Let's talk budget

[ZeldaGirl]

You are a politician working to reduce America's trillion-dollar debt. What do you do??


(In all seriousness, any comments, thoughts, or ideas on these budget discussions?)

[Bomby]

Raise taxes on the rich.

[Deku Trii]

Sell Alaska. It has oil, so there should be a market for it.

It's hard to say, though. Macroeconomics is complicated. I might lower taxes for the middle class, work out a way to have corporations pay the taxes I'm told they're evading, and maybe cut some discretionary spending. I wish the people who talk about the projected impact of the healthcare bill would take the time and show their work. I swear I'd take the time for that YouTube video.

[heh]

cut military expenses by like 60% serious post. AT LEAST 20%.

edit: where is lf military thread when i need it

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

^ This, so much.

[Valigarmander]

If we wanted to reduce the debt, we'd need to reduce military spending, cut unnecessary programs, and be more frugal with spending. If we wanted to eliminate the debt within any reasonable amount of time, we'd probably have to raise taxes.

[heh]

hey if we put like 80% of the military budget on getting rid of debt it would be gone in 5 years... or was it ten i forget. also we would still be spending more on military then china

[CaptHayfever]

Declassify corporations as persons. 'Cause they aren't. Also remove tax-exemptions for publicly-traded companies. ALSO repeal the law that forbids publicly-traded companies from intentionally taking short-term losses in favor of long-term gains.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Zaden]

"Cut unnecessary programs"? Yeah. That's obvious. Everyone wants to do that. The problem is that no one wants to be the one who determines which programs are unnecessary, because no matter which program you cut, someone is going to hate you for it.

...At least that's what I assume... No one wants you cutting their program, right? Man, I gotta stay out of political threads...

[The Spark]

Um, the government can hire some women to get into a relationship that leads to marriage with assorted extremely rich men, and then have them divorce the men and give the immense shares of money to the government.

[Jere]

I don't think that cut 80% of the military would do it, mostly cause The us army have more "employees" than any other "company", if we where to cut out 80% of the people there what would they do?

[Deku Trii]

Oh, also repeal the decision to allow speculators to control more than 50% of a futures market.

[Cosmonautical]

Originally Posted by heh

cut military expenses by like 60% serious post. AT LEAST 20%.

edit: where is lf military thread when i need it

QFT

Originally Posted by CaptHayfever

Declassify corporations as persons. 'Cause they aren't. Also remove tax-exemptions for publicly-traded companies. ALSO repeal the law that forbids publicly-traded companies from intentionally taking short-term losses in favor of long-term gains.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

ditto

Originally Posted by Jere

I don't think that cut 80% of the military would do it, mostly cause The us army have more "employees" than any other "company", if we where to cut out 80% of the people there what would they do?

It would actually just reduce the technology spending. We don't need constant research into potential-war-crime **** like earth-penetrating microwave-heat-rays. They're not going to use one and it's utterly frivolous.

They can still employ people and direct the army employees into things they're trained to do in the public sector. A disciplined man-force isn't only applicable for war, and it would almost instantly out-compete any international competition in the local sector. If it were kept running past paying off the debt, it would easily be put to use to fund security endeavors.

But oh no, we can't run the government like a business, that would be communism. Too bad the conservatives just want to run the government like they run their own businesses, anyway - give out shallow tax breaks and cut services so they can increase their own wages. Those guys are the entire reason why manufacturers moved overseas, they are the reason middle class citizens are still being laid off en masse. Anyone that tries to argue that is absurdly idealistic and ignorant of their recent history, anyway - Haliburton was publicly charged for these kinds of actions, but hey let's give them all those contracts in the middle east, anyway. Not like the Vice President was involved in the company at all. Totally legit.

[Crazyswordsman]

-Cut defense spending. That's, like, 53% of the federal budget.
-Eliminate subsidies for oil companies
-Eliminate farm subsidies, which go to agribusiness rather than family farms.
-Eliminate subsidies for for-profit colleges (ie University of Phoenix), which get 90% of their revenue from the government anyway
-Close ALL corporate tax loopholes so that companies can't get away without paying taxes. We may even be able to lower the corporate tax rate if we do this.
-Prohibit no-bid contracts and sweetheart deals; all government contracts should be shown to the taxpayers for comment
-Eliminate the Bush tax cuts for millionaires.
-Invest in smart transportation solutions (ie: high speed rail) rather than widening highways all the time.
-End antitrust exemptions across the board.

-CSM

[Jere]

woudn't it be better if everybody paid an equal amount of their payment, like about 15-20% of their yearly income?

[CaptHayfever]

^Problem is, that presents too big of a burden on the impoverished.

Deku also wins; I can't believe I forgot that futures bullcarp.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Bomby]

Originally Posted by Jere

woudn't it be better if everybody paid an equal amount of their payment, like about 15-20% of their yearly income?

That's less than what's being paid now, and it's still not enough. Since the amount that the top 1% have been paying has been decreasing since 1981, the gap between rich and poor has widened to a simply unacceptable rate.

[Jere]

then why not make the rich pay higher for a moderate amount of time to compensate the faults in the tax cut from the bush, then level the rest of the taxes so that they start to be a even curve for "what does what and why and the reason how"(i know what i want to say here but i can't get it into understandable english).

But not before making cuts in the budget for the unnecessary things (not including School, healthcare and the fire/police)

[John Galt]

- Drastically reduce military spending
- Eliminate unnecessary government agencies
- End corporate welfare, let the businesses take care of themselves
- End social welfare, replace it with private charity
- End the "war on drugs" and the "war on crime"
- End American involvement in all foreign problems, let the rest of the world worry about itself

$5 says I can start a ****storm with this post.

[Laika Come Home]

Galt took all my points. That being said, all you people who want to tax the rich more really ought to watch this video:

YouTube - EAT THE RICH!