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Balancing our budget would be easy. ranagrande Send a noteboard - 16/04/2011 06:46:32 PM
As you say, we need to look at entitlement programs. Although It wouldn't directly result in savings, I think that there should a community service requirement to collect welfare benefits. This way, it isn't entirely a handout, and something good should come from it, both for the individual and the state.

We also need to look at some of the reasons that those programs are so expensive. For instance, one reason that medical care is so expensive in the US is that prescription drugs cost more here than they do anywhere else in the world. Importing prescription drugs should be made much simpler, it should be encouraged, and indeed, any drugs provided by government funding should be purchased in Canada.

When people in the Food and Drug Administration inevitably complain about this, cut funding to the FDA.

Speaking of drugs, the vast majority of those currently considered illegal in the US should be legalized and taxed. This will save billions of dollars lost in the ineffective "War on Drugs" and save on money spent incarcerating people for drug offenses. This will have the added benefit of easing the problem of prison overpopulation (because the US has more people in prisons than any other country in the world), it should dramatically reduce the more serious crimes associated with illegal drug trafficking, and it will actually generate income because the drugs can be taxed.

Speaking of taxes, that whole system needs an overhaul too. I, like many others, support a federal sales tax. With such a system, we wouldn't see situations where companies can receive large refunds on taxes that they didn't have to pay. At the other end of the spectrum, illegal immigrants would no longer be exempt from paying taxes. It becomes a simple question for everyone. Did you buy stuff? OK, you paid your taxes. This would allow us to abolish the IRS, which would save a great deal of money. There would also need to be a corresponding import tax, and as long as it's higher than the federal sales tax, it might allow us to being cutting into our trade deficit as well.

You mentioned military spending in your original post. That needs to be cut too. We are far too quick to engage, and our military is too active in too many places.

There's a lot more that would still need to be done, but that would be a decent start.
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Several basics facts about US Debt and Spending..... - 16/04/2011 04:41:55 AM 1128 Views
Well ... at least we've been here before ... ? - 16/04/2011 06:41:00 AM 650 Views
Guess we should have okay'd those death panels for old people then. Big money saver. *NM* - 16/04/2011 03:38:00 PM 332 Views
Yeah, those old people are draining the system..... - 16/04/2011 06:57:59 PM 629 Views
You're already worse off than much of Europe, honestly. - 16/04/2011 04:08:37 PM 766 Views
Re: You're already worse off than much of Europe, honestly. - 17/04/2011 01:33:31 AM 741 Views
Balancing our budget would be easy. - 16/04/2011 06:46:32 PM 584 Views
Also on the buying drugs from Canada idea - 16/04/2011 08:17:26 PM 695 Views
Re: Also on the buying drugs from Canada idea - 18/04/2011 01:59:44 PM 734 Views
Re: Also on the buying drugs from Canada idea - 18/04/2011 05:16:14 PM 904 Views
Funny you mentioned WWII and 1968. Can you put tax rates at these times as well? - 16/04/2011 07:50:09 PM 1073 Views
Not really. Even if you can substantially raise tax revenue, the entitlement problem remains. *NM* - 16/04/2011 08:25:26 PM 291 Views
Re: Not really. Even if you can substantially raise tax revenue, the entitlement problem remains. - 16/04/2011 09:19:40 PM 738 Views
Have you ever looked at those projections for a decade or two hence? - 16/04/2011 10:13:12 PM 680 Views
Yes I have - 16/04/2011 10:44:50 PM 809 Views
Erm, and you think total health care spending is not getting out of control? I'm a little confused. - 16/04/2011 11:02:52 PM 739 Views
Yes it's going out of control - 16/04/2011 11:17:59 PM 680 Views
Good, we agree on that much then. - 17/04/2011 09:59:17 AM 669 Views
Sorry, but that is a stupid opinion..... - 16/04/2011 08:38:35 PM 644 Views
Sounds like another bull. - 16/04/2011 09:31:05 PM 916 Views
Dude, the data is the data.....tax revenue increased all three times. - 16/04/2011 09:47:37 PM 855 Views
As I suspected, it's a bull. - 16/04/2011 10:02:05 PM 787 Views
Stop being a fool - read and react to the data provided, posting something..... - 16/04/2011 10:14:11 PM 546 Views
Response is - 16/04/2011 10:19:00 PM 771 Views
Good lord.....it's like talking to a brick. I really hope you are 12 or 13. - 16/04/2011 10:28:44 PM 763 Views
Re: Good lord.....it's like talking to a brick. I really hope you are 12 or 13. - 16/04/2011 10:47:24 PM 723 Views
I take it you mean "rate of revenue growth decreases". - 16/04/2011 11:11:19 PM 622 Views
Re: I take it you mean "rate of revenue growth decreases". - 16/04/2011 11:26:02 PM 777 Views
Additional point - 16/04/2011 11:37:17 PM 778 Views
I've just noticed that you've provided charts from Heritage Foundation! Are you f.. kidding me? - 16/04/2011 10:13:46 PM 647 Views
All the data is via CBO - do you know that the CBO is? - 16/04/2011 10:16:08 PM 654 Views
Re: All the data is via CBO - do you know that the CBO is? - 16/04/2011 10:27:01 PM 772 Views
Nice try.....care to explain why the same exact thing happened..... - 16/04/2011 10:35:44 PM 583 Views
Re: Nice try.....care to explain why the same exact thing happened..... - 16/04/2011 10:49:33 PM 714 Views
Krugman is a shill for the Obama administration. - 17/04/2011 02:34:50 AM 595 Views
Re: Krugman is a shill for the Obama administration. - 17/04/2011 03:50:24 AM 822 Views
Some obesrvations by Republican economists - 18/04/2011 12:27:04 AM 958 Views
You mean the Keynesian economist who wrote The Failure of Reaganomics - 18/04/2011 04:00:52 PM 586 Views
Re: You mean the Keynesian economist who wrote The Failure of Reaganomics - 18/04/2011 05:36:44 PM 579 Views
Useless fact about our presidents since 1945. - 17/04/2011 09:20:16 PM 828 Views
Re: Several basics facts about US Debt and Spending..... - 20/04/2011 03:51:19 PM 1007 Views

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