How do we reduce the size of government

[bcp]

Oh I think we can see what the problems the future holds, and that is funding yet another welfare program called obamacare.
other than Part D, Bush's only major expense was the wars, (also still going under the boy child) Wars end and they get paid off.
Paying someone on welfare to live like a king is foolish.

We can all see it, but I think you might be having a hard time. Based on your, we have a revenue comment, I would suspect your eyes are covered by letting Pelosi sit on your face.

Toss her off and look at this as if you were a contributing member of society instead of some child living in moms basement.

 

[GURPS]

Wanna see some real cuts? Simply make it mandatory to find new money in existing programs. We might find all sorts of stupid crap that costs more than it's worth, simple, pure pork, gone in no time.

However, you already illustrated the problem; no one thinks their pork is pork.

one word: BASELINE Budgeting - Automatic increases in budgets

go back to youtube and watch 'Eat the Rich' by Bill Whittle

 

[Pete]

I am going ot say it.

How about we revisit the targeted active duty pay raises back in the late 90's and early 00's. Last year I was hiring someone who was a retiring E-8 with 24 years of service. I asked the prospective manager what he was thinking of offering him. The sum almost made me fall down. I asked why and he said that is what he makes on active duty. I did not believe him so I looked it up.

An E-8 with 24 years, with BAS, BAH makes about $93K. Really? ####ing really?

Top it off at TAP class they tell these guys that they should hold out for direct dollar for dollar replacement. So much for starting out a second career and working up.

Now I know that troop pay is typically off limits but I think they got a bit carried away. I also think that the big giant game of visiting the VA multiple times to try and squeeze out 50% diability for retirement when there is nothing wrong with you is dishonorable. I know MANY who did.

Before people get huffy that I have the gall to be critical of pay and benefits of the military, I did 21 years active, was in Kosovo and Desert Storm.

 

[PsyOps]

Aren't there something like 200 US military bands???

 

[soundoff]

They should take steps to end Contractor fraud, waste and abuse.
a simple search will yield hundreds of examples of this happening. Costing the nation billions. Removing those jobs would greatly reduce the size of government not to mention get us out of debt.

Fraudulent Defense Contractors Paid $1 Trillion - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Defense Contractors - War Costs

 

[philibusters]

the Sequestration thread got me wondering.
Right now its 13 that say yes to sequestration, and 20 that say no because it might affect their jobs.
Well, most of those responding are in some way working in the defense areas, and I personally dont see where any of that should be cut.
However, what about the FDA and other bloated agencies, Im pretty sure that the people that work in these areas are also going to say no becuase they might lose their position.
Face it, to shrink government, people have to lose their jobs, to just transfer from one agency to another does not shrink government, It might reduce budgets by a little, but nothing noticable.
So how do we fairly go about shrinking things?
Do we just not hire new people into the agencies, and slowly shut them down as people retire, then at some point relocate the remaining workers? That would do it, however there would come a point that some people would be getting paid for nothing more than sitting around playing on the internet. (I already hold this position)
So who gets cut and how is the decision made. Do we give early retirements, lump sum payments?

I think that is the problem. Nobody wants to cut areas of the budget that either affects them or that they approve of. I work in a job connected to the defense budget. I am personally hoping defense gets spared, but intellectually I know that the best possible overall solution for the country would probably involve some across the board cuts that include defense. Quite frankly there is a lot of waste in defense just there is a lot of waste across the board. Further the best possible solution would involve serious cuts to entitlements.

 

[GURPS]

I am going ot say it.

Before people get huffy that I have the gall to be critical of pay and benefits of the military, I did 21 years active, was in Kosovo and Desert Storm.

93,000 ........ daym

an E4 made about $ 1000 per month base pay in 1988 when I got out .... but then Rent was $ 500 in Colorado Springs, and Gas was .99 Gal @ Diamond Shamrock .... most of the time I got 85 for .87

 

[Inkd]

As usual, you put the cart before the horse and the responses to your question are just useless.

You need to understand why the deficit is increasing. Your post shows you don't. You start from the premise that there are too many govt employees. That is wrong. The wrong premise leads to the wrong conclusion. The second part of your premise is that the only solution is cuts...this is also wrong. We have a revenue and spending problem.

You also need to understand how we got here. If you can't see that decisions going back to the 1980s started us down the path to where we are today...the horrible decisions of the Bush Administration...the recession and the retirement of the Baby Boomers put us here. It's not welfare moms and international support.

You also need to understand that immediate spending cuts are not required. As you all point out, we have a weak economy. You all rail against any tax increase and point out that is not the solution in a fragile economy. If you can see that point, why can't you see that spending cuts have the exact same impact on a fragile economy? As the economy recovers, the deficit, expressed in terms of GDP, is already falling. If you weren't so blinded by your political viewpoint you would know this.

You also need to understand that the real problem is in the future and what that problem is. No one on this board does. When you can't see past a narrow minded politically biased view, you'll never understand what the actual problems are, where they came from and the real (and difficult) decisions that lie ahead.

There are myriads of places where you can obtain the information you need to understand the problems...but if the your only information sources are The Blaze amd Fox News, you are going to continue to be uniformed and uneducated (which is exactly the goal of propaganda outfits like those).

*************************

A balanced budget amendment or the idea that we should "just cut $1 trillion from the budget as I saw mention below is plain stupid and shows a complete lack of understanding. If you don't want to be called stupid or a kook...then don't make stupid, kooky suggestions. Stop posting on topics that you obviously don't bother to take the time to understand even at its most basic levels.

As usual, you post some drive by reply bashing someones questions and replies with no real ideas to a solution or any meaningful contribution to the conversation.

As far as having political blinders on. I noticed no one even brought up politics or bashed any administrations until your post.

So please, give us your insight and ideas of how to correct the situation we are in now?

 

[Inkd]

and a bigger and better start?
Cut welfare back to a roof over the head, food dropped off weekly, no spending cash.
Give a card to use public transportation for the purpose of looking for work, no cell phones nothing. Shelter and food.
then go through and get rid of any assistance to any person that is not here legally and make a requirement that anyone accepting assistance was actually born in the country.

That would be the first place to start, in my opinion as well.

If you make it comfortable for people to live on the tit, there is no incentive to ever get off it.

DAMNIT. I know what I want to say about growing small businesses and job creation too but I can't get it from my brain to the keyboard.

 

[bcp]

As usual, you post some drive by reply bashing someones questions and replies with no real ideas to a solution or any meaningful contribution to the conversation.

As far as having political blinders on. I noticed no one even brought up politics or bashed any administrations until your post.

So please, give us your insight and ideas of how to correct the situation we are in now?

I have to agree with you. We are where we are right now due to policies and inaction from BOTH parties.
To sit there and pretend one side is all perfect while the other side is the root of ALL evil is doing nothing to solve where we are.

They both have to come together and figure out where to cut, because to put it simply, raising taxes more than they already are is going to be a serious problem for millions of hard working Americans.

 

[Inkd]

I have to agree with you. We are where we are right now due to policies and inaction from BOTH parties.
To sit there and pretend one side is all perfect while the other side is the root of ALL evil is doing nothing to solve where we are.

They both have to come together and figure out where to cut, because to put it simply, raising taxes more than they already are is going to be a serious problem for millions of hard working Americans.

Exactly. At this point I'm equally disgusted with both parties. Congress has dissolved into some petty tit for tat kind of institution that accomplishes absolutley nothing.

Cuts are needed. A serious look at how our money is being spent is also needed.

In my cirumstances, I'm willing to absorb cuts. I'm single, no kids, retired military and with working overseas this past year have been able to pay off my mothers house, my bills and have some money in the bank.

I willingly sacrificied in order to get ahead. I am NOT willing to sacrifice anything though, to fund career welfare and support illegal immigrants.

If serious cuts are made in those areas, I would gladly sacrifice more.

My circumstances are a bit unique though and I have a great deal of sympathy for those who are busting their ass to get ahead, support their family AND support someone elses family on top of that.

That is not the american way, or the american dream.

 

[bcp]

Exactly. At this point I'm equally disgusted with both parties. Congress has dissolved into some petty tit for tat kind of institution that accomplishes absolutley nothing.

Cuts are needed. A serious look at how our money is being spent is also needed.

In my cirumstances, I'm willing to absorb cuts. I'm single, no kids, retired military and with working overseas this past year have been able to pay off my mothers house, my bills and have some money in the bank.

I willingly sacrificied in order to get ahead. I am NOT willing to sacrifice anything though, to fund career welfare and support illegal immigrants.

If serious cuts are made in those areas, I would gladly sacrifice more.

My circumstances are a bit unique though and I have a great deal of sympathy for those who are busting their ass to get ahead, support their family AND support someone elses family on top of that.

That is not the american way, or the american dream.

here is where Im at
Im 54, been planning my retirement for years, played by the rules.
The rules are changing.
I have a daughter that starts college this summer, Im close to retirement
Now this negro in office is telling me to step back 30 years in my planning so his bro's in the hood can get some more free stuff? Im not willing to give up what I have done in order to appease the worthless.

 

[DipStick]

Quit talking about responsibility and actually let Americans take responsibility for themselves instead of trying to prohibit Americans from doing so.

 

[Inkd]

here is where Im at
Im 54, been planning my retirement for years, played by the rules.
The rules are changing.
I have a daughter that starts college this summer, Im close to retirement
Now this negro in office is telling me to step back 30 years in my planning so his bro's in the hood can get some more free stuff? Im not willing to give up what I have done in order to appease the worthless.

It's hard to win when someone keeps re-writing the rule book in the middle of the game.

 

[Larry Gude]

the Sequestration thread got me wondering.
Right now its 13 that say yes to sequestration, and 20 that say no because it might affect their jobs.
Well, most of those responding are in some way working in the defense areas, and I personally dont see where any of that should be cut.
However, what about the FDA and other bloated agencies, Im pretty sure that the people that work in these areas are also going to say no becuase they might lose their position.
Face it, to shrink government, people have to lose their jobs, to just transfer from one agency to another does not shrink government, It might reduce budgets by a little, but nothing noticable.
So how do we fairly go about shrinking things?
Do we just not hire new people into the agencies, and slowly shut them down as people retire, then at some point relocate the remaining workers? That would do it, however there would come a point that some people would be getting paid for nothing more than sitting around playing on the internet. (I already hold this position)
So who gets cut and how is the decision made. Do we give early retirements, lump sum payments?

In another thread, Apple is being celebrated for being really smart, paying people well. Maybe we could let them handle this? They could export everyone's job to China, except the really smart ones, they'd make a fortune and we'd have cheap, reliable everything and it wouldn't even be their fault because when you pay someone to build your product, somehow, it's not your concern or fault how it is done, so, no one to blame or hold responsible.

Then, we can ALL be concerned with what minimum wage is.