2 weeks Ago
THE FEDERAL government runs a deficit of about a trillion dollars every 200 days. That is a one followed by 12 zeroes. The deficit spending curve is only projected to increase if no action is taken and will inevitably result in financial impoverishment of every citizen in this country.
This scenario is an existential threat to our nation and the world. I think it is obvious that our government is mismanaged and that it is being used to enrich some while sustaining a dependent underclass of others. Every budget expenditure is considered a necessity and every bureaucratic position essential.
Every proposed budget cut or reduction in the size of the federal bureaucracy is met with hysterical shrieks of panic and outrage. Yet when obvious waste, fraud, and abuses are uncovered, there’s only silence. Citizens hear this reflexive bureaucratic refrain from the federal government down to local town offices and school districts.
Everything is more expensive, every dollar is essential, but every reduction in government spending is a moral outrage. Americans are a generous people, probably some of the most generous in the world, but there comes a point where financial realities must be confronted — ideally before we’re crushed by the burden we find ourselves laboring under. It is axiomatic that our federal government cannot be allowed to borrow a trillion dollars every 200 days.
Here are a few things I believe would contribute to a workable solution: Cut spending by a trillion dollars immediately to reign in deficit spending and spread those cuts pro-rata across all line items in the budget. Adjust those cuts later as appropriate to reflect priorities. These cuts should be front loaded and not spread over a 10-year period or backloaded.
Reduce the federal workforce immediately by a number commensurate with the financial threat: 25% as a starting point because that looks like a serious number. Increase the Social Security taxable wage limit by 25% or another aggressively large number. Social Security on track to insolvency, this would help fix that.
Institute Clinton/Gingrich-era spending cut protocols going forward. Any new spending must have a concurrent spending cut to go forward. (Under President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich, the U.
S. was generating surpluses and paying down debt.) If the Department of Defense can’t pass its annual audit, then its budget should be reduced by the amount each year it can’t account for.
Freeze all defined benefit pension plans in the federal government. Federal employees would have an opportunity to self-fund retirement arrangements just like their counterparts in the private sector. Automatic increases in entitlement program benefits must be frozen in place, and if an increase is necessitated it should be debated and voted on.
No part of the federal budget should be presumed to increase without our representatives voting on the proposed increase. Taxable compensation should be reevaluated. There shouldn’t be a distinction between W-2 income and other forms of income.
All income should be taxable as W-2 income regardless of when that income was realized or how long the underlying investment was held. All income should be taxed according to the same logic, alleviating the ideological nonsense of people not paying their fair share. I think these are obvious starting points to have a discussion on balancing the government’s books.
We are beyond the point of merely arguing for the status quo..
