A graphic really helps to drive the nature of the problem home.
If we got rid of the retired, poor, and uninsured we would be doing pretty good!
What are your proposed solutions to the problem?
And while we’re cutting costs, how about we stop garrisoning the world with U.S. military forces, their dependents, and the multitude of civilian contractors to feed, clothe and shelter them.
$700 billion for defense and we’ve got troops scattered from hell to breakfast on some 700+ bases around the world? Private security contractors (who if in the employ of anyone else but the U.S. government would be called mercenaries) who get paid three or four times as much to do the same job as our own military personnel? Fifty thousand troops in Germany and thirty thousand in Japan for what-- to prevent the Germans and Japanese from cashing in their U.S Treasury bonds?
American militarism is bleeding us to death just as much as entitlement programs. Cut the spending across the board!
But MontanaDave if we shut down the bases and cut personnel and contractors we have just increased our unemployment and entitlement spending. Plus there would be a whole bunch of “mercenaries” working for different regimes throughout the world who may end up being our enemy!
And while we’re at it, how about the $700+ billion we pay for foreign oil, and the billions in foreign aid we give to our so called “allies” (and our enemies in some cases) that thumb their noses to us.
The current system is certainly not getting rid of the retired, poor, and uninsured. The current system encourages the poor and uninsured to remain that way. The “War on Poverty” has been going on since Johnson (by name) and the poverty level in the US is basically unchanged.
At least on this we can agree!
Cut SS entitlements for people under 30 (as they have plenty of time to deal with it). Raise the age of SS to 70.
Reduce Medicare by half for everyone right now.
For the Military, reduce foot print around the world (close some bases, reduce deployments that aren’t for legit reasons).
Cut unemployment down to 2 months.
These are just off the top of my head, but would greatly reduce many costs.
Yes, and
Dissolve the following:
- Dept of Education
- Dept of Labor (incl. OSHA)
- Dept of Energy
- DHS (sorry Janet)
- Dept of Agriculture
- DEA, ATF (merge into FBI)
- Park Service, BLM (merge into Forest Service)
Cut these programs:
- Everything administred by the above.
- Medicaid, Section 8 housing, head start, block grants.
- Non- .mil government pensions. Put them all on 401(k)s like the rest of us.
Cut government pay (not .mil) by 1/3.
Cut DoJ by 80%. Let the states handle most prosecutions.
Subcontract federal prisons to Zimbabwe.
Cut EPA by 80%
Also, no social security for anyone under 50 (that includes ME).
Medicare should cover only very basic services. If someone wants an organ transplant, they should cover it themselves.
Let’s face it, our taxes are too high. We really need to cut government by 75%.
None of this is going to get fixed in any meaningful way.
I don’t have the article handy but basically about 40% of the people in this country rely on the government to put food on the table. Count up all the workers from city level up to the feds, prisoners, military, government contractors, welfare, food stamps, SS, ect. Something like almost half rely on a government medical program for medical care.
The scales are too far tipped one way for the right people to get elected to change the system and reduce the spending to stop deficit spending then making even more cuts to where we can pay the debt down.
Then of the other half who don’t rely on the government for food and medical care how many of them want those programs cut so when its ‘their time’ to get on the dole there isn’t anything there for them? So what percent of the population is left that is willing to slash these programs? If you do you’ll immediately be accused of taking food out of the mouths of the elderly and denying them medical treatment.
These programs like medicare cost so much because so many seniors are on them. They spend WAY more on medical treatment than any other age bracket. Old people are put on 20 different medications, go see a doctor 1-2 times a week. We spend hundreds of billions on seniors keeping them alive another 1-2 years. My wife has worked a long time in nursing homes, and we are spending thousands a month on each old person who are basically dead but haven’t been told yet. They are propped up maybe another few months to a year having to have someone wipe their ass, they don’t know who they are, and get around the clock care by expensive nurses, doctors, fed pills like crazy that cost a fortune…Im not saying someone should not get treated but only if its them or their family paying for it. Medicare pays for almost all of this so its you and me paying it not them.
Then that means we are going to crash hard and more than half will die before we recover.
I’d venture a guess and say that it would be a hell of a lot worse without these “entitlement programs”
That is the eventuality. They will stop at almost nothing to keep the ruse going. We won’t be the first and won’t be the last to go through it.
I don’t disagree based on principle. But there are problems with cutting things like unemployment and Medicare. Yes, you may save some money upfront, but the backend costs related to the cuts are going to be tremendous. Its just not as easy as cutting something by half. And what do you expect senior citizens and the unemployed to do? As a civilized country, I think we have a responsibility to provide some kind of safety net for people like this. Do we need reform? Absolutely. But simply chopping budgets by half isn’t going to do much.
Of course you would. Its far better to pay poor people to pop out kids, and then pay for these kids medical care their entire lives so the process can repeat itself.
Its also far better to prop old people up on 20 different medications a month that we pay for to extend their life another 6 months.
Im also glad people can eat themselves into being obese, and then get classified as disabled so we can pay for their existence the rest of their lives.
We can also pay for a college education so the schools keep raising the rates knowing the government is going to match their increases.
Get laid off and instead of going back to work its 2 years at home on the tax payer.
Show me some examples that makes this all worth it. That snubs out the abuse and injustices of the welfare state…
What if within these social programs we cut benefits for all former felons, drug addicts, criminals, and generally abusers of the system. That could be one reform we could do. Thoughts?
So lets do away with personal responsibility and pay trillions in welfare as a “safety net”. Those Federal spending amounts are a small chunk of whats really spent on these programs. Much of the cost is hidden away in state budgets. Im sure people would be shocked if we ever got the real numbers.
Edit: I just looked up my state, Texas, and the overwhelming majority of the budget is education and ‘health and human services’ AKA welfare. Less than 20% is spent on public safety (DPS), general government spending like roads and public works. Another example of where the “safety net” and everyone gets an education BS has caused budgets to be dominated by welfare. The bigget chunk, 33%, was welfare alone. So we spend more on welfare than public safety, criminal justice, natural resources, roads, economic development, and general government spending combined.
I agree. Our Military adventures are costing us billions annually. Thousands of our Military that are killed,wounded, and maimed. Millions of so called “Liberated people” are unappreciative and resentful and conspire to be allied with our enemies. Meanwhile the price of oil rises and other foreign powers (China)get the oil and mineral rights. Finally, our nation is in debt to foreign Governments (mainly China) and heading towards bankruptcy while our Navy now advertises itself as a “Global Force for Good”. WTF
Cagemonkey, our Navy should go back to being Privateers take “Prize” vessels to help support our economy. Ahh to be in the 1700’s again. LOL.