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Take A Chainsaw To The Budget (Stossel Gets It)
http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/07/29/take-chainsaw-budget-2 ^ | Jily 28, 2011 | John Stossel

Posted on 07/31/2011 12:46:05 PM PDT by truthkeeper

On my show tonight at 10pm, I lay out a way to completely get rid of the deficit.

I don't claim to be a budget expert. But others, such as Chris Edwards at Cato and Stuart Butler at Heritage, are. They found lots of serious cuts. My staff found a few more, and put together a list that would completely balance the budget:

Defense cut by 2/3: $475 billion (Federal Budget, pg. 58)
Medicare/Medicaid*: $441 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Dept. of Education (includes Pell Grants): $106.9 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security*: $85.7 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Transportation: $84.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Tax Amnesty: $80 billion (Rep. Jared Polis D-Co.) Eliminate Dept. of Labor*: $78.6 billion (Department of Labor and White House)
Eliminate HUD: $60.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Agriculture*: $33 billion (Cato Institute)
Cut civilian employee compensation: $30 billion (Cato Institute)
Stop maintaining vacant federal property: $25 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Foreign Aid: $21.2 billion (Cato Institute)...

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/07/29/take-chainsaw-budget-2#ixzz1TiFM9jWd

(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: budget; debtdeal; johnstossel
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Comments?
1 posted on 07/31/2011 12:46:06 PM PDT by truthkeeper
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To: truthkeeper

Ohhhh, if only, if only...


2 posted on 07/31/2011 12:47:19 PM PDT by sinanju
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To: truthkeeper

“Defense cut by 2/3: $475 billion”

Get serious.


3 posted on 07/31/2011 12:49:16 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (Public employee unions are the barbarian hordes of our time.)
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To: truthkeeper

I support it!

And just to show that I am not being crazy partisan, the Defense dept cuts hurt as do SS Means Testing

But it is a shared sacrifice


4 posted on 07/31/2011 12:49:40 PM PDT by SoftwareEngineer
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To: truthkeeper

Stossel cuts the defense budget more than anything else and is he really proposing that we cut the defense budget by 2/3. If so, that’s crazy talk.


5 posted on 07/31/2011 12:50:24 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: truthkeeper
Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)

I am forced by law to pay into SS. But, if I was wise enough to plan for my retirement, I can't collect?

I don't think so!!!

Only those who pay into SS should be permitted to collect.

6 posted on 07/31/2011 12:50:27 PM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Greed + Envy = Liberalism)
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To: truthkeeper

Medicare/Medicaid*: $441 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Social Security*: $85.7 billion (Cato Institute)

Will NEVER happen. If even folks on FR are against losing out on the above govt gravy its pretty much a dead letter. Sad but true.


7 posted on 07/31/2011 12:50:46 PM PDT by KantianBurke
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To: Psycho_Bunny

I know, I was scratching my head over that too. ??


8 posted on 07/31/2011 12:51:25 PM PDT by truthkeeper (Vote Against Barack Obama in 2012!)
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To: truthkeeper

RRRrring..ding,ding,ding
RRRRRrrrring...ding,ding,ding


9 posted on 07/31/2011 12:52:37 PM PDT by donhunt (I am sick and tired of those bastards insulting and lying to me.)
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To: truthkeeper

We spend about $400 billion on public welfare. That is insane. How much of that reaches the “poor”?

My proposal would merge all welfare bureaucracies into a single entity. No more free phones, no more section 8, no more food stamps etc. Just a monthly cash payment you have to show up to recieve (and be subject to background checks and surprise home “audits” to see if you are actually poor)


10 posted on 07/31/2011 12:53:55 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: vbmoneyspender

When obama stops including the USA in wars, then they can talk about cutting defense.


11 posted on 07/31/2011 12:54:58 PM PDT by DWC (historian)
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To: vbmoneyspender
Not really. We need to bring all troops home from everywhere. Close and give up almost all 165 overseas bases.
Quit being the worlds policeman.
Let these people fight, kill whatever, they got along before us, they can get along now.
We need to take our troops, put them on the southern border and seal it.
We need to take care of our won country, save it, and tend to our own hemisphere and let the rest of the world do whatever. We can no longer afford to do so.
12 posted on 07/31/2011 12:55:23 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Captain Peter Blood
Our basic war strategy is to never fight a war on American soil. The way we do that is by maintaining troops overseas as a tripwire.

As the world gets smaller, the area covered by the Monroe Doctrine gets bigger. And thankfully so.

13 posted on 07/31/2011 1:01:32 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: truthkeeper

Cut EPA, NPR, PPP and other pork before even THINKING of cutting defense!


14 posted on 07/31/2011 1:06:59 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: SoftwareEngineer

I agree too as long as it is everyone taking a hit not just a few. We all live in families and we know how to sacrifice for the better cause, to work together to make tough things less painful.

We need major surgery, not a band aid! This overspending is like a tumor and if we don’t cut it out it will kill us.


15 posted on 07/31/2011 1:08:41 PM PDT by tiki
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To: vbmoneyspender
We can no longer afford it. Most that strategy is rooted in Pentagon Plans of the late 1930’s onward.
It's all outdated.
Practically we cannot keep up the level of spending we have for defense.
Our war now is with Terrorist who have no rooted place.
So much of our strategy was for a two ocean war that is now out of date.
China may be the next enemy, but what kind of war will it be? Certainly not millions of men fighting a land battle or really even a full scale navel war.
We have to take care of this country and solve our problems now and close that southern border.
16 posted on 07/31/2011 1:09:38 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: truthkeeper

We’re screwed and I can tell you why with one question: What would the people that currently get the money we would be saving do if we really cut as he suggested?


17 posted on 07/31/2011 1:10:35 PM PDT by RobRoy (The US today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: vbmoneyspender
-- Our basic war strategy is to never fight a war on American soil. The way we do that is by maintaining troops overseas as a tripwire. --

The other strategy is a combination of sturdy geographic boundaries (sea); strategic deterrent (ICBM with nukes); and a citizenry that will be armed and restive against insurgents. Most of what our armed forces are doing overseas is "nationbuilding," (more like plantation building for the elites) and that of other people's nations.

As for war on our soil, I dare an invader to bring it on. The way things are going, the enemy is within, and our resources are without.

18 posted on 07/31/2011 1:10:48 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: truthkeeper

I can’t accept that much of a cut in defense. I could if other countries were pulling their weight (Canada, UK, Frants, Germany, et al.), and thus the USA didn’t have to do so much, but they aren’t.

Otherwise, I’m probably in agreement.


19 posted on 07/31/2011 1:17:06 PM PDT by pogo101
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To: Cboldt
In the War of 1812, when the British burned Washington D.C. to the ground, we learned our lesson to never fight a foreign power on American soil. Since then, the Monroe Doctrine has served us well and we have avoided much of the death and destruction which the rest of the world has periodically suffered.

I prefer that hostiles not even contemplate invading America and the best way to do that is to keep our troops close by to those who might consider doing America harm.

20 posted on 07/31/2011 1:24:09 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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