{
    "href": "/post/2011/08/04/a-cuts-only-budget-well-almost/",
    "relId": "2011/08/04/a-cuts-only-budget-well-almost",
    "title": "A Cuts-Only Budget -- Well, Almost",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "markup": "html",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/economics/",
            "relId": "economics",
            "title": "Economics",
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            "markup": "markdown"
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        {
            "href": "/tag/government/",
            "relId": "government",
            "title": "Government",
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            "created": null,
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            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/serfdom/",
            "relId": "serfdom",
            "title": "Serfdom",
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        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/taxes/",
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            "title": "Taxes",
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    "created": "2011-08-04 16:24:34 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2011-08-04 16:24:34 UTC"
    ],
    "html": "<blockquote>\n<p>... here\u00e2\u0080\u0099s my back-of-the-envelope balanced budget, with no tax increases:</p>\n<p>1.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Social Security: Yeah, they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll say you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re throwing Granny off the cliff. But it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s her or the grandkids. So implement aggressive means-testing and other reforms to cut 20 percent of spending for $150 billion in savings.</p>\n<p>2.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Medicare: Ditto, for $100 billion in savings.</p>\n<p>3.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Keep on going and reduce Medicaid and other health-care services spending by 10 percent: $33 billion.</p>\n<p>4.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 National defense: Republicans will howl, but there\u00e2\u0080\u0099s room for a 10 percent cut to all national-defense spending, including non-DoD activities such as DoE\u00e2\u0080\u0099s work maintaining our nuclear arsenal. That nets $74 billion in savings. Surely we can slaughter hapless desert barbarians more cheaply.</p>\n<p>5.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u0080\u009cOther income security.\u00e2\u0080\u009d That\u00e2\u0080\u0099s the welfare state bits and pieces not included in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, etc. Welfare of the checks-from-Uncle variety. Eliminating it entirely saves $159 billion.\u00c2\u00a0</p>\n<p>6.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Welfare for bureaucrats: Making federal-employee retirement and disability systems totally self-funding saves $123 billion.</p>\n<p>7.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Eliminate federal education spending entirely: elementary, secondary, and higher-ed. Leaving it to the states and to the market saves us $106 billion. Harvard will figure something out.</p>\n<p>8.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Eliminate \u00e2\u0080\u009ccommunity and regional-development\u00e2\u0080\u009d spending, a.k.a. boondoogles and slush funds, except for disaster relief: $15 billion.</p>\n<p>9.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Get farmers off welfare: $19 billion. Suck it up, Elmer.</p>\n<p>10.\u00c2\u00a0 Foreign aid, international development, international-security assistance, etc. Quit meddling abroad and propping up Third World potentates, and save $44 billion.</p>\n<p>11.\u00c2\u00a0 Cut all the \u00e2\u0080\u009cenergy\u00e2\u0080\u009d spending on \u00e2\u0080\u009cenergy information,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009cenergy emergency preparedness,\u00e2\u0080\u009d etc. -- all the energy spending that doesn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t actually produce any energy. And throw federal energy-conservation spending on the fire, too. Cutting the bureaucratic answer to Jimmy Carter\u00e2\u0080\u0099s sweater saves $12 billion.</p>\n<p>12.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u0080\u009cAdvancing commerce\u00e2\u0080\u009d doesn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t. We\u00e2\u0080\u0099re looking at you, SBA et al.: $23 billion.</p>\n<p>13.\u00c2\u00a0 Federal law enforcement: Cut spending by 10 percent. Legalizing it saves us $3 billion.</p>\n<p>14.\u00c2\u00a0 Space flight: We aren\u00e2\u0080\u0099t flying in space anymore. Staying grounded saves $17 billion.</p>\n<p>15.\u00c2\u00a0 Downsize Smokey the Bear: Cutting land-management, recreation, natural resources, etc., by half saves $21 billion.</p>\n<p>16.\u00c2\u00a0 Quit subsidizing suburban sprawl: Cutting transportation spending by 10 percent saves $10 billion.</p>\n<p>17.\u00c2\u00a0 Save $36 billion by cutting health research and training. Let Pfizer do it.</p>\n<p>18.\u00c2\u00a0 The real-estate market isn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t going to make a comeback. So eliminate federal housing assistance and save $60 billion.</p>\n<p>19.\u00c2\u00a0 Cut food stamps by 10 percent, save $11 billion.</p>\n<p>20.\u00c2\u00a0 I know, I promised no tax increases, so that\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a 19-point plan to balance the budget: Just over $1 trillion in savings. No. 20 is a bonus tax hike: Eliminate the stupid and destructive mortgage-interest deduction and have the national debt paid off by the time the kids being born this year graduate from college.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>via <em><a href=\"http://www.nationalreview.com/exchequer/273486/back-envelope-balanced-budget\">Back-of-the-Envelope Balanced Budget - By Kevin D. Williamson - Exchequer - National Review Online</a></em>.</p>\n"
}