Porteroso said:
historian said:
First of all government must be trimmed down dramatically. It will be much more affordable when the hundreds of worthless, wasteful, & fraudulent agencies are eliminated & the essential ones are trimmed of fat and reduced to their primary responsibilities. Getting rid of DEI is a necessary first step, although a tiny one. There are many other examples of stupidity that don't deserve one penny of taxpayer funding.
Far more important and more difficult will be entitlement reform. Those programs drive up the budget more than anything else. There are ways to fix these things but it will require hard choices and a real determination to get it done. There is little reason to expect anyone in Washington will be able to do much.
As for taxes, I would prefer a national sales tax of 10% on everything except food or medicine and other essentials. Get rid of the income tax completely because it is unjust and results in many tyrannical abuses & the insane explosion of govt. I don't seriously believe it will happen. This is the ideal.
I am not very optimistic about disaster being averted. With a $36 trillion debt growing by $1 trillion every 100 days, it must be addressed.
What kind of cuts do you want to entitlements? The issue with cutting them is that hundreds of millions rely upon them. There is no responsible way to cut them for anyone using them now. Any responsible reform would not see immediate benefit, but likely would cut benefits for younger generations who haven't paid much in yet, but would need to continue paying to keep the programs afloat...
There are not many fraudulent government agencies, unless your language is English-Zealot. These government agencies are also not a significant portion of the budget. So when you say major trimming of the federal government, that needs to result in major reduction of the budget, otherwise you are just eliminating things Americans depend on, for little gain.
That said,I'm also for the trimming down of the federal government, in the form of a major revision to the interstate commerce act, which would clarify and limit the federal government's role, and also downsizing te department of education, giving most of that money going to federal employees straight into the block grants. I'd want to spend more, not less, on education, but it should be spent on teaching students, not lifelong government enoyees sucking up a good chunk.
There are many ways to reform entitlements to save the taxpayer money:
-Start by ending all forms of aid to illegals. They have no right to one penny from the taxpayer unless in the form of a one-way ticket home.
-End all congressional exemptions: they should follow all the laws & regulations required of the rest of us.
-Immediately, end all pensions and other perks to former members of Congress, Cabinet officials, etc. Their pay was too high to start with & too many leave office far richer than when they started. They do not deserve one penny from the taxpayer after leaving elected or appointed office.
-Fire 100% of the 87k new IRS employees Biden got for the persecution of Americans. You know, the ones who were expected to be willing to use lethal force. (Armed robbers)
-Go through every govt agency with the plan to cut staffing in half. Force everyone to justify their job, especially those making six figures. Cut their benefits to be in line with the private sector. Reduce the number of holidays in which they are paid not to work.
-Hiring freeze & pay freeze throughout the govt, except soldiers & sailors. Trim the fat inside the Pentagon & all govt agencies. They are far too top heavy & the people at the top make far too much money (& have budgets that are too high). While we are cleaning up the military brass, remove everyone in the military services who is trans. No one with a mental illness should be anywhere near weapons of any kind or in a position to control how they are used.
-Decentralize federal agencies across the country, especially those states with a lower cost of living. They do not all need to be inside the Beltway and can operate more efficiently in places like Texas, Florida, Nevada, & Indiana.
-Far more important, privatize as many entitlements as possible so that they are under private control instead of incompetent & irresponsible bureaucrats.
-Allow Social Security & federal pension victims to control their own destiny. Hold those managing the funds responsible.
-Audit the entire government including the Federal Reserve. Then eliminate all waste & any agency with a poor record of accomplishment. That could save $100 billion or so every year!
-End all grants to universities that engage in DEI or any other unconstitutional behavior.
-Investigate all cases of fraud & other crimes then fine the beneficiaries of that fraud double the total of what they stole from the taxpayers or cheated from investors. I realize most don't have it. Some do. SBF, Nancy Pelosi & Hillary Clinton (insider trading), etc are millionaires. Bankrupt them before putting them in prison for their crimes. Same with politicians that took bribes & the billion dollar corporations that bribed them. This might be a net loss but it will be justice to punish criminals & a deterrent to others tempted to do the same.
-Do not allow any govt agency to create rules and regulations not explicitly authorized by Congress. This could provide a huge long term benefit.
-No govt entity outside the military should have any military hardware or police function. This would eliminate a major source of tyranny.
-Allow the free market to operate more freely.
This is just the beginning. A lot more can be done. In the long term, a trimmed down govt will cost less and do its job more efficiently. It will also boost the economy just like tax cuts can do. Quite literally, these kinds of measures can pay for themselves. It seems to me that most of this is plain common sense.
Once the budget is sustainable, meaning balanced and with an annual surplus, then we can start paying down the debt. Only then, the federal government can start selling off public land. The federal government owns far more land than can be legitimately justified in a free society. The proceeds can be used to pay off more of the debt.
Smarter people than me can probably come up with more ideas. A start must be made somewhere.
