A list of productive spending cuts Congress could pass in a 2025 budget reconciliation bill

@ElwoodBlues 100% in agreement.

@CedricH Your list seems to mostly reference urban recipients of government largesse; let's not ignore the rural recipients!

@ElwoodBlues That list is basically tailored to suit the preferences of a Republican government. It‘s just a minor fraction of federal spending that ought to be downsized, reformed or repealed.
Not that I‘m a Republican, but if you want to appeal to them, you better suggest cuts to programs they dislike and without upsetting any of their core constituencies (e.g farmers).

@whowasthatmaskedman


What do you mean „defend it“?


Your arguments are completely incoherent. Why would the US be interested in countering its own carrier group presence?


No direct US military intervention in the last century has been undertaken with the intention to force economic deals and B. Past US interventions have kept the US military on edge and increased operational effectiveness, readiness and preparedness. The last actual experience the PLA made during a hot war dates back to the late 1970s. Their military is hopelessly depended on theoretical simulations.

Lastly, the US economic might is unrivalled and China‘s economic foundations are already crumbling.

@CedricH OK. Having established your incompetence on the subject, I withdraw, with sincere regret on having tried to inform you. You clearly havent the slightest grasp of reality here.😷

@whowasthatmaskedman I suppose it is my turn now to point out that I‘ve rarely read a weaker response than the one you just presented. But I wasn’t expecting much from someone who clearly lacks any strategic or historic insights whatsoever.

@LamontCranston Yes those poor government employees, how will they possibly find a job in the real economy.
I gotta say, I find Ramaswamy vile and repulsive while his views on foreign policy are outright dangerous. But credit where credit is due, I was ecstatic about his WSJ op-ed in which he and Musk sketched out their plans for DOGE.

@CedricH “Efficiently reallocating scarce resources” - from the poor and middle class to the wealthy.

@Theyitis No, from less productive applications to more productive ones.

@CedricH How does taking food away from the poor make them more productive? How does taking their basic needs away from immigrants make them more productive? How does keeping students buried under mountains of debt and interest make them more productive? These are three groups that aren’t very productive, but with just a little help could be made much more productive. Give tax cuts to the rich and they’ll hide it away in offshore accounts. How is that productive?

@Diotrephes Let the States do what they want.

@CedricH
A highly educated population is a benefit to national security.

@Diotrephes Right, so start by creating a federal school voucher system to increase educational choices.

@ViciDraco You‘re grossly exaggerating and distorting the probable effects of these cuts to make your point.
Overall, people will have to deal with adjustments and become more independent in the way they manage their personal finances. More frugality doesn’t have to end in medical disasters or malnutrition. The cuts will more than compensate for the cost of any medical debt as a result of emergency treatments. These structural adjustments will also encourage higher labor participation which is key to ensure a steady household income. Over the long, term, they‘d be the one who‘d suffer most from a fiscal crisis and higher interest rates.
Let‘s see if there‘ll be material unrest over this or if this is just another scenario to scare people into accepting an ever expanding welfare apparatus.

@CedricH You are grossly underestimating how lacking the current system is for those that need it and overexaggerating the ability of people who rely on these services to do well with less in order to make your point. Don't act like you are a fair arbiter and those who disagree are fabricating because that simply isn't the case. Your biases distort your views just as much as you abuse my biases of distorting mine.

I believe Yang had a better solution to the SNAP issue with a UBI system where you provide a base level benefit to everyone. Those who don't actually need it end up paying it back in taxes. But the costs of administration are deeply simplified because every citizen gets it. Non-citizen immigrants would also pay into it but not get the benefit unless they became citizens.

Medicaid issues are better solved through a single payer universal Healthcare system. The reason medical costs are so high is due to private monopsony/monopoly formations in the Healthcare system. Americans pay among the highest rates for mediocre care and coverage. The problem there isn't Medicare or Medicaid. It's private markets having dominant control of complex services necessary to survival.

@ViciDraco Healthcare prices are high because there‘s too much demand for insignificant procedures, doctors and nurses are being overpaid, administrative costs in the US health sector are unreasonably steep, competition between health care provides keeps being undermined by government regulations and drug prices are comparatively high because of IP protections for brand medications which, in turn, are key to medical breakthroughs and innovation.

Well, I‘m not the one describing hysterical doomsday scenarios filled with rioting, strikes, crime waves or malnutrition you are. So I‘d argue that your distortions and exaggerations are a bit more pronounced and tendentious.



Thus replacing SNAP with a Fruits and Vegetable program would both considerably contain costs and improve nutritional outcomes.

@CedricH We in the Americas, from the Arctic, to the tip of Brazil, and the Islands, will enjoy our prosperity, free from the conflicts of Europe and the Middle East and North Africa.

@NativePortlander1970 Keep dreaming. I‘m sure it‘ll help you sleep at night.

@NativePortlander1970 I DIStrust anyone who purports to speak for anyone beyond himself.