Please read this article http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/26/news/economy/tea_party_budget/index.htm?hpt=T2
Now that your nausea has passed, we can discuss.
I have yet to hear either of them say what this will do to help America. It will lower the deficit. Great. So we will have a generation of people that are ill prepared for the real world? But they won't have national debt to worry about so it's ok. How about housing? Apparently it wont need to be affordable since there won't be a national debt anymore, so it's ok. You know, because the people who truly need help buying a house really care that we have a huge national debt.
Bachmann would replace farm subsidies with farmer savings accounts(whatever that means), ELIMINATE or dramatically scale back the Department of Education to save $29 billion or $31 billion( yeah, that seems worth it, and those almost mean the same thing) and slash programs at the Department of Justice ($7.8 billion).
She would also cap Veterans Affairs health care spending (I'm sure this will go over quite well with all of our servicemen who are being shot at overseas), privatize the Transportation Safety Administration(Im all for this if they won't grab my junk), Federal Aviation Administration and Amtrak, repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law(c'mon, we all know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Wall St.), and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to leasing(Drill baby drill!).
I'll just open this one up for comments. Maybe I am overreacting to these proposals, but these two seem awfully jaded.
This seems a bit drastic to me as well. I found Isabel Sawhill's comments quite amusing as she called the proposals "crazy and wacko." These budget cuts just sound like they aren't addressing the real problems with government spending. The growing debt problem is rooted in the other 80% of spending; defense, social security, medicare and medicaid. It sounds like these proposals won't make it very far and that is good to hear in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteDrama aside, I'm embarrassed for the people of my state in their choice of representative.
ReplyDeleteCutting spending will help balance the budget, but as will increased taxes to those who can afford to pay. I am surprised in how much they plant to cut cut Homeland Security...By cutting arts and social justice programs, the center for public broadcasting (nevermind education), we eliminate chances for an egalitarian future, no?
I would want to see a realistic approach from the right side if they are going to complain about the left.
The last paragraph in Richard's post really hit home with me. Putting a cap on all these programs will definitely anger some enthusiasts. But we keep learning in class that not everyone can be satisfied with public sector decisions, so someone is going to get the short end of the stick. How can we fix this? I guess by distinguishing certain programs like the ones aforementioned for designation of ending spending. These programs encompass a wide variety of issues, but deemed necessary to cut money in order to help with our deficit; not the ones I would have chosen, but we all can't be happy with those decisions.
ReplyDeleteTo point out a "small" bias: the legislative department is receiving some of the smallest cuts...which coincidentally is the same department both Rand Paul and Michelle Bachmann work for. While I agree that government spending and national debt is entirely out of control these massive budget cuts are not the way to do so. These drastic measures will cause HUGE systemic inefficiencies which will end up hurting GDP and government productivity.
ReplyDeleteNo only are these budget cuts not going to get anywhere, I do not think that this is the right way to fix the budget deficit problem. I agree with the class that the real government spending problems lie within the other 80% of the budget. However, as we have talked about a lot lately, these are very difficult areas to even begin to cut back spending.
ReplyDeleteJust to change the tone a little bit, I admire these two representatives for thinking big and really attempting to take a bite out of our country's debt... they're really swingin for the fenses and aren't afraid to rock the boat!
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I have to revert to the same team as the rest of the class and agree these radical ideas don't seem to be attacking the real problems at hand. Sure these are possibilities, but so is cutting our national defense. We'd save TRILLIONS, but at what cost?
These ideas are very extreme, but again, I like the change of pace and a little thought outside of the box
These budget cut proposals definitely seem "crazy and wacko." Eliminating or dramatically scaling back the Department of Education was the proposal that stuck out most to me. Education is one of the most vital programs for the future of the United States. Didn't Obama just suggest the importance of education reform in his State of the Union Address? In a time when global competition is immense, the US needs to step up its game in education. But eliminating the Department of Education seems to be a step in the opposite direction.
ReplyDeleteThese suggestions are simply ludicrous. I totally agree with the comment that these people simply have a free pass to say and suggest whatever they want since these are not going to get any real importance in the actual legislative process. Its their way to just get heard and show people that they are totally against the idea of cutting Social Sec or Medicaid etc.
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