Posted on 01/17/2017 6:49:57 AM PST by Enlightened1
Making good on a promise to slash government, President-elect Trump has asked his incoming team to pursue spending and staffing cuts.
Insiders said that the spending reductions in some departments could go as high as 10 percent and staff cuts to 20 percent, numbers that would rock Washington if he follows through.
At least two so-called "landing teams" in Cabinet agencies have relayed the call for cuts as part of their marching orders to shrink the flab in government.
The cuts would target discretionary spending, not mandated programs such as Medicare or Social Security, the sources said.
The spending reductions are expected to be used to help pay for Trump's plan to boost the Pentagon's budget, tax cuts and some pet projects, potentially including the anti-immigration wall on the nation's southern border.
The teams also are looking at staffing cuts over four years through attrition, a hiring freeze and reorganization.
The plan is winning cheers in conservative, anti-tax and anti-spending corners in Washington that have long sought massive cuts in the bureaucracy.
Presidents rarely cut spending, choosing freezes instead. In the meantime, federal spending has reached historic levels. Trump has picked a budget hawk, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, to head the Office of Management and Budget, a clear sign that spending cuts are a top priority.
Still, Trump is likely to face a wall of opposition from Democrats and federal unions who consider much of the federal workforce on their side.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Cut $1B each day. $21B/month, $250B/year At the end of four years the budget should be $1T/year smaller.
The FIRST post about DECIMATION was OBVIOUSLY referring to the 10% spending cut.
That makes it CORRECT, and posts that responded to it correct, except for YOURS.
Did you have too much coffee this morning ?
The personnel costs are the small potatoes in the equation. They need rein in or eliminate all the wasteful and or unconstitutional things done.
What happens in cut backs is those away from D.C. Or low level or those close to retirement are let go and given incentives to leave if they can retire.
“Decimation, works every time.”
That’s got to be the first time I’ve seen that word used properly in years.
They will try what they always try when funding starts to dry up, they'll do everything to maximize public pain and inconvenience, then gloat when there's an outcry, "see, that's what you get for cutting." The IRS has already done it before.
but I thought I remember reading several articles during the primary that if Trump won, up to 35% of all fed employees promised to quit?
So does that mean 20% more?
Awesome!
The federal government is so entrenched in our economy that if we really did slash 20% of the FedGov workforce, we’d end up in a huge recession.
But that is the type of bitter pill we need to take to actually fix our problem. Any SERIOUS fix will make things MUCH worse before they get better.
Think of our society as having cancer, and this sort of thing as chemotherapy. But the people directly affected will not just lie down and take one for the team. It will get VERY ugly, which is why nobody would do it.
Is this content original to you? Well. you are brilliant if it is. At a minimum your awesome for posting it. That is the best explanation I have ever seen of the budgetary 3 card Monte known as Social Security.
“Social Security has been funded by payroll taxes since 1937. By 1962, there were more Baby Boomers working than there were retirees needing benefits. This meant the Fund had more than enough money to cover its costs. It invested the surplus in special Treasury bonds that paid a guaranteed return.
This was done off-budget. Otherwise, all that revenue would have made it look like the government was flush with cash, and Congress would have spent it all. There would have been none left to fund Social Security benefits when the Boomers retired.
However, calling the revenue off-budget didn’t really protect it. Instead, Congress worked with two budgets. The real budget was the unified, which included off-budget items like the Social Security tax revenue. The official budget was the on-budget, which didn’t include Social Security revenue. Instead, Congress ran a what looked like a deficit, but which was actually funded by Social Security.
Payroll tax receipts that go into the Social Security Trust Fund are considered “off-budget”, but are nevertheless used as revenue in the unified budget.”
The US Fed does two things. It takes money from its citizens at gun point and it gives it to other citizens. This is in return for the citizen ceding control of their welfare to the US Fed and thereby ensuring reliable voted for the government party the Democratic party.
It’s a good start if it’s truly a 10% cut. If it’s “cutting” the budget from a 3% yaer-to-year growth rate down to a 2.7% one (10% lower growth rate), then it’s just more DC BS. I have hope that it’s real with Trump, but keep in mind he’s a negotiator. Good negotiators always ask for more than they actually want. That 10% may come down, but ANY real budget cut would be a step in the right direction.
“The personnel costs are the small potatoes in the equation”
Really? You could be right, after all we are talking about Govt. In almost every enterprise personnel costs are in 90% range
When I was a federal investigator every year around mid-August I was ordered (along with every other investigator in the regional office) to get out on the road and conduct field investigations through the end of September in order to exhaust the office budget. The explanation - use it or lose it. If the regional office ended the fiscal year (9/30) with any unspent allocations in the budget, its budget would get cut for the coming fiscal year. It was a complete joke as we targeted entities for audit and investigation that otherwise could have been handled over the phone.
And he really should use the line “25% of y’all said you’d quit if I became President, well, here I am and I’m looking for people to follow through on their promises.”
Then fire everyone who says he is non-essential.
Right for a business about costs but in the G it seems the “business” is shuffling money out the door. The is also a big difference in percentage costs in gov between entitlement and procurement and general gov operations like law enforcement types.
Right for a business about costs but in the G it seems the “business” is shuffling money out the door. The is also a big difference in percentage costs in gov between entitlement and procurement and general gov operations like law enforcement types.
Decimation is 10%.
Quintimation is 20%.
Other than the loss of the paycheck, how would a federal worker know he’s been laid off?
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