http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20016979-503544.html
"The challenge, I think, for the Tea Party movement is to identify specifically, what would you do?" Mr. Obama said. "It's not enough just to say, 'Get control of spending.' I think it's important for you to say, 'You know, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits,' or, 'I'm willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits,' or, 'I'm willing to see these taxes go up.'"
This is a straw man, basically, set up so that when people respond with specific suggestions he can demonize them and tell them why it wouldn't work. When you hear him do that, understand that they don't want to make ANY spending cuts, and will always have a reason to maintain spending.
But what the heck, I'm not one to shy away from a challenge. You want a specific plan to reduce the debt and return this nation to fiscal sanity? Okay, here's one...
The first thing we have to do is stop spending so much. We can make some quick steps to pull the budget out of the stratosphere by repealing the stimulus and NOT spending money that hasn't yet been spent. Then we repeal ObamaCare and the government takeover of the student loan program... large bureaucratic nightmares pumping out tons of regulatory hell don't do a single thing to REDUCE spending. ALL of Obama's major initiatives result in massive spending increases, so the first thing to do is get rid of them.
Next, let's enact some hard limits on how much spending is okay. Tie it to GDP... say, for example, 25% of GDP is the MOST that the Federal government can spend. Period. No exemptions just because all the big-spending Congressmen got together and called this an "emergency" spending measure. Want to spend more money? Cut something from elsewhere in the budget to free up the money, first.
Along with that, we might want to throw in a hard provision, unable to be bypassed, that federal spending cannot grow more than does the private economy. If the economy grows at 2%, the budget can't grow 10%. And if the economy is shrinking with a growth rate of -2%, guess what has to happen to the Federal budget? That's right, AT LEAST a 2% cut.
Now we get to where PresBo issued the specific challenge. What to cut? The short answer is everything. He's trying to get us to say that we want to cut Social Security or Medicare, so that he can launch partisan attacks against us to benefit his party in the fall.
The problem is that cutting the entitlement programs is absolutely essential if you want to truly reign in the budget. Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid are known as "mandatory spending" programs. Those mandatory spending programs account for more than half of the entire federal budget. Also, if you look at their projected growth rates, they are responsible for a projected $46 trillion in deficit spending over the next 75 years. Getting spending under control WITHOUT dealing with these programs is literally impossible.
We must reform these programs, changing eligibility and benefits so they aren't a budgetary albatross around our fiscal necks. It MUST happen. If it doesn't, then any proposal will only make minor changes in our debt picture, at best.
As financial guru Dave Ramsey says, the government will have to go on serious beans and rice in order to get rid of all this debt.
There are other things that can be done, as well. Instead of trying to centralize power and functions in the federal government, which requires higher spending rates, we can farm more things out for the States to handle. We also need to focus on waste... "each year Washington loses $98 billion to payment errors, spends more than $90 billion on corporate welfare and pays $25 billion maintaining vacant federal properties."
Okay, PresBo, that's the bare bones of a plan. It's been done. Your challenge has been answered.
Now, the thing YOU need to do is actually try something, ANYTHING, that might actually result in lower spending! Until you do, all the challenges in the world won't make you any less a big-government raving liberal.
Consistent with his own pronouncements, he could unilaterally, reduce the nuclear triad to just submarine launched missiles, maybe trim the carrier fleet and other defense cuts that would please his base and maybe gain some favor from the isolationist Right.
ReplyDeleteSince at certain point, you've made enough money, Social Security payments could be capped at say 101% of the poverty level income for an individual. Which infuriating his base, the more thoughtful would see the need.
Odds are though, we will see a pouting war over this whole issue until the new ideas flow election time (and then forgotten).
And doubtless other measures, however the "... do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,.." spirit seems to last only during campaign season.