Here's the way this game works. We cut something every day and tally up the savings. Our initial goal is to balance the budget. Our stretch goal is to develop a large surplus while reducing the average tax burden.

Current Figures:
Net Annual Income: -$818.18 billion
National Debt: $16.4 trillion
Debt Ceiling: $16.4 trillion



Post-Cut Figures:
Net Annual Income: -$227.215 billion
National Debt: $16.4 trillion ... growing $227.215 billion annually
Annual Savings: $591.585 billion



Things Cut:
- Department of Education ($69.8 billion)
- Department of Labor ($137.3 billion)
- Department of Homeland Security ($31.52 billion after transfers)
- Department of Energy ($15.2 billion after transfers)
- Department of Health and Human Services ($31.84 billion after transfers)
- Department of Commerce ($3.625 billion after existing transfers)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development ($48.5 billion)
- Department of Agriculture ($132.3 billion)
- Department of Transportation ($77 billion)
- Full pull out from all bases in Germany: $16.572 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in Japan: $15.442 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in South Korea: $6.833 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in Italy: $2.428 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in UK: $1.881 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in Spain: $0.478 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in Bahrain: $0.346 billion
- Full pull out from all bases in Turkey: $0.520 billion


Things Transferred:
- The Secret Service is moved under the DoD from DHS. $1.92 billion.
- The Coast Guard is moved under the DoD from DHS. $9.79 billion.
- FEMA is moved under the DoD from DHS. $10.9 billion.
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is transferred to ICE (DHS to DHS). $800 million.
- ICE is moved under the DoD from DHS. $5.87 billion.
- Federal Protective Service is moved from DHS to Secret Service under the DoD. Its $615 million budget is eliminated.
- All non-nuclear DoE labs to new Department of Science and Technology (DST) -- $4.9 billion
- NOAA from Commerce to DST -- $5.6 billion
- NASA to DST -- $17.8 billion
- NIST from Commerce to DST -- $1.1 billion
- CDC from HHS to DST -- $11.3 billion
- Census from Commerce to DST -- $1.3 billion
- USPTO from Commerce to DST -- $2.3 billion
- FCC to DST -- $336 million
- BEA from Commerce to DST -- $97.3 million
- NTIS from Commerce to DST -- $65 million
- ESA from Commerce to DST -- $113 million
- NSF to DST -- $7 billion
- FDA from HHS to DST -- $4.36 billion
- NIH from HHS to DST -- $30.9 billion
- Nucler DoE labs to the Department of Defense -- $10.5 billion
- FSIS from USDA to merged with FDA in DST -- No budget carry over



Things Created:
- Department of Science and Technology



Things Privatized and Financed Through User Fees:
- From DOT: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- From DOT: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
- From DOT: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
- From DOT: Maritime Administration (MARAD)
--- From DOT: Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) (merged into MARAD)
- From DOT: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)



Temporary Alteration Tracker:
- DoD - $4.72 billion due to moves above
- Commerce - $10.575 billion due to moves above
- HHS - $46.56 billion due to moves above

So let's start off with some low hanging fruit.

Can anybody name anything worth keeping in the Department of Education?

(10-07-2013 01:00 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  So let's start off with some low hanging fruit.

Can anybody name anything worth keeping in the Department of Education?

jimmy carter's gift to the teacher's unions serves no purpose; cut it.

How about the DEA, ATF, FBI, DOJ? Let the states handle this.

(10-07-2013 01:13 AM)blah Wrote:  How about the DEA, ATF, FBI, DOJ? Let the states handle this.

One program/department/major entity per day. Every day I'll trot out some new thing to be judged. This here thread has some legs.

Eliminate Social Security Disability payments. This is the most abused part of giveaway programs and costs $260 billion a year.

If we can't buy in for this, then Disability only for provable disabilities....i.e. amputees, diseases, etc. (No back pain, mental anguish, etc.)

(10-07-2013 01:15 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 01:13 AM)blah Wrote:  How about the DEA, ATF, FBI, DOJ? Let the states handle this.

One program/department/major entity per day. Every day I'll trot out some new thing to be judged. This here thread has some legs.

I thought you were looking for ideas....sorry.

(10-07-2013 01:23 AM)blah Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 01:15 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 01:13 AM)blah Wrote:  How about the DEA, ATF, FBI, DOJ? Let the states handle this.

One program/department/major entity per day. Every day I'll trot out some new thing to be judged. This here thread has some legs.

I thought you were looking for ideas....sorry.

It will probably take me several weeks to run out of ideas that are burning a hole to get to my keyboard. But I appreciate the enthusiasm.

I'm all for saving money. I would love to have a balanced budget amendment, but I guess we should just start with a budget.

Number one. 333 Billion from defense spending.

Let's start with Harry Reid's and Nancy Pelosi's salaries. Oh yeah and change the law to make a mandatary twenty years in congress to be eligible for the pension, just like in the military.

(10-07-2013 01:06 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 01:00 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  So let's start off with some low hanging fruit.

Can anybody name anything worth keeping in the Department of Education?

jimmy carter's gift to the teacher's unions serves no purpose; cut it.

Politically speaking it would be better to keep a small staff for textbook reviews and endorsement. I'd love to see history books receive endorsements only if they include significant portions of primary texts. So, cut it to a budget of $4M/year.

For the record, the gov't could have cut ACWA, and just used CMA facilities, for an est savings of $4B. But the sunk costs are probably too high now.

But my proposal would be to cut ATF.

Oh yeah, cheat sheet is here: http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/

(10-07-2013 05:38 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  Number one. 333 Billion from defense spending.

Bingo.

(10-07-2013 07:26 AM)Pyrizzo Wrote:  Let's start with Harry Reid's and Nancy Pelosi's salaries. Oh yeah and change the law to make a mandatary twenty years in congress to be eligible for the pension, just like in the military.

What about the rest of Congress's salaraies? What about getting money out of politics? What about TERM LIMITS, rather than a "pension after 20 years"? They are here to serve us, not the other way around.

NSA, EPA

Has the Department of Education made our country's education better or worse?

There's no need for the FCC to be as large as it is.

(10-07-2013 09:05 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Has the Department of Education made our country's education better or worse?

Making it worse. It's not a home for educational improvement, it's a home for bureaucrats with no experience in education. What do bureaucrats do? They create busy work for themselves.

A few small town schools need a grant? They'll give it to them, but not with strings attached. Now they're subject to research projects and unproven "teacher training".

What about Social Security Reform? Can we go on as we are for an untold amount of years?

(10-07-2013 01:22 AM)blah Wrote:  Eliminate Social Security Disability payments. This is the most abused part of giveaway programs and costs $260 billion a year.

If we can't buy in for this, then Disability only for provable disabilities....i.e. amputees, diseases, etc. (No back pain, mental anguish, etc.)

Someone watched 60 minutes last night. Problem for you is that there are a large number of rightwingers in red states that would be effected, thus hurting the states economy. Come to think about it, it sounds like a really good idea.

Btw, I say cuts to the Pentagon.

We need to cut "true" Entitlement Programs". Do you know the difference between an Entitlement Program and a Non-Entitlement Program. People continuously lump Social Security and Medicare with Entitlement Programs, they are not.