Reduce Federal Spending By Cutting Back Anywhere And Everywhere: A Guide For Bladder Shy, Financially Illiterate Republicans

The Netflix self-help documentary begins “Get Smart With Money,” a voice actor says, “How do you get ahead without taking out loans?” That, in a sentence, is the maddening thought process that animates Washington — Republicans, Democrats, and the media alike.

As we approach the federal debt ceiling, Republicans are doing the thing where they swear they won’t raise it without spending cuts, only to inevitably trip over themselves when asked the most innocuous, straightforward questions pertaining to what specifically they would like to reduce spending on.

Axios Wednesday previewed This is the next show. “Fiscal conservatives want to balance the federal budget,” It said. “Former President Trump has warned his party to leave Medicare and Social Security untouched. It’s basically impossible to do both — and every way House Republicans could try to square that circle comes with political risk.” Included in the article was a chart showing how much cutting would need to take place in broad swaths of the government — “defense spending,” Social Security, Medicare, etc. — in order to balance the federal budget over the course of a decade.

There would have to be a 26 per cent reduction with everything on the table. You can remove “defense spending” — which more accurately is military contract welfare — veteran benefits, Social Security, and Medicare (essentially, the most popular programs), there would need to be an 85 percent reduction in spending in every other area of the federal government.

It’s like balancing your household budget and removing any proposals to reduce your home size or to cut back on premium brand groceries. If you’re not going to touch those, you’re going to have to make up for it by drastically chopping at the budget elsewhere — vacations, entertainment, beauty grooming, new clothing, and so on.

The intent is to scare Republicans, who, without fail, face that reality, and suddenly can’t blink or speak. They might even come up with a politically suicide proposal. “reform” (i.e “cut back”) Social Security as millions of Americans are on the cusp of eligibility.

This round will probably be a repeat, but if House Republicans were serious about making spending cuts at least practical, if not immediately achievable (Biden and Senate Democrats will nix any attempt), it’s easily done.

First, there’s no reason for the government to hold itself to a timeline on when the budget should be balanced. It is way too ambitious for the cowardly and worthless members of Congress.

The second is to reduce spending. Start from somewhere. Anywhere. Take Sen. Rand Paul’s annual government waste audit Turn the wheel. Wherever the arrow lands, whether it’s the nearly $2 billion for “maintaining 77,000 empty Federal buildings,” or the $200,000 for the Pentagon’s “Starbucks espresso machines,” Get a