++ indeed. Cut public broadcasting, but make sure you cut other crap that is gobbling up a ton of money. Maybe we need to stop spending billions on Iraq & Israel as well. Where is that money coming from? We may very well need to raise taxes to get the money to pay for the debt. It's silly to think our 13 trillion + deficit is really going to be fixed by getting rid of public broadcasting. If $0.41 of every dollar is a borrowed money, that means we have a government that is 41% too big. Let's slash ALL programs 41% & see where we end up. Killing Wisconsin public unions & defunding public broadcasting, is that all people can come up with? Really?
@maxiep, what kind of tax hike would you be willing to accept after the cuts are determined to not be enough? If you don't want to take a tax increase, then line out your budget that solves the 41% overspending.
It's a two stage process. The government is like a supertanker; it takes a while to stop or turn around.
Stage One: Cut costs to the bone. Dump the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and make the Department of Agriculture a non-cabinet position. Sell government properties. Eliminate Federal subsidies to farmers.
Simplify the tax system, both for corporations and for individuals. A flat rate or a mildly progressive rate works. Get rid of the capital gains tax and the estate tax. Adhere to the concept of money being taxed once. That should allow us to largely eliminate the IRS. Getting rid of loopholes goes a long way to getting rid of crony capitalism.
The goal is to decrease the size and scope of government (expenses) while increasing GDP (revenue). You have to do both to tackle the deficit and the debt.
Stage Two: Address entitlements. Get rid of the prescription drug subsidy. Raise the retirement age to five years less than the average life span. Allow for health care savings accounts. Raise deductibles for Medicare. Means test for Social Security and Medicare.
Revamp the military. We have more Admirals than we do warships. That's ridiculous. Define our mission and focus on what kind of military we need to fulfill it. Sell off or close bases that don't make sense anymore. We can't be concerned if cities die because they don't have a base nearby. Re-evaluate our bases in other countries. Start charging countries like South Korea and Saudi Arabia for defending them.
Get rid of baseline budgeting. Provide incentives for government workers to save money (allow them to keep a percentage of the money they save for a program; give managers a bonus based on the money they return to the government from their budget). Outlaw public worker unions. I couldn't care less if a Federal employee makes a $750,000 bonus if they save the taxpayers $75,000,000. You want great employees? Incentivize them.
Come up with a 50 year plan to pay off our debt. Create a separate "debt tax" that goes specifically to paying off the debt. When the debt is paid off, the tax goes away. Any surplus in the budget goes directly to paying off the debt.
Enact a balanced-budget amendment with an exception of wartime.
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That's a start. It's a rough outline. The bottom line is that the Federal Government has gotten too big and is trying to do too much. States should take over many of these responsibilities, if they wish. If they don't, then it goes unfulfilled. People can vote with their feet.
