House GOP Conservatives Plot Next Spending Cut Plan

Reader Comments

Back to blog

The evidence shows that Reagan's trickle down economics did not work out. It has resulted in an extreme imbalance of wealth and earnings. If the super rich were taking home only 11 percent of the wealth in earnings then that might be acceptable. But they are taking home over 20 percent in earnings and own 40 percent of the wealth. That is not acceptable. It is also equivalent to what happened in 1928 that help trigger the Great Depression. Wages have remained flat over the last 30 years and as a result the consumers that drive 70 percent of the economy can no longer spend like they did and this is causing zero growth and zero improvements in jobs. We would currently be in another great depression if it were not for the social programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance, social security, and Medicaid. These social programs are keeping the working class in a state of quiet desperation.

The GATT and NAFTA free trade agreements caused the US to loose at least 10 percent of its jobs. Manufacturing jobs have fallen from 20 percent to 10 percent of our total jobs. These lost jobs paid enough so the working poor could move up. But those lost manufacturing jobs have been replaced by service jobs that do not pay enough for the working poor to move up to the middle class. The result is the bulk of the population has lost its ability to move up the ladder while the wealthy have gained most of the benefits from our economy that doubled in the last 30 years. The super rich have used their huge gains to persuade politicians to lower their taxes.

The facts are clear, the Reagan and Bush economics have forced 40 million people onto food stamps, 25 million unemployed or under employed, one in five children living in poverty, 20 percent unemployment for blacks, and 40 percent unemployment for inner city blacks.

These disheartening statistics are not the result of President Obama but are the result of mistakes made over the last 30 years by Republicans and Democrats, but primarily by Republicans. The Tea party is promoting the same old mistakes and will drive us into a major depression if they succeed.

We need to increase taxes on the wealthy and reditribute the wealth so their is more equality and more opportunities for working class Americans. After givng the wealthy a major reduction in taxes under Reagan and Bush they have accumulated over $2 trillion in cash. They have had their opportunity to invest and create jobs but are not doing it. It is time to make the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.

Gerald newton of AK 5:24PM September 10, 2011

1. Change in Management - Top Down

2. Evaluate Policy and Programs, and determine need and effectiveness.

3. Identify and Eliminate Waste in government - potential gold mine. Purely logical, no political influence to protect pet projects/lobbyists.

4. Reduce Government across the board by 10% year over year for 5 years and re-evaluate at the end of 5 years to determine if further efficiencies can be gained.

5. Update technology and process to receive automated payments, automated billings, etc.

6. Identify the low hanging fruit, reductions that don't require alot of investment but yield greater efficiencies.

7. Through technology - identify waste and fraud in entitlement programs and correct. (payments to dead people).

8. Keep a tally of savings for the American Public to view and comment on.

9. Survey government workers to tell you where there are inefficiencies and how problems could be solved. Ask those closest to the problem.

10. Establish an office to control costs - whose corruption proof, who are non-partisan, establish operating rules. Their mission is to identify waste and produce results.

11. Hire private business to execute these types of activities who have experience in reducing costs, and managing projects through implementation. The projects must come in under budget, on time, per determined scope.

12. Establish/cap fair charges for services rendered. no $100 toliet seats etc.

Putting private enterprise to work to eliminate waste and fraud shows America the books are open and America belongs to We the People. I hear there are 14 million people looking for a job, seems like they could be part of the solution.

Some government employees are going to lose their jobs. Benefits to government employees are on the table, actually everyone that works for the government. Government should never be receiving better benefits than the private sector. Freeze Congress salaries, make them the first to see a cut in pay.

You might be surprised at the volunteers you could get to help organize this effort and provide oversight that it is being executed effectively.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Muehlhauser

Southern Illinois, USA

Cynthia Muehlhauser of IL 11:46PM August 30, 2011

I have the option to help generate 6000 jobs spread out over 15 to 20 cities.

We have access to the fund and technology We need locations and project directors.

Jean Meadows

Jean Meadows of CA 5:59PM August 24, 2011

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

Back to blog

About this blog

About this blog

Washington Whispers has been featured in U.S. News & World Report since 1933, offering a fun, insider's view of Washington.

advertisement

Latest Videos

advertisement