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The Spectacle Blog
The Tea Party Debt Commission that took place yesterday and got kicked out of the Senate has released a budget plan. It’s not clear to what extent this plan represents the views and preferences of Tea Partiers around the country, since it seems pretty well “astroturfed”: Freedomworks facilitated the whole thing. Yet I can’t imagine that any given self-described Tea Party member would have many problems with the proposal.
Here’s the plan:
To achieve these goals, our plan, among other things:
- Repeals ObamaCare in toto.
- Eliminates four Cabinet agencies - Energy, Education, Commerce, and HUD - and reduces or privatizes many others, including EPA, TSA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
- Ends farm subsidies, government student loans, and foreign aid to countries that don’t support us- luxuries we can no longer afford.
- Saves Social Security and greatly improves future benefits by shifting ownership and control from government to individuals, through new SMART Accounts.
- Gives Medicare seniors the right to opt into the Congressional health care plan.
- Suspends pension contributions and COLAs for Members of Congress, whenever the budget is in deficit.
And here’s what they predict it would accomplish:
(By the way, the low quality of the graphs and tables in the report suggests to me that there might even be less astroturfing than meets the eye.)
What’s interesting to me about this report is that it is, relatively speaking, not that radical. Of course it’s utterly politically infeasible. There are parts of the plan that are contradictory: it calls for the Fed to lower inflationary pressures, yet elsewhere advocates a new government inflation metric that would result in lower measured inflation. And some of the numbers probably don’t match up, or are simply wishful thinking.
All that said, the budget appears to be a fairly straightforward and plausible set of guidelines. It would gradually reduce federal spending from 24 percent of GDP to 16 percent of GDP, by cutting domestic spending most of all but also applying non-radical reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. It also includes a lot of defense spending cuts:
The fiscal future envisioned by the Tea Party debt commission would differ starkly from the one we’re rapidly approaching, but it’s not an unthinkable future by any means. No one part of the plan is simply unworkable, in the way that Occupy Wall Street’s demand to cancel all student debt would be. In fact, parts of it, such as the treatment of Medicare, are less drastic than proposals currently being seriously debated on the Hill. Others, such as the defense cuts, violate conservative orthodoxy. Overall, it’s an impressive statement of what the Tea Party platform could be.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/11/18/the-tea-party-budget
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Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 11.18.11 @ 6:28PM
This budget looks good to me!! I really like lines that go down, certainly a lot better than those flat lines, and a crap load better than those lines that look like a F-16 is taking off. Now don't get all bent out of shape about Defense cuts, there is plenty that can be cut out of our Defense, and still leave us with the strongest Military in the entire World. As a Nation, we don't always have to be 100 miles more advance than our next competitor, which is where we are now with our Military. We can let our enemies close in a few miles without worrying too much about them overtaking us (say down to 50 miles or so?).
Seriously, who's our next real competitor militarily, China? Other than their Army (which "is" huge), what do they really have? A bad copy of our stealth bomber (still unproven to work)? Or is it that scary Navy of their's? They only have "one" Carrier group, which is an old Russian carrier which they've recently refitted (which means it'll break down at every port they stop in), and they're still waiting to bring it out to Sea to test the damn thing (where it most likely will sink to the bottom of the Ocean during the first storm they encounter). So unless they're working on Beaming technology that we don't know about yet, their huge Army would have a hard time opposing us anywhere in the World, especially here in America (unless they really "have" stolen Star Trek's beaming technology. Have they?).
Now maybe you're worried that the Chinese are going to land on the moon soon? Good point!! I wouldn't like that much either!! But since they actually haven't landed on the Moon yet, and until they land on it six times, at six different location and knock over our flags, I'm not going to get too crazy about this either (remember, we did this way back in the late 60's, early 70's, so them doing it now is not that impressive) . So Defense cuts are fine with me, there's plenty of waste here in the Military!! So let's put our Defense on the same diet, that the Military forces the Soldiers, Marines, and Airmen to go on (to pass that damn tape test), and get rid of some of these dream projects that we seriously cannot afford, and we really don't need (yet).
So let the CHICOMS waste their money, doing what we did 40 years ago, and let's save our economy instead of trying to stay 100 miles ahead of an enemy who's probably going to go completely broke, if they keep spending their money the way they've been spending it these last few years. Like a bunch of Democrats!! Remember, the Japanese were supposed to buy us out too, back in the 80's, and look what happened to them. The real problem for us, is our real deficit, not the possible future Chinese Empire, who's Navy might just yet sink to the bottom of the ocean (finger's crossed!!)!! Our "real" enemy is a Domestic enemy, not a Foreign enemy!! Our "real" enemy is the Democratic Party of America, then "maybe" in a distant second place, the CHICOMS!!
Clint| 11.18.11 @ 7:02PM
Dr.Ron Paul's : Plan To Restore America
SPENDING:
Cuts $1 trillion in spending during the first year of Ron Paul’s presidency, eliminating five cabinet departments (Energy, HUD, Commerce, Interior, and Education), abolishing the Transportation Security Administration and returning responsibility for security to private property owners, abolishing corporate subsidies, stopping foreign aid, ending foreign wars, and returning most other spending to 2006 levels.'
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the.....e-america/
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here & In Iowa.
John| 11.18.11 @ 7:54PM
I PROPOSE:
1. Abolish SEIU, no more public employees' union
2. Abolish departments and agencies (commerce, energy, education, interior, FDA, USDA, EPA)
3. Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, prohibiting raising taxes and the debt limit, and the spending
4. Reform the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid program
5.
John| 11.18.11 @ 7:55PM
I PROPOSE:
1. Abolish SEIU, no more public employees' union
2. Abolish departments and agencies (commerce, energy, education, interior, FDA, USDA, EPA)
3. Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, prohibiting raising taxes and the debt limit, and the spending
4. Reform the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid program
5. Defeat Obama and all the Democrats in Congress
Janelle| 11.18.11 @ 7:59PM
I certainly don't have a problem with it. Most of the 535 in congress will run away from it like the plague. Vote them in and out on a regular basis. If there is anyone who believes there congress critter gives a S about them, I have several fine tunnels to sell you in Florida.
John| 11.18.11 @ 8:25PM
We live in MD, run by a bunch of socialists, who never cares about our freedom, pandering to their liberal constituents, the big labors, minority groups,and environmentalists. I hope I could move to FL one day.
jolizoom| 11.18.11 @ 11:05PM
Re: defense spending--if congress would pass a resolution to define our objectives in every location that US troops are deployed, define a "win" that does not involve "spreading democracy", and get out of areas in which we cannot define what a "win" looks like, we could probably easily cut the defense budget without weakening our real military strength at all.
arch| 11.19.11 @ 12:40AM
arch says
Does anybody doubt that the U.S. can win a war if it decides to?
Solo| 11.19.11 @ 5:58AM
I would add the Labor Department to that kill list.
It was always a sop to the Unions and, if memory serves, it was actually established by executive order. Easily done away with, then.
martin j smith| 11.19.11 @ 8:07AM
Let me tell you something--anything even reasonable" will be opposed by the Socialists that does not make it bad it means it must be sold to the American people. This means MONEY. And it means honest but clever advertising. It also means battling the Socialists. In this respect the Republican Party has to chose : fight or surrender ? Which will it be Mr Lawler ?
farmboy| 11.19.11 @ 9:09AM
In your comment I would replace "Socialist" with "politician" and "Republican party" with "American people". Then you comment would be spot on.
Oldefarte| 11.19.11 @ 1:44PM
First of all, hope all you vets enjoyed your well deserved/earned VETERANS DAY! I wholehearted agree with the tea party's [as announced by Dick Armey] budget AND ALSO Ron Paul's economic plan. The next Republican president should appoint both Armey and Paul to monetary posts within the administration to deal with this budget defecit/debt, since both have now produced excellent plans on same. Bravo! The only thing lacking at this point is for the public/bloggers etc to read/contemplate same and begin talking up on the internet these outstanding ideas. The quietness of same is deafening to me, and I don't understand how/why blogging conversations etc are not burning up the internet concerning same. Discuss them, amend them, add to them, etc but for Gd's sake get the conversation going PLEASE [and increasingly so until 11/4/12]!!!!!
tRouble| 11.19.11 @ 2:00PM
Awesome budget. Here's how you get something like this passed into law.
First, you find a good solid Tea Party presidential candidate, one with impeccable Conservative credentials, and most importantly one who can avoid crashing and burning in debates and on the campaign trail.
Oops.
Aiken_Bob| 11.21.11 @ 8:34AM
minor comment -- the author looks at the quality of the graphs and claims them to be astroturf .... I always have view slick presentation with a great deal of skepticism. Have we come to the point where we judge the thinking by the presentation. I know it happens all the time but I had hoped this crowd was above this kind of thinking.