The Budget Wars

Obama's Tax Threats

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I sure hope that is the general sentiment in Washington!

 

No, you're disingenuous. We're 3 points below our average of 18% due to the recession and high unemployment, thanks in part to Odumbo's socialist anti-business agenda. It will return to the norm when the economy recovers and unemployment gets down to more normal levels.

Who's "our" and "we?" Aren't you Canadian? You're correct that we spend more than we tax and the solution is to cut spending. Odumbo's tax and spend 2012 budget would have increased tax receipts into the 20s but fortunately the Senate voted 97 to 0 against proceeding to it.

 

Sounds Great, Do It Now!

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These are all the programs that the new Republican House has proposed cutting:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.
Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
Eliminate duplicative education programs.. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings..
Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings. DUH!!!
Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings..
Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings. WHAT IS THIS???
Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts .. $9 million annual savings. What is this anyway…?
Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings. Close Dept of Energy…
FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt . $250 million annually.
U.S. Agency for International Development.. $1.39 billion annual savings.
General Assistance to District of Columbia . $210 million annual savings.
Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings. Stop Growing Government…!
End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services. Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing payments to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings. Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years. TAXPAYER FUNDED UNIONS…. COME ON!!!
Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.
Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).$93 million annual savings.
Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.
Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
HUD Ph.D. Program.
Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

"My question is ", What is all this stuff doing in the budget in the first place? Is there anything listed here you cannot do without?

 

Yeah who did this? Those responsible should be sacked.

 

Cut the funding first, then look at who did what.

 

The trouble is we have too many people looking to change the world for the better worrying about things we shouldn't worry about until we have our financial situation under control.

Its like being a surgeon with a broken arm trying to perfrom a heart transplant. It just won't work!

 

That's an OK start but we'll exceed that in deficit spending in less than two years.

 

I would add to the list: eliminate Department of Education entirely, eliminate U. S. Civil Rights Commission, eliminate HUD, eliminate Departments of Labor and Commerce. In addition, cut about a trillion from the Department of Defense. Impose a 20% across the board cut on all other agencies.

Now the real question is, why haven't republicans been trumpeting this and similar lists? Why let obama frame it as the needy versus corporate jets? Make obama and the democrats justify each and every one of these programs as worthy of raising taxes or cutting SS and medicare to pay for.