The $16 TRILLION translates out to a per U.S. household debt of about $140,000 per U.S. household, i.e. every American household would have to write a check to the nation’s debt holders to pay off the national debt. And remember, the $16 TRILLION is the amount today, having grown about 50% since Obama took office. The $140,000 debt load is increasing everyday with no end to the increases in sight.
Another way to look at the problem is to do the calculation on a per citizen basis. On this basis, every American would have to write a check for almost $51,000 to pay off the debt. To make it even clearer, every baby born today already owes the Federal government debt holders over $50,000.
We have reviewed how this waste has arisen any number of times. The following posts are just a sampling to show how we have allowed our political class to just flush our wealth down the drain:
1) In the past week we have reviewed the latest annual wasteful spending as identified in Senator Tom Coburn’s “Wastebook 2012:”
http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/wastebook-2012-wasteful-federal.html
http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/wastebook-2012-part-2-wasteful.html
http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/wastebook-2012-wasteful-government.html
2) Our most widely read blog post of all time reviewed how the U.S. Navy had built two Navy ships almost to completion for $300 million, decided that the ships were no longer needed, and then spent another $10 million to take the almost done, never used ships and turn them into scrap iron.
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/07/us-navy-ships-for-sale-cheap-never-used.html
3) This post reviewed a comprehensive, but probably not complete, list of idiotic government spending over the past ten years or so that wasted over $1.2 TRILLION worth of taxpayer wealth:
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/05/wasteful-government-spending-week.html
4) Earlier this year we did a comprehensive review of the fine work of many other organizations which had already done in depth analyses of our national debt crisis and how to solve it. Our conclusion was that it is not to hard to find $9 TRILLION worth of wasteful and criminal spending in the Federal budget. The details of that $9 TRILLION can be found at:
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/02/united-states-of-purple-presidency-plan.html
Coincidentally, the latest issue of Reason magazine contained an in depth interview of Senator Coburn which contained his conclusion that he also could take $9 TRILLION out of the ever rising government debt stream over the next ten years.
5) We also did a post of mea culpas by several politicians who finally and publicly acknowledged that, yes indeed, the politicians in Washington had rung up once unimaginable levels of debt and provided nothing in return to the taxpayers whose wealth funded that debt:
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-fiscal-state-of-country-even.html
Yes, it is a very dire and distressing situation. Our debt drains capital out of the private market, weakens the dollar across the country and the world, injects uncertainty into the financial markets and the minds of investors and business owners, and is often just idiotic wastes of money. And the most frustrating part, rational people should be able to fix the problem despite politics, as the solutions outlined in the above posts illustrate.
To those solutions today we add another approach to fixing the debt issue. Before we get into this solution, let me repeat a few facts about myself:
- Up until the November, 2010 midterm national elections I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life (I am almost 60 years old)
- I have very rarely voted for a Republican for state or local office in my life.
- All of my data sources for my posts and analyses rarely, if ever, use Fox News or conservative sources as their basis.
- Thus, I am not Republican or conservative advocate by any traditional definition.
$2.5 TRILLION would certainly be a good START to getting Federal spending and waste under control and is certainly a much greater start than anything else Washington has come up with. These cuts do not include cuts to Social Security or the Department of Defense, opportunities will discuss after the listing of these $2.5 TRILLION in cuts. As you go through them keep the following thoughts in mind:
- Do you personally get any benefit out of these programs and projects even though you fund them through your taxes?
- Do any of these programs and projects provide any significant benefit to the needy in our society?
- Should the government even be in the business of operating and funding these programs and projects since they should be paid by those that use and benefit from the programs projects, e.g. corporate welfare, local programs and projects, etc.?
- Should a child being born today have to fund these programs and projects later in their lives?
* 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. Note: how about we divert these funds to an international fund for the American taxpayer?
* Legal Services Corporation -- $420 million annual savings.
* National Endowment for the Arts -- $167.5 million annual savings. Note: it should not be a basic government function to subsidize the arts, make those that enjoy the arts subsidize it.
* National Endowment for the Humanities -- $167.5 million annual savings.
* Hope VI Program -- $250 million annual savings.
* Amtrak Subsidies -- $1.565 billion annual savings. Note: the real solution is to find a way to either make the Amtrak program operationally cost neutral, sell the assets to a private firm who can make a profit, raise the rates to make the service at least financially a breakeven entity, or shut it down completely.
* Eliminate duplicating education programs -- H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 programs 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. Note: really, nearly half a million dollars a year to fund a tribute to a past politician?
* 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. Note: no more Las Vegas conventions, seminars, and meetings for Federal employees would be a good starting point.
* Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20% -- $600 million annual savings. Note: A good place to start in this area would be to eliminate the program that gives Congressman funding to lease cars for their personal use.
* Essential Air Service -- $150 million annual savings.
* Technology Innovation Program -- $70 million annual savings.
* Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program -- $125 million annual savings. Note: let American companies pay their own expenses, not the taxpayers.
* Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization -- $530 million annual savings.
* Beach Replenishment -- $95 million annual savings. Note: let the states and local government fund their own beach replenishments, they are the ones who will profit.
* New Starts Transit -- $2 billion annual savings.
* Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts -- $9 million annual savings. Note: really, is there even such a thing as a “historical trading partners” relationship between Alaska and Massachusetts?
* Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants -- $2.5 billion annual savings. Note: since the government cannot profitably operate its current rail programs, it should not be getting into more rail programs until it proves it is capable of operating any rail-related entity at least to a breakeven level. Plus, the need for such high speed rail options is very, very weak as experiences around the country and world have proven.
* 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. Note: we would cut the entire Department of Energy, given their lack of success over the past several decades.
* Freedom CAR 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. Note: since my town does not receive Federal “general assistance,” DC should not receive any of our tax dollars either.
* Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority -- $150 million annual savings. Note: Let the Washington D.C. users of their Metro pay the entire cost of their Metro system, they use it, not us.
*Presidential Campaign Fund -- $775 million savings over ten years. Note: the political parties get enough donations from their own supporters, they should not get more from taxpayers.
* No funding for Federal office space acquisition -- $864 million annual savings.
* End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services. Note: no brainer, competitive bidding reduces cost and the opportunities for kickbacks and conflicts of interest.
* Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act -- More than $1 billion annually.
* IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it 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. Note: how is this a not a no-brainer? Shouldn’t back taxes from Federal employees be garnished form their Federal paychecks?
* Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by Federal employees -- $1.2 billion savings over ten years. Note: unions should pay their own fees, the American taxpayer should not be subsidizing union activities that will eventually cost taxpayers more money.
* Sell excess Federal properties the government does not make use of -- $15 billion total savings.
*Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress. Note: huh?
* 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. Note: again, make American companies pay their own expenses, not the taxpayer.
* USDA Sugar Program -- $14 million annual savings. Note: another corporate welfare subsidy that has to go.
* Subsidy to Organization 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 Obama Care administrative costs-- $900 million savings. Note: a better action would be to eliminate the entire multi-TRILLION Obama Care lunacy and start over.
* Ready to Learn TV Program -- $27 million savings.
* HUD Ph.D. Program.
*TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 TRILLION over Ten Years
The President’s own budget reduction commission estimated that $100 billion could come out of the Department of Defense budget every year without endangering our nation’s security, e.g. do not make ships and incurring the cost just to dismantle them when they are almost completed. Thus, on top of this $2.5 TRILLION, we could add a ten year Defense Department savings of another $1 TRILLION.
If the Federal government followed the lead and suggestions laid out by many nonpartisan organizations regarding Social Security, there is probably at least another $500 billion or more that could be saved without significant or any pain to needy elderly Americans.
Three of those main suggestions were included in “Love My Country, Loathe My Government:”
- Reduce the Social Security tax rate but uncap the maximum and apply that reduced tax rate to all forms of income, not just capped wages.
- Raise the retirement age to 70, with a hardship exception.
- Do not allow Social Security retirement checks to be sent to any retired American whose net wealth is over $3 million. Thus, folks like Trump, Buffet, Gates, etc. would not receive Social Security checks since they can live and survive quite comfortably without them.
But ask yourself. Thinking about all of the kids born in America today, is it really fair to stick them with the bill to pay the death gratuity for members of Congress, to pay for Congressional people to get free auto leases while in office, to write checks in their names and give those checks to America's biggest corporations, to subsidize today's Presidential elections that they cannot even vote in, etc. Is it really fair that a kid born today is born under an individual national debt burden of $50,000 or so? I think not.
We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our 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.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
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