And, of course, Mr. Obama:
Folks: we really don't care how you do it. Cut the cost of government.
I understand that making drastic changes will be a Bad Thing if done too quickly...Bad for the economy, and bad for the country.....But you gotta start somewhere, so make some cuts and then make a few more every year until things get better.....
Start by cutting all of the social programs Midnight Basketball and Cowboy Poetry are nice things, if you can afford them....But we can't. Not cuts that take place in 2014, (or 2075!) Do IT Now. Immediate cuts. Cut "entitlements". Drastically. Cut each department paid by federal money by 10%. It is a start. Show you are serious. No paper cuts. Immediate cuts
Now for the hard part....In the near future (like starting 2012) cut unneeded departments say, starting 2012 and for the next five years, cut the budgets of the Department of ED, the Department of Energy, BATF(E), USDA, HHS and HUD by 10% per year for the next 5 years. Then find out where you can combine or eliminate these departments. While they may actually do good things, most of their mission is merely providing jobs for people. We actually get little or no value for the dollars we spend on these departments.Cut such things as FDA and EPA to their basic needs to fulfill their original charter, and get them back to what their original mission statement was....and no more. Think seriously about shutting down NASA and NOAA. Same with the Army Corps of Engineers projects. Few of those work out well anyway, do they? If floods happen, then people will move. End agricultural subsidies and such. Eliminate things like Ethanol subsidies and "green energy" grants and such. If a project is valid and viable, it'll happen without subsidies. AND WE CAN'T AFFORD this sort of bullshit.
Immediately suspend and eliminate all foreign aid. ALL. Every last cent. Stop it immediately. Cut back on the military personnel at all those bases. Why are we still in Korea? Germany? Japan? Spain? ....Cut the staffing at those bases by a significant amount and put many of those bases into caretaker/mothball status. If NATO nations want our defense, then they can pay for it. They have lived under the umbrella of security provided by the US (under the guise of NATO) for nearly 50 years, and spent their money building a more socialized state (which is currently collapsing) instead of paying for their own defense. Time to pay the piper...
Reign in spending. Set limits for spending. Make them law. Law that cannot be easily changed.
If all of that takes place, then begin to talk about tax increases. But only if EVERY citizen begins to pay taxes.
Until you do these things, it is all just words.
And We Citizens are getting tired of the bullshit. And the lies.
Make the 50% or more who never pay taxes start paying taxes for at least a year maybe two or three, then and only then possibly raise taxes.
ReplyDeleteMake the NATO nations that want our help pay UPFRONT in GOLD (and grain and oil).
Take our overseas troops and put them on the southern border with orders to shoot to kill.
Finally, immediately disband DHS and take all TSA folk and put them all on one of these unneeded Military bases overseas and let them grope each other to their little hearts content.