Quote:
Originally Posted by justinstrife
Having people rely on the Government does not make their lives better. It just makes them dependent on the Government to take care of their problems for them. They never truly grow up sucking on the Government Teat. People need to start taking responsibility for their actions. If you're not contributing to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, you should not be able to draw from it. You are not a contributor to society. You are a leach. Living off the work and sweat of others.
I'd phase out SS/Medicare/Medicaid. Those who have paid into it, can draw it when their time comes. Those who haven't paid into it, or have just started contributing, should be able to opt out completely. I would if I had a choice. Those who don't contribute, don't get it. Once my generation passes, scrap the programs completely. Never bring them back.
Schools should be a local or state issue. Not a Federal one. Each city/county/state is going to have different needs and requirements. The locals can take care of that issue with property taxes, sales taxes, etc. Whatever $ issues states are having, can easily be fixed by phasing out pensions being paid to public employees(including politicians), and being more efficient with where tax money is being spent. In Surplus years put some money aside in a rainy day fund. Only to be used in times of crisis or years where the tax revenue isn't as good. Send the rest of the surplus back to the tax users. Don't increase state spending when you have Surpluses. California did this. It more than doubled our budget over the past decade. Then when the economy tanked, our budget was still over 100 billion dollars, but revenue was cut severely.
I do not want ANY Federal Money spent on Food Stamps or other entitlement programs. None. Zero. Zilch. That was NEVER the intent of the U.S. Government. Ever. I don't give a damn about people who've made poor decisions in their lives. There are charities and churches in local communities willing to help people. You can find help there. But I hate seeing people come to the government with their hands held out looking for free food, free money, free shelter, etc.
Now those who have just had bad luck, I'd support some kind of STATE programs to help them. But not Federal.
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I was unemployed for a year. If I didn't get food stamps and unemployment checks, I would have become homeless, and now be on the streets, begging. I tried to get a job for the longest time, but someone else always got hired (too many other people looking). I eventually got a job, and am now off unemployment and food stamps, so I can be a productive member of society.
Without that "safety net" I'd be begging you for change on the streets. Or maybe I'd turn to crime and rob your place or mug you. Do you want that? Because that's the alternative. What do you suggest for someone like me? What should I have done if the safety net wasn't there?
You may want to look at some European countries, like the Netherlands. The safety net is even bigger there, and the whole country is better and more able to ride out these depression times because of it.
Do some people live on handouts? Yep. But the solution is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but learn to identify these people and work with them.
Lastly, what's causing our debt is massive military spending. If we stopped playing world police and invading countries, and cut down our military spending, we could wipe out the debt in a decade or two, easy. Military spending is almost 800 billion a year. And our adventures overseas are costing us an extra several billion a day. Medicare/Medicaid is the other big chunk at 650 billion or so, and Social Security is about the same.
Cutting food stamps and unemployment wouldn't make a dent in the budget. Not sure what percentage that is, but in comparison, NASA's budget is about 7 billion per year.
Cut a couple billion from the military first, and we can easily afford the programs that make life better for millions of Americans.
Edit: Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_budget