WHAT DO WE CUT?

by Anonymous 9:31 AM 0 COMMENTS

Most Americans want to see government spending cut. We are sick of record debts and painful inflation. So, cutting spending should be easy right? It would be if we were willing to give up the things we want. Unfortunately one man's sensible cut is the next guy's how dare you cut that program.

Let's look at the big three spending programs:



Defense
We could cut our spending in half and would still spend four times more than any other nation. We waste untold billions on unneeded bases and inefficient deals with military contractors. Yet, when any kind of military spending cut is suggested, many conservatives scream and shout. If we are going to get the left to cut their wasteful spending, we need to be willing to cut our own.

Social Security
You can't cut this people will be destitute! Really? People survive just fine in countries that have no such program. I realize that people have come to depend on this for retirement and that due to political influences, elimination of the program is not a realistic option. Unfortunately, we can't even get many on the left to agree to much needed adjustments and cuts. What good will this program do if it goes bankrupt?

Medicare
This is our largest expenditure it will overwhelm us if we do not make drastic reforms and cuts. Yet, any effort to reign in these costs is met with intense opposition by the AARP.


It is not just the big items; we can't agree to cut anything. You try to cut any agency or program and you have a group of people up in arms. Last week, I asked about libraries and a few people responded it was a needed public service and the last thing we should cut. Many on the left make the same argument for NPR and other programs. We are all for spending cuts, as long as it's not something we like.

This is big part of why the last budget battle was such a joke. The Republicans proposed some needed cuts, but neglected cutting the programs they liked. As a result, the Democrats had a valid argument about the cuts not being fiscally driven, but rather ideologically driven. In the end, we ended up with a budget deficit which was much larger than the previous budget. If conservatives want to win popular opinion and save this country they need to be willing to cut everything.

Most people don't realize what is at stake. If we do not get our spending under control, we are not going to have a recession or a depression, we are going to have a total meltdown. Every historical power which has ever had such burdensome dept did not survive. Being apposed to having your program cut, is the real world equivalent of being in a car heading for a brick at 150 Mph, being less than 30 feet away and opposing hitting the breaks, because it will damage the tires. We need to do all we can now to reduce the impact of what is coming.