Please understand, Keedy, that the "everything else" funded by the $550 billion includes...

• Department of Agriculture
• Office of Personnel Management
• Department of Labor
• Department of Education
• Housing and Urban Development
• Department of Justice
• Department of Energy
• NASA
• Department of the Interior
• Environmental Protection Agency
• State Department
• Department of Commerce
• National Science Foundation
• Expenses of operating the U.S. Capitol and Congress
• Office of the President
• Corps of Engineers
• And several other smaller independent agencies.

Like I said, simply cutting and slashing government spending won't be all that easy. Even relatively small cuts to the agencies and departments listed above would result in many, many gored oxen. That's not to say that lots of oxen should be gored. I'm just saying it isn't as easy as it's made out to be.

Dilly, if we were to eliminate ALL the perks and benefits provided to members of Congress, the savings wouldn't be enough to buy even one of the F-22 Raptor fighters that DOD says it doesn't want or need and that Congress voted for anyway.

Steve, if we were able to eliminate all the Medicare fraud (although I don't now how) and save the $60 billion, add in the $30 billion from a 2% cut to DOD and simply eliminate all those foundations and agencies you mentioned (they fall under the "independent agencies" category) with total cost savings of of about $40 billion...we've saved only about $130 billion, less than 10% of the federal deficit projected for FY 2009. Where do we get the REAL cost reductions? A whole lot more than a 2% cut to DOD? Some serious means testing for Social Secuirity? A really serious reduction in government-funded healthcare benefits? A major whack at the Department of Health & Human Services, like slashing the budget for the FDA, the Center for Disease Control, Medicare and Medicaid previously mentioned, maybe eliminate the National Institute of Health, simply whack the departments addressing family services and problems of the aging. We can get along without NASA and maybe the Corps of Engineers, can't we? How about making the national parks float on their own bottoms and fund them totally with entrance fees? Why do we need national public radio? Let the states build the interstate highways. If they can't afford them, drivers will need to learn to avoid the potholes or the dangerous bridges. Why can't the airlines fund the operation of the FAA? They're the only beneficiaries. Why do we spend so much on NTSB trying to figure out why planes crash? It won't bring the victims back to life. How about OSHA? Let the employers police worker safety themselves. If they do a lousy job, the free market will increase their insurance premiums and workers will steer clear of working for them. Might be a few people killed in the process, but so what? We simply can't afford such government intervention in our lives. Speaking of another branch of government--can we really afford all those federal judges, courthouses, staff, etc.? Would anyone care if court backlogs were increased a lot? Hey, that might be a good justification for tort reform!

These are the types of cuts that will be necessary in order to achieve a meaningful reduction in federal spending. Are Americans ready for such reductions? Like I said, lots of oxen will be gored. Gored? Heck no...lots of oxen will be killed.

Short of all that, get ready for some serious increases in income taxes, something we've avoided for a couple of decades, even as our spending has increased so dramatically. The time may have come when the piper will have to be paid.