Posted on 03/23/2010 4:06:41 AM PDT by eRtwngr
I indicated one already...education. You're pretty quick to accuse people of lying...just ask politely and you will get farther in life.
But as you seem to be curious, I'd have to research more to have a through and exhaustive list, but here are some for starters...
Education department: this isn't a federal function...the states all have education departments anyway, so stop routing funds into bureaucracies in DC only to waste money and then send some back to the states. Let the states collect money for education in their own states and the citizens of that state will have greater say in how it's spent.
Social Security: This Ponzi scheme is going to crash because the politicians have already stole the money. This is trickier to get rid of because there is obligation on the part of the federal government to all those who have paid into the system for their whole lives. But start to fix this by allowing people to have individual savings accounts for retirement. They will get better return on their money and it'll actually be there instead of taken for some other pet government payoff. I have ideas on how to do this but it'd take more space and time to write it out then we have here and that I have time to run through. Suffice it to say, this is a program that needs to wind down and let people save for their own retirements. What constitutional authority provides for the federal government to force people to save only to have it stolen? This is 20% of the 2009 budget. It can't all go away immediately, but by making it controlled by the individual it will be greatly decreased.
TARP funds...this accounts for 4% of the 2009 budget...the federal government has no authority to pick winners and losers in business.
Medicare and Medicaid...these are government insurance programs. The federal government has no place in the insurance business. Again, this can't be just shut off because retired people are already dependent upon the program, but let people save for medical expenses as part of their private retirement savings. Like SS this will need to wind down and can't be stopped cold turkey but a significant reduction would be achievable in short order. This area accounts for 19% of the 2009 budget.
Earmarks: ban them. If something is worth paying for at the federal level let them pass a specific bill authorizing that instead of sneaking them onto other bills. It's impossible to know how much of the federal budget is included in these hidden costs as they are spread across all sorts of unrelated bills, but it'd be significant.
IRS: institute a flat tax without the billions of loopholes and you can get the tax submission down to a single page, or even down to a post card sized. Without the loopholes you don't need the vast majority of the IRS to chance down cheaters. There are a number of websites that discuss this concept, but as a rough example, perhaps the first 10,000 isn't taxed, and then a flat 18% or so on anything past that and allow a certain percentage of money put into the retirement/medical savings to be deductible up to some cap.
Fraud and Waste: The Office of Management and Budget estimated that the federal government made $98 billion in "improper payments" during FY2009. By downsizing the government there is less room for fraud and waste. A significant savings can be made just by changing the scale of government.
According to Wikipedia, an additional 29% of the budget is split between Discretionary spending and "Other Mandatory". I'm sure these two categories are made up of thousands of smaller categories, but I'd bet money I could find things to cut from the federal government in those as well....for example, get rid of most if not all federal funding for scientific studies. We've electrocuted enough lab rats...let scientists pay for their own experiments and studies. We don't need the federal government determining the best way to teach Chinese prostitutes how to moderate their alcholhol drinking, for example.
Military: why do we have about 38,000 troops in South Korea, 47,000 in Japan and 116,000 in Europe? Any idea how much we pay for that? Obviously having bases in some places adds to global flexibility, but we should let Europe defend itself and how about cutting the numbers in Asia down by 80% or so?
I don't watch Fox much anymore either. With Sheppard smith and Geraldo pushing their liberal agenda...well, they can say what they want, but I don't have to listen to crap.
And I was very disappointed in Megyn. Generally I have liked her other than her penchant for the sensational over the substantive...but I had just put that down as TV trying to be entertaining.
Fox has fallen into a format rut. Get two people to mildly argue only 2 different views, both generally extreme for 2 minutes thus avoiding any real substance and depth. It's more like watching 2 performing seals than 2 proponents of different views.
Well put-I noticed a change in them Jan/Feb, but I thought maybe it was me! I don’t watch a lot of TV anymore but I really wanted to see the Tea Party people do their thing.
And while the FOX crew do act in a sensationalist-type manner at times -esp. Megyn Kelly and Shlep-I thought it was THE WORST topic to use for that end; racism, hate, spitting on people.
And she said it over and over as if she heard it and saw it herself...I was really really ticked off.
To be ‘charged’ with racism is just as serious as actually BEING a racist...are you listening Megyn? If you cannot prove it, you owe them an apology in prime-time.
We NEED our OWN Conservative Channel...with News, History, etc....wouldn’t that be great?
If I won the lottery, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Some say that it's impossible for the news to be presented objectively...bias of one sort or another will always exist. While there is some truth to that I know that the media could get MUCH closer to objectivity by reporting the facts. I know that's become a novel concept, but they should try it sometime...I bet it would be a hit.
I wasn’t referring to you about the lying. I meant candidates. And I like your list - a good start.
Yes it would-people are starving for the truth.
And FOX used to do that-tell both sides and err on the side of common-sense (one thing a lie lacks), but they don’t do that anymore as evidenced by the sensationalistic lies this weekend.
To me the truth is the truth is the truth. For that you need the facts and the proof. Simple to me and to most people I think.
That’s why when I hear less facts, more opinion and no proof-I know it’s a lie coming out of their mouth.
I do think it is VERY possible to do-it just takes integrity-and unfortunately for me-money.
I’m probably not rich because I would just give most of it away to good causes and people-what fun that would be!
Ah...pardon my misunderstanding. That's always a risk when communicating in a quickly written format.
Glad you liked the start of my list. Winding down the huge entitlement programs like SS and Medicare/Medicaid would take a significant bit of time since there is no way the government can pay the accrued commitment but perhaps people who have been working for under 5 years could receive a lump sum deposit or even over time payments into their retirement/medical savings plans...or something to that effect. People who have paid over 5 years but haven't yet retired could start the retirement/medical savings plans but would also retain benefits already paid into SS/Medicare. The finer details would take quite a bit of hard core research and study, but I believe the basic concept would be the best way to unattached the federal government from the entitlement programs.
Same here...if I won the lottery (which is hard because I don't buy the tickets) I would end up giving most of the money away. My personal needs are very modest (read that as poor...lol), and I don't covet huge houses, fast cars, private airplanes, fancy clothes or hobnobbing with the snobs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.