[jbartle1]

Why reduce spending with different percentage by dept, need to reduce deficits by x dollars, cut SAME % for ALL DEPT to arrive at acceptable reduction. Surely I’m not the first to think of this, this alone would reduce need for budget dept, ha!

[retiredguy123]

Some people think that, if you require a department to cut spending by 10 percent, they will cut the inefficient people and spending items. However, in most departments, they will do the exact opposite. They will eliminate the most efficient parts of the department, and then, when they are criticized for not performing, they will blame it on the mandated cuts and ask for more money. In Government, there is no profit or efficiency motive. The name of the game is to spend as much taxpayer money as you can get.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jbartle1

Why reduce spending with different percentage by dept, need to reduce deficits by x dollars, cut SAME % for ALL DEPT to arrive at acceptable reduction. Surely I’m not the first to think of this, this alone would reduce need for budget dept, ha!

Would you do this with your personal budget? If you needed to save money would you cut your grocery, water, and electricity spending by the same percentage as you might cut your cruise, airline, hotel, or restaurant spending? Or, would you determine what is essential (food, water, A/C) and what is not-so-essential (cruise, hotel, restaurant) and cut the non-essential items more?

[vintageogauge]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

There no desire for elected officials to cut spending when all they do add their pet projects to bills. It should be mandatory for federal government to balance budget and pay down debt or they don’t get paid. IMO need go back to gold standard and stop federal reserve from just printing money like it Sunday news paper. And quit bailing out banks and GM.

Exactly how much gold do we have? Whatever it is it's worth a lot more than it was a couple years ago.

[Caymus]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

Exactly how much gold do we have? Whatever it is it's worth a lot more than it was a couple years ago.

China may have a lot more.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/...d=BingNewsSerp

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

Exactly how much gold do we have? Whatever it is it's worth a lot more than it was a couple years ago.

Nobody really knows

[jimhoward]

Here is a fun fact.....

If you fired all government employees, not just wasteful or redundant ones but all of them (not counting active military) eliminating every department you would save about 4.6% the federal budget.

If you then also fired all the active military, so there was no one at all left directly in government and no one protecting our country you would save an additional 3% for a total of 7.6%.

We would still be deficit spending. Its hard to cut spending when so much of it is things like interest on the debt.

The source for this is just internet google searches on the federal budget.

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Would you do this with your personal budget? If you needed to save money would you cut your grocery, water, and electricity spending by the same percentage as you might cut your cruise, airline, hotel, or restaurant spending? Or, would you determine what is essential (food, water, A/C) and what is not-so-essential (cruise, hotel, restaurant) and cut the non-essential items more?

This seems so logical, until you acknowledge that the public sector does not need to operate like either a business or person financially. If they did, they would have declared bankruptcy long ago. They can simply bail themselves out by printing money (federal) or increasing taxes (state, county, municipal). Until they can't. And that's when you have a HUGE problem.

[tophcfa]

Works for me under three conditions. Don’t cut Medicare, don’t cut social security, and use 100% savings to reduce deficit/national debt.

[Rainger99]

Last year, the federal budget was $6.9 trillion

1. Mandatory Spending was $4.2 trillion or 61% of the total budget.
Of this, Social Security was $1.46 trillion or 21.2%
Medicare was $0.97 trillion or 14.1%
Medicaid was $0.60 trillion or 8.7%
Veterans’ Benefits was $0.32 trillion or 4.6%)
Other Mandatory spending was $0.85 trillion 12.3%

2. Discretionary Spending was $1.8 trillion or 26% of total budget
This was broken down by Defense which was $0.87 trillion 12.6% of total budget and 48% of discretionary
Non-Defense (e.g., education, transportation, housing) was $0.93 trillion or 13.5% of the budget and 52% of the discretionary

3. Net Interest on Debt was $0.88 trillion or 12.8% of total budget. I believe that this is the first time that interest has exceeded the defense budget.

In 2019, the federal budget was $4.45 trillion. That means that from 2019 to 2024, the federal government spending has increased by $2.45 trillion. That is about a 55% increase in just 5 years. If we just went back to 2019 spending, we could save a lot of money.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

Last year, the federal budget was $6.9 trillion

1. Mandatory Spending was $4.2 trillion or 61% of the total budget.
Of this, Social Security was $1.46 trillion or 21.2%
Medicare was $0.97 trillion or 14.1%
Medicaid was $0.60 trillion or 8.7%
Veterans’ Benefits was $0.32 trillion or 4.6%)
Other Mandatory spending was $0.85 trillion 12.3%

2. Discretionary Spending was $1.8 trillion or 26% of total budget
This was broken down by Defense which was $0.87 trillion 12.6% of total budget and 48% of discretionary
Non-Defense (e.g., education, transportation, housing) was $0.93 trillion or 13.5% of the budget and 52% of the discretionary

3. Net Interest on Debt was $0.88 trillion or 12.8% of total budget. I believe that this is the first time that interest has exceeded the defense budget.

In 2019, the federal budget was $4.45 trillion. That means that from 2019 to 2024, the federal government spending has increased by $2.45 trillion. That is about a 55% increase in just 5 years. If we just went back to 2019 spending, we could save a lot of money.

Why is Medicaid considered mandatory spending?

I would also mention that fraudulant and wasteful spending in Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans benefits is also not mandatory.

[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Why is Medicaid considered mandatory spending?

Federal law mandates that the government provide benefits to anyone meeting Medicaid eligibility criteria, creating a binding commitment.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

Federal law mandates that the government provide benefits to anyone meeting Medicaid eligibility criteria, creating a binding commitment.

All Federal spending is prescribed by Federal law. Congress spends money all the time by passing Federal laws.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

All Federal spending is prescribed by Federal law. Congress spends money all the time by passing Federal laws.

Some Federal laws *authorize* spending while other *mandate* spending.

[Cuervo]

Maybe we need to spend money to save money.
All I keep on hearing lately is AI, AI, AI, let's take it out for a spin and see if it can point out where we can cut unnecessary spending.
Attack this like we did with the Manhattan project to develop the atomic bomb.
Form a team of adults to supervise the task who have experienced life, not a gang of 20-year-olds, who school project is to cut spending without thinking about the consequences.