What This Particular Blue-Dog Independent Would Do (King For a Day)

The western mind, both individually and collectively, is a damned curious thing. Whenever something isn't working, we either double down and try the same thing harder, or we do a complete 180. We never seem to want to make minor adjustments. Yes, peeps, I'm thinking specifically about this budget situation. You see, to me, we have an extremely delicate situation here. On the one hand, we have a humongous deficit and debt (worse as a percentage of the GDP than even the Depression era). And on the other, we have an extremely fragile recovery from what was probably the worst economic downturn since the Depression. The real challenge here, I think, is to reduce the deficit but to do it in a way that doesn't put a blanket on the recovery. Here are some of the things that I would do that a) would in fact reduce the deficit but b) wouldn't do it in a way that would stymie the recovery..........................................................................................................1) Allow the Bush tax-cuts to expire on everybody making $400,000 or more (I raised it form $250,000 to take away the Republican talking point pertaining to small businesses getting hit). This I believe would add a good 40-50 billion a year to the treasury and have minimal effects on investing............. 2) I would reduce the cap on mortgage interest deduction from its current level of one million a year to somewhere between $500-900,000 a year (depending upon what the CBO told me). This would undoubtedly add at least another 10 billion a year to the treasury............. 3) I would have the Federal government bargain directly with the pharmaceutical companies - this, for Medicaid and Medicare (as it already does for the V.A.). This would net the treasury somewhere between 15-25 billion a year............. 4) I would have wealthy retirees pay an extra 10% for their Medicare (Medicare is already somewhat means-tested but I would graduate it even more). I don't have a figure but I'd be astonished if it netted less than 5 billion a year............. 5) I would means-test Social Security to the tune of wealthy retirees getting 10% less (so, instead of an $1,800 check - or whatever the max is - they get a $1,620 check). Again, I'm thinking of at least 3-5 billion a year coming form this............. 6) I would close at least a dozen foreign military bases (starting with the one in Aruba) and hopefully net the treasury another 5-10 billion............. 7) I would modestly expedite our withdrawal from Afghanistan and gradually transform our mission there to an anti-terror one. This will ultimately net the treasury tens of billions over time (we're presently spending approximately 100 billion a year there now)............. 8) I would raise the retirement age 6 months. People are living much longer and the demographic nightmare that is bearing down on us is immense. The savings here I approximate to be 3 billion a year............ 9) I would raise the cap on Social Security Taxes by $5,000. I have no idea how much revenue that this would raise but it would definitely extend SS............. 10) I would institute Bob Gates' proposed defense cuts. 20 billion a year over the next 5 years............. 11) I would institute a one year federal wage freeze. The rest of the country has taken hit and it's only fair that the federal work force does as well. That would save the treasury 3 billion a year over the next 10 years (don't ask me why/how)............. 12) I would eliminate ALL federal funding of NPR and public television. Yeah, it's only a half billion a year BUT, in the words of Mr. Schwarzenegger, "it is time."............ 13) Reduce foreign aid by 10%. That would save the treasury 5 billion a year............. 14) Reduce farm subsidies by 20%. This would net the treasury 6 billion dollars. The final tally - somewhere between 150-200 billion (1.5-2 trillion over 10 years).....................................................................................................P.S. I know that I've done a post similar to this in the past. I felt that it was worth repeating, though. You know, what with these idiots in Washington flailing and all.