Our elected officials would lead you to believe that this idea of a balanced budget at the Federal level is so extremely complicated that no member of the proletariat could ever understand any of the intricacies of a budget so large.
There are a handful of items that We The People can do without, for the time being.
1] Place all weapons development on hold for now. Pay any contractors for work done so far.
2] Troops in Iraq; bring them home. Hardware in Iraq; bring it home.
3] Troops in Afghanistan; bring the home. Hardware in Afghanistan; bring it all home.
4] Our military presence in Europe has been redundant for decades; bring it all home.
5] There are certainly other military assets around the world that we can also bring home.
6] All military treaties will be put on hold and reviewed for their necessity and worth, and summarily dismissed, if need be.
7] Herman Cain’s plan for the National tax level to 9% across the board with NO loopholes, deductions, or special interest breaks may not the number we arrive at, but, for sake of this argument, it’s a good place to start. Prohibit havens for our multi-national corporations that enable them to hide and wash their profits overseas.
8] There will be a re-establishment of a division between commercial Banks and savings Banks.
9] It is possible to return to the Gold Standard, if We The People so choose.
10] Any and all actions by the financial sector that got us into this mess will be deemed illegal.
11] A company wishing to sell its stock publically in the U.S. cannot have products, or services, that harm We The People.
12] Lock Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, the Veterans Administration so neither of the three branches of government can manipulate them, steal money from them, or borrow against them. There is no need to do away with Social Security, Medicare, or even a National Health Plan. If they fund and protect them correctly, they survive forever.
13] Freeze the pay of all three branches of the government, with the one exception being military pay.
13] All government employees can take advantage of the medical and retirement benefits that the rest of us do.
14] All trade agreements and treaties will be put on hold until they can be properly audited for their continued effect on our economy.
15] All government subsidies to corporate America will be ceased; unless a very compelling argument of National defense can be raised.
16] The Inspector General’s Office will be to be our National auditor. This office can be deemed autonomous and can be reorganized to tear apart every nook and cranny of our government to make it run efficiently and throw out the garbage. Its findings will be implemented.
17] All other departments and agencies not touched on, above, are to be immediately subject to a 20% cut in funding and staffing; yes, as in the terms of a “layoff”, not simply a “furlough”.
18] From monies saved in doing the above, anyone who demonstrates that he, or she, becomes unemployed as a result of these actions will qualify for a “livable” amount in Unemployment Insurance payments.
The Federal government can balance the budget tomorrow (okay, give them a few weeks). It would take pieces from the agenda of anyone with a rational mind whose ideas are directed towards achieving an almost instantaneous balancing of the National budget.
I can’t believe that a 10, 15, or 20 year plan is logical. We don’t need a balanced budget and debt reduction protracted slowly over years and years. Our economy, and the World’s economy, doesn’t have that sort of time. Why would anyone propose a plan that takes fifteen years to accomplish its goal when we need a plan that turns us around in 1-2 years? A plan that resulted in a budget surplus in the 1990’s can certainly be drawn upon as part of the plan to do the same, now. I must conclude that the only reason nobody is going in that direction is that nobody really cares. And, if that is the case, then We The People are all in heap of poop.
P.S.: Why can’t those folks in Washington simply come out and say what We The People have know for quite some time? “We are in a DEPRESSION!”
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