This is a no brainer for anyone with a grain of sense. That would be too much to expect of our elected officials. Here are a few simple ideas which would save billions.
1) Do away with the so called earmarks. They used to be called pork but that term got a bad reputation so , in their infinite wisdom, our congress decided to rename it. No one was fooled.
2)Give the president (the dictator if I have my way ) the line item veto so he ( I ) can eliminate the stupidest items in the budget proposals. You may not believe this but the departments are required to spend all the money allotted to them. I would change that rule also.
3) Do away with the cost of living increases for everybody, including congress, government employees, social security recipients and other so called entitlement payments.
4) Do away with foreign aid, especially to counties that are not our friends.
5) Phase out the earned income (tax) credit. Much of the money returned to the lower income filers is filed fraudulently.
6)Gradually increase the age of retirement for social security recipients. Everyone knows that the system is going broke but no one is doing anything about it.
So that is a start. We will have saved many billions of dollars. I have many other ideas but I leave it to my faithful readers to give me their suggestions.
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2 comments:
I think you are stronger on fiscal matters than immigration. I agree with everything you said with the exception of extending the age for social security benefits. I would like to have the option of retiring at some point - when would you start these benefits? 75? 80? Why even have them?
Two comments:
First off, the thing about "having" to spend what you are budgeted is a learned behavior. The private sector does this as well. The process works this way. You need money to do a job. You request it and justify your expenses to management. You are so efficient that you have underspent. Your reward? Your budget gets cut next year. The adjacent office, which is sloppy and inefficient and overspent its budget, gets an increase.
The lesson? Never ever underspend your budget!
Secondly - I agree that this government needs to run its finances with a balanced budget. However, I think the problem stems from our electoral process. Why? Because every elected official wants to be re-elected. Re-election is most easily achieved if you can provide something tangible to your constituency. So, you add "pork", "earmarks, "rider", what have you, and to hell with the fact we don't have the money for that. Your re-election counts on this, and the fallout of decades of selfishness will not be your problem, it will be your childrens and theirs.
Get rid of professional politicians, and term limit to ONE term. Zero re-elections. Problem solved (maybe!)
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