[murillians]

No, emptying them out is the goal (the reasons why vary depending on who you ask)

[gscott]

U S govt at least 25% too big.

[throwfgtpwd234]

Based on what specific evidence?

[egberts1]

Runaway Federal debt.

[lesuorac]

Literally you could fire ever single federal employee and you'd still have a deficit (3,000,000 * $106,382 = 319 billion [1]).

It's not even really close, 319 billion is ~1/6 of the deficit [2].

[1]: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/01/07/what-the-...

[2]: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107714

[egberts1]

Those sliver-of-a-budget grunt workers do quite a bit of disbursements of US taxpayers money.

[lesuorac]

1) Firing people doesn't stop disbursement. Especially if they're something low-level like idk a security guard.

2) Disbursement is done because Congress told them to with a law. If you want less disbursement then repeal the law.

[throw0101c]

> Those sliver-of-a-budget grunt workers do quite a bit of disbursements of US taxpayers money.

They also do quite a bit of collecting taxes and (when allowed to by the GOP) do audits of tax cheats.

They also patrol borders. They also maintain military equipment. They also inspect food. Etc.

[gscott]

I just feel the cutting has to start someplace and with Trump not having to be elected again he has nothing to lose. I am sure a Democrat will win next term to try to right things. Trump is mart enough to see there is a problem but not smart enough to get in and fix it. It is like a farmer burning the fields for next season. Democrats will have a field to build back better on.

[egberts1]

Three decades to build back better.

How's that debt reduction working so far?

[throw0101c]

> Runaway Federal debt.

The three largest line items in the US federal budget are:

* Social Security

* Medicare

* Pentagon

Of the three only the Pentagon is discretionary:

* https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-federal-g...

Which one(s) do you want to cut?

Further, after COVID's bump, US federal outlays/spending have generally been coming down to history averages (20% of GDP):

* https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S

But deficits are growing:

* https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSDFYGDP

The difference between the two trends means income is the problem.

Has the GOP tried not cutting taxes and then complaining about not having enough money?

[gscott]

Common sense