Obama spending cuts

[Questor]

Apparently Obama has seen the light and wants spending cuts, no doubt for stuff that benefits business and the military.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100125/US.Obama.Jobs/

[Cabin4]

obama is talking about cutting $250billion from the federal budget over 10 years! Our annual budget is $3.7 TRILLION! So while any spending cuts are good, $250 billion savings over 10 years is rediculous. Especially since he's cutting the $250 billion from departments that have gotten as much as a 50% increase in thier budgets with his annual budget plan! So its a JOKE becasue it still does not bring those budgets back to the pre-obama budget levels.

[mechanic]

The INTEREST payment in this calendar year for our federal debt is reported to be 700 billion dollars.  Thats more than revenue from taxes.  Sorta like the interest on our credit card being more than our pay........

[Cabin4]

The INTEREST payment in this calendar year for our federal debt is reported to be 700 billion dollars.  Thats more than revenue from taxes.  Sorta like the interest on our credit card being more than our pay........

You may want to check those numbers out. Annual federal tax revenues are in the $2.1 to $2.2 trillion range. $700billion is the approx interest payment. Of course the problem is overall spending which includes the interest payment on the debt is in the $3.7 trillion range. So Obama is adding about $1.5 trillion to the annual debt every year unless tax revenues increase to bridge the gap.

We are on a train wreck course and if it’s not corrected by either dramatically increasing taxes or reducing spending or a combination of both, we are all going to pay an enormous price. Like we are going to lose our country to a complete and total foreign take over our financial markets and we will be faced with interest rates that will shut this country down.

[Questor]

I think the Obama presidency has gone from the "Dazzle them with brilliance" phase to the "Baffle them with BS" stage.

[magooch]

Brilliance--what brilliance?  This stinking administration ain't got no brilliance.

[no guns here]

Dang, I must have missed something... the headlines I read had the word "freeze" not "cut" in them.


NGH

[littlecanoe]

What real spending cuts do we need?

1. Massive cuts in foreign aid?.

2. Scale back the size of the federal work force (redundancy and early retirement 1st).

3.  Make pay and benefits of federal employees equal to that of the same private sector role.

4.  Cut pay of Congressmen, including plush retirement benefits, ie. NO retirement benefits (including insurance).

[Cabin4]

Dang, I must have missed something... the headlines I read had the word "freeze" not "cut" in them.


NGH

Well, there ya go and a good point. Is it a freeze or a cut? the deficet projection has built into it all planned budget increases over the coming years. So if you plan to cut a future budget that already has an increase in it in an out year, is it a cut or a freeze??? To me that is not a cut, it is a freeze as long as the number you freeze the budget at is equal to todays budget number. It is only a cut if you plan to lower the budget to less than todays budget number.

[Questor]

I thought that any government spending that isn't at least 10% more than last year's spending for the same program was considered a cut?

[mechanic]

The government collects 45% of it's total revenue from personal income taxes, 36% from FICA, Medicare, etc. and 12% from corporate taxes.  Both personal and corporate incomes are down.  For FY 2008 the gov. collected approximately 2.5 trillion in total revenue.  This year it is forcast to collect 69% of that amount.  Yet the spending has increased.  Last year they collected approx. 1.2 trillion from personal taxes.  If we factor in the 69%, that will total about 828 billion.  Subtract from that the 700 billion for interest, and it does not leave much to run the country on.  If they raise the tax rate, it will further decrease income because it will slow the economy even more.  If they raise corporate rates, that is passed along to the consumer anyway in the form of higher taxes.  We are broke gentlemen.  If this were my household budget, I would have to double my income with a second job or file for bankruptcy.....

[ms]

Hope and change!   

[billy_56081]

I'd like to see the cuts start with congress and the presidents pay. Congress would be paid the average income of the state they represent. The president would be paid the average of Americas pay. All retirment would be cut and the funds would go into SSI and medicare. The presidents staff would be cut and he can pay for his own food out of his own pay. Congressmen would be reimbursed at coach rate for travel to and from DC for the trip at the beguinning and the end of their session only. Congress and the president would receive medical coverage through medicare just as everyone else on Medicare recieves theirs. Housing will be provided for congress in the manner consistant with military barraks. The congressional session will last 6 weeks.  If at the end of the 6 weeks a bill has not passed it is dropped. If at the end of 6 weeks a balanced budget has not been passed, the congressmen would be charged the cost of us feeding and housing them until passed.

[Cabin4]

I'd like to see the cuts start were they will have an impact on the economy. Stop the balance being spent on the fake stimulus and cut spending accross the board, including DOD. Cut the corporate income tax rates overall and cut the corporate capitol expediture deductions.

[teamnelson]

He authorized a 20% spending increase over last year's budget, predominately on the very things he wants to freeze future spending on. Did he not read the fine print? buyer's remorse? I'd like 6 Big Macs, 4 large fries, a couple cherry pies and a chocolate shake. Oh, make that shake a Diet Coke instead.

Along with cuts, how about some revenue? Sell GM, put it on the auction block to the highest bidder. Sell off all foreign debt we own (like the $1BN we forgave Haiti) either back to the debtor, or to China. Buy back our debt; swap what folks owe us for what we owe China. Like C4 said, halt stimulus spending. Close US AID, and take away "development" dollars from the State Department. Close the Dept of Education which only generates cost, not smarter kids. Close the Dept of Energy which hasn't produced an erg or a watt since it was founded. Fix the tax system. Streamline the regulatory agencies if not do away with them all together.

There's alot he could do besides switch to diet coke for 3 years.

[torpedoman]

If you got a few minutes with nothing to do, find out how many gallons of gas and oil are sold daily and multiply it out by the federal gas tax then try to figure out were it all goes.

[no guns here]

Get rid of the IRS.  It takes about 50% of every dollar collected just to do the administrative part of the collection.  Not sure how much it would have to be but I would get I could handle a penny on the dollar national sales tax IF and ONLY IF we could get Congress to stop spending so much on BS PORK CRAP.

NGH

[Squib]

I think I'm burnt out from being so mad about all of this healthcare crap lately that I'm having trouble caring anymore... the democrats are aware that they'll pay and get burnt really bad very soon, yet they continue to push this crap legislature anyways.  climate bills, universal ENTITLEMENT healthcare, anti-gun scheming, patriot act- they're looking over the populace for a scapegoat and boogeymen "terrorists" when THEY are the ones to blame for most of the nation's ills.  it's completely retarded.


last but not least, look at who the speaker of the house is- Pelosi, that should sum it all up.