I'm liking the cut of your jib on this here post....
My specific question is how would you propose to cut government spending by 50%? What specific funding programs would you reduce?
I'm not meaning to be antagonistic, but interested in your thought's on what stays and what get's cut.
Best as always.
Not Saul.. but were I king for a day, my first major cut would be to dissolve the US Dept of Education... Leave education to the states (where the founding fathers meant it, and a WHOLE LOT of other crap the Fed Govt has gotten itself involved in, to be left)....
The fed gov taxes the people, makes decisions on education, then forces the states to buy into their nonsense or withholds subsidies, grants, etc if states dont comply...
Simple solution.. let the states figure out what they do and dont want, based on the will and desire of the people that live in that state.. and tax accordingly...
Citizens dont completely get out from under the cost burdon of paying for an education system.. fed taxes go down.. but state taxes go up.. but you kill the cost of administration, facilities, and all sorts of other mess at the fed level which is a cost/tax savings.. plus you get the fed govt out of the business of raising your child and pressing NY and Calif influence on kids in Iowa, etc..
I'd also privatize the postal service.. completely get rid of it at the federal level.. I'd recommend regulating it pretty heavily so that commercial carriers of the mail dont take advantage of the people.. but the US government has been a dismal failure at managing the mail for decades at this point both operationally and financially.. UPS, FedX, DHL, and others would compete heavily for, and would likely do a much better job at a much better rate than USPS at managing your mail.. It would also take the pot of gold that congress loves to raid to pay for other programs that have nothing to do with mail away from them (part of USPS's financial problems isnt poor management.. its congress constantly tapping into their accounts and taking money to pay for other unrelated garbage...
How about the US Corporation for National and Community Service???????? Thats a freaking US government agency (titled "corporation".. so it sounds private.. but its not..).. a federal agency, at the national level, thats designed to tell you whats best for your local community... I'm pretty sure thats a ton of wasted tax dollars...
The Federal Department of Community Planning... Do we really need the federal government to tell us how to plan communities? Shouldnt that be a state resource (at best)? or maybe... lets see... a COMMUNITY resource?
The Drug Enforcement Agency... Not saying we shouldnt have guys dealing with national and international level drug related crime.. but does it need to be a free standing agency? Why isnt it a division within the USMS? or the FBI? or why arent a number different agencies rolled up into others in an effort to reduce red tape, create less bureaucracy and save admin costs? Do we need the ATF to be a free standing agency? Or could it not be a division of the FBI? Does the EPA really need its own dedicated law enforcement arm? etc..etc.. (Fed Law enforcement is completely out of control with 92 separate agencies cited with the authority to make arrests, enforce law, etc..).. each one of those agencies have their own administration, leadership, etc.. their own buildings, facilities, liasons to congress, etc..etc..
The Japan Friendship Commission... an agency dedicated to stimulate business between the US and Japan... Are you kidding me? Why has Japan been singled out? and why do we need the fed govt to be doing this? Shouldnt the free market reign here.. If we make stuff the Japanese want (iphones).. and they make stuff we want (sony TV's and toyota trucks).. do we really need the US federal government to "stimulate" business? Or shouldnt this sorta take care of itself? and if we lacked Japanese stimulation.. and for some reason we stopped buying sony TV's... who here believes Samsung (Korean) or someone else wouldnt step in and fill American buying needs?If a Japan Friendship Commission is necessary.. why isnt there a Korea Friendship Commission? or a Colombia Friendship Commission? or a Canada Friendship COmmission?
If given the time and the energy I could make a list 10x longer than this... I lived in DC for a little more than 3 years.. and that was 15 years ago.. The work I did put me in the center of high level US politics and front and center with numerous high level politicians and bureaucrats almost daily... How screwed up, inflated, fat, and worthless much of what gets funded in DC is.. still sickens me and bothers me to this day... (as if you cant already tell that from the post above lol....)...