Obama vows to cut spending: Where and what should he cut?

[cali]

Obviously, most of us would like to see cuts in defence, but aside from that where would you like to see Obama target spending cuts?

[meowomon]

1. corporate welfare

[Crankie Avalon]

2. Cutting down on any aggressive wars lying around would be a dynamite start. nt

[BobRossi]

3. NASA, NSA, DARPA, CIA, FBI, DOE

All good starts.

[cobalt1999]

5. NASA is not a good start.

In fact, it's underfunded.

[Zywiec]

15. Yeah, DARPA only invented the internet and GPS

I mean who actually uses these things?

:shrug:

[tekisui]

4. The Pentagon.

[NOW tense]

6. The war on drugs

To start with.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. !

:thumbsup:

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Second Biggest Waste Of Money Ever

Only SDI is worse.
The Professor

[stuntcat]

24. right

for realz!

[Romulox]

36. Sorry, but Biden and Holder are both BIG TIME drug warriors. So no savings there. nt

[charlie]

7. Military

It needs saying again anyway, it's a goddamn open-ended coke 'n hookers party for contractors.

Much of agribusiness, particularly corn subsidies.

Intangible drilling costs.

[JuniperLea]

37. I agree... get the military back to taking care of the military...

KP is a good thing, all the work details are a good thing. They give the soldiers a rest from having a weapon in their hands, and if there's trouble at the base, they can all protect themselves. I imagine the contracted workers need the protection of the soldiers and that takes away from their duty at hand. The provisions would cost a lot less too.

[Zen Democrat]

8. Cut the insurance companies out of Medicare D --

and lower the costs to taxpayers and improve the coverage for seniors for medicine -- not to mention bargaining with drug companies for lower prices.

[Juche]

9. medicare plus, let medicare negotiate, end the Iraq war

My understanding is letting medicare negotiate medicines and eliminating medicare plus subsidies will save about $35 billion/yr. Ending the war in Iraq will save $10 billion a month minimum.

[Alter Ego]

11. Pony subsidies.

That oughta piss off the tinfoilers.

[IDemo]

12. Saturday mail delivery. Not a biggie, but it's a start n/t

[ThomWV]

13. Department of Defense!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cut it in half. Don't take a scalpel to anything, just cut every fucking program exactly in half.

[Winterblues]

33. I think even then we would be spending more than the next ten biggest countries combined

Not to even mention all the waste and fraud that can be eliminated from the Defense budget..Many weapons programs that just are not needed in a more peaceful world... Then again if we are planning on war with no end and world domination then we need to increase it and cut every other Government function. No roads, no schools, no Social Security, no social programs period....Just War War War Death and Destruction... Yeh Us..

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. Cut Congressional salaries

and his own, to set an example of fiscal restraint.

Cut defense spending on new weapons and on the wars. Use this money to increase spending to VA hospitals and veteran care.

Cut monies to building new roads and use it instead to repair existing ones.

Stop the stupid war on marijuana, legalize it and tax it heavily--this becomes thereby a revenue producer rather than a drain.

[exboyfil]

35. Don't cut Congressional salaries

The most disturbing thing about federal government service is the number of independently wealthy individuals in it or the amount folks cash in after leaving it. We expect our Congressmen and Senators to maintain two homes (one in their district and one in Washington). I would like to see more common folks in public service (like Paul Wellstone for example).

Remember your primary allegiance is to the one paying you. I am troubled by $1/yr. men for the same reason. If you are multimillionaire, it should not be held out as a virtue or even desirable to forego your public service salary. Give it to charity if you want to, but don't make the individual that needs that salary look bad because they are not independently wealthy.

I would like to see Congressional staff cut back if you want to make cut backs in this area. Also I would hit the Congressional pensions to try the limit the amount of time they stay around Congress. Also the Congressional auto lease perk should apply to only under $20K car with at least 25-30 mpg.

[LaydeeBug]

16. iraq. nt

[blindpig]

17. No 'aside from that'.

Our military is the biggest money hole on the planet. A nearly complete waste of money, unless you're one of the masters of war. How can you possibly take that off the table? That is a total refutation of what this place has been about since it opened.

This boat is tipping so far to the right that it's going to flip over.

[cali]

18. I wasn't taking it off the table. I was taking it as a given

that we'd all like to see cuts in defense spending. I don't see how that could have been more obvious- even a blind pig with a severe cognitive disorder should have been able to figure that out. double duh.

[blindpig]

20. Given the trend we're seeing here, not so obvious.

Cause see we're supposed to be 'pragmatic' now, bipartisan and all, besides, can't look weak on so-called 'defense'. Anyway, our man on the white horse sez he wants to ramp up the action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, continue the occupation of Iraq and greatly increase the standing army. Can't be undermining our Leader, after all, 'we' won, didn't we?

Seeing as we're supposed to be patient and not criticize this raft of hideous appointments that he's making, totally indicative of the direction that the new administration will take, I just took your OP to be more of the same.

If I misunderstood you, I apologise.

[dkf]

19. I hope they examine and justify every contract done recently

to examine it for cronyism.

I bet a lot of it is unneeded.

We should concentrate on keeping functions within the civilian workforce of the Federal Government as much as possible.

[sentelle]

22. also examine them

For 'cost plus' items (meaning the contractor is paid the cost, plus profit). If they are reputable, they can work on a fixed fee, based on their estimate. This is what most businesses do.

Remove the governments ability to receive 'cost plus' bids. Then, there will be no cost overruns, $500 hammers, or fat cat defense contractors.

Please note: I am not in any way insulting 'Cost Plus World Market'

[stuntcat]

23. how much does the government subsidize the meat industry?

If we paid what it really cost then a hamburger would be like $25. Eating meat 3-4 times a day is taking a toll on the whole planet and affecting everyone's health, which ends up being another waste of resources and time. Our government is helping the industry run.

And I'm not saying everyone has to go vegan.. I just wish everyone know exactly what's going into their over-fed faces :puke: The waste is just STUPID. Even vegetarians are paying for it with their taxes.

[Rainbowreflect]

25. Bush & Cheney's retirement and Secret Service expense.

Impeach, convict and imprison.

[MessiahRp]

26. I have a lot of things I would do...

Cut the Pentagon budget at least in half. We can still fund the military and do just fine with $500 billion in spending instead of $1 Trillion (let them find the $1-2 Trillion they've lost and can't find and use that). I'd eliminate the Department of Homeland Security all together and repackage the FBI, CIA and NSA and all other intelligence agencies into one Agency that uses one database.

I'd repeal the Bush Tax Cut for the Rich, close tax loopholes on SUVs and prevent off shore tax havens (not to mention prosecute those who have them currently which should be easier thanks to the UBS snitch).

I would cut out a lot of the earmarks much like McCain said but evaluate which ones were worth keeping for actually valuable reasons and which ones were basically like the Hooters Restaurant our Government built or the Bridge to Nowhere.

I'd make Marijuana usage legal and have the government tax and regulate it including providing licenses to companies that want to mass produce it. I would have similar laws about driving while under the influence and force there to be a blood/urine test taken based on suspicion since there is no breathalyzer for this. Also smoking out in public would be the same as drinking in public. I'm sure people will have no problems doing it in their own home knowing it's now legal. We'll let all Marijuana offenders out of jail and expunge their records of marijuana charges. I would also recommend that federal guidelines give all other alcohol/drug offenders treatment options instead of jail time. For those addicted to Heroin or Cocaine they should be put into treatment and given probation where they need to check in rather than filling our jails with more people.

Alleviating the prison system's burden will save us tons of money and we can spend dramatically less on the faux war on drugs.

I'd end the Iraq War and stop any further money from being invested there. I'd put Pakistan on notice and require they work with us to get Osama Bin Laden now or see their $10 billion disappear in the future.

I'd end the production of Nuclear Weapons and pretty much cancel a large amount of weapons contracts.

I'd halt any further bailout of banking businesses in favor of shoring up the sub-prime mortgage crisis by having the Government buy these mortgages and set new fixed rate terms. We can buy most of these mortgages for pennies on the dollar and by renegotiating to recoup even 50 cents on the dollar we'd make a huge profit should people be able to pay a more stabilized fixed rate mortgage rather than a fluctuating ARM loan.

I'd only give a bailout to the Big Three with serious preconditions about direction of company, CEO pay & bonuses and attempt to recover jobs that they had cut or sent abroad.

I'd offer a nice tax break to any company that retains a certain percentage of their workforce in America with tax break incentives to go even higher if they create new jobs here in America and even higher than that if the jobs are Union Jobs.

I'd offer universal health care to everyone and take everyone off of the health insurance industry's rolls. I'd eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Medical Assistance in favor of one program. In return I would tax every employer a base percentage and raise the income tax ever so slightly to help fund it. In both cases the tax will equate to far less than they were likely paying to the insurance companies for premiums. I would push the drug companies to negotiate across the board discounts just as they do for the VA and for Canada and provide our citizens with lower costing, fully covered medicine.

I'd end Faith Based Initiatives. Churches already get huge tax breaks and donor money is better served in this as well since our Government is not real strong on tracking church activities and carrying out on any mandates with the money.

In order to prevent more credit issues I would attempt to enact rules that protect people from having their credit score used by any potential employers in considering applicants. Credit discrimination is wrong and prevents good people from attempting to rebuild their credit through working. I would also apply this discrimination law to landlords or those who provide rental housing. If someone's been evicted, a simple case search will show this and it will be easy to find out a renter's history without looking at their credit. But many times a good renter who is behind on medical bills or has a large credit card balance will be denied a place to live because of credit discrimination.

With jobs and housing credit discrimination continues a vicious cycle that keeps people impoverished. Without a place to live people won't give you a job and without a job people won't give you a place to live... without either you can never fix your credit.

So those are some of the things I would focus the most on.

Rp

[High Plains]

27. No more funding foreign wars or drug wars. Huge savings.

[High Plains]

28. Federal Bureau of Prisons. We're holding 100,000+ non-violent offenders.

[NNN0LHI]

29. Faith based bullshit

[NNN0LHI]

30. Mercenary companies need to be put out of business immediately

They are a threat to us all.

Don

[mondo joe]

31. Subsidies for non-food-grade corn (ie, corn intended not to be eaten as is). NT

[noamnety]

32. That would be brilliant.

There are so many obvious places to cut massive amounts from the budget, it's a no brainer.

I second the post above with DOD, NASA (yes, I said it), DARPA, DOE, etc. And the war on drugs. And all the bailouts going to corporations. And we need to withdraw from IRAQ and NOT dump all the shit into Afghanistan like we're gonna save ourselves from the bad effects of coca-cola by switching to pepsi. Every time Obama starts in on Afghanistan I remember why people say the two parties are the same. (yes, I said that, too).

End the tax breaks to the rich - and not "in a while when we feel it's safe." Just end the damn cuts.

And as a token gesture of not living like nobility, just once I'd like to see the people in the white house not waste a ton of money redecorating the damn place. I know that's not a substantial dent, but still, the fact that the elected "servants" of the homeless and hungry are spending more in a week on bs like that than many people make in a year makes me ill.

All of that money should be diverted to projects for the public good - universal health care (and frankly I am fine with stopping government research money for new medical breakthroughs until everyone in the US has access to the breakthroughs we've already made), affordable housing out of renewable resources, public transportation, community gardens, and so on.

(he should dump his economic advisers and appoint me).

[slackmaster]

34. End the Mohair Subsidy

[dkofos]

38. Eliminate corporate welfare and the war on drugs and cut DOD by 75%, .

[TransitJohn]

39. DOD

n/t

[Greyhound]

40. DoD, dismantle Homeland Security. n/t