HOW TO BALANCE THE FEDERAL BUDGET

Everyday, I hear the politicians and pundents talking about balancing the federal budget and getting rid of the deficit.  Well if they really wanted to balance the budget, they would just ask me.  Now I'm Just Sayin, this seems like a pretty simple problem to fix if you're serious.  Here are just a few of my budget balancing

1.  No more aid to any foreign government, no matter how good friend they claim to be.  These folks remind me of the kind of friends that most drunks and drug users have.  They see you drowning, but they just keep taking everything that you have to offer until you're completely broke, down and out, and then they move on to the next victim.  So I say to all of our "friends" around the world, take care of yourself, and oh by the way start paying back some of what we've loaned you over the years, we really need it.
2.  Everyone in the Congress should have to pay not less than 25% of his/her own health insurance.  That way they will have some idea what it's like for the rest of us who pay for ours.  In addition, you know how when you start a new job, you have a waiting period before your benefits start?  Well I think that everyone in the congress should have a 6 month waiting period before their health insurance kicks in.  At least if we did that, they would know how those folks who have no health insurance get by.  And oh by the way, they should also have to qualify like the rest of us, so if anyone in their family has a pre-existing condition they can't get it.
3. Cut congressional pay by 50%.  Now why would I do that? It's simple, they get paid by us the tax payers, their taking money from the special interest and getting rich by listening to them and not us, so let those folks pay them.  Congress and their cronies in big business, foreign interest and any other interest that they can get to write a check are robbing us blind so why should we pay them nearly 200K a year to rob and steal from us?
4. Cut Congressional staffs by half across the board.  Yep that's what I said, with half the staff, they can only cause half the problems that they currently do.  Right now they have people just sitting around thinking of crap laws that we have to follow and they don't. 
5.  Every person working for the Federal Government (including the president and congress) should be on a 401K plan like the rest of the people who have retirement plans.  Did you know that a congressman or senator can collect a pension if he/she serves for just 5 Years?  Now they have to be 62 to get the money, but you've got to be kidding, who the hell gets a pension after just 5 years work? And oh by the way, if they serve for 20 or more years, they can get upwards of 80% of their high 3 years salary in retirement for life.  No wonder the country is broke.  These are the same folks who want to abolish the Education Department, and cut subsidies to poor people.  Don't get me wrong, I think that everything needs to be looked at, but these clowns aren't looking at what their costing the tax payer at all.

 No, I'm not a Crack Pot, I just had to get those items out of the way before I could get to the real money. 

Does anyone remember the Deficit Commission whose report was completely ignored by both the President and both houses of Congress?  Well there were actually some great ideas in that report.  Why can't we limit the Mortgage Interest Deduction by putting a cap on it?  If you can afford a million dollar house, you probably don't need the deduction any way, and oh by the way if you do need the deduction, you can't really afford the house!  Also what's wrong with having a flat tax that everyone pays regardless of income? Half the people in the country don't pay any taxes at all.  The people at the very top pay nothing because they pay lawyers and tax advisors to work the loop holes, and the folks at the very bottom don't pay anything because the government says they can't afford it.  Well, that leaves the rest of us in the middle and we're paying for the rest.  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sick of it. 

By the way, let's stop giving tax breaks to people to create jobs! Those folks aren't creating any jobs in America, their creating them in India, China, Pakistan and Mexico.  Don't believe me, try calling someone to fix your cable, or cell phone.  Hell, some banks now have people in foreign countries working the call centers.  Stop listening to that let's give them a tax break to create jobs rubbish, you and I both know that they aren't creating any good paying jobs in this country.  It used to be that if you had a degree in say Computer Science, or Engineering it was pretty easy to find a job, but not any more.  These days, companies get all of the computer and engineering folks they need from India and oh by the way, they work for half of what you or I could live on.

If we really want to balance the budget, and rid our children and grand children of the debt, we would take the recommendations of the recent Deficit commission to heart, and start doing those things immediately.  Know why that won't happen?  Simple, because no one in this country is serious about deficit reduction, if your congress person voted to cut or do away with a program that you make money off of, you would vote that person out in a New York Minute (for those in Cleveland) that's about 20 seconds. 

If you want to balance the budget, write your congress person and tell them, no more Earmarks, no more Tax Breaks, no more Raises for themselves or other federal employees.  Tell them to raise the retirement age for anyone under 55 to 72, tell them to fix the tax system by abolishing the IRS, and setting up a flat tax that everyone pays which will bring in more taxes to cut the deficit, tell your congress person to stop voting to give tax breaks to companies who take our jobs and move them to other countries.  People, our elected officials have betrayed us by lying to us, trying to divide us by race and class, all the while lining their pockets, and selling us out to the highest bidder.  If we don't wake up and join together, we're headed for third world status, and believe it or not, we're not that far off.  Yes we still have all of the trappings of a prosperous country, but it's fools gold. 

Finally, do yourself a favor and google "Deficit Commission Recommendations", read the document and pass that information on to as many people as you can.  There will be some things in this report that all of us hate, but it's the most comprehensive set of realistic recommendations that I've seen to start ridding ourselves of this countries budget woes.