Ways to cut the Deficit

With everyone shouting about the national deficit, I would think that all these folks would be entusiastic about any method that would pare down the deficit. sure they are...as long as it doesn't raise texes, affect that person specifically or cut obligated programs. Easy right?

How about this...in 2003 President Bush and the Republican congress passed a new prescription plan for senior citizens that amounts to $100 million per year. The problem is that this new obligation was never funded by Congress, meaning that each year we add $100 million to the deficit. There is a small co-pay for senior citizens that participate in the program, about 50 million people.

Instead of cutting the program, increase the co-pay by just $1. The new program pays for over 300 million prescriptions per year. By raising the co-pay $1, the program will pay for itself and produce a surplus of $200 million per year that could be applied to the deficit. Over a 10 year period that amounts to $2 billion placed on the deficit.

Each year, Americans are allowed to deduct interests paid on all types of loans (cars, homes, education, etc). We are the only country that collects taxes and allows this type of deduction. A typical year finds Americans claiming over $30 billion of interest on their annual income taxes. If we only permitted 50% of loan interest to be claimed on annual income taxes, we would have an additional $15 billion per year to service our national deficit. Over 10 years, that's another $150 billion.

Raise the retirement agr for Social Security from 65 to 70. Most Americans in this age bracket are counting solely on Social Security for their golden years, yet the money is running out fast. By raising the minimum retirement age, Social Security wold remain solvent for another 75 years, saving the government almost $50 billion per year.

Though people will bitch and scream about any change to a government program, we have to be realistic about the future of our country and real fixes. My suggestions will not cost the government more, won't cause any tax increases and will pare down the deficit in a manageable fashion with the least amount of damages to the populace.

fiscal restraint - yeah right!

For the past several months, allAmericans have heard how we much cut back on our budgets and save money. The members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, have been clamoring at the President for more fiscal restraint. Many politicians claim President Obama is going to drive the United States into bankruptcy.

If our worthy US Senators, who claim to fight for the average American, are so damn worried about fiscal responsibility, why did they give themselves $297 million to renovate their offices? That means each US Senator will have approximately $6 million to fix up their offices, buy new curtains, rugs and perhaps a good looking secretary that can't type.

Again will someone will please explain to me why we continue to re-elect incumbents at a greater than 90% return rate? By the way, not one Senator objected to this "perk".

Wake up America...we are doing this to ourselves.

It's time for a revolution

I believe the time has come for another American Revolution. It's obvious to everyone that our current system of goverment isn't working as our Founding Fathers hoped for. Now that the Supreme Court ruled that American corporations can donate unlimited funds to candidates, we understand that only the rich will survive in the United states for the forseeable future.

I am not calling for a violent, armed insurrection against the government. The revolution needs to be confined to how we use the power of the vote, changing laws that are not skewed against the average American and to put in place safeguards to prevent further abuses of power.

When America was founded, there was no intention to make representation of citizens a personal career. We have people in elected offices that have held the same job for 40 to 50 years. We can't expect politicians who never held an average wage-earning job to understand how our country works at the lowest level of poverty. Bill Clinton never mowed a yard or owned a house until he left the presidency. George H. W. Bush was amazed at scanners in the grocery stores because he never had the reason to visit one before a photo-op situation.

It galls me that politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, scream for more fiscal restraint, but are not willing to take the necessary steps. All cry that it will hurt their constituency in their districts. Wake up idiots, the people are already hurting. The senators and congressmen from Michigan want more Federal aid for their state, yet at the same time are blasting Obama for not keeping the Federal deficit in check.

My starting proposal is simple; we need to eliminate political parties. There should only be independent candidates with no allegiance to any specific party. Once we knock down this assinine concept of party lines and loyalties, perhaps candidates will vote for what is right; not for whatever their party leader tells them to do.

Of course, the elimination of political parties will never happen because there is too much money involved. Perhaps a new political party, the Revolutionary Party, whose goal is to change the government by ridding Congress of all incumbent politicians. Candidates on the Revolutionary Party ticket will have no allegiance to a specific political platform. These candidates should espouse beliefs and opinions that reflect the citizens within that specific region.

Think of it..the ultimate in bipartisanship. There would be no Senate majority leaders, no political influence dominated by monetary contributions from corporations, political action groups or foreign influences.

We would have to re-write the procedures of congressional protocol, but it's done all the time by whatever party is in power.

Imagine a revolution...a peaceful revolution...a peaceful revolution that produced results.

How can we as a country say we believe the United States is going in the wrong direction, yet we continue to vote for the same dumbwads that got our country in this situation to begin with?

John Lennon said "You say you want a revolution, we all want to change the world". So lets' do it.