The $8 Trillion ‘’Kitchen-Table’’ Budget Cut

12/14/11

The $8 Trillion  ‘’Kitchen-Table’’ Budget Cut

I saved $8 Trillion dollars this morning.  Yes – that’s  a ‘’T” as in ‘’Trillion’’.  It took me  less than one hour  to make the hard decisions to cut the Federal Budget  deficit over the next  ten years by nearly eight times  greater than what our Congressional ‘’Super Committee’’ was challenged  with, and has abysmally failed to do,  over many months (nay, many years).  You too can save this kind of taxpayer money by taking the Pew Trust Budget Challenge at http://www.pewtrusts.org/.  

 If you are a voting US citizen - and you care about the country you leave your children - you are remiss in not spending an hour or two delving deeper into where and how our government spends our taxpayer money.   I consider myself a liberal. I have been, and still am, an Obama  supporter.  After taking the Pew Trust Budget Challenge, no matter your liberal leanings, you might just feel like joining the Tea Party or perhaps backing Ron Paul. Our government has gotten too big, and our economy overly leveraged.

Congress must truly believe that the voting US population are woefully stupid and ignorant, and perhaps we are. It takes real effort to be factually educated in today’s biased media circus. With a single-digit approval rating, Congress is actually dependent on  the voting population maintaining our collective ignorance.  Both parties would make you believe that achieving a $1.2T budget cut over ten years is impossible.  If our congressman had the same sense of purpose and achievement as our great industrialists, this would be done by now.

Let me walk thru how I cut $8T out of the federal budget over the next ten years. But first, let me tell you what I believe in:

·        *  I believe in providing security for the aged, and the less fortunate in our society.  I grew up with a brother with Down’s Syndrome and watched a mother slowly decay with Dementia. They could not, and many others simply cannot,  pull themselves up by their bootstraps. 

·        * I believe strongly  in the rugged individualism and self-determinism that built this great country, but I also believe that  in a future of increasingly strained  resources, we must balance  this with a much stronger sense of community (not communism, community).  Public transportation just makes sense.  It improves quality of life for all. More income equality is good for society.

·         * I believe in protecting our environment.  Our most basic right is clean air and clean water, and I believe the federal government has a responsibility to ensure our way of life is sustainable, and our environment is protected for future generations. 

·        *  I believe in government advancing progressive policies to achieve the above.  However, backing a specific technology and company like Solyndra was ill-advised and a waste of taxpayer money. Establishing a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard or a Cap-and-Trade system to foster renewable energy development and weaning the US from fossil fuels  is smart government.  It bolsters our energy independence, disarms our terrorist enemies, reduces reliance on the most instable region of the world, slows global warming, and fosters a sustainable environment.  

I     * I believe in a strong defence and strong military, but not a bloated military-industrial complex pushing their wares draped in an Amercian flag.  A strong America that promotes democracy, the rights of individuals, and a pluralistic, secular society still remains the brightest beacon in this world. Our ''allies'' should all pass a litmus test. Democratic, Pluralistic, Secular, with Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press and subscribe to a basic Bill of Rights.

·           

      * But most of all, I believe in handing off a better world to my children.  A crippled and over-leveraged  American economy will further weaken America,  our  American ideals and our future  way of life. We are currently getting a short-term reprieve with low borrowing costs because we are the ‘’tallest midget’’ due to the Euro crisis. This will not last. The current deficit/debt crisis is hawking the future for our children.  It has to stop. We would not think twice about jumping in front of a train to save our child, but we seem unable to make even the simplest sacrifice to preserve their future.

You may fundamentally disagree on many of the items that I chose below , but keep in mind I cleared the bar by 8X the challenge put to the Super Committee, and nothing I chose would I consider Draconian in measure.   Even if you do half of the below, that is 4X the failed goal of the Super Committee.  Here are the budget items I cut. Most are not eliminations of programs, but modest cuts or freezes. The savings are calculated by the Pew Charitable Trust.

MANDATORY SPENDING OPTIONS

Mandatory National Defense M1: Introduce Minimum Out of Pocket Requirements Under TRICARE For Life:

-$43.0 billion

Mandatory Energy M2: Transfer the Tennessee Valley Authority's Electric Utility Functions and Associated Assets and Liabilities

-$3.6 billion

Mandatory Agriculture M6: Reduce the Premium Subsidy in the Crop Insurance Program

-$11.8 billion

Mandatory Agriculture M7: Reduce by 20 Percentage Points the Share of a Farmer's Base Acreage Eligible for USDA Payments

-$9.6 billion

Mandatory Commerce & Housing

M8: Lower the Loan Limits on Mortgages Guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

-$3.5 billion

Mandatory Commerce & Housing

M9: Increase Guarantee Fees Charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

-$26.5 billion

Mandatory Health M13: Limit Medical Malpractice Torts

 -$64.0 billion

Mandatory Health M14: Adopt a Voucher System and Slow the Growth of Federal Contributions for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

-$73.2 billion

Mandatory M15a: Index the grant to changes in the ECI

-$287.5 billion

Mandatory Health M16: Reduce the Floor on Federal Matching Rates for Medicaid Services

-$182.0 billion

Mandatory Medicare M18: Raise the Age of Eligibility for Medicare to 67

-$124.8 billion

Mandatory Medicare M20: Require a Copayment for Home Health Episodes Covered by Medicare

-$40.2 billion

Mandatory Medicare M22: Increase the Basic Premium for Medicare Part B to 35 Percent of the Program's Costs

-$241.2 billion

Mandatory Medicare M23: Reduce Medicare's Payment Rates Across the Board in High Spending Areas

-$46.7 billion

Mandatory Income Security M26: Base Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Federal

Civilian and Military Pensions and Veterans' Benefits on an Alternative Measure of Inflation

-$24.0 billion

 Mandatory Social Security M27: Base Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustments on an Alternative Measure of Inflation

-$112.0 billion

Mandatory Social Security M29: Raise the Eligibility Age for Social Security

 -$143.9 billion

Mandatory Social Security M30: Raise the Full Retirement Age in Social Security

 -$119.9 billion

DISCRETIONARY SPENDING OPTIONS:

CATEGORY NAME

Discretionary D1b: Freeze funding at 2011 level

-$610.7 billion

Discretionary D14c: Reduce funding by 1 percent annually

-$931.8 billion

Discretionary Transportation D20: Limit Highway Funding to Expected Highway Revenues

-$85.6 billion

Discretionary Transportation D22: Increase Fees for Aviation Security

-$20.8 billion

Discretionary D33b: Reduce 2012 Funding Level and Allow Growth at Rate of Inflation

-$37.8 billion

Discretionary Multiple Functions

D37: Reduce the Across-the-Board Adjustment for Federal Civilian Employees' Pay

-$50.3 billion

REVENUE OPTIONS:

Revenue R1e: Raise the top two ordinary tax rates by 1 percentage point

-$115.0 billion

Individual Income Tax R4: Gradually Eliminate the Mortgage Interest Deduction

-$214.6 billion

Individual Income Tax R7: Limit the Tax Benefit of Itemized Deductions to 15 Percent

-$1.2 trillion

Revenue R14b: Eliminate the child tax credit

-$116.8 billion

Disagree w/ my choices. But go ahead. Take the challenge -  http://www.pewtrusts.org/.

Just don’t let Congress fool you that $1.2T (and a hell of a lot more), cannot be achieved.

joe.mcgrath65@gmail.com