Take A Chainsaw To The Budget (Stossel Gets It)

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/07/29/take-chainsaw-budget-2 ^ | Jily 28, 2011 | John Stossel

[truthkeeper]

On my show tonight at 10pm, I lay out a way to completely get rid of the deficit.

I don't claim to be a budget expert. But others, such as Chris Edwards at Cato and Stuart Butler at Heritage, are. They found lots of serious cuts. My staff found a few more, and put together a list that would completely balance the budget:

Defense cut by 2/3: $475 billion (Federal Budget, pg. 58)
Medicare/Medicaid*: $441 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Dept. of Education (includes Pell Grants): $106.9 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security*: $85.7 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Transportation: $84.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Tax Amnesty: $80 billion (Rep. Jared Polis D-Co.) Eliminate Dept. of Labor*: $78.6 billion (Department of Labor and White House)
Eliminate HUD: $60.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Agriculture*: $33 billion (Cato Institute)
Cut civilian employee compensation: $30 billion (Cato Institute)
Stop maintaining vacant federal property: $25 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Foreign Aid: $21.2 billion (Cato Institute)...

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/07/29/take-chainsaw-budget-2#ixzz1TiFM9jWd

[truthkeeper]

Comments?

[sinanju]

Ohhhh, if only, if only...

[Psycho_Bunny]

“Defense cut by 2/3: $475 billion”

Get serious.

[SoftwareEngineer]

I support it!

And just to show that I am not being crazy partisan, the Defense dept cuts hurt as do SS Means Testing

But it is a shared sacrifice

[vbmoneyspender]

Stossel cuts the defense budget more than anything else and is he really proposing that we cut the defense budget by 2/3. If so, that’s crazy talk.

[Cowboy Bob]

Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)

I am forced by law to pay into SS. But, if I was wise enough to plan for my retirement, I can't collect?

I don't think so!!!

Only those who pay into SS should be permitted to collect.

[KantianBurke]

Medicare/Medicaid*: $441 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Social Security*: $85.7 billion (Cato Institute)

Will NEVER happen. If even folks on FR are against losing out on the above govt gravy its pretty much a dead letter. Sad but true.

[truthkeeper]

I know, I was scratching my head over that too. ??

[donhunt]

RRRrring..ding,ding,ding
RRRRRrrrring...ding,ding,ding

[GeronL]

We spend about $400 billion on public welfare. That is insane. How much of that reaches the “poor”?

My proposal would merge all welfare bureaucracies into a single entity. No more free phones, no more section 8, no more food stamps etc. Just a monthly cash payment you have to show up to recieve (and be subject to background checks and surprise home “audits” to see if you are actually poor)

[DWC]

When obama stops including the USA in wars, then they can talk about cutting defense.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Not really. We need to bring all troops home from everywhere. Close and give up almost all 165 overseas bases.
Quit being the worlds policeman.
Let these people fight, kill whatever, they got along before us, they can get along now.
We need to take our troops, put them on the southern border and seal it.
We need to take care of our won country, save it, and tend to our own hemisphere and let the rest of the world do whatever. We can no longer afford to do so.

[vbmoneyspender]

Our basic war strategy is to never fight a war on American soil. The way we do that is by maintaining troops overseas as a tripwire.

As the world gets smaller, the area covered by the Monroe Doctrine gets bigger. And thankfully so.

[DJ MacWoW]

Cut EPA, NPR, PPP and other pork before even THINKING of cutting defense!

[tiki]

I agree too as long as it is everyone taking a hit not just a few. We all live in families and we know how to sacrifice for the better cause, to work together to make tough things less painful.

We need major surgery, not a band aid! This overspending is like a tumor and if we don’t cut it out it will kill us.

[Captain Peter Blood]

We can no longer afford it. Most that strategy is rooted in Pentagon Plans of the late 1930’s onward.
It's all outdated.
Practically we cannot keep up the level of spending we have for defense.
Our war now is with Terrorist who have no rooted place.
So much of our strategy was for a two ocean war that is now out of date.
China may be the next enemy, but what kind of war will it be? Certainly not millions of men fighting a land battle or really even a full scale navel war.
We have to take care of this country and solve our problems now and close that southern border.

[RobRoy]

We’re screwed and I can tell you why with one question: What would the people that currently get the money we would be saving do if we really cut as he suggested?

[Cboldt]

-- Our basic war strategy is to never fight a war on American soil. The way we do that is by maintaining troops overseas as a tripwire. --

The other strategy is a combination of sturdy geographic boundaries (sea); strategic deterrent (ICBM with nukes); and a citizenry that will be armed and restive against insurgents. Most of what our armed forces are doing overseas is "nationbuilding," (more like plantation building for the elites) and that of other people's nations.

As for war on our soil, I dare an invader to bring it on. The way things are going, the enemy is within, and our resources are without.

[pogo101]

I can’t accept that much of a cut in defense. I could if other countries were pulling their weight (Canada, UK, Frants, Germany, et al.), and thus the USA didn’t have to do so much, but they aren’t.

Otherwise, I’m probably in agreement.

[vbmoneyspender]

In the War of 1812, when the British burned Washington D.C. to the ground, we learned our lesson to never fight a foreign power on American soil. Since then, the Monroe Doctrine has served us well and we have avoided much of the death and destruction which the rest of the world has periodically suffered.

I prefer that hostiles not even contemplate invading America and the best way to do that is to keep our troops close by to those who might consider doing America harm.