I think we ALL agree that we need to get government spending and waste (at the federal and state level) under control.
Please post your DETAILED and NON-POLITICAL SNARK suggestions for how to do so - both revenue producing and expenditure reducing - and list what you think the pros and cons of this action are, as well as the amount you think it is worth.
Please critique other's suggestions ONLY based on their fiscal merit, possible consequences, or hidden costs. There are 467 other threads full of partisan bickering and vague philosophical agendas.
Critiques of numbers/sources should have a contradicting link to refute them - MERELY QUESTIONING SOMEONE'S SOURCE IS NOT OKAY, YOU NEED TO HAVE CONTRADICTORY NUMBERS.
CampCreekLou posted this earlier and I thought it could be a starting point for the discussion/give people ideas. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/10/How-to-Cut-343-Billion-from-the-Federal-Budget
Here are my suggestions:
1) Tax campaign contributions - 10% across the board for all races and PACs with the proceeds going to balance the budget in each given municipality. All money left in the "war chest" after the election is donated as well. Money collected for candidates who drop out of the race or choose not to run is also forfeit.
Pros: This does not raise taxes for anyone and generates revenue. Opens up campaign finances to more scrutiny from the IRS. Everyone is treated equally.
Cons: Politicians won't vote for it.
2) All federal employees must fly coach on domestic flights to be reimbursed. This will save approximately $70 million a year.
Pros: Easy savings, applies to everyone equally.
Cons: None I can think of. The option is still open for them to upgrade on their dime/use miles.
3) Plastic bag fee - all stores & vendors must charge 10 cents for every plastic bag. The collected fee goes to recycling programs.
Pros: This is a proven way to make people immediately aware of their consumption, reduce waste and our consumption of fossil fuels. This applies to everyone equally.
Cons: The plastics industry lobbyists have our politicians' ears and in some areas have made laws to prevent this from happening.
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SWGB
Who hates the USPS?
http://www.sowal.com/bb/business-go...store-sandestin-vs-usps-santa-rosa-beach.html
A blast from the past.
The point is that whenever the budget comes up the USPS is usually pushed down the stairs first. Frankly after rereading that thread I realized that for all the "waste" that people say the USPS does they have figured out that you simply stamp the word "FRAGILE" (that's Italian I think) on a package. UPS on the other hand would rather you wrap it in bubble wrap, cushion it in peanuts, and then place it in a box. This enables their employees to drop kick grandma's tea set across the sorting floor.
BTW, the argument that UPS and FedEx somehow do it more efficiently through private enterprise is BS.
Edited
SoWal ExpertAuthor
UPS makes you wrap it up because they accept responsibility - the USPS seems to have the motto of "it's not my problem/fault."
If I had a dollar for every item labeled "photos - do not bend" or "fragile" that was wadded up and stuffed in my mailbox, or that reeked of smoke from their "private contractors", I could pay for the private mailbox I now have to have because once you get one the post office will NEVER AGAIN forward your mail.
If I had a dollar for every item labeled "photos - do not bend" or "fragile" that was wadded up and stuffed in my mailbox, or that reeked of smoke from their "private contractors", I could pay for the private mailbox I now have to have because once you get one the post office will NEVER AGAIN forward your mail.
SoWal Insider
I suspect I just don't know that many people who hate the USPS. I do know which carrier to use based upon my and my recipients' needs, however.....this this differs geographically.
SoWal ExpertAuthor
I don't hate the USPS, I just get very frustrated that we are spending billions of our tax dollars to subsidize them - especially when they are pissing me off with their incompetence/policies.
Seaside and Mama Scooterbug's post offices rock.
Seaside and Mama Scooterbug's post offices rock.
SoWal Insider
BTW, the argument that UPS and FedEx somehow do it more efficiently through private enterprise is BS.
You are so very very wrong about that. Small town post offices might be better, but visit a post office in a large city and you will see just how f'd up the post office is compared to the local UPS office.
Beach Fanatic
I don't think we should abolish the TSA, just put someone with common sense in charge.
I got a full 10 minutes from Papa Scooterbug about the dumbarse new restrictions on printer cartridges. :roll:
Scan everyone and everything for explosives. Done.
P.S. Papa Scooterbug loves the new scanners - much easier for him as he's full of metal. But common sense should prevail there too - he's got a giant surgical scar and a special ID card but still has major hassles all the time.
I have no proof, but I strongly believe that we could save significantly more lives with that $7B if we invested it in the safety of our food supply or in more trauma hospitals or in stem-cell research, etc...
I can't find any evidence anywhere that the TSA has saved a significant number of lives at any time in their history.
In fact, what they seem good at is shutting the barn door after the fact.
- After someone hijacked planes with box cutters, they banned them.
- After someone brought on board liquid explosives they banned liquids.
- After someone had a shoe bomb, they started checking for them (and restricted matches.)
- After someone had explosive underwear they started the scanning. etc..
There is no example of proactive work by the TSA. Everything they do is an after-the-fact reaction (which means it is too late.) Why do we pay $7B for that?
SoWal ExpertAuthor
I think x-raying baggage, using air puffer or swab machines to detect explosive particulates, and getting more basic info on travelers were good steps that actually address the issues.
Body scans and groping passengers are just wastes of time and energy.
P.S. Papa Scooterbug says they should get creative and just ban exploding and hijacking planes!
Body scans and groping passengers are just wastes of time and energy.
P.S. Papa Scooterbug says they should get creative and just ban exploding and hijacking planes!
Edited
Beach Fanatic
I think x-raying baggage, using air puffer or swab machines to detect explosive particulates, and getting more basic info on travelers were good steps that actually address the issues.While it may have been said partly or wholly in jest, listen to Papa Scooterbug. He speaks common sense and not ideology. We would be better off if we did as the Israli's do but it isn't politically correct. They do protect their citizens, though.
Body scans and groping passengers are just wastes of time and energy.
P.S. Papa Scooterbug says they should get creative and just ban exploding and hijacking planes!
SoWal Insider
Andy, since Israel implemented dressed and armed Marshalls on every flight, they haven't been hijacked. Tax $ at work, in my opinion. I'd rather that, than our soldiers in Afghanistan.
SoWal Insider
a robust economy solves 80 percent of our problems. business must be incentivised to invest in the united states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/business/economy/17leonhardt.html?hp Economic Scene
One Way to Trim Deficit: Cultivate Growth
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: November 16, 2010 We look back on the late 1990s as a rare time when the federal government ran budget surpluses. We tend to forget that those surpluses came as a surprise to almost everybody.
As late as 1998, the Congressional Budget Office was predicting a deficit for 1999. In fact, Washington ran its biggest surplus in five decades.
What happened? Above all, economic growth. And that may be a big part of the answer to our current problems.
SoWal Insider
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/business/economy/17leonhardt.html?hp Economic Scene
One Way to Trim Deficit: Cultivate Growth
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: November 16, 2010 We look back on the late 1990s as a rare time when the federal government ran budget surpluses. We tend to forget that those surpluses came as a surprise to almost everybody.
As late as 1998, the Congressional Budget Office was predicting a deficit for 1999. In fact, Washington ran its biggest surplus in five decades.
What happened? Above all, economic growth. And that may be a big part of the answer to our current problems.
Growth built on froth and easy credit, which wasn't sustainable.
SoWal Insider
Wasn't that economic growth partly due to overvalued stocks, angel investors, etc.? We went into a recession then, which was greatly exacerbated with 9.11.01.
Banned
Getting back to the original topic, to balance the budget, legalize gambling, prostitution, and marijuana and tax it.
Beach Comber
My suggestions:
Transform Social Security back into the animal it was originally intended to be: a temporary safety net. It has become a government pension and retirement package, albeit a crappy one, which was never the intent.
Pull out of Afghanistan. It's the graveyard of empires. Let the Taliban have it, and deal with any of their future nonsense via surgical strikes and targeted assassinations, as we are doing in Pakistan, Yemen, and the Sudan.
Balanced Budget Amendment.
Line Item Veto.
Reinstate Bush Tax Cuts.
Remove "Too Big to Fail" from our vocabulary. Let them fail.
Dissolve the Federal Reserve.
Demand China place their currency on the international playing field, else suffer a trade embargo from their biggest customer. Establish trade parity with other nations.
Repeal NAFTA.
Interstate trade of health insurance.
A ten year spending increase freeze on non-essential Federal programs such as NASA, EPA, etc...
End the war on drugs. It's America's longest war, and we lost it long ago.
Seal our borders, legalize the illegals, get them on the tax rolls, and drive wages higher.
Transform Social Security back into the animal it was originally intended to be: a temporary safety net. It has become a government pension and retirement package, albeit a crappy one, which was never the intent.
Pull out of Afghanistan. It's the graveyard of empires. Let the Taliban have it, and deal with any of their future nonsense via surgical strikes and targeted assassinations, as we are doing in Pakistan, Yemen, and the Sudan.
Balanced Budget Amendment.
Line Item Veto.
Reinstate Bush Tax Cuts.
Remove "Too Big to Fail" from our vocabulary. Let them fail.
Dissolve the Federal Reserve.
Demand China place their currency on the international playing field, else suffer a trade embargo from their biggest customer. Establish trade parity with other nations.
Repeal NAFTA.
Interstate trade of health insurance.
A ten year spending increase freeze on non-essential Federal programs such as NASA, EPA, etc...
End the war on drugs. It's America's longest war, and we lost it long ago.
Seal our borders, legalize the illegals, get them on the tax rolls, and drive wages higher.
Beach Comber
+1
I have about 250 flights under my belt in 2010, and couldn't agree with you more. The smaller the airport, the more time and freedom TSA has to screen you. TSA at Hartsfield ATL is the most efficient I've encountered. They don't have the time for any nonsense there. Kalamazoo MI, on the other hand, is practically like meeting your girlfriend's parents.
I have about 250 flights under my belt in 2010, and couldn't agree with you more. The smaller the airport, the more time and freedom TSA has to screen you. TSA at Hartsfield ATL is the most efficient I've encountered. They don't have the time for any nonsense there. Kalamazoo MI, on the other hand, is practically like meeting your girlfriend's parents.
After more than 100+ legs flown this year, I can say without a doubt that some of the worst TSA officials are in the smallest airports. I am in and out of Reagan National in DC at least twice a month and it is night and day to some of the small airports. The small airports drive me NUTS!!!
SoWal Insider
I have about 250 flights under my belt in 2010, and couldn't agree with you more. The smaller the airport, the more time and freedom TSA has to screen you. TSA at Hartsfield ATL is the most efficient I've encountered. They don't have the time for any nonsense there. Kalamazoo MI, on the other hand, is practically like meeting your girlfriend's parents.
I've discovered 'secret lanes' with no waiting, too. 😀 Last week, they all complimented me on my shoes as I sped through, halfway disrobing.
I was randomly searched at my departure gate last week. I was the only person on the flight searched. I have to say, it was a joke as I fully expected a complete rummaging of my bag. All the three TSA personnel did was unzip my bag half way, open one corner and zipped it back up. Now, what on earth are they going to find with a haphazard search like that? :idontno:
Beach Comber
ATL has a lane for business travelers (the pros) and a lane for everyone else (amateur hour). Makes all the difference in the world.
SoWal ExpertAuthor
ATL has a lane for business travelers (the pros) and a lane for everyone else (amateur hour). Makes all the difference in the world.A lot of places supposedly have those, but I find they are typically a mishmash because the idiots just go to the shorter line.
Beach Fanatic
My suggestions:Let's take these one at a time and allow one each Conservative to have his say about them. For the most part, I agree with them with some slight variations.
Transform Social Security back into the animal it was originally intended to be: a temporary safety net. It has become a government pension and retirement package, albeit a crappy one, which was never the intent.
Pull out of Afghanistan. It's the graveyard of empires. Let the Taliban have it, and deal with any of their future nonsense via surgical strikes and targeted assassinations, as we are doing in Pakistan, Yemen, and the Sudan.
Balanced Budget Amendment.
Line Item Veto.
Reinstate Bush Tax Cuts.
Remove "Too Big to Fail" from our vocabulary. Let them fail.
Dissolve the Federal Reserve.
Demand China place their currency on the international playing field, else suffer a trade embargo from their biggest customer. Establish trade parity with other nations.
Repeal NAFTA.
Interstate trade of health insurance.
A ten year spending increase freeze on non-essential Federal programs such as NASA, EPA, etc...
End the war on drugs. It's America's longest war, and we lost it long ago.
Seal our borders, legalize the illegals, get them on the tax rolls, and drive wages higher.
1. Agree completely
2. Agree completely
3. Agree completely
4. Agree completely
5. Agree with the stipulation the top level be raised to a million dollars.
6. Agree completely
7. We need some type of federal fiscal control. While I am not sure it is the FED, some
type of control should be in place.
8. Agree completely
9. I'm not a great fan of NAFTA but we do need trade agreements with our neighbors.
10. Agree completely
11. Agree completely
12. Agree completely
13. Seal our borders but only allow a path for citizenship for illegals. All who are illigal and commit criminal acts are either immediately deported or sentence as appropriate for the crime committed.
Overall, a good analysis of what i wrong in our nation. IMO, most Liberals will not agree with your assessments and solutions, however.
Edited
Beach Fanatic
A lot of places supposedly have those, but I find they are typically a mishmash because the idiots just go to the shorter line.
In some airports they have TSA agents that send away the "less frequent" flyers to the correct lanes.
Beach Fanatic
Getting back to the original topic, to balance the budget, legalize gambling, prostitution, and marijuana and tax it.Are you going to require the prostitutes to caring health insurance and liability insurance? As for gambling there is a cost for doing that business also, so size of State/ Federal government will increase. Saw something on history channel where a grower of Cannabis was opposed to legalization because of the tax and loss of his revenue and competition.
SoWal Insider
Are you going to require the prostitutes to caring health insurance and liability insurance? As for gambling there is a cost for doing that business also, so size of State/ Federal government will increase. Saw something on history channel where a grower of Cannabis was opposed to legalization because of the tax and loss of his revenue and competition.
I oppose this as well. I mean really, do we need the government in every aspect of our lives? Geez! All for the flat tax!
Banned
Are you going to require the prostitutes to caring health insurance and liability insurance? As for gambling there is a cost for doing that business also, so size of State/ Federal government will increase. Saw something on history channel where a grower of Cannabis was opposed to legalization because of the tax and loss of his revenue and competition.
I think there would be a net gain in revenue. I mean obviously there would be because nobody who participates in illegal activities pays taxes on the earnings gained from those activities.
Banned
I oppose this as well. I mean really, do we need the government in every aspect of our lives? Geez! All for the flat tax!
If an activity is illegal, the government is already into it. They can throw you in jail. I guess you'd rather keep certain vices illegal in order to avoid taxes. I'd rather be taxed than imprisoned myself.
SWGB
Actually if the mob simply reported their income the IRS would leave them alone.
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