My 23 step solution to the nation's budget. 21 spending cuts and 2 revenue enhancements.

[Glassunion]

My solution does not involve cutting even 1 effective federal social program or its funding.

I'll keep a running total as I go.
1. Tighten controls on federal payments. Our government makes $72 billion dollars a year in improper payments. ($72 bil)
2. Our government spends $92 billion in corporate welfare. ($164 bil)
3. Our government spends $25 billion maintaining unused or vacant federal property. ($182 bil)
4. According to Obama we spend $123 billion on programs that fail to show ANY positive impact on the populations they serve ($314 bil)
5. Here is a small one... Bull shit earmark - $2.6 million teaching foreign prostitutes how to drink responsibly. ($314.0026 bil)
6. Nearly half of all purchases($10 billion) on government credit cards are improper, fraudulent or embezzled. ($324.0026 bil)
7. On top of that our government does not pay the bills on time for those cards causing us to spend $250 million in interest and fees ($324.2526 bil)
8. On top of that when delinquent our government misses out on about $40 million rebates on the purchases ($324.2926 Bil)
9. On top of that our government does not seek refunds on purchased airline tickets that are refundable... $200 million 'ish ($324.4926 bil)
10. On top of that our federal employees spend $146 million to upgrade their flights to first class ($324.6386 bil)
11. Waste... The SEC just spent 3.9 million moving desks around in a building they just overpaid $45 million for. ($324.6875)
12. Corruption... Our Pentagon has spent $1.3 million shipping $1.27 worth washers. They auto paid the bills without approving them. ($324.6888 bil)
13. About $10 billion in farm subsidies go to corporations and large group farms with an average household income of $250,000 or more ($334.6888 bil)
14. Fraud... $60 billion in health care fraud alone. ($394.6888 bil)
15. Cost overruns by our military for weapons systems $295 billion... ($689.6888 bil)
16. TARP fraud is up to $25 billion ($714.6888 bil)
17. War fraud... $13 billion in Iraq aid has been stolen or wasted and another $7.8 cannot be accounted for ($735.4888 bil)
18. Congress has failed to implement efficiency recommendations costing $9 billion a year ($744.4888 bil)
19. The NIH spends $15.6 million annually on a lab it cannot use ($744.5044 bil)
20. More waste... A DHS contracts audit found $34 billion in waste ($778.5044 bil)
21. We spend $2 billion a year for farmers to not farm their land. ($780.5044 bil)

Now for some revenue...
1. If we address duplicative federal efforts directed at increasing domestic ethanol productions, we could reduce revenue losses up to $5.7 billion ($786.2044 bil)
2. Revoke the tax cuts for the top 2%. For the first .1% 360 billion and for the second 1.9% 320 billion. ($1.4662044 Trillion)

I think this country could use an extra $1,466,204,400,000 a year. Where would this put our economy in 10 years? What would our national debt look like?

[hifiguy]

1. Close down about half of the Imperium's overseas bases

and end the wars and you can add a few more hundred billion.

Great idea, and it really is that simple.

[Ian David]

2. I have a simpler idea. Each year, hold a lottery among the 400 richest Americans...

... and the winner is stoned to death and their wealth confiscated for the Public Good.

Anyone who doesn't want their name in the lottery just needs to voluntarily pay enough taxes not to be among the 400 richest.

[proud patriot]

16. I actually like that Idea .. it put a big smile on my face

:D

[Glassunion]

17. Do we get to hold another lottery for who gets to throw the stones?

[proud patriot]

19. oh yes yes .. a must

[A Simple Game]

18. And put the stoning on pay per view. The ideas come easy once you get started. n/t

[Glassunion]

20. Nah... We should use it as an oportunity. PBS should air it during their pledge drive.

[sad sally]

3. May I use your post to send to my Senators and Congresswoman? n/t

[Glassunion]

6. I would reccomend using other sources than a forum posting...

Your best place to start is the GAO. Go to their website www.gao.gov and just start browsing around, you'll be pissed at what you find, but it is chock full of good info, recommendations and reports.

For some specifics...

Government Accountability Office, Improper Payments: Progress Made but Challenges Remain in Estimating and Reducing Improper Payments, GAO-09-628T, April 22, 2009, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09628t.pdf

Stephen Slivinski, “The Corporate Welfare State: How the Federal Government Subsidizes U.S. Businesses,” Cato Institute, May 14, 2007, at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8230

Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, FY 2010: Analytic Perspectives (Supplemental Materials), May 2009, at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/homeland.pdf

Subcommittee Oversight Efforts Identify $1.1 Trillion in Waste or Questionable Spending, October 19, 2006, at http://coburn.senate.gov/oversight/?FuseAction=OversightAction.Home&ContentRecord_id=611f1f4c-802a-23ad-475d-223d6490f308

Congressional Budget Office, “Budget Options, Volume 1: Health Care,” December 2008, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions

“Budget Options, Volume 2,” August 2009, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10294/08-06-BudgetOptions.pdf

Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, “Government at the Brink,” Vols. I and II, June 2001; U.S. General Accounting Office, “Managing for Results: Using the Results Act to Address Mission Fragmentation and Program Overlap,”, at http://www.gao.gov/archive1997/ai97146.pdf

“U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job,” CNS News, May 12, 2009, at http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=47976

Government Accountability Office, Government-wide Purchase Cards: Actions Needed to Strengthen Internal Controls to Reduce Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Purchases, GAO-08-333, March 2008, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08333.pdf

Marc Stewart, “Federal Gov’t Questions TVA Spending,” WBIR.com, February 27, 2009, at http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=79461

Dan Eggen, “Federal Credit Cards Misused,” The Washington Post, April 9, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802718.html

Robert Brodsky, “Report Paints Agencies as Deadbeat Travel Card Holders,” Government Executive, May 28, 2009, at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42837&dcn=todaysnews

Laura Strickler, “SEC Spends Millions to Reorganize Desks,” CBS News, April 8, 2009, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/07/cbsnews_investigates/main4927475.shtml

Tony Capaccio, “Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers,” Bloomberg, August 16, 2009, at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aY5OQ5xv9HR8

Ted Covey et al., “Agriculture Income and Finance Outlook,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, November 2006, pp. 40 and 48.

Carrie Johnson, “Medical Fraud a Growing Problem,” The Washington Post, June 13, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061203915.html

Dana Hedgpeth, “GAO Blasts Weapons Budget,” The Washington Post, April 1, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033102789.html

Christopher Conkey, “Federal Workers Accused of Abusing Business Class,” The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119136054325946827.html

Brad Heath, “Gov’t Losses Big in Home Market,” USA Today, May 15, 2009, at http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-05-14-govtown_N.htm

Dana Hedgpeth, “$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says,” The Washington Post, September 23, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202053.html

Dan Friedman, “Report: Defense Department Cannot Fully Account for $7.8B Spent in Iraq,” CongressDaily, May 22, 2008, at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0508/052208cdpm2.htm

Associated Press, “Katrina Fraud Could Top $2 Billion,” December 25, 2006, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15587326

“FEMA Funds Spent on Divorce, Sex Change,” June 14, 2006, at http://cbs4denver.com/national/FEMA.Divorce.Sex.2.268906.html

Government Accountability Office, Expedited Assistance for Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: FEMA’s Control Weaknesses Exposed the Government to Significant Fraud and Abuse, GAO-06-403T, February 13, 2006, p. 11, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06403t.pdf

Government Accountability Office, DOD Travel Cards: Control Weaknesses Led to Millions of Dollars in Unused Airline Tickets, GAO-03-398, March 2004, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04398.pdf

Government Accountability Office, Travel Cards: Air Force Management Focus Has Reduced Delinquencies, but Improvements in Controls Are Needed, GAO-03-298, December 20, 2002, p. 4, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03298.pdf

Travel Cards: Control Weaknesses Leave Navy Vulnerable to Fraud and Abuse, GAO-03-148T, October 8, 2002, p. 8, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03148t.pdf

Department of Heath and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, “Compendium of Unimplemented Office of Inspector General Recommendations,” May 2009, at http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/compendium/compendium2009.pdf

Christopher Lee, “Official Portraits Draw Skeptical Gaze,” The Washington Post, October 21, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102003627.html

Dan Morgan, Gilbert Gaul, and Sarah Cohen, “Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don’t Farm,” The Washington Post, July 2, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/AR2006070100962.html

Government Accountability Office, Purchase Cards: Control Weaknesses Leave DHS Highly Vulnerable to Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Activity, GAO-06-1117, September 2006, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d061117.pdf

Jonathan Rockoff, “NIH Paying $1.3 Million Monthly for Unused Lab,” Baltimore Sun, December 2, 2007.

David Stout, “Medicare Error Sends $50 Million in Refunds to Recipients,” The New York Times, August 24, 2006, at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/washington/24medicare.html

Griff Witte and Spencer S. Hsu, “Homeland Security Contracts Abused,” The Washington Post, July 27, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601683.html

[ashling]

4. My solution for making sense of your solution

Tell us where you get these numbers

[Glassunion]

8. Mainly the GAO and CBO, post #6 has a lot of direct links to most of the specifics.

www.gao.gov

www.cbo.gov

[Warren Stupidity]

5. There is no debt crisis. It is manufactured bullshit.

There is a revenue problem that was caused by the criminally irresponsible Bush-Obama tax cuts for billionaires. Once we crawl out of the recession it would be a Real Good Idea (tm) to cancel that shit.

[girl gone mad]

7. All of the things you mentioned should be addressed, but there is no federal debt crisis in the US.

[Glassunion]

9. You are indeed correct. It was a poor choice of words in my part... My bad.

I edited the title of the OP to better convey my thoughts.

:toast:

[girl gone mad]

12. Okay. Now I can rec it.

:)

[Glassunion]

13. Ha! Thanks...

It was proof positive that sometimes the brain gets ahead of my typing speed.

[ieoeja]

10. Set every agency's budget next year equal to this year's plus 50% of what they return this year.

Common practice in any large entity, government and private, is to spend everything in your budget. Otherwise, you have just volunteered to have your budget decreased next year.

That said, my idea would not work because, even if Congress did honor that one year, they would then use the lower spending as the target for the year after.

Also, a lot of earmarks are hidden. Example: in 1985 Ronald Reagan initiated a process to go after defaulted Veterans Administration loans for education. The steps basically involved a series of warning letters, a referral to a credit reporting agency, then going after their tax refunds. Once referred, the CRA gets 50% of the collections, even those garnished from the tax refund, despite the fact that the CRA had nothing whatsoever to do with that collection.

As it so happens, I was too "stupid" to figure out the CRA requirements. So I skipped! The CRA was out $7M, but somehow that doesn't bother me.

[Glassunion]

14. I don't know why it is so hard. I work with very large budgets every year.

Not only do I come in incredibly close to my budget, I have to sign off and detail every penny that I spend per budget line.

It's really not that hard.

[FarLeftFist]

11. K&R! And that is before even addressing the wars.

[Glassunion]

15. I was trying to be realistic.

There is too much profit in the wars. Our corporate leaders are going to drag them out as long as they can. Remember we are fighting an abstract idea, not a country. So there is no finish line or clear objective. Billions would be lost if we ended them.