where did the trillions go
impactnow
4/26/2011 1:39:40 AM
Great points --we should also look at the incredible growth in Federal employees over the past 20 years and their avg. salary. Most are highly paid with excellent pensions, healthcare and vacation benefits that we pay for! There needs to be more accountability for federal employees and more justification for the pension retirements that they are offered. The rest of America has already determined that pensions are not feasible and have implemented 401k plans. Why should we pay for federal workers retirements when we are all expected to finance our own retirements? Would love to see the math on savings long term with the elimination of federal pensions.
Re: Plenty of places to cut
TelecomFreq
4/20/2011 11:17:34 AM
Noreen, Points 1 and 2 are right on. We should stop pumping money into foreign governments like it's our job and use that money to invest state side in education and innovation. As for technology, there is no reason we cannot better utilize many forms of tech to streamline many government processes and save money. I also like Scott's first point about simplifying the tax code. A few other things I would like to see cut are military spending, when cuts wee announced last year they were not really cuts just a shell game with funds. All the money still goes to the military just moved around a bit.
Deficit or spending?
tokyogai
4/20/2011 10:40:23 AM
I heard Bob Corker today on CNBC. He says that spending as a % of GDP is at the highest ever. That seems to be a more realistic measure of how we should budget rather than the deficit. This was as the economy grows, we can spend more. It also gives us a measure that does not include taxes and all the "magic" the budget people seem to do on the revenue side. This was selective tax increases would go to reducing the budget.
makes more sense to me than the way we do things today.
Great points Noreen. There is no doubt there is plenty of room for improvement. I have heard similar reports back on the Census from other people who worked it, saying it as a prime example of government inefficiency.
I would also put simplifying the tax code at the top of my list. It has been disappointing to me that the administration hasn't been more aggressive in pursuing the bi-partisan Simpson-Bowles proposal (which I thought was the point of assigning the panel?) which appeared to have some innovative ideas. It sounds like they may be swinging back that way... it's all coming down to politics of course:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/wonkbook-obama-to-back-simpson-bowles/2011/04/08/AFO23EPD_blog.html
The federal government spends on things it shouldn't and skimps where it should spend. Here are my suggestions for a better budget:
- Stop paying any foreign governments for any real or imagined things we did, may have done or thought about doing. We're broke. We can't make a donation (excluding humanitarian relief after a major disaster).
- Use technology to make government more efficient and productive. Why did Congress appropriate $14.7 billion over 12 years for the 2010 Census? I'll tell you why. Because we still take the count ON PAPER! If I knew five years ago what I know now, I'd have bought all paper stock...although I think the paper was the only thing the feds bought for the count from US manufacturers. Most of the promotional material was imported from China -- a whole issue onto itself.
- Consolidate. Incorporate Census information with tax forms. Require EVERYONE to file taxes -- and provide a financial incentive to do so;
- Devise a tax system that doesn't require Armies of people to decipher. My criteria: Come up with instructions the average person can read without feeling like a fool. This applies specifically to forms involving things such as AMT (which should just be repealed entirely). Anyway, that's a start. How many extra billions would we have already?
The US Budget: Where'd the Extra Trillion Go?
ProfR
4/20/2011 9:11:11 AM
So does that argue for more of a Zero Based Budgeting approach (including the entitlement programs like Social Security)? This would be difficult but would get down to where the money is being spent and how it is being justified.
ProfR
Death by a Trillion Paper Cuts
Street Smart
4/19/2011 4:26:53 PM
I agree with Scott and I agree with Value Hiker, which may not sound possible, but here's why I say that...other than fiscal harmony!
Value Hiker gives the example of flat broke California state failing to see the absurdity of "necessary" expenses like new $40K government cars each year. Scott talks about massive trillion-dollar entitlement programs like Medicare/Medicaid and the cost of military spending.
Therein lies the disconnect, I think.
Like the frog who jumps into the pot and fails to notice that the water is heating up until it is too late and he boils to death, I honestly believe that we get ourselves into budgetary trouble at the Federal level with the best intentions. Under Obama especially (because Bush had cut so many Federal agencies to the bone), I think government expanded mightily so that many watchdog agencies such as the EPA, CDC, FDA, etc. could begin to fulfill their mandates again. But that costs money and I think we have nickel and dimed (millioned and billioned?) ourselves into VERY hot water. When every well-meaning bureaucrat gets a great health plan and a car and a gym membership...well, you get the picture and we tax payers get the bill!
And when the Tea Party gets mad and vows to GET EVEN and start cutting (with NO NEW TAXES), there's no political glory to cutting cars and gym memberships and minor bureaucrats. There is only drama and quick action to cutting the BIG PROGRAMS, the big entitlements, so that's where the action is.
One of the most illuminating things any American can do is to visit the suburbs of Washington D.C. Forget the monuments...go to a mall in Northern Virginia. You will see a middle class the likes of which does not exist ANYWHERE else in the USA. THAT, my friends is our tax dollars at work, and THAT, my friends is not going to get cut any time soon because THAT, my friends is the entrenched "inside the beltway" mentality that only knows how to grow, never to shrink!
Scott is right
tokyogai
4/19/2011 3:46:39 PM
I agree with Scott. That extra money went somewhere and looking at the growth rate of the economy, it was very efficient as a stimulant. Since we did not see any great benefit from the $400B in extra spending, I agree we should not see any pain as it is cut- but beware- it may not come from the same places it went.
The whole mess is out of control and I believe we need to first get spending under control before we consider adding revenue to tame these wild deficits. Establish the base line of required and needed government services and then we can make the plan to pay for them. The whole situation is just out of control.
It is other people's money
Value Hiker
4/19/2011 3:26:11 PM
Scott is absolutely right on the Budget Cut. To these politicians, tax payer money is other people's money, why shall they care? They care more about people who gave them political contribution because they may lose it next year if they don't do something for these contributors.
At State level in California, same mindset happens everywhere:
Each State representive at Sacremento has more than $40K budget for a new car EVERY year. If the same person asked his wife to give him $40K each year for buying cars, he may get a slap in the face, but it looks quite reasonable when taxpayers foot the bill.
The Union of Public workers urged State to raise tax so State can make up the loss in these workers' pension plan. IDo these guys ever ask themselves who will make up the loss on the taxpayers' 401K/IRA plan?
Santa Clara County Water district raised the water utility bill about 60% in 3 years. The reason is there is a drought and not enough water for everyone. This winter there are so much rain that water will definitely not be in shortage. The disctrict still wants to raise the price, this time the excuse is: Residents in the county does not consume as much water as before, so we need to raise price to fill our spending holes.
The moral to learn: Government sometime behaves like a spoiled kid, the more money you give, the more it will squander.
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