The Cuts you would make in federal spending (Congress, wages, salaries)

[T-310]

Cut UN funding. Revamp SSDI and get deadbeats off of it.

Discontinue welfare.

Put US back on gold standard.

Cut funding sny program to bare bones.

Eliminate career politicians by instituting term limits and abolish politician retirement.

[Curmudgeon]

All departments that replicate state departments and trample on state rights.

[Tonyafd]

Originally Posted by jbtornado

I am annoyed:

Both parties are guilty of this too. So many times we see both parties in power and preach how we need to balance the budget. It appears as if both parties are not capable of making cuts and just differ on how to spend money and how to use taxes on people.


You are given 60 days to cut whatever you have to to get things balanced again. What would you cut? What would you keep? Why? I want answers here instead of usual political talking points.

Congressional pay.

[jojajn]

Subsidies to Big Business!

Add It Up: The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business

That's over and above our payments to the big companies for energy and food and housing and health care and all our tech devices. It's $6,000 that no family would have to pay if we truly lived in a competitive but well-regulated free-market economy.

The $6,000 figure is an average, which means that low-income families are paying less. But it also means that families (households) making over $72,000 are paying more than $6,000 to the corporations.

Add It Up: The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

[DeadSpeak]

Subsidies to big oil, cut the dod's bloated budget, sell off the planes that err have that were garbage for scrap and sue the companies they made them to get our money back. Cut ties to mercenary companies and limit the influence weapons manufacturers have on our system. Force those in congress against minimum wage to reduce their salary by 3/4 and cut congressman's/ women's benefits. Limit air travel that we pay for since many in congress are wealthy enough to afford there own tickets. Cut funding to social interest groups. Oh yeah and institute a way to fire congressmen/women who do nothing fit too long. Gotta tighten our belts you know

[BentBow]

Originally Posted by jbtornado

I am annoyed:

Both parties are guilty of this too. So many times we see both parties in power and preach how we need to balance the budget. It appears as if both parties are not capable of making cuts and just differ on how to spend money and how to use taxes on people.


You are given 60 days to cut whatever you have to to get things balanced again. What would you cut? What would you keep? Why? I want answers here instead of usual political talking points.

Foreign aid
Military offense

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Slash the DoD by half. Close most stateside bases by consolidating units, close most overseas bases (why are we STILL in Okinawa? Frankfurt? etc.) and start hacking away at the "black projects" to find out exactly which ones we need, and cut the rest.

Why don't we send those who lost their jobs both related to the base as well as the local economy in GA to sleep on your lawn. My mother worked inspecting contractors for 40 years and I live relatively close to Luke Air Force Base in Glendale AZ and there are a LOT of businesses that piggy-back off of the armed forces themselves and those who also work on the bases.

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

All departments that replicate state departments and trample on state rights.

And some states don't do anything right. People talk about the board of education all the time as being on the table, I counter with the state I reside in, Arizona. Arizona has CUT drastically their education and averages no higher than 47th state in the nation in education and education spending.

As for my own cuts. I'll admit, a lot is waste in the politician front.
Remove income tax breaks for businesses because they aren't people and a number effectively get a negative tax rate.
Remove federal student loans grants until junior year to encourage community college use and those who wash out in the first two years.
Look to make welfare programs to require say job prospect improvement plans or work for Americorps instead of being "free money."
Remove politician healthcare and give them the exact same options as those on the Obamacare individual market WITHOUT tax credits.
Institute no budget, no pay rules to be a stick to keep up from government shutdowns. And to ensure this, the pay is not paid back when the government is back up and running. Once you go over the cliff, the pay for the days until the budget is set are free.
Lower congressional pay and presidential pay.
Remove secret security protection for presidents beyond the most recent. Most have book deals and speaking engagements.
Decrease senate term limits from 6 to 4 year terms.
Change the presidency from a possible two 4 year terms to a single 6 year term.
Institute term limits of no more than 12 combined years in congress (6 house terms, 3 senate terms or any mixture there of.)
Remove housing allowances for congress.
Limiting vacations of sitting presidents to one week every four months, except in December where you get another week and they are not paid for by tax payers.
Not exactly a cut but removing PACs and Super-PACs from political campaigns.

[Oldglory]

Originally Posted by Guamanians

1. billions sent to Pakistan and and other countries for no reason
2. special interest groups... This includes gay rights, planned parenthood, global warming, nancy Pelosi airplane rides, secret service prostitutes.

And illegal aliens.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

Why don't we send those who lost their jobs both related to the base as well as the local economy in GA to sleep on your lawn. My mother worked inspecting contractors for 40 years and I live relatively close to Luke Air Force Base in Glendale AZ and there are a LOT of businesses that piggy-back off of the armed forces themselves and those who also work on the bases. *SNIP*

Sorry but the Military isn't a make-work program. Even if we redirect just a small part of the DoD funding to the DoT, we could probably put every single person displaced back to work in another, even similar industry and STILL save hundreds of billions of dollars.

[greywar]

LOL. OK other then the "all of it" response....most of these tackle a very insignificant amount of the budget, and many cuts listed would result in much higher expenses. What? You think hungry people wouldn't commit crimes? And that dealing with that was free?

Why wont anyone say "X amount from Y"...and the estimated result?

The amount of hatred for the poor is par for the course naturally, but few understand how miniscule it is in the grand scheme of things. the traditional welfare that everyone thinks about has a budget of 17.35 billion this year. (By comparison we spend 210 billion on the interest on the debt, and 606 billion on the military)

Cash assistance is 27.8% of that budget, child care, and work support has more spent on it then cash given out.