Department of Government Efficiency

[eddiememphis]

Big 5 now... the interest on the debt being one of them...

True but you can't lower the interest due through a mandate or new department. Need to cut the deficit spending first.

Screw it, I guess we just keep spending like we have been. Some of you won?t be happy no matter what.

I certainly haven't said that. Any cut in spending is generally a good idea.

A billion here, a billion there... pretty soon we're talking real money.

However, without addressing entitlements, they will still be over budget.

Total Federal tax income is around 4.5T. Spending is near 7T.

That spending gap will not be closed by shutting down the department of education and firing 80,000 IRS employees, although that is a great place to start.

Where is Tom Sowell when we need him?

[buffalobo]

None of it will amount to a thing compared to the big three- Social Security (1.3B), Medicare and Medicaid (1.7B) and welfare (780B), and no one is willing to touch those entitlement programs.

National defense could surely use a trimming (820B) but as what cost?

Total Federal payroll is around 280B so even firing everyone would do very little to affect the 6.75T spending.

If your numbers are correct, SS + M&M + welfare = less than 800 billion or less than 20% of 4.7T tax revenue.

Plenty of room to cut needless spending before tackling "big 3" or defense(another approx 20% as related to tax revenue). Not saying they dont need addressed, just plenty of other expenditures that are just fukking stupid and could be cut immediately.

Cutting .gov workers/payroll may be a "small" number but it will also cut people who spend and all the ancillary costs of employing them. Those costs are probably much greater than their payroll.

Substantial revenue could be generated just selling off the real estate/infrastructure where those employees "work".

If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

[brutal]

Can we please stop calling SS an "entitlement?"

I now it's like getting twisted up on clip vs magazine, but still irritating. You guys, of all people, should know better.

I pay heavily into SS and Medicare over a lifetime of hard work and it's going to be partially distributed back to me as a "benefit" until I die. I could have done better investing those funds myself, but here we are.

[eddiememphis]

If your numbers are correct, SS + M&M + welfare = less than 800 billion or less than 20% of 4.7T tax revenue.

Plenty of room to cut needless spending before tackling "big 3" or defense(another approx 20% as related to tax revenue). Not saying they dont need addressed, just plenty of other expenditures that are just fukking stupid and could be cut immediately.

Cutting .gov workers/payroll may be a "small" number but it will also cut people who spend and all the ancillary costs of employing them. Those costs are probably much greater than their payroll.

Substantial revenue could be generated just selling off the real estate/infrastructure where those employees "work".

If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

You are correct.

SS and M&M should be Trillion, not Billion. I edited my post.

[DDT951]

Can we please stop calling SS an "entitlement?"

I now it's like getting twisted up on clip vs magazine, but still irritating. You guys, of all people, should know better.

I pay heavily into SS and Medicare over a lifetime of hard work and it's going to be partially distributed back to me as a "benefit" until I die. I could have done better investing those funds myself, but here we are.

You believe because you want to.

You paid (and/or are paying) a TAX.

Directly from the US government.
https://www.ssa.gov/people/materials...N-05-10297.pdf

?FICA is a U.S. federal payroll tax. It stands for the
Federal Insurance Contributions Act and is deducted
from each paycheck.?

A tax is being taken out of people?s paychecks and then given to others as entitlement.

Whether you deserve the entitlement, the taxation is ?fair?, etc is a moot point. It is still a tax with an entitlement .

The ?paid in? is just to make you feel better about paying the tax and collecting the entitlement when the time comes.

[battlemidget]

Vivek did an interview a year ago, it's a good blueprint for where he sees the waste and largess coming from.

[eddiememphis]

https://www.cato.org/blog/time-face-...ocial-security
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis...h#introduction

For nearly 90 years, a widespread misconception has shaped how Americans view Social Security. Many believe that their payroll taxes are saved in a trust fund, to be drawn down when they retire. But in reality, Social Security has never operated as a savings system. Instead, it functions as an income transfer program, where the taxes collected from today’s workers immediately fund the benefits for current retirees.

In the 1930s, the idea of government assistance was unpopular, and policymakers needed a way to sell Social Security to a skeptical public. Positioning it as an “earned” benefit convinced Americans that they had a personal stake in the program. But in truth, it was always a government transfer program.

The notion that people are simply getting back what they paid in makes it politically difficult to reduce benefits.

Today, all benefits are paid by current tax collections or borrowing since Social Security taxes no longer fully cover the cost of benefits. Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, the government will borrow $4.1 trillion, including associate interest costs, between now and 2033 to pay for Social Security benefits.


Another article states it will take 75 years of annual 4.5% budget cuts to break even on the unfunded liabilities that are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

This is the largest problem facing the nation that no one, including Trump, will seriously address.

[BushMasterBoy]

I'm surprised the media hasn't suggested a Department of Sex & Money. Sorta like Infowars was bankrupted and bought out by "The Onion". Hell just form a Department of Death and be done with it. Sarc...out

[brutal]

I have no misconceptions about what SS (FICA) is or how it's collected, funded, and distributed.

I paid into SS, it's not an "entitlement" program like Medicaid or welfare benefits paid from other sources of funding that don't have a contribution qualifier.

If you never worked or paid into SS, you generally cannot collect (with limited exceptions, i.e. disabled children). I'm aware of most of the disqualifiers including the minimum number of work credits. I also know approximately when I'm going to max out on paying every year.

[buffalobo]

The last couple decades have seen an expansion of "circumstances" in which people can draw from SS.

Entitlement (potato v potahto) or not, SS is a tax and fund scheme which does not work mathematically. Never has.

If you're unarmed, you are a victim.