Getting rid of the debt in 8 years...

[Elwar]

Revenue: $2.7 trillion
Budget: $3.1 trillion
Debt: $11.9

$644 billion - Social Security
$408 billion - Medicare
$224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
$360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
$260 billion - Interest on National Debt
$515.4 billion - United States Department of Defense
$145.2 billion(2008*) - Global War on Terror
$70.4 billion - United States Department of Health and Human Services
$59.2 billion - United States Department of Education
$44.8 billion - United States Department of Veterans Affairs
$38.5 billion - United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
$38.3 billion - State and Other International Programs
$37.6 billion - United States Department of Homeland Security
$25.0 billion - United States Department of Energy
$20.8 billion - United States Department of Agriculture
$20.3 billion - United States Department of Justice
$17.6 billion - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$12.5 billion - United States Department of the Treasury
$11.5 billion - United States Department of Transportation
$10.6 billion - United States Department of the Interior
$10.5 billion - United States Department of Labor
$8.4 billion - Social Security Administration
$7.1 billion - United States Environmental Protection Agency
$6.9 billion - National Science Foundation
$6.3 billion - Judicial branch (United States federal courts)
$4.7 billion - Legislative branch (United States Congress)
$4.7 billion - United States Army Corps of Engineers
$0.4 billion - Executive Office of the President
$0.7 billion - Small Business Administration
$7.2 billion - Other agencies
$39.0 billion(2008*) - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending

If you get rid of the War on Terror, round every number down and divide by 2 (excluding Social Security) you get a budget of $1 trillion. Then you add Social Security and have a budget of $1.6 trillion. I exclude Social Security because everyone knows that the blue hairs vote en masse and there's no touching their dough.

Paying $1.1 trillion toward our debt would have it paid off in 10 years...with rising revenue, most likely closer to 8...a perfect goal and accomplishment for any president.


And yes, I know that eliminating most of the departments and leaving things to the states would be the best way to go, but by cutting them all in half you're not singling out any single department and they're all going to bitch but eliminating full departments will create huge enemies...and if you go forward with it with a fiscal minded approach with a defined end goal then you'll have less resistance.

Though, in 3 years we'll be wishing our debt was only $11.9 trillion. :(

[Chase]

Washington is choosing the more direct route... ignore the problem until you have hyperinflation, at which point you might as well pay off all your debts in an afternoon with your affordable currency!

[Harris4LarouchePAC]

Or, just very simply declare the Federal Reserve System Bankrupt.

They are, everyone in this board knows they are. So rally behind delcaring it bankrupt, skip auditing it, and reorganize the country before WE BLOW UP.

[TCE]

Legalizing marijuana and taxing it would also bring in more revenue.

[rp08orbust]

Legalizing marijuana and taxing it would also bring in more revenue.

Because potheads are such conscientious taxpayers.

[JohnMeridith]

Legalizing marijuana and taxing it would also bring in more revenue.
i dont like that idea at all. we should not be condoning the government taxing anything else, taxes should be being removed

[TCE]

i dont like that idea at all. we should not be condoning the government taxing anything else, taxes should be being removed

It is a reality. The state governments at the very least would put a sales tax on it. While obviously it would be awesome if everything was tax free, we don't live in that reality at this point. Besides, I would rather it be legalized and taxed, than criminalized. Think of how much money we could save on the drug war and all of those prison cells.

[JeNNiF00F00]

Because potheads are such conscientious taxpayers.

Collectivist arent we?

[krazy kaju]

Legalizing marijuana and taxing it would also bring in more revenue.

Even if we legalized all drugs and taxed them, that would hardly bring in any significant revenue. It might increase total tax revenue by a percentage point, if we're lucky. The drug market simply isn't big enough. That's why excise taxes account for far less revenue than other taxes (like corporate taxes), despite the fact that products like tobacco, alcohol, and gasoline are all taxed by the feds.

[krazy kaju]

I exclude Social Security because everyone knows that the blue hairs vote en masse and there's no touching their dough.

Then how would you be able to halve Medicare then?

Even serious health care and health insurance reform wouldn't be able to reduce Medicare spending that much. You would need to take serious steps that seniors would reject, like increasing deductibles, using indemnities, or scrapping the system for everyone except the poor.


Paying $1.1 trillion toward our debt would have it paid off in 10 years...with rising revenue, most likely closer to 8...a perfect goal and accomplishment for any president.

Don't forget rising Medicare and Social Security costs. The result would probably be greater than 10 years, although one could argue that the lesser scope of federal government and the budget surpluses could spur economic growth, thus increasing long-run tax revenues.

[Elwar]

Then how would you be able to halve Medicare then?


I agree, I was having a hard time trying to figure out the medicare, medicaid and unemployment since those are kinda fixed.

I was just thinking more along the lines of a practical fiscally sound approach that a Republican could run on as his focus being getting rid of the debt. It would distance the candidate from George Bush and the debt spending Republicans (which is why I believe the Republicans lost), and it would magnify any high debt spending done by the current administration.

As for legalizing and taxing marijuana...I ran some numbers based on the potential state revenue, assuming the federal tax would match the state tax, the gain would only be about $800 million...hardly a scrap.


In an ideal world, I'd sell off all federal land to pay the debt. Have a national lottery to pay for the military, get rid of all taxes and spending outside of the barebones branches of government called for in the Constitution, drop the leaders' salaries to minimum wage and rent rooms at the White House to VIPs to pay for White House staff and Secret Service. But, as we found out in the Republican primaries, voters don't care about getting rid of waste and taxes.

[Zippyjuan]

So with keeping Social Security and Welfare where they are now plus the required interest on the debt you are up to about $1.3 trillion in spending without giving a penny to any other government function incuding national defense. Those two are the biggest numbers and where any realistic budget cuts must be made but are the hardest to achieve. It would be unwise to get rid of any taxes until the debt is gone- although that would be a nice goal. How much can I buy Yellowstone park for? Maybe I can tear it down and build a giant thermal energy plant there. Mt Rushmore might make a nice gravel pit.

[krazy kaju]

Yup, the three largest budget items are the Department of Defense, Social Security, and Medicare. This is where you'll have to start budget cuts.

My recommendation: Less R&D spending for the DoD, a gradual downsizing of the Navy and Air Force, pulling out of various military bases (e.g. there is no need for bases in Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines), no Social Security and Medicare for the wealthy, higher Medicare deductibles, and replacement of the current Medicare system for a system that pays indemnities only.

[Krugerrand]

. Have a national lottery to pay for the military

HA! The all new Power Ball with more explosive winnings. Lot's of creative scratch and win games too.

[NYgs23]

They should just cancel the so-called "intragovernmental holdings." Something like 40% of the national debt owed by federal agencies to other federal agencies. A totally fraudulent accounting trick to make it look like there is money there when there's just a pile of IOUs by the govt to the govt.

[rp08orbust]

Because potheads are such conscientious taxpayers.


Collectivist arent we?

A little lacking in sense of humor, aren't we?