Esquire balances the budget by Geezer

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Esquire balances the budget

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POSTED BY: GEEZER
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 07:07
SHORT URL: http://goo.gl/n7QEV
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010 11:06 AM

Keep the Shiny side up

Esquire Magazine asked a small group of former legislators to form the Esquire Commission to Balance the Federal Budget (Senator Gary Hart, Senator Bill Bradley, Senator Bob Packwood, Senator John Danforth, and Commission Chairman Lawrence O'Donnell) and sit down to come up with ideas to balance the Federal Budget and erase the deficit by 2020.

Their conclusions are here.
http://www.esquire.com/features/balance-the-budget-findings-1110?click
=main_sr

Cliff Notes version, here's what they'd do and the projected savings.

Social Security
-Raise the Social Security retirement age to 70. $49 billion.
-Increase years used to calculate benefits from 35 to 38. $23 billion
-Use alternate method of computing COLA for SSA recipients. $23 billion

Defense
-Enact the administration's proposed weapons-systems cuts. $4 billion
-Reverse the "Grow the Army" initiative. $10 billion
-Restructure the military along strategic lines. $126 billion
-Assume cost of Afghanistan and Iraq will decline. $126 billion

Health Care
-Institute medical malpractice reform through the establishment of medical courts. $10 billion

Other Spending
-Enact the President's proposed spending program terminations. $4 billion
-Cut the Federal Workforce by 5%. $26 billion
-Delay NASA missions to the Moon and Mars. $4 billion
-Reform farm subsidies. $13 billion
-Eliminate all earmarks. $18 billion
-Use alernate method for computing COLA for veterans. $6 billion

Revenue Proposals
-Repeal employer health care tax exclusion and offer a refundable health care credit. $63 billion
-Increase gasoline tax by $1.00. $130 billion
-Limit Itemized deducations for high earners. $57 billion
-Keep tax rates low for the next decade (AMT and for middle class). -$273 billion
-Curtail state and local sales tax decustion. $12 billion
-Eliminate subsides for biofuels. $16 billion
-Include all new state and local government workers in Social Security. $21 billion.

Opinions?

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:05 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Cut foreign welfare/aid - especially to one country that shall not be named, but across the board reductions as well.

Cut harder on "defense" including the budgets of alphabet agencies who can't do their damn job and instead spend all their time doing the opposite.

Eliminate funding for battlefield "weapons" which serve no purpose (no new carriers, for example) and roll that into maintaining an upgrading what we DO have, just in case.

I don't *like* some of the other measures, but if it gets our ass out of hock with China, I can grit my teeth and bear it.

The additional cost savings I just mentioned should be rolled into a national health care initiative based on the medicare framework for families who make less than $30,000.00 USD/Year.

Yes, it would be inefficient and kind of suck at first, but the framework is already there and would not only get it into action quicker and save money (although you might have to add personnel, which would generate some employment, but bend the no new gov employees thing a lil) and the GAO could oversee and audit the process while streamlining it as much as possible.

And of course, getting the hell OUT of Afghanistan and Iraq - we serve no useful purpose there, and removing that many people from our economy and putting them on the bill hasn't done our budget any favors either.

Long past time to bring the boys n girls home, innit ?

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010 4:09 AM

DREAMTROVE

Frem,

The tithes we pay to our nameless "allies" are not killing us. It's the FED. just kill the federal reserve. Don't let anything like it reappear.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010 7:07 AM

FREMDFIRMA

You think I am not aware of that, DT ?

Thing is, again, that number - our BEST case scenario for a total social crash.

25% Casualties.

And if you think the bastards behind all that mess wouldn't deliberately cause such a crash in any way they can as retaliation, or to encourage the masses to cling to the very icons of their destruction, cause they can ride it out in their comfy little estates, you ain't as smart as I thought you were.

You find me a way around that 25%, we'll talk about doin it that way, but till then, I gotta work with what isn't gonna result in a pile of bodies, man.

-Frem

P.S. - Despite his many other shortcomings, that is one thing you have to respect that bastard Andrew Jackson for, since he did exactly that, and managed to get away with it.
And don't ya know, that was the first, and the only, time this country wasn't up to it's ass in debt, as per Hamiltons intention from the start.

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