Need ideas on where to cut spending.OT

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
I say start by closing overseas military bases where they are not needed or wanted by the countries where they are located. Start the draft back with a low salary for two years of service for draftees. Consolidate and eliminate redundant government services. Eliminate multiple social security numbers and cards that some people posses. Create a law which forbids the creation of new federal departments unless two other ones are eliminated. Wean state governments from federal grants which they call "free money" I think everyone can see now that this money is not "free".
 
Stop giving that 20 million dollars yearly to those cults where the men have 10 so called wives. One example is like that idiot Jeffs that's on trial in TX. Hal
 
Put term limits on people in office and no more life time pensions. Get rid of all people in office that have been there for more then 2 terms. Also set it up so you can not run for office again till you have sat it out for 2 terms of time from where you had been. Stop giving money to rebuild country's that we went to war with, if they attacked us let them fix there own mess. Also lower pay for those in office to a point that it covers only travel, housing, and what is needed for them to do the job and then the rest they provide like JFK did, it is called being a public servant and servants do not get payed
 
For SS and medicare, run all the baby-boomers through a disintigrater. LOL!!

Cut all federal workers pay--especially congress and the pres. Take the keys to Airforce 1 so he can't fly to Chicago for his birthday or to New York for "date night."

Make people drawing welfare, food stamps, etc. do something productive--cleaning the roadways, planting trees, etc.--rather than just get a hand out. Have the 50% not paying any income tax pay "THEIR fair share." Cut foreign aid to countries that hate us. Eliminate the czars that have no function and report nothing. What is the Great Lakes czar's job? Scrap high-speed rail projects; we don't have a billion people to move. Privitize the mail. Actually LOOK for fraud and abuse in all the systems. It's a nice talking point, but no one does anything about it. Repeal external_linkcare. Just a start.

Larry
 
All these "block grants" for states and local governments began as "revenue sharing," begun in 1972 under the Nixon administration. At the time, the idea was to have fewer taxing units; the money instead would come in to the federal government, and then the feds would distribute the money to the states. It was sold as a way to save money...which it never did.

But it was never looked at as "free money" by the states, as the feds were collecting the money on behalf of the states, and then sending the money back to the states, initially. It was simply an accounting device to keep state taxes artificailly low, since the states got the money but it was collected by the feds. By the time the feds were done creating the bureaucracies that sprung up around "revenue sharing," there was NO savings to be found in centralized collection and distribution...and states raised their taxes to where they were before, and then some.
 
I saw a few days ago where the Dept of Education has an Office of Internal Governance, essentially a police force, that is charged with responsibility for law enforcement actions within the dept. Other federal depts have similar OIGs, each with their own budget. I would think that we could consolidate all these OIGs into a central OIG, kind of a "jack boot central command". Even if the number of officers was the same as before, the management overhead would be less.
 
Why would anyone want the draft put back in place? Social engineering for the poor to build a lousy armed force?
 
I went through boot camp right after the draft ended, In think I was making about $40.00/month. The enlisted people in the army were not impressed with the all volunteer recruits, they said the draftees were better educated and made better soldiers. I don't think they would have a way to opt- out of service if you came from a wealthy family. Serving for two years would be what each person would give for the privilege to live in this country as well as giving those recruits that are poor, some useful job skills that they would retain for they rest of their lives.
 
Where to start - the list would be endless. But I agree with US troops stationed overseas. Take South Korea for example, how long has the war been over, 60 years? If the South Koreans want to keep us there to deter the North, then let them pay - they have a great export economy. Same goes for Japan and Germany. And now that we've spent a trillion or so in that rat-hole Iraq, the Chinese are exploiting the oil resources. I just saw where the Chinese won the bid to mine copper in Afganistan. We really do dumb s**t, no wonder we're in trouble.
 
This is a good exercise, I guess, but you do realize that they're just kidding about any cuts at all, don't you?

The only "immediate cuts" are supposed to be about 20 billion, and with the national debt increasing by 4.1 billion a day, that amounts to only 5 days nullification of debt increase, in exchange for trillions in debt ceiling increase.

And to top it off, most of the 20 billion will be bookkeeping tricks and sleight of hand, and will not really cut anything. Last time they were supposed to cut many billions, the actual cut was less than a billion, after the smoke cleared.

There are a couple of reasons why nobody will ever really cut anything:

First, every program has a constituency. Somebody will scream bloody murder if they are cut off, and the politicians don't have the will to do anything that will cost them votes. Being re-elected is far more important to them than actually doing something for the country.

Second: The majority of any cut will put more people out of work. Abolish the Dept. of Education? Great- but 20,000 employees hit the streets. Ditto just about anything you look at. And they desperately need to reduce unemployment, not increase it.

We'll never get anywhere until EVERYONE is limited to one term- so they can actually do something statesman-like, rather than worrying about getting re-elected. And actual term limits will never happen, because it would require a Constitutional amendment, and those can only start in Congress. What's the chances of that?

Weasels. They're all weasels.
 
NAFTA was certainly a loosing proposition for workers. Farm Bureau is beating the drums for more which includes South Korea. Could result in significantly more grain sales, but at what cost? Although the current adminstration wants dollars to train-help possible displaced workers what jobs are there after training? Being a grain farmer I would benefit from this new trade agreement, but due to the negative worker ramifications can not support. Got to be a more balanced policy. Farmers are doing well and shouldn't be grabbing for more.
 
Very simply cut the entire budget 25% we all know there is at least that much waste. Don't waste time just cut everything and we will still do fine.We don't need to set up commities to do any of this just make the cut. Every goverment office knows they must spend every dime of there budget or it gets given to someone else the next year just make the cuts. Remember the word is ENTIRE budget every stinking department from the President to the guy on the overpriced JD cutting the highway grass, now that's wasted money, just make the cuts.
 
start with EPA, dept of ed, DOE, DOT (states have enough guys leaning on shovels), cowboy poetry festivals, community organizations, affirmative action, national endowment of the arts, equal employment opportunity commission, FEMA, bridges to nowhere, high speed rail, NPR, UN, NATO, ATF , ACORN, anything to do with global warming, 4 day workweek for fed employees, fed hiring freeze, no pay for legislators or white house until budget balanced, owebamacare needs to be repealed, tax code no more than a single page= fair tax. workfare not welfare with short term benefits only, privatize what you can, cut what isn't needed. repeal ten laws for every one passed, deregulate business etc...., etc....., etc......allow the states to govern themselves.
 
Those clowns in DC will NEVER cut spending. They have votes to buy from the government dependees. When you have close to 50% of the people NOT paying FedTaxes, That's ballgame. They won't cut nothing because of all the high pitched screaming that starts every time cuts are even mentioned. But, theres going to come a day when those cuts are going to happen, one way are another, then, anybody seen whats going on over in Greece? That's child's play, compaired to whats coming our way. When those GovChecks don't go out, Hang on.
Jack
 
Drive past a road construction project (or major repair/update) and count the number of employees on site. Then count the number working.

I have been doing this for three years, usually only about half are working.

An exception is winter snow removal employees in Iowa, they can't always stay ahead of the snow but I never see anyone standing around or sitting in trucks talking.
 
Yep, the "grand plan" is to let the collapse happen, then the libs will come to the rescue. And their largesse will have created a big enough constituency that they will never again have to worry about re-election. Heck, I'll probably be retired by then, and might even vote for them, just to save my SS check. There are no athiests in foxholes, and there are no conservatives in bread lines.

Great example of the old saying that it is sometimes easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. There's no politically expedient way to make the cuts that need to be made.
 
[i:654c4848f0]"they said the draftees were better educated and made better soldiers"[/i:654c4848f0]

Yeah, ain't no better soldier (or any other worker, for that matter) than somebody who's there against their will.
 
We should go after these huge corporations that are making huge profits and don't pay a cent of taxes.
 
Take a few lessons from the French and Germans. Conscription has a alternate service or labor sewrvice available in some of the European countries. Welfare and unemployment payments in some cases mean be available for labor service- and in emergencies or budget shortages the labor is used. Health care service workers- as in bed pan empty duties, etc- is a alternate service that might be considered for the student loan arears art history majors. Jail and prison time in europe often means useful industrial labor with products available on open market- unlike US where prison industries often restricted in market, the prisoners in some countries can make clothes to be sold in US but the Parchmont, Miss cotton crop manufactured clothing is restricted in US to limited markets like other prisons. Mexico prisons cheap because inmates expected to work, non workers don"t get much to eat. A payment plan for Militia duty, low buck perhaps but a stated amount for firing squad duty that is also paid for executing drug dealer and carjackers on street might result in drop in crime like Isreal or Swiss- $100.00 for a robber or drug dealer, share of assets and a 3 month unemployed rifleman in Detroit might decide to make himself the $500.00 rent with a full magazine in old mauser. A carjacker killed saves $60.00 a day jail time waiting for trial- and body to medical school, sell skeleton afterward for $300.00 to $500.00 would mean saving money- might even make a profit if some spare parts like eyeballs, veins, kidneys harvested quick. A corrupt politician could be double pay- Illinois residents would watch their governors and mayors closely for chance at extra pocket money. Washington DC would be a great "money available for public service" place for next NRA convention. UN would be told to pay rent on building and no more general funds until stolen moneys returned- or find another place for everybody but Security Counsel. Illegal Immigrants? Require the INS personnel to be mostly first nations family background- a Kiowa grandmother in family wouldn"t likely be easy on Mexican grug smuggler- or Irish tax dodger. Some criminals with life sentances are a waste of tax money- the "no cruel and unusual" punishment section of law should be checked for the historical "cruel and USUAL" punishment- Madoff hung in public might be object lesson, flogging was used up into 1950s and was not stopped because of cruel and unusual- like the 1970 death penalties it was the lead up to punishment procedures and possible bias, discrimination involved. California had castration as legal/medical procedure for some inmates and mental patients up to about same time. Impaling, crucifiction and burning at the stake might be harder to bring back- but caning disruptive juveniles is still practiced in Singapore, India, Hong Kong under there common law codes- which US constitution says is basis of law until changed by legislature. A lying politician getting 10 whacks with bamboo cane on bare bottom might be good for a $1.00 minute pay per view- help balance budget. Could ask nnalert if she would pay to see Bill whopped- could ask if she would do the whopping.
I think it"s time for some more coffee. RN
 
I say throw the ATF out on their ears, not needed. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms.....All legal items that have to be regulated by Uncle Sambo.....WTF?

Reduce the EPA....A lot.

Eliminate subsides that pay for the mating habits of fish, bears, deer, and all that crap.

Layoff 1/2 of the US federal employees, cause they only work 1/2 the time anyway.

Reduce the staffs of the congressmen and senators, A lot. Pass a bill that only allows 3 aids for each of the 535.....Only 3.

Dont get me started on foreign aid. 45 billion in 2009.

That is for starters.
 
Better idea is to go after the lawmakers that passed the laws that allowed those corporations to pay no tax. If a corporation donates to a Congressman's re-election, and the Congressman accepts the donation, which one is corrupt? In my view, it's the Congressman.
 
Yep I remember a job I worked on doing a lead into a new bridge on Hwy 54 here in Missouri. The survey came in and said 1 inch above grade so we had to take it down. Then the next week they checked again and said whoops we goofed put it back on. 10 truck at $50 per hour for 10 hours a day for 5 days then the same number to put it all back on. What a big waste in $$ and that was just the trucks not the other machines
 
""They have votes to buy from the government dependees""
Ya, the farmers, the military, the old folks, the unions, what other special interest.
 
Some very good ideas here that I agree with.

But, the federal pie is overwhelmingly divided into 3 large slices, SS, Medicare/Medicaid, and Defense, I believe in that order.

The ugly truth is that's where spending has to be reduced to have a real effect.

That's why it's so tough. But it's going to happen out of necessity I'm afraid, just a matter of when.
 
The problem is that no matter who it is that is receiving a govt check, or for what reason, legit or not, they feel entitled to them. Ask an american indian if the federal government ever tells lies or breaks promises.
 
Corporations don't pay taxes you pay it for them when you buy their product. They are only the middleman to pass it on to the government. If they have to pay higher taxes prices on their products will go up to pay the taxes. and if you don't buy their more expensive products, because of the taxes, they will pack up and move to a more tax friendly location and take the jobs with them. Then we can complain about corporations moving to Mexico or China
 
"The problem is that no matter who it is that is receiving a govt check, or for what reason, legit or not, they feel entitled to them."

And there are those who slip off and work, and claim they have to take long breaks while they are working, or some bull excuse like that! I know one guy, who claims hes disabled, but does alot of side jobs. Funny thing is, these people dont realize that at any time, any where, the man could be watching, that happens when you brag and boast, threaten my life and pizz me off!!!
 
Medicare/Medicaid is the only place that will make a difference.

Replace it with a choice: private care paid for by the consumer, or plain vanilla care provided by modestly paid providers who work for the government and can't be sued.

Yea, the "free" care won't be state of the art and you won't be able to sue if you're not happy with it. Too bad, you get what you pay for. Works in other countries that have socialized medicine.

What we have in the US is absurd: unlimited, gold plated care at no cost with a million dollar prize if anything goes wrong.
 
So - are you saying that they shouldn't pay ANY taxes? Seems like that idea has already been tried. . .

What if we went a little farther and actually GAVE them money (subsidies), in addition to no taxes? That should REALLY lower prices. At some point the goods that they produce should become free. . .

No wait - that's been tried too. . .

I think there's a little thing that we're leaving out of the equation. It's called greed.
 
Fire all the polititions-hire new ones..Pay em 20,000/yr.(A little more than I make)Make it illegle for them to vote themselves a pay raise.
 
You think its allright for corporations to not pay taxes. Take a look GE they made $14.2 billon world wide and $5.1 billon USA 2010. This is after every thing is paid (Clear profit)and they didn't pay one cent in taxes. On these companies moving out of the country . They pay a fraction of the wages that they would pay here and your paying the same price as when it was made here.The quality is gone. I worked for freight line and have seen 38,000 lbs. of freight from over seas ( China) dumped because it was not useable.
 
No prison labor past certain public works. Meaning pick-up litter, sort recycling. Letting prison manufacturing compete against other companies is just a race to the bottom. The federal and state gov'ts will just get creative with penal laws to keep these shops staffed. Officials will get creative with grift just like in The Shawshank Redemption.
 
We will never seriously deal with this without serious civil unrest.
I think we are going the way of the Roman Empire, Bourbon France, or Czarist Russia which is to say we will not recognize our governing body here in another 50 years. I am worried that owning (private) property will not be a right given to a citizen by then. I am already thinking the people running in the local election here this fall are going to create headaches for decades to come never mind state or federal.
 
How about the 47% of Americans who pay no taxes join the fun with the rest of us.

EPA--reduce budget 50%

Energy Department--Phase out.

Education Dept--reduce budget 75%

Earned income tax credit--Eliminate. Kinda galls when someone works 2 weeks in the year and gets a $5.000 tax 'refund'

Homeland Security--retain budget..move 95% of uniformed staff to posts within 10 miles of the SOUTHERN border.

Rant complete.

Brad
 
Nearly everybody on this board sees what the problems are, and many excellent suggestions have been made about where to cut, eliminate and re-direct in order to get our government and our economy back on track. Problem is, though, that none of these sensible ideas will ever come to fruition because the whole political and economic system is too firmly entrenched to ever be meaningfully changed through traditional political processes. It doesn’t really matter who is president, and it has become apparent this week that it doesn’t matter who’s in Congress. No question, the sockmonkey is a disaster but it doesn’t really matter who’s holding the wheel when the bus goes off the cliff.

The change will inevitably happen, and when it does it will be the result of some sort of cataclysmic catastrophe (economic collapse, WWIII, unprecedented natural disaster, revolution, etc.) that will turn everything upside down and force us to start over again. It will not be pretty.

The question is, will there be enough people of strength, character, integrity and wisdom to hold it together long enough to begin anew and do it correctly. If the entire nation was composed of people like the ones represented on this board, I would say yes, but I fear that at least half of this nation would not meet that standard.
 
Ok Then Charge a large duty tax to let their products come across the US boundary or into our waters. They save money in production costs, and we tax them higher based on a higher profit .
 
Go back to the One Room Schoolhouse out in the middle of nowhere, & no bussing. My relatives walked a couple of miles to school. Tell the new generation if you want transportation than get educated, & earn it!!! Last I heard that was like 55% of the Indiana State property tax budget. Look what you can save + kids get a lot of excercise walking to school. That would also reduce these Muti Million - Billion dollar schools that we should not have! Its totally ridiculious to bus kids 15 miles, & more like I went through for 7 years!
 
Like the old Wendy's commercial said, "where's the beef?" Two-thirds of the federal budget goes to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and defense. If you truly want to make significant spending cuts, that's where the beef is.
 
Here"s a novel idea. Register and vote.Take out the garbage.Don"t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
 
The trend is to have the kids become wards of The State when they are born. Just heard that they want a program to feed kids during Summer break because the parents don't feed them and the only food they get is at the school during the Fall, Winter and Spring.
 
Yeah, exactly, We agree for once. But like I said, The gravy train is running out of track. Then what?
Jack
 
All of yall that are saying cut Social Security, you pay into this. It is your own money. The last few years that I worked I paid in over $300 dollars a month. Iwould have much rather put it into an account of my own choosing. If you want to cut SS cut out the people that never paid any into it. I saw yesterday where the state dept is paying to rebuild mosques in nnalert countries, STOP THIS. Why do immigrants get free money to start businesses and don"t have to income taxes for 5 years? STOP THIS. Make the Congress participate in Social Security. Also why should the Congress get a full retirement if they only serve one term. Pass a Constitutional Amendment that any pay raise or any other benefit for Congress has to be voted on by the people. I feel better now. By the way I never did feel that
Social Security would be there for me so I made my plans to take care of myself. The government has convinced the majority of people that as long as they can watch sports on tv and drink beer the goverrnment will take care of the rest. I let the government (USAF) take care of me for four years back in the 60"s. I can take much better care of myself.
 
After 911 our economy did seem to take a pretty big hit. I was in the auto industry and things just weren't the same after that day.
 
Very interesting discussion but you all left out the big fix. As certain politicians preach, the way to future prosparity is to not raise taxes on the wealthy or job creators as they are now labled. I proposed going all out to create jobs by not taxing those making over $1M in any fashion. Just think how many jobs Paris Hilton will create for us or how many more jobs she would have created if her father didn't have to pay those job killing death taxes. Problem solved.One more idea. Put cocaine back in Coke Cola so all the new and old workers will work harder and be happy doing it. Problem solved.
 
OK I'll be the first to admit that I'm retired Army and a disabled Vet.

Where to look for budgets cuts????

Lets start with some military procurement. A lot of things the government buys they over pay for. So lets start there. Go through the contracts and check whats being paid. A lot of money could be saved just by allowing an installation to do local purchasing. I know that they did allow it twice while I was at Ft BLiss Tx. One item was a starter for a truck, cost delivered from the Army supply system was $1500, local cost was 500. You can also cut a number of staff positions at higher levels. Also take a look at some hardware that we buy. Few years ago congress was looking at the equipment being used in our current wars. They found out that with all the bombs dropped that not one had been delivered by a B2 bomber. A 2.1 billion dollar bomber and it wasn't being used.....why you may ask....the Air Force told congress that they were too expensive to risk one crashing or being shot down! That's 44.1 billion not including the crews, ground support and parts inventory to support an aircraft they are afraid to use!

Make it so that if our politicians decide to involve us in a war that their children/grandkids have to serve in that war! Bet they would be a little more careful about using the troops if they couls stand to loose a child.

Make welfare workfare. If yer able you work, it's that simple! That would give some welfare babies the incentive to look for better jobs!

Fair taxes! everyone should pay their fair share. I don't care if it's a buck! In 08 54% of the taxpayers paid in a total of just over 34K, thats right 34K in taxes. Now figuring that there are 300 million or so people and that about 200 million should be paying taxes......

Cut aid to other countries! We have been trying to buy Friends for years. It don't work! So stop!

On some of the other points made here, the draft military was a huge part of the problems we had in Viet Nam. I'd rather serve with people who want to be there.

One thing that makes our econemy work better is a business friendly environment. We are seeing some of the product of changes made in the last 2 years that "tighten up" how business is done. It has not helped the econemy at all! But everyone sure loved it that the nnalert were socking it to big business! Ops! Don't take this the wrong way, some of the things passed were good but in all they hurt business. Were the profits mentioned gross or net? Bet money they were gross! Take a look at what business taxes actually are! They are very high but there are loop holes. So after they post gross profit they spend money like mad to get it down so that they have little or no net (taxable) profit. They renovate, modernize factories, buy new equipment and build new facilities. All things that create a large number of JOBS!


Cut farm subsidies! It's a business so treat it as one! Ops did I just say that on a farm page???? Yup I did!


Term limits!

Bunch of ways to save money.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 16:39:11 08/02/11) We should go after these huge corporations that are making huge profits and don't pay a cent of taxes.
hat is the divisive garbage that the libs spout.
Actually, there should be ZERO corporate taxes. Why?
Because now or with whatever laws/regulations anyone has or may pass, CORPORATIONS WILL NEVER PAY TAXES. It is only a show to fool you & I and make US pay more taxes. How is that you ask?
1) Any 'tax " a corp pays is simply passed on to the buyer of the bread, milk, TV, computer, car , etc. Buyer pays the "corp tax".
2) Any profit a corp makes is either plowed back into the corp or payed out to the stockholder, so any "corp tax" takes money from the stockholder. Further more it is double taxation in that it is taxed again when the stockholder pays tax on his dividends.
3) It is like Europe's Value Added Tax...allows the taxes to be hidden from the real payer... a scheme to fool you & I. We pay be don't realize it.
4) Tax & regulate the corporate job generators out of the USA.....then layoffs & finally no jobs.
5) Don't think that the corp pays half of your SS/FICA tax either. Once again, just to fool you & I. If they were not paying what appears to be half, those dollars would be yours, so in the end, you ARE paying the whole 100%.

In the end, you see, the corporations are not tax payers & can't be made to be tax payers, no matter the charade....THE CORPORATIONS ARE JUST A TAX COLLECTOR for the government.
Don't be fooled.
 
(quoted from post at 15:00:27 08/03/11)
(quoted from post at 16:39:11 08/02/11) We should go after these huge corporations that are making huge profits and don't pay a cent of taxes.
hat is the divisive garbage that the libs spout.
Actually, there should be ZERO corporate taxes. Why?
Because now or with whatever laws/regulations anyone has or may pass, CORPORATIONS WILL NEVER PAY TAXES. It is only a show to fool you & I and make US pay more taxes. How is that you ask?
1) Any 'tax " a corp pays is simply passed on to the buyer of the bread, milk, TV, computer, car , etc. Buyer pays the "corp tax".
2) Any profit a corp makes is either plowed back into the corp or payed out to the stockholder, so any "corp tax" takes money from the stockholder. Further more it is double taxation in that it is taxed again when the stockholder pays tax on his dividends.
3) It is like Europe's Value Added Tax...allows the taxes to be hidden from the real payer... a scheme to fool you & I. We pay be don't realize it.
4) Tax & regulate the corporate job generators out of the USA.....then layoffs & finally no jobs.
5) Don't think that the corp pays half of your SS/FICA tax either. Once again, just to fool you & I. If they were not paying what appears to be half, those dollars would be yours, so in the end, you ARE paying the whole 100%.

In the end, you see, the corporations are not tax payers & can't be made to be tax payers, no matter the charade....THE CORPORATIONS ARE JUST A TAX COLLECTOR for the government.
Don't be fooled.

common sense ain't so common JMOR...Tax the corporations should be explained as Tax Ourselves.
 
CORPORATIONS WILL NEVER PAY TAXES.

Truer words were never spoken. The only objects that can be taxed are people. And corporations are NOT people. When the King needed revenue, he came to your house and took some of the wheat you grew. That's a tax and it continues today but in a much more subtle manner. Nowadays it's passed through so many middlemen, you don't realize that it's STILL a portion of YOUR labor that is being taken.

As to the OP, the government is so big and pervasive with so much waste and pork barrel spending, it's hard to say where to start. Here in Michigan, the new governor (Snyder) gored just about everyone's ox, myself included, and now people want him recalled. Heck, I want him to run for President.
 
that would only create legislative incompetence or graft! We'd only have the stupid or the criminal...oh wait, that's what we have now!
 

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