What spending cuts would you make to bail you country out?

The UK is about to follow in Canada's footsteps and ask the nation what cuts the government should make to reduce the national deficit. On one side, this is a gimmick to soften the people up for serious cuts in public spending, but on the other it opens a national debate.

Over half the visitors to ATS come from the US and I want to ask you the same question. How would you reduce your national debt?

I would suggest that cuts should come from the top and filter down. The US govt. is very big and some trimming may help. Maybe cut out some of the international aid that is being spent. In this day and age the military machine cannot be trimmed. Nasa could though.

Eliminate all unconstitutional spending here in the U.S.

Say bye to welfare and all other forms of "social assistance programs", foreign aid, federal funding of education, etc etc etc.

That still wouldnt solve the financial devastation we face, but it would be a damn good start.

Close the following, IRS, NRO, FEMA, Rent-a-Center, NASA, SS, HUD, FTC, FDA, TSA, all DUMB sites, Dept of Agriculture, DEA, CDC, NIH,MMS, and most insidious of all, the FCC, with its total denial of the existence of female nipples. Cutting those guys oughtta save a few trillion dollars.

Haha i think its just war, then you got yourself an alright USA.

Originally posted by gandhi
Haha i think its just war, then you got yourself an alright USA.

No, not just war- it would take a lot of war to build up a multi-trillion dollar deficit. One trillion could buy nearly 500 B2 bombers; we have what, 20? Yeah, we spend a lot on the military, granted, but the money doesn't all add up.

reply to post by dashen


OMFG .... DUDE I so want to vote for you, NO for real this is so RIGHT ON .... ahhhh but too bad it aint never gonna happen.

I would start with a healthy salary cut for Congress and a reduction or elimination of their positional benefits. For example, if they want to fly somewhere, book 'em a flight on a scheduled airline flight and put them in the economy section.

Originally posted by bagari
I would start with a healthy salary cut for Congress and a reduction or elimination of their positional benefits. For example, if they want to fly somewhere, book 'em a flight on a scheduled airline flight and put them in the economy section.

Agreed, with the exception that they can all telecommute! They never have to leave their home districts.

Eliminate welfare for able bodied folks.
Send all illegals home.
Put those that were on welfare to work in the kitchens and fields.

-End involvement in pointless foreign wars (for my home country, this applies only to Afghanistan, but the USA has Iraq as well) Military spending could also be cut, but there is a legitimate need for some military, and I feel Canada is at about the right level for its military spending, other than our involvement in Afghanistan
-End corporate bailout/subsidies of worthless failing companies (again, more of a problem in the US than Canada, but it would still help)
-Agree with wookiee about sending illegals home; that, or make them become productive members of society and not a drain on the system
-Welfare can be legitimate for able-bodied folks; sometimes, people simply cannot find anyone who will hire them, but the idea of putting welfare people to work makes a lot of sense on many levels

I'd also like to see the government do something to help people find suitable work for the unemployed. While it may seem an expense at first glance, if it were a successful program, it would employ people, and those people would then be paying taxes instead of being unemployed and possibly draining welfare as well.

edit to fix the point about bailout/subsidies; it was not clear whether I supported or opposed it :p

[edit on 15-6-2010 by DragonsDemesne]

I would give the Pentagon 250 billion annually & tell them that was their total budget, wars included.

That would save 450-500 billion dollars annually right there.

Probably cut the intelligence budget down to at least 30 billion saving about 20 billion.

Getting close to 1/2 Trillion already.

Also it is a lot smaller, but quit giving 3 billion a year to Israel, a rich, prosperous, nuclear armed nation, while we are in a recession, with 10%+ unemployment & millions homeless.

Bar BP from doing ANY business in the United States or its territories,

that would save tens of billions in clean up costs,

as well as hundreds of billions lost from the economy with all the destroyed businesses.

Let's see: Cut (Federal jobs) labor, their pay rates/benefits and cut (or eliminate) taxes.

Nothing can reduce the debt! Taxes all go to pay the interest on the debt but they do not cover it so they borrow more to pay the interest INCREASING THE DEBT. It is like you borrowing money to pay your credit card bills the debt never goes away it just increases.

So first the money from nothing monetary system needs to be trashed. Having said all that the main thing that needs to be done is bring home all the military from the 135 countries around the world, we spend a trillion a year in military expenditures. That right there would buy us the time to overhaul the monetary system. However we all know that will never happen. They will keep spending till it all crashes and burns. The sooner the better IMO!

[edit on 15-6-2010 by hawkiye]

reply to post by LarryLove


Cuts are not as desirable than eliminating entire functions. It is much harder for the government to start something than merely increase funding in something that was cut back. Items need to be eliminated with express constitutional language in the legislation which makes it impossible to recreate the function in another section of the Executive branch.

Eliminate the Departments of Arigriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Office of Indian Affairs, IRS, Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation. Completely eliminate them.

Reduce all congressional staff and staff budgets by 75%

Eliminate all unfunded mandates, including welfare, AFDC, WIC, all of it.

Eliminate all foreign aid, both cash and in-kind aid

Close all borders and deport all illegals

Bring all US troops home from foreign countrys and close most non-US bases.

Thats a start anyway

reply to post by svpwizard


Funny you should say that, I ran for Trustee of my local government last week, results will be in tues.

Lefties hobbie's, subsidizing art, culture, foreign aid [considering most of those countries doesnt have any real tax on their citizens at all]social welfare except for the lowerst kind.
Immigration stop, removal of all kinds of integration courses, [they ought to learn themselves or move along], removal of one public broadcast channel.
We can cut in military spending and rely more on a few nuclear weapons, and less money to the EU. Slowly but steady remove the Home mortgage interest deduction


[edit on 21-6-2010 by Foppezao]

All the sales or swap 'windows' and other 'facilities' the FED and Treasury provide for the banks.

something like 90 banks have reniged on their bail-out payments this quarter alone.

claw back that nominal $750BN the too-big-to-fail Wall Street monied banks have swindled from the taxpayer too...

all told the Fed/Treas has loaned, given, swapped, bought, over 7 Trillion$ of toxic garbage to this banking system in the last 18 months...


all the entitlement spending to the citizens is warrented & justified...
its the overboard military spending & the outrageous debt monetized by the banker elites that is crushing the budget.


Apply any form of 'Austerity Measures' to these two bottomless pits... military & bankers

[edit on 21-6-2010 by St Udio]

"Austerity" is a scam to funnel money into billionare's pockets through devistating nations.

They pulled this on the third world in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. Most of Africa and much of South America is far more miserable today than it was 40 years ago for the majority, in a big part because the leaders bought into the austerity scames cooked up by megabanks over the last 40 years or so. This isn't the only reason, but the trend wasn't exactly helpful. Now they are going to bring the same trend to the developed world because they've sucked the third world dry and tossed it over their shoulders like a rusty tin can.

Entitlement spending is the only one that really matters, because its the one that's going to bankrupt this country. I wouldn't deny current retirees or those who will be retiring within the next 10-15 years, but social security, medicare and similar programs need to be phased out over the next few decades. I'd also flush Obamacare down the toilet where it belongs effective immediately.

Get rid of the majority of the social spending and we could save well over a trillion dollars per year at current spending rates at the federal level. Since these are future cuts, however, it might actually save two or three trillion a year by the middle part of the century as entitlement spending is on a rapidly increasing trajectory.