NationStates Jolt Archive


If you could cut the budget...

Upper Middle
08-06-2005, 19:02
what would you cut?
Below is an overview of the US budget for fiscal year 2006.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/tables.html
Mirchaz
08-06-2005, 19:13
what would you cut?
Below is an overview of the US budget for fiscal year 2006.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/tables.html

i'm not too financially inclined, but i would cut 10% across the board. or more... dunno. i think we waste alot of money in the homeland security/dod dept's. why does the dept. of agriculture need such a huge increase?

may not be enough info to determine what to cut.
Daistallia 2104
08-06-2005, 19:21
what would you cut?
Below is an overview of the US budget for fiscal year 2006.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/tables.html

A while back (maybe 9-12 months ago) there was a similar thread about what departments and agencies would you cut?

I actually posted the entire list of federal agencies and departments - some several hundred, stating which I'd cut and keep. I won't do that again tonight - bedtime is past. However, I'll let it suffice to say almost everything except the Departments of Defense, Justice, and State, plus a very few agencies elsewhere, should get the ax. There's a large amount of redundancy that should be folded into one agency - intelligence being the big one.
Eutrusca
08-06-2005, 19:24
what would you cut?
Below is an overview of the US budget for fiscal year 2006.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/tables.html
The secret isn't to cut the budget. The secret is to hold politicians' feet to the fire and make them balance the budget and then justify everything they approve which costs money. Return accountability to politics! Vote Party Of Whatever Works! :D
Rogue Newbie
08-06-2005, 19:46
A while back (maybe 9-12 months ago) there was a similar thread about what departments and agencies would you cut?

I actually posted the entire list of federal agencies and departments - some several hundred, stating which I'd cut and keep. I won't do that again tonight - bedtime is past. However, I'll let it suffice to say almost everything except the Departments of Defense, Justice, and State, plus a very few agencies elsewhere, should get the ax. There's a large amount of redundancy that should be folded into one agency - intelligence being the big one.

I'd be inclined to agree with Daistallia, to a certain extent. Specifically I'd like to cut Education, but that's just because public schools suck right now, and I'd like to see more privatized schooling with government support.
Blood Moon Goblins
08-06-2005, 19:52
I would cut education and welfare mostly, both departments are bloated buerocracies (well, moreso than the others) that need a real solution, other than having money thrown at them.
THEN I would cut most of the US Forign aid since most of it isnt even going to the people who need it, or who we want to get it.
That aside, I would put some money into prisons and a bit into the military as well, not much though, just enough to build a few new prisons to solve the overcrowding and get everything in the various military branches back into fighting shape.
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Then I would use the rest to build a giant death ray and take over the world.
SimNewtonia
08-06-2005, 19:53
Just looking at that thing, they need to consolidate a few departments. Even for a country the size of the US, there's WAAAY too many places where the cash is going out. The way that thing is, it's just inefficient.
Nikitas
08-06-2005, 19:57
Consolidate? Only useful if you want to reduce overall spending in the area in which you are consolidating agencies.

There are gains to specialization. When you lump agencies together and reduce overall funding you are just making them even less effective.
Roach-Busters
08-06-2005, 19:59
I'd cut everything down to 0% except for defense spending, which would either stay the same, or be increased slightly.
Esrevistan
08-06-2005, 20:12
I'd cut everything down to 0% except for defense spending, which would either stay the same, or be increased slightly.
Wouldn't that cause anarchy and (since the Department of Defense has all the money) millitary rule?
Keruvalia
08-06-2005, 20:17
Beats me ... I'm not much on economics, though I do know I'd wipe the FCC completely out of existence. Otherwise ... meh ...
Roach-Busters
08-06-2005, 20:20
Wouldn't that cause anarchy and (since the Department of Defense has all the money) millitary rule?

Actually, funding for the Departments of the Treasury, State, and Justice would remain. I forgot about them.
Xenophobialand
08-06-2005, 20:36
Corporate Welfare. Corporations should not get bennies handed out to them, nor should they get tax breaks. That would cut out far, far more of the budget than any reduction in foreign aid or consolidation of bureaucracies.
Glorious Discordia
08-06-2005, 20:48
what would you cut?
Below is an overview of the US budget for fiscal year 2006.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/tables.html


Well, lets see...first and foremost, I'd cut all foreign aid/operations dollars by 80%. Then I'd cut all homeland security dollars by 100% for every agency except the Department of Defense, The State Department, The Department of Energy, the Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Justice. Dollars going to the Department of Homeland Security would be distributed to those agencies that still receive homeland security funding. Once I was done with that hatchet job, I'd quarter the Department of Agriculture's total budget.
With the money saved I could eliminate estate, gift, and corporate income taxes (the government shouldn't get more than one bite at the apple), and I'd probably have enough money left over to make college tuition tax deductible. Oh what a world it would be, if your leaders acted with some measure of fiscal responsibility.
Super-power
08-06-2005, 22:25
Foregin aid, social security, FCC, and whatever-the-hell that "discretionary" spending is.....
Delator
08-06-2005, 23:03
Corporate Welfare. Corporations should not get bennies handed out to them, nor should they get tax breaks. That would cut out far, far more of the budget than any reduction in foreign aid or consolidation of bureaucracies.

I agree. While some allowance has to be made for smaller buisnesses, giant corporations, especially those that move a lot of their financial dealings offshore, deserve NO help from the government. :mad: