ET'rs Budget Committee

It appears that the "super committee" is having trouble coming up with $1.2 trillion in cuts.

I'd like this thread to come up with ET's list. At some point, I'll forward the ideas to my Senators and Congressman.

For example:

1. Let Medicare negotiate drug prices-saves about $20 billion/yr.
2. Cut Dept of Education in half to save $50 billion/yr (I'll keep Pell grants) as it does not perform, see the chart



OK, that's $70billion/yr or $0.7 trillion over 10 years, more than half the goal.

Care to add your ideas?


Seneca

 

China and Russia spend around 100 billion a year on defense (and nobody fucks with them),we are currently spending over 700 billion

1st cut,500 billion a year from the defense budget

 

AK, I agree Defense needs to be cut-there is so much waste.

I forgot to add the one item both parties agree on: cut the stupid $5 billion/yr ethanol subsidy.

Seneca

 

Cut all social programs

 

I agree.I also agree with your other suggestions .Big Pharma has a lock on the federal government.Bush's medicare drug expansion and Obamacare .In exchange for big pharma support for Obamacare Obama had to outlaw buying drugs cheaper from other countries

 

+ 1

 

1. Stop ObamaCare in its tracks.

2. Stop all public foreign aid.

3. Stop all government stimulus payments and loan guarantees to private companies.

4. Stop all governemnt TV, radio and print ads to promote various programs, etc.

5. Eliminate the EPA.

6. Plus a gillion worthless programs Congress has created over the years.

 

25 billion a year in farm subsidies. at a time when commodity prices and land prices are at all time high why is there a need for subsidies?


Defenders assert that the $25 billion annual cost of farm subsidies (a bit less than 1 percent of federal spending) is too small to bother reforming. Yet one-third of the federal budget — $1 trillion total — consists of programs that each cost $25 billion or less. Should all that spending be taken off the table, too? Every dollar saved from these programs represents another dollar that won’t have to be cut from Social Security or Medicare.

Farm subsidies are supposed to protect farmers against poverty and instability. This Norman Rockwell image aside, farm subsidies are actually America’s largest corporate welfare program.

The average farmer earns more than $83,000 annually (nearly 20 percent above the national average), according to the Department of Agriculture. Commercial farmers, who receive the majority of subsidies, report an average net income of $170,000, and a net worth close to $1 million. And despite past attempts to limit subsidies to millionaire farmers, the last farm bill actually repealed key payment limits.

http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2011/03/farm-subsidies-ripe-for-reform

 

ethanol subsidy $5 billion a year.

 

To buy votes dumb ass, were you born yesterday?