"We will go through our Federal budget - page by page, line by line - eliminating those programs we don't need."

According to the Cato Institute, who stated the words in the title of this post? Congressman Ron Paul, that crazy libertarian type out of Texas? Somebody out of that wacky tea party crowd? One of those nut case Fox News hosts? No, those words were stated by President-elect Barack Obama in 2008. What a great idea, take a ground up approach to examine and analyze every expenditure of taxpayer money that the political class has responsibility for.

Unfortunately, never has a politician's promise never fallen so short. Consider what has happened since the President took office:

• In the first two years of Obama's Presidency, his administration has shattered all previous records highs of Federal budget deficits, adding almost three TRILLION dollars to the national debt in just his first two years with the potential of adding many more TRILLIONS, based on the President's current budget plans.
• Thousands and thousands of new Federal government employees have been added to the government budget in the past two years.
• The much touted Obama Care health care reform legislation is already showing signs of being a budget deficit expander rather than the promised budget deficit reducer.
• Social Security and Medicare are still hurtling towards insolvency, just doing it quicker under this administration.
• Despite other promises, this administration has allowed the wasteful budget earmark process to exceed over 11,000earmarks in the current Federal budget, costing the American taxpayer almost $20 billion a year.
• We still have hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops stationed all over the world, most serving no purpose, with no plan to bring them home and eliminate the expense they incur.

We could go on and on but this is just another busted Obama campaign promise that we can put next to the non-closing of Guantanamo, getting all of our troops out of Iraq, moving gay rights issues forward, curbing earmarks, etc., etc., etc.

The good news is that many people are trying to fill the President's promise of eliminating waste even if he has done nothing to that effect. The Cato Institute has been conducting a great analysis and doing exactly what Obama said he would do but has not done: going through the federal budget line by line to see what can be downsized or eliminated and the wealth/taxes that supported the waste can be returned to the country's taxpayers.

The paragraphs below are from a Cato newspaper ad that is about to run in major newspapers across the country. They summarize some of their budget cutting findings so far. They have already identified about $580 billion a year that the government could save without sacrificing the quality of life in America. This would be the equivalent of giving every American household a check for just over $5,000 a year. Imagine how much of a stimulus to the economy it would be if 115 million households had an extra $5,000 a year, year after year, to spend on products and services they wanted. Not only would every household be a little wealthier, they would also be a little freer, freer to spend their hard earned dollars the way they wanted.

Note: the $580 billion in savings is not a final number, there is still more waste to be identified and dealt with. For example, these numbers do not apparently include such things as the almost $100 billion a year that the Obama administration has identified in annual fraud and waste in the Medicare program or the almost $20 billion a year in earmark waste.

The Cato newspaper ad is between the "****" lines, after which we will review the steps from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" which support the efforts of the Cato Institute:

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It’s been nearly two years since you made that pledge, Mr. President. Since then, you’ve signed into law an $800 billion “stimulus” package and a massive new health care entitlement—adding trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities to our grandchildren’s tab.Our looming debt crisis threatens to destroy the American dream for future generations. Yet your administration continues piling up deficits of over a trillion dollars a year.

By 2012 our national debt will be larger than the entire U.S. economy. Isn’t it past time you identified the programs you’d cut?In all fairness, both parties got us into this mess. “Deficits don’t matter,” Vice President Dick Cheney scoffed as the Bush administration and a Republican Congress led one of the biggest spending sprees in American history, nearly doubling federal outlays over eight years. Our bipartisan flight from responsibility is a national disgrace—and it’s fast becoming a national disaster.

Vague promises to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” won’t cut it any more. Both parties need to step up with specific and substantial cuts. As a start, they can consult downsizingGovernment.org, where the Cato Institute has begun posting the results of our page by page, line by line review of the federal budget. With the Constitution as our guide, we’ve identified scores of agencies to eliminate and programs to zero out, putting America on the path toward fiscal sanity:

Education Subsidies - Education is a state, local, and private matter—and that's where the Constitution left it. Federal K-12 education programs have cost American taxpayers $1.85 trillion since 1965 without noticeably improving outcomes. Eliminating them will save $40 billion annually.

Farm Subsidies - Far from “saving the family farm,” federal agricultural subsidies are environmentally destructive corporate welfare, with more than 70 percent of aid going to the largest 10 percent of agribusinesses. Zeroing out farm welfare will save $25 billion annually.

Military Overreach -The Constitution envisions a U.S. military that “provide[s] for the common defence” of the United States, not one that serves as the world's policeman and nation-builder. By withdrawing our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, we could save at least $125 billion next year. Eliminating other unnecessary overseas missions would allow for a leaner force structure and defense budget, saving at least $100 billion a year without undermining U.S. security.

Transportation Programs - The federal government has no business funding the state and local projects that make up the bulk of federal transportation spending. Federal involvement results in pork-barrel spending, excess bureaucracy, and costly one-size-fits-all regulations. Moving funding for activities such as highways to the states and air traffic control to the private sector would spur greater innovation while also saving $85 billion a year.

Housing Subsidies - Federal interference in housing markets has done enormous damage to our cities and the economy at large. HUD subsidies have concentrated poverty and fed urban blight, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stoked the financial crisis by putting millions of people into homes they couldn’t afford. Getting the government out of the housing business will save $45 billion annually.

Federal Worker Pay - Federal workers enjoy far greater job security than their private sector counterparts—and far better total compensation: an average of $120,000 a year in wages and benefits. Cut federal compensation by 10 percent to save $20 billion annually.

Energy Subsidies - The 30-year legacy of federal energy subsidies is replete with corporate cronyism and failed “investments.” Entrepreneurs with their own capital have incentives to develop viable alternative energy sources. Ending federal energy subsidies would save $20 billion a year.

Government-run Health Care - Medicare and Medicaid are driving the explosion in federal debt. The 2010 health care law should never have been passed. The same level of Medicare cost savings could have been realized by moving to a consumer-driven health plan through vouchers, which would protect the elderly from government rationing. Medicaid should be converted to a fixed block grant to save money and encourage state innovation. Total savings would be more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

Drug War - Since the start of the federal War on Drugs in 1970, we’ve spent hundreds of billions on a futile crusade that’s done little to curb drug use and much to impair our civil liberties. In fact, a Cato study showed that Portugal’s decriminalization of drugs actually lowered drug-related problems. Returning drug policy to the states—where it belongs—would save at least $15 billion annually.

Social Security - As the Baby Boom generation retires, our largest entitlement program lurches toward crisis. Social Security should be phased out as a mandatory program and an alternative voluntary system of private accounts, providing for ownership and inheritability, should be offered. Current obligations can be reduced by tying annual benefit growth to price inflation rather than wage growth, saving $50 billion annually by 2020.

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"Love My Country, Loathe My Government" steps for budget integrity:

1. Step 1 - reduce the size of the Federal government by 10% a year for five years.
2. Step 5 - step up the investigation and prosecution of fraud in all federal agencies.
3. Steps 9 - 12 - fix Federal employee pension and Social Security issues.
4. Step 30 - bring the vast majority of foreign deployed U.S. troops home.
5. Step 31 - close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo.
6. Step 37 - base Congressional pay on performance, eliminating the automatic annual pay increase process.
7. Step 44 - eliminate all Federal expenditures that do not significantly impact the citizens in at least five states.
8. Step 46 - subject all Federal entities to a Sarbannes-Oxley accounting process to identify and eliminate waste.

There is one other step that needs to be examined. Many of the steps listed above from the Cato Institute, will be difficult to implement since they would dry up the funds that the political class depends on to finance their re-election campaigns. Political donations from teachers' unions, the military-industrial complex, the large farming companies, etc. will fight, lobby, and donate to keep their sweetheart deals in place at the expense of the American taxpayer. That is why to additional steps from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" also need to be implemented:

• Step 6 - allow only individual citizens to contribute to campaigns, making it illegal for unions, PACs, corporations, and lobbyists to finance any portion of a politicians election campaign.
• Step 39 - institute term limits for all political offices in order to dry up the tap of campaign donations.

By taking re-election campaign donations out of the equation, it will be much simpler to reduce the fat and waste that supports those entities that rely on American taxpayer wealth without producing tangible and necessary benefits.

Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.



Also visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.robertringer.com/

http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/