What do you support cutting in the federal budget?

[AngryAmish]

Assuming that the federal budget is cut, where would you do it? I think in general some largish cuts to defense would be popular around here. Would agricultural price support cuts be popular? What about not doing the doc fix in Medicare? I think Social Security is pretty close to paying for itself and some extreme means testing (meaning seniors with current income over 100k get a reduction) should put it over the top.

So say you?

[laconicsax]

1. DoD n/t

[csziggy]

39. +10000000000000000000

[csziggy]

40. Military, oil & coal and most agricultural subsidies, corporate welfare n/t

[fadedrose]

2. Anybody in any position calling for a decrease in SS eom

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Doesn't matter what we want. The GOP/DLC don't listen to us.

We'll get what they want.

[emulatorloo]

7. I'm not big on Nihilism or Giving Up

Or maybe I am just lucky to have a great Rep and a great Senator.

[Hello_Kitty]

23. Lucky you. I have Kyl, McCain, and Ben Quayle.

But anyway, I've called various members of Congress and the WH until I'm blue in the face to advocate for progressive issues but it's never made a difference in the end. They don't listen to us. We're irrelevant until they need to punch hippies in public to look more centrist. I'm sick of it. In 2009 I stood on the street holding signs and went to numerous rallies and town halls where teabaggers screamed at us to support health care reform. And then the President takes the public option, one of the main reasons many of us were supporting HCR, off the table.

[emulatorloo]

26. That is a depressing group. I've got Grassley so I have a feel for it.

One thing we have going for us with Social Security is that not even Teabaggers think cutting social security for deficit reduction is a good idea. The polling I saw was something like 75% of teabaggers though it was horrible.

[Hello_Kitty]

29. But if the Important People want it, it will happen.

Free trade deals are hugely unpopular yet we just entered one with South Korea. (Which will serve as a backdoor for even more cheap crap from China.)

[jtown1123]

4. Means testing does nothing since very few seniors are wealthy. It also undermines support for the

program. Lift the wage cap entirely.

On spending cuts, I would say Defense spending. However, I'm not too keen on cutting anything right now as we are in a severe recession with chronic unemployment and wage stagnation. You have to question the obsession with belt tightening in a time when people can barely survive on the status quo.

[emulatorloo]

5. From what I read the "Doc Fix problem" is republican nonsense

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/the-doc-fix-myth

JONATHAN CHAIT - The New Republic
The Doc Fix Myth And The Right's Misinformation Feedback Loop

What would I cut? Wasteful defense spending, Medicare Fraud of the Ric Scott variety for starters.

[FSogol]

6. Cut Foreign Aid to rich nations, obsolete military bases overseas, government printing costs,

overhaul the entire foreign service (it is still set up like it is 1890)

[annabanana]

35. I like this!. . . . .n/t

[Cleita]

8. Cut military spending by half.

We need to stop buy military hardware that was meant to fight Russia in the last century. We should start pulling out of our misbegotten foreign wars, pull our occupation troops out of foreign countries that are no threat to us since WWII, and we still can have an awesome military.

[NutmegYankee]

27. Which hardware was meant to fight Russia?

You may be surprised on some of your assumptions.

[Cleita]

38. All kinds of aircraft we don't need anymore, not to

mention our arsenal of nukes. You don't have to take my word for it. The internet has articles dating back to the end of the cold war to inform you.

[bluestateguy]

9. The War on Drugs agencies

Defense and many farm subsidies.

[DCKit]

30. +1 All the "War On " ? "" scams.

The Pentagram, ATF, DEA, Fatherland Security, Federal Bureau of Intimidation...

There is a lot of waste out there.

[Statistical]

10. Means testing is unfair and pointless.

1) SS survives because it is the ultimate fallback. Even a majority of the rich have favorable view of SS despite a poor return. Means testing is the begining of the end for SS.

2) Very few seniors are extremely rich and their benefits aren't that high. You save a negligble amount of money. Progressive taxation works because while only 1% of Americans make more than $100K they tend to make a LOT more. So raising taxes on 1% of the population can generate significant revenue. SS has a progressive payout so someone making $100K doesn't get a check twice someone making $50K. Someone making a billion dollars doesn't get a check much larger than someone making $100K.

3) Means testing is changing the rules at the end of the game. It undermines confidence in the system. You have no right (in legal sense) to SS benefit thus your only protection is a confidence that the rules won't change. When people see the rules change (even if it doesn't affect them) it undermines confidence. Essentially people were promised one thing, had a contribution forced upon them, paid for an entire lifetime and at the very end the rules change and they "lose". Watch support and confidence for SS plummet in a move after that. Why should a 20 worker trust SS won't change in 40 years when he is about to retire?

[dkofos]

11. Defense down to MAX of $250 billion.

[Bragi]

12. Cut handouts to Israel /nt

[Burma Jones]

13. There are huge make work projects in every agency

What Uncle Ronnie did when he started "privatizing" government is to introduce Profit Motive in Government Spending. This occurs in all agencies. Your main goal in performing a government contract is to make sure there is follow on work.

[randr]

14. Cut military big time or make the oil companies pay for the protection they get

No more tax breaks for taking jobs overseas. Tax the uber wealthy. Make a plan to balance the budget asap.

[SharonAnn]

15. Cutting (removing) the Bush era tax cuts. We need to raise revnue, not cut costs.

[sabrina 1]

16. SS has nothing to do with the Deficit so why is it even being

discussed in that context?

I would slash the military budget much of which is not even accounted for.

I would end the wars which would save billions each year and just doing those two things would probably pay for the deficit within a year.

But SS should NOT be part of this discussion at all. And any Democrat who continues to try to tie it to the deficit is no Democrat.

[jtown1123]

22. + 1000

[leftstreet]

37. +1

[Andy823]

17. Well

I agree with defense cuts. I think subsidies to farms needs to be looked at since many of these farms getting paid are big business's who are scamming the system. I also think paying farmers to NOT grow things like wheat is a waste of money. I know a lot of wheat farmers who no longer work at all, they just collect huge checks from the government each year for doing nothing. These same farmers who collect huge checks are the same bunch that complain about "welfare" for the poor! I have no problem with farmers getting help when there is a disaster that hurts their income, but big corporations are taking advantage of the system.

I also think there should be cuts in wasteful spending, grants for things that make no sense, and programs that simply don't work like the war on drugs! I am against cutting SS or medicare for the elderly who really need it.

[Frustratedlady]

18. I agree. They also need to plug the holes in the income tax rulings

that Wall Street and financial institutions are using to evade taxes, go after the offshore tax dodgers and penalize companies which move their manufacturing facilities overseas.

They don't need to go after the seniors...they only do that because they know we don't have anyone to stand up for us. Forget the AARP.

[2Design]

19. salaries and benefits of congress - any payouts

higher taxes on individuals making over 250,000
no more flowers at meetings or snacks
charge for health club

cut military in other countries
no pay for mercenaries - cut them completely
no more health insurance for cheney - no funding another heart of heart fix - we have kept him alive long enough on taxpayer dime while killing off others

no health insurance for tea baggers or right wing

no more trips to see the troops by any senator or other - just bring them home
no more invading countries

[RT Atlanta]

20. cut Military-related expenses in half

and create a national gas tax of $1 per gallon

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

21. War on Drugs... legalize and regulation marijuana.

Dropping the WOD will save billions.
Legalizing and taxing MJ will make millions.

[alc]

24. I can say why but not where

Our interest payments on debt are already very significant. The higher our debt goes, the worse rate we will get for borrowing. In 20 years (10, 30?) we won't be able to raise taxes enough to cover interest and "basic" government functions (pick your definition of "basic" and the amount of time will go up/down). At that point we won't have an option of where to cut. Think of Greece.

With the current attitude on both sides of the congressional aisle, we cannot fix things with tax increases. They both want to spend the increase without significant cuts (they just want to spend in different areas). And there will always be "emergencies" they use to justify another increase in the deficit. Both sides are willing to give in because they will get theirs too.

I think SS and medicare need to be separated from the rest of the government and run independently. They should be off limits for the congress to mess with, but may have their own financial issues. After that, everything is on the table.

[KansDem]

25. Corporate welfare.

There's no reason why we're giving money to some company like McDonald's. We subsidize the beef industry, and the corn industry (feed for beef), and the petro-fertilizer industry (for the corn), and even cut some funds for McD's to advertise.

Why? Why give them money to produce a crappy product that leads to obesity?

Also...DoD. Why do we need over 700 American bases around the world?

[JNelson6563]

28. Military spending

[KamaAina]

31. Abstinence-only sex miseducation

and other RW pet rocks.

Also, corporate welfare, tax breaks, etc.

[snot]

32. War, defense, black ops, and bailouts to bankers. And

we should raise taxes on the very rich.

And we should beef up enforcement capabilities for the IRS, SEC, et al.

[Exilednight]

33. You could cut defense spending $100 billion, but sadly, we won't see one

red cent cut from defense spending.

Gates is running around announcing spending cuts, but it's all smoke and mirrors. He's just moving the money out of Pentagon spending and into discretionary spending.

[Urban Prairie]

34. Virtually everything and anything that Rethugs would be most vehemently opposed to cutting

out of the federal budget.

Too easy...heh!!

[slackmaster]

36. War, huh, good God!

What is it good for?

[Amonester]

41. Bankrupting superpowers.

Always did, and always will.

[slackmaster]

43. Say it again!

:nuke:

[GSLevel9]

42. war, foreign aid and corporate welfare. Hows that? nt