Obama to ask agency heads for budget cuts
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Saturday he will ask all of his department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets at his Cabinet meeting early next week as he searches for ways to streamline government spending.
Obama, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad this weekend, said in his weekly radio and Internet address that he would make the request for cuts Monday at a Cabinet meeting.
“In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective,” he said. “In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it’s time their government did the same.”
While discussing the need for more efficient government, Obama announced he was filling an administration position that caused him trouble on the last try. Obama said Jeffrey Zients, a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur, will join the administration as the government’s chief performance officer and will also serve as deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget. He will work to streamline processes and cut costs, Obama said.
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Obama to ask agency heads for budget cuts
I’m not an MBA, I don’t hold any degrees in finance, banking, money management or the like. All I am is a highly opinionated blogger with a great bunch of readers and supporters. I’m not one of the big time bloggers like Malkin and Geller, if I have to resort to shrill histrionics or blatantly flaunting my sexuality to become one of the big time bloggers, I don’t guess I’ll ever make the list. 🙁
What I do know is this, I can balance our budget. A lot of people won’t like the way I balance the budget, but hey, a lot of people don’t like the way the finances of America are being wasted now. You know the drill, you can’t make everyone happy. So, here are a few ideas that I think would go a long ways towards taking this nation back to financial solvency.
Cancel the bailouts. NOW. Every penny of the bailouts must be immediately returned to the Treasury of the USA. If General Motors, Citigroup, AIG and the like can’t run their own affairs in a profitable fashion, why do we need OUR tax dollars squandered to further the mismanagement and questionable spending of these black holes of finance? If these folks can’t make it on their own, treat them no differently than any other business that goes bankrupt.
Cut all welfare programs to the LAZY! Disability is one thing, there are some folks that truly need help, but sitting back and having 6 or 8 babies should NOT qualify you to become a welfare or food stamps recipient. If you can’t feed em, don’t breed em. Responsible parenting is a must!
Immediately cut all funding for the medical care of ILLEGAL invaders. No citizenship?? You’re sick?? So sorry to hear it. Go back to where you came from and leech off of their national budget. Anchor babies?? There’s a lot of work to be done in that department as well. If a Mexican girl wades the Rio Grand just to have her child on the Texas side, that does NOT entitle her or the kid to life-long benefits from the USA. Deliberate evasion and taking advantage of the gray areas of OUR laws is still an act of criminality. In other words, ILLEGAL!
Rigid enforcement of ALL immigration laws. No more of this BS about not being able to round them up and deport them. Most of the ILLEGALS are not contributing to OUR economy, they work for cash and the only taxes they pay is on the items they buy in American stores. Sales tax, and that’s it. No schools tax, no property tax, no income tax, just a bit of sales tax. That is not much of a contribution in my opinion.
Get us OUT of Iraq ASAP! Like maybe NOW! There’s God only knows how many BILLIONS of USA tax dollars that would be saved. Iraq has OIL, lots and lots of OIL! They don’t need us to rebuild their nation, they can afford to do it themselves. Obama didn’t get us into Iraq, but he can damn sure get us OUT if he is of a mind to.
And lastly, just because some asshat manages to get himself elected to the Congress or Senate doesn’t entitle him/her to a full paycheck for the rest of their lives. If Congressmen and Senators had to actually work for a living once they were out of office, they may take a more responsible look at how the money of this nation is spent. They may care a lot more about the lifestyle of the American people if they knew that once out of office they were going to have to live and survive just like we do. Elected office should not be a career, but for many it is. Term limits and limited retirement, if ANY retirement benefits. Then we’ll see exactly WHO is serving for love of country and who is there for the power, money and prestige!
I am sure there are numerous other ways that the USA can balance the sheet, feel free to add your ideas in comments, I named a few hot button issues of mine, let us hear yours too!!
Fred, I agree with all of your suggestions. I might ask a mea culpa for me for the moment, though. Right now, I have to depend on food stamps and medical because I’ve been out of work for 6 weeks, (you should see the 50+ pages of recorded places I’ve applied for work, including up to 100 miles away), Arizona has an unemployment backlog of 6 weeks so I’ve received no unemployment, and, well….I have no choice.
Just getting rid of the illegals would save a HUGE bundle. That alone. I say with the schools, cut all non-essential programs and get back to basics and screw the NEA and all the special interest programs focusing on gender, “race”, etc. Here in Tucson, there’s massive crap going on in the school district, getting the kids to protest the teacher cuts. They refuse to tighten their belts or manage their funds responsibly, but it’s all the governor’s fault (keep in mind our previous governor was Bitch Napolitano) who left the mess for the new governor to clean up. And why do we need radio stations on school buses? The school district gets paid per student-warm body-in those desks as well-including illegals. Get them the hell out of our schools.
Just two of my ideas.
@Beth
Having had to go the food stamps and AFDC myself a couple of times, I know there is a difference between a hand up and a hand out. Sometimes, folks need some help to get back on their feet. This is not a problem.
While I agree with ALL of your ideas, Fred….I would also add those stupid agency heads, and all of their suckups. That would save a few bucks. Stop funding crap like PBS. If it’s public, let the public donate if they want to. I don’t believe my tax dollars should pay for a Crucifix in urine either, so add the National Endowment of the Arts, or whatever the hell it’s called, to the chopping block.
Just a couple, off the top of my head. 😕 No doubt, I’ll think of more as the day goes on. 🙂
Miss Beth, there are always extenuating circumstances, but I seriously don’t think you are a part of the terminally lazy crowd that refuses to work. We have good folks that are hitting dire times, but the damned ILLEGALS are sucking up OUR resources… Health and other resources…
No one is blaming YOU, certainly not me!! My wife has been out of work too, and she has an extensive list of places she has applied too, so far, no luck… Not to mention an impressive resume in her field, but no one really want to hire a woman her age… I know that’s illegal, and they would never admit to it, but many enterprises are engaging in age discrimination…
Fred, I’m finding that out as well (about the age discrimination). One woman in my study group was flat out told by an agency the attorneys are looking for cute and sexy eye candy instead of stable and knowledgeable. Top of the line skills, leadership capabilities, experience-these don’t matter. Eye candy is all that matters.
And that totally sucks. The three people that replaced me at the attorney I left (before the one that fired me)-yes, it took three to replace me, so far-two I doubt are legal, they can barely speak English, and they can’t type a letter or motion to save their lives. He wants me back to clean up their messes but he only wants to pay me less than he’s paying them, and part-time at that. Uh-uh-sorry, that’s not happening. He’s already in trouble with the bar on other issues and I’m not going to contribute by cleaning up the messes of illegals. Besides, I wouldn’t have left him if he’d been paying me and I told him that-if you took and combined what he’s paying the three to replace me, he could have me back. Bad money manager as well.
But it also goes to the topic at hand-bad management from people who have no business being in power positions-clean out the talking heads like Katie says, the deadwood taking up space and collecting substantial incomes for it. How about no more pay raises for ANY politicians? How about line item vetos and NO MORE FREAKING PORK? How about each budget item must be backed by a Constitutional Amendment and that amendment referenced to prove it’s a legitimate expense (I don’t think abortion rights are Constitutionally protected), nor is the National Endowment of the Arts or that kind of nonsense.
Good thinking Kate!
Retired Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson had a saying years ago, “You can teach em to type but you can’t teach em to grow tits…”
That thought is still alive and well today I believe!!
ROTFLMAO Fred! Good one!
George Bush said illegals are doing the jobs nobody else wants. Well, it looks like they’re doing the job MissBeth had and wants. They’re also now working in factories which paid high wages but now are paying the illegals barely above minimum wage.
He should start with himself. Cut out the $100 an pound steak bought on the taxpayer dollar!
I’d ask why the new presidential Limo and Marine 1. I’d redirect the bailout cash from private enterprize to the DOD and restart the F-22 and Missile defense projects. I’d insure adequate pay raises for our military and insure the new increase in recruitment is fiscally covered.
I’d tell him to butt out of state politics and tell the few groveling governors and mayors to go pound rocks.
Then I’d go after every Tom, Dick and Harriet that interferes with the economy of this Country; specifically Environmentalists, Unions and special interest groups like equal rights for gays at the expense of tax payers.
Basically, I’d tell him to be conservative in thought and action, linmiting federal government interaction with state politics; you know, Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Fred, how about cutting federal jobs a minimum of 40%. Those leeches do nothing for us. I’m not so sure we need much outside of defense out of the feds. Screw ’em!
AWD
I always liked the following method of determining a person’s worth at a job/company/etc.
Fire all of them - in this case the feds, when we need them we will call them back one at a time. If you are not needed, you will not be called. This determines the actual worth of an individual or their job. (This means no pay, no benefits, no golden parachute etc. - try unemployment maybe)
Many corporations could also benefit from this approach - also many unions (auto plants??).
You’ve got to be careful when you say cut federal jobs. Clinton-Gore did that. They cut 305,000 federal jobs of which 286,000 (90%) were military. I served during the Clinton years and the phrase “do more with less” was a reality for those in the Armed Forces.
I would save probably billions with one cut - the Department of Energy. You remember, the arm of the bureaucracy that Carter created to get the US less dependent on foreign oil? Since they aren’t doing their job, cut the entire section.
Then, schedule a “budget” day. Announce a Friday where non-essential workers do not report to work, but don’t tell which people are non-essential.
Then, take notes, and act. If they themselves think they are non-essential…
As long as it’s not a cut in defense and Intel personnel, I love it!!
When the Clinton administration made their cuts, Intel and military suffered, same thing with Mr. Peanut. Every time the Dems need to cut a budget they start with our military and Intel services and soon after we get the shit kicked out of us.
Not that I like G.W. Bush, but in ALL fairness, he inherited a military and Intel service that was a wreck, blame Clinton for 9-11, NOT Bush…
Of course the libtards won’t see it that way…
You don’t have to be an MBA or CPA or any of those so-called degreed financiers in order to balance a budget. In fact a budget is just that, a budget! …basically an estimate of how much you’re going to spend…or save…or whatever!
It’s that damn simple bookkeeping that seems to fail with all the politic elite! They never seem to check thier ‘Income Statement’…they simply take it out of your pocket whenever they need it!
As far as all your suggestions go, they’re great! We also need to do away with some departments. Heck, you and I grew up without a Department of Education and we got a better education than what they’re passing out now! The Department of Transportation didn’t come along until sometime in the sixties and now they have over sixty thousand Democrat voters filling a slot a some water cooler at DOT. The USDA could be downsized by over two-thirds…heck they still have some pretty plush offices in Boston and Hartford and those two towns haven’t seen a cow in fifty years! At least two states that I know for sure that have Dairy Boards (Texas and Massachusetts) duplicate the USDA’s work or simply copy their paper work and re-publish under the state’s logo to justify their hack jobs…naturally all these jobs are filled with Democrats!
It’s interesting that when they started this thing about giving money to states for education that Massachusetts turned them down initially and now that leading liberal state sucks up more than it’s fair share of taxpayers dollars to support their smart-ass scholars…
Hey, I could go on with this but it’s getting my blood boiling just to type this stuff out…I’m a slow typer and the thoughts linger too long!
Storm’n Norm’n
Don’t forget our tax dollars also fund the ACLU, La Raza, ACORN, PBS, and most other radical anti-American organizations.
To begin…get rid of these cabinet level departments:
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Energy
Department of Education
Department of Homeland Security
Environmental Protection Agency
United States Mission to the United Nations
Council of Economic Advisers
Department of Health and Human Services
Reduce pay for Senators and Congresspersons to one dollar per year plus the appreciation of the American people.
Require all government officials, when traveling by air is necessary, require them to fly on military aircraft. Ground transportation would be either by private means or buses from the US Government motor pool. Limos would be paid for with private funds.
Congress would be in session 5 days a week, every week, excepting six weeks prior to an election.
Call for a day when non-essential federal workers need not report for work. Then fire all those non-essential workers!
These are just a few suggestions that leap immediately to mind. I am sure there are many, many, more.
JDL
Fred, I’m thinking, perhaps, you should send in YOUR report. I’ve NO doubt the ideas here are a whole lot better than what BO’s lackeys will come up with. These things will actually make cuts in spending, where as theirs will probably find a way to cut in one place, just to add it back in, doubled, someplace else.
Ya know, Kate, seems to me that you just explained the entire budget process with one simple sentence:
“cut in one place … add it back in, doubled, someplace else”
That’s brilliant. Mind if I use that?
LOL Have at it! 🙂
Great ideas one and all…it would be very difficult to add to the above but being a hard headed cuz of the Great Texas Fred puts me in a tough position so here goes….every person in Congress has a staff of whom at least one is Chief Ass Kisser…I would propose that each Congressional Staff be reduced by two…..how did the math work? One ass kisser but reduce by two? Well, the CAK would not really be a reduction so one more would be needed to make any impact….
Fred, you should take your suggestions and all of the others here, combine them into a nicely finished document and sent it to the POTUS…..
As to the “welfare”…aid to people in need is not welfare….it should be termed interim support…..welfare is what is being paid out to people who are lazy and worthless….the City of Mobile enacted a clause that stated they would not pay for more than one illegitimate child (there were unmarried mothers with as many as ten children on the rolls)….they held that anyone can make a mistake and the change covered that nicely….of course being in Alabama RACISM was cried loud and long but the truth was that these mothers were having more children simply to increase the size of the monthly check and other benefits…..and the children didn’t see much of the benefit….screaming racism doesn’t correct a problem…this one was obvious….it is that type of reform that has to happen….it is possible to have a system that helps people get back on their feet and doesn’t promote the welfare lifestyle…..
Great comentary jd3! I like that “Intermin support” term and the excellent observation,”screaming racism doesn’t correct a problem…”
You obviously must have noted that those welfare bums that cry, “Rascism!” are indeed the true racists! They cannot come up with a legitimate excuse for their own shortcomings and find it easier to place blame on anybody but themselves. But then again you can’t blame them for they have been trained to think that way by the radical Leftists for about two generations now…and they will in-turn train their own illegitimate offspring to do likewise. It’s going to take a good HOUSE cleaning in 2010 and SENATE cleaning in 2012 to begin to correct this welfare state of mind…
ACK! Why can’t we just hand ’em all their pink slips now? 🙁
Well, instead of tea parties, why not start recall campaigns. If got the nations attention when Gray Davis got kicked out of the govenators mansion in California.
Just a thought. And I would suggest extended the boundary to include permanent residents.
Instead of budget cuts, why don’t we cut off the head of the Department head if they fail. If more than 3 fail, we cut off the President’s head.
Oh Katie! You are brilliant! 😈
Disability is one thing, there are some folks that truly need help…
My husband (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, back injury, early glaucoma, diabetes, memory problems due to brain surgery for a tumor back in 1993) is one who should qualify for disability. But he refuses to apply. Why? Because he can’t stand the thought of being on the public dole. He insists on trying to work, even if he has go in with a cane and heavily medicated.
Most on disability — at least, most whom I personally know — are in a lot better shape than my husband. And they have a lot less self-respect too.
Always On Watch, until today, I have always felt pretty good about myself…
Thank you for making me aware that I have NO self respect…