporting requirements under the ACA will go a long way towards preventing fraud and will save a lot of money currently being paid for procedures and modalities of questionable affectiveness.
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Preventative medicine for everyone would most certainly reduce long term health care costs. If you include the preventative measures of healthy eating and an exercise regimen in that, then it is by far the largest driver of costs.
 
WinterBorn said:
I also think anyone above a certain paygrade could kiss raises goodbye until we get the budget under control. And remove the ability for politicians to vote on their own pay raises.
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Simple rule for politicians:

If you spend more than you take in while GDP growth is positive, you don't get paid and you have to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of your healthcare benefits.
 
I would like a law in place that would cut congress salary by the same percentage as the budget defecit each year and increase it by the same percentage as any surplus.

But since congress is the strongest functional union in the USA this will never happen.
 
There is nothing we can cut that won't effect someone. Many here are clamoring (as usual) for cuts in defense, because they view defense spending as something we can have less of, without dramatically effecting someone, but that is so very untrue. Cuts in defense budgets mean bases will close, and that has an enormous economic impact on entire communities. Does this mean we shouldn't cut defense? Not what I am saying... we just need to be aware of the ramifications. Generically saying we are going to cut 30% or 25%... is not the answer, that WILL result in base closings and economic disaster for many. That's not what we want!

Dixie makes a good point here. Maybe we should send Bain in.
 
My cuts: Defense. Period

Revenue raising: Allow the tax cuts for the rich to expire, and once the recession is over, bring back the Clinton-era tax rates across the board and raise taxes on the rich further. Close corporate loopholes.

In order to end the recession faster, spend spend spend. A second stimilus and this time hold the half of it that was tax cuts in the first one.

Easy as cake.

Does anyone need me to solve anything else? Climate change? First, kill all the deniers and their lawyers.
 
Darla said:
My cuts: Defense. Period
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A good place to start.

Revenue raising: Allow the tax cuts for the rich to expire, and once the recession is over, bring back the Clinton-era tax rates across the board and raise taxes on the rich further. Close corporate loopholes.
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Corporate taxes are REGRESSIVE... why do you hate the poor?

In order to end the recession faster, spend spend spend. A second stimilus and this time hold the half of it that was tax cuts in the first one.
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Yes, the mountainous problem we face with our nations debt should be solved by piling more debt on. f'in retarded... you went full retard... you never go full retard.

Does anyone need me to solve anything else? Climate change? First, kill all the deniers and their lawyers.
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So violent. Typical liberal, kill those that actually believe in Science so that we can live in make believe land.
 
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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Defense of the nation is the FIRST and FOREMOST DUTY of the government......

The increase in welfare, unemployment, disability and now medical care is the biggest drain in the US economy in history and must be
brought under some kind of control for good of everyone......Thats not to say just arbitrarily cut....but controlled with oversight some to the
reality of what must be done as compared to what we might wish we can do......
shared poverty is not the answer....
 
bravo said:
Defense of the nation is the FIRST and FOREMOST DUTY of the government......

The increase in welfare, unemployment, disability and now medical care is the biggest drain in the US economy in history and must be
brought under some kind of control for good of everyone......Thats not to say just arbitrarily cut....but controlled with oversight some to the
reality of what must be done as compared to what we might wish we can do......
shared poverty is not the answer....
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It's idiots like you that keep this country floundering.

Defense is an important duty of gov't, no doubt - but there is no logic to your statement. Because it is, we should spend any amount of money on it?

Fool; even righties agree that it can be cut, and massively so. You need to look at the budget pie sometime, and tell me how big of a slice defense has compared to welfare.
 
Darla said:
My cuts: Defense. Period

Revenue raising: Allow the tax cuts for the rich to expire, and once the recession is over, bring back the Clinton-era tax rates across the board and raise taxes on the rich further. Close corporate loopholes.

In order to end the recession faster, spend spend spend. A second stimilus and this time hold the half of it that was tax cuts in the first one.

Easy as cake.

Does anyone need me to solve anything else? Climate change? First, kill all the deniers and their lawyers.
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That certainly is 'easy as cake'. Better yet, confiscate ALL the money from the rich, every nickel....

......trouble is, the result will be 25% unemployment instead of 15%......then total collapse
 
Jarod said:
What would you cut from the Fed budget to cut the debt?
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We could probably eliminate at least 1/4th of agencies entirely or combine them with other agencies. We should also cut defense spending, albeit responsibly. I'd say 3 - 4% annually for 8 years in a row, and then allow it to grow with inflation thereafter. We will also have to implement means testing in SS, and limit COLAs to the rate of inflation. We should replace the ACA with a single mandate requiring States to guarantee universal coverage by 2020. We should reform the tax code, making it flatter, fairer, and less prone to fraud, while raising the inheritance tax. Implementing Cap & Trade would also generate some additional revenue. Lastly, we should ratify a Balance Budget Amendment and cut Federal spending across the board to around 19% of GDP.

We'd probably have a balanced budget in around 4 - 6 years following that approach.
 
Onceler said:
It's idiots like you that keep this country floundering.

Defense is an important duty of gov't, no doubt - but there is no logic to your statement. Because it is, we should spend any amount of money on it?

Fool; even righties agree that it can be cut, and massively so. You need to look at the budget pie sometime, and tell me how big of a slice defense has compared to welfare.
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Because it is, we should spend any amount of money on it?
Whats that mean ?

and no doubt, even some 'righties' can make foolish choices....

The country is floundering because of unsustainable debt....underwhelming debt....and no amount of taxation will cure that fuckup, especially after the
clown in office gets through with his out of control spending
 
Xielon said:
We could probably eliminate at least 1/4th of agencies entirely or combine them with other agencies. We should also cut defense spending, albeit responsibly. I'd say 3 - 4% annually for 8 years in a row, and then allow it to grow with inflation thereafter. We will also have to implement means testing in SS, and limit COLAs to the rate of inflation. We should replace the ACA with a single mandate requiring States to guarantee universal coverage by 2020. We should reform the tax code, making it flatter, fairer, and less prone to fraud, while raising the inheritance tax. Implementing Cap & Trade would also generate some additional revenue. Lastly, we should ratify a Balance Budget Amendment and cut Federal spending across the board to around 19% of GDP.

We'd probably have a balanced budget in around 4 - 6 years following that approach.
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while raising the inheritance tax.????????????

Obviously, you're not in line to get anything from your relatives and don't plan to have anything to give to you're offspring....lol

And I don't think you can even imagion what a debt of 16+ trillion dollars is or means to the country
 
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