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by gscott 501 days ago
U S govt at least 25% too big.
1 comments
throwfgtpwd234 501 days ago
Based on what specific evidence?
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egberts1 501 days ago
Runaway Federal debt.
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lesuorac 501 days ago
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

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egberts1 501 days ago
Those sliver-of-a-budget grunt workers do quite a bit of disbursements of US taxpayers money.
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lesuorac 501 days ago
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.

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egberts1 500 days ago
Must have missed the many Congress laws that can suspend such a disbursement by various parties of the Executive Branch: immediate, 7-day, 15-day, 90-day, reallocated, indefinite.
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throw0101c 499 days ago
> 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.

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gscott 501 days ago
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.
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egberts1 501 days ago
Three decades to build back better.

How's that debt reduction working so far?

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gscott 500 days ago
I think the war in Iraq really cost a lot of money and we have to pay for it here. Might as well start with Trump doing some slashing and burning. We will have build up from the ground up again.

We have to do this by choice rather than having it because our hand is forced. It's not a choice anybody wants, but it'll be less pain now than later.

I know republicans created these wars but now we just are all going to have to take the pain. Trump is starting with other people taking the pain first.

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throw0101c 499 days ago
> 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?

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gscott 500 days ago
Common sense
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