you shouldt count tax cuts on yoru chart as a "cost", because people dont pay for it. its a loss of revenue for the government, like the other expenses, but we dont care about the financial state of the government, we care about the financial state of the people. if we are rich because our taxes are so low that our government is tiny, that is a good thing
I've asked you before what do you want to cut? The coast guard, National parks, the Food and Drug Administration, Air traffic controllers, the FBI, the air force? What? We can only make government so small. We always need to pay for it instead of borrowing for it. That means taxes sometimes.
I would like to cut the payroll for federal employees. Or at least put a freeze on all pay increases for the current workforce. That will slow down the growth of the deficit. Also, lower the starting pay for all new hires and have smaller yearly pay increases. The civil service is suppost to have a smaller salary than equivalent positions in the private sector but have greater job security. Such is not the case right now.
How about subsidies for rich liberals? Your Tax Dollars Subsidizing Scottie Pippen, Ted Turner, and Jon Bon Jovi? - Tax Dollars - Fox Nation
The "freeze" has already occured regarding COLAs. I don't think the pay is as much of an issue as the volume of employed personnel. Some agencies have far too many people working for them. Other agencies could be abolished without any negative impacts. The empire building is more of a problem than the salaries. I want a few well paid employees instead of a large workforce. Government agencies have to abide by ridiculous regulations which require additional personnel to mange. They're also required to hire many "un" or underqualified personnel (affirmative action, etc.) who cause more problems as subpar and/or average performance requires more employees to complete the assignments. It just snowballs from there.
I'll take a quick stab at this. We have a problem. The problem is not a lack of revenue. The problem is our insatiable appetite for spending. We allow Congress and the Oval Office to buy power...distribute wealth...and take care of constituents while often getting rich. (It's amazing how some call out the 1%ers while they are a part of the 1%.) The national debt interest is something which needs to end. Having a balanced budget will save us billions in wasted spending. Democrats will use scare tactics to keep people from considering entitlements but this is an area which needs to be reduced. You and I and the rest of the free world make sacrifices when our income is jeopardized. These programs need to cut the fat as well. I'm sure we can cut many programs currently under the oversight of HUD, the EPA, the Department of Education, and the Department of Energy...especially "green projects" which are costing us billions with no benefits. Health & Human Services is needed but is too large. They took a small cut but I believe there's more to save in that arena. Let's look at the travel budget of Congress. In this day and age of 24/7 news, social networking, streaming video, etc. we don't need to support their vacations and re-election tours. We definitely don't need an abusive Speaker of the House using the military as her own private charter service. Washington D.C. (the city) is also a tremendous waste of federal tax dollars. We have far too many employees working in the area. The leadership may need to be in a central location but many of the "worker bees" could be located throughout the nation. Hotel rooms run between $200-$300/night for the goverment rate. When you add per diem we're spending a ton of money for little return. Relocation of government workers in/out of the DC area cost us millions each year. This can be reduced without negative impacts. There's a few to start. Nothing real specific as we're spinning our wheels getting too deep on a website. I've always agreed to paying taxes as long as I see the benefit. That benefit doesn't necessarily have to directly benefit me as long as it's good for the nation. I don't agree with much of Obama's ideology and don't want any additional spending as I don't support many of his plans. Just cut spending...PERIOD!
Where? Sailors, park rangers, air traffic controllers, who? It is easy to say cut the workforce, but doing so means cutting government agencies that people expect a government to provide. YOU CAN'T GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING. The deficit is not the federal employees fault, they are doing their jobs and already get lower pay than the private sector. Gutting the workforce only makes government inefficient and the money saved is a drop in the bucket. Only cuts to Defense, Social Security, and Medicare offer any meaningful reduction of the deficit. Those three programs are where the vast bulk of the money goes. Prove it.
