“If the GOP tackles these issues they will be swept from power just like the rats on Tuesday.”
Say what ? The GOP NEEDS to tackle these issues. ALL government spending needs to be addressed. There are no sacred cows anymore:
Farm subsidies and price supports should killed. There is no reason for American farmers to be paid to NOT FARM. They’ve become complacent accepting government payments rather than innovating and becoming more productive so they can compete in a free market with imports.
Stop paying single women to become single mothers. EITC, FoodStamps, child tax credits, etc. are just ways to buy voters and turn those people into dependent slaves of the government. Slavery was abolished 145 years ago, and then reinstated by LBJ 40 years ago. Time to abolish it again.
Military procurement needs to be streamlined, and foreign bases closed. We don’t need to be in Germany or South Korea or Japan. We could get bombers anywhere in the world in hours. All those bases do is shift military burdens from other countries onto the American taxpayer, while servicemen spend money supporting foreign economies rather than our own.
Foreign aid has become a joke. It hasn’t bought us any friends, just padded the pockets of corrupt foreign bureaucrats. We can send food and supplies when a natural disaster strikes, but that’s it.
Change Social Security so the employee’s half goes into their own personal account, and the employer’s half continues to pay off the old ponzi scheme obligations.
Every government expense has somebody that signed off on it — and no I’m not talking about anybody in Congress. I’m talking about the bureaucrat that actually signed off on the hiring of staff or purchase of equipment or lease of office space, or ... etc. THESE are the people we need to convince to reduce costs, and the only way to do that is to change how they are paid. Hit them in their own pockets by making raises in percents equal to reductions they achieve in costs, and conversely they get a pay cut equal to any “unavoidable” increase they ask for. Rather than being rewarded for growing their personal empires, suddenly they’ll be rewarded for shrinking those empires. Personal productivity has decreased the costs of operating virtually every business over the past 20 years, yet government costs constantly increase ? Ridiculous. I’d be surprised if operating costs can’t be cut by at least 30%.
Give those bureaucrats a free hand in simplifying and throwing out regulations in the industries they oversee. Fewer regulations mean fewer staff needed to verify compliance, and fewer costs.
Freeze all hiring and allow attrition due to retirement to trim the ranks even more than the headcount reductions the bureaucrats made to get their raises. Adjust all pension programs for those retirees where possible so they are more in line with private sector pensions.
Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment, and another one that requires the Federal Budget never to exceed 20% of the average GDP of the prior three years. Force people to actually fight over the money available, rather than starting with blue-sky costs and then taxing or borrowing the money to pay those costs.
Wipe out the existing Income Tax and start over. The existing Income Tax — individual and corporate taxes combined — collect roughly 10% of total annual personal income. So toss out all the government incentives, loopholes, and tax breaks, and simply collect 10% of all income. Period. That will bring in the same revenue in the short term, and MORE revenue as businesses around the world realize America is the best place to operate a business, with the only 0% corporate income tax. Those businesses will hire employees and have investors that will then pay individual income taxes at 10%. Make America the best “Tax Haven” in the world.
For Medicare and Medicaid, pass tort reform that gives doctors immunity from malpractice suits when providing services to Medicare and Medicaid recipients. That will reduce the doctor’s costs and make them more willing to accept those patients. At the same time, the reduction in income tax rates to a flat 10% will allow ALL doctors to reduce their fees even further. Isn’t it funny how in all the talk about rising healthcare costs, nobody pointed out that virtually ALL doctors pay the highest income tax rates, and those obviously contribute to the high fees they must charge their patients ? Same with profits from drug companies — the government takes 35% of their profits, and obviously that affects the prices they charge for the drugs they provide. If we want to talk about why healthcare costs are so high, we can’t ignore the tax burden the government has added to the industry.
nice agnda...you need to kneecap the K St. Lobby industry first tho...they control what gets to the House floor....
“I’d be surprised if operating costs can’t be cut by at least 30%.”
...In the first year...then 50% in the 2nd year, 70% in subsequent years.
Kellis - I agree with your post and thanks for sharing many excellent ideas.
I am excited about tomorrow but remain pessimistic about the ability of our nation to cut government spending to the necessary levels to preserve our nation for future generations.
Preserving our nation will take sacrifice from every American. I fear our fellow citizens are too selfish and spoiled to do the right thing. Tomorrow will be a good start but all I am hearing is cutting earmarks and slashing the budget by single digits. It will take drastic and draconian cuts to pay down our debt, preserve our wealth, and save our nation. It will take a chainsaw on entitlements to prevent bankruptcy.
I plan on watching and enjoying the evening and I will still pray another Reagan emerges in 2012 that can rally a reluctant nation to do the right thing.