Why the Federal Budget Can’t Make Anyone Happy

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We Americans love to have our cake and eat it. That’s why we’re in debt up to our eyeballs as a nation. We love to fight injustice, help the poor, take care of our elderly, support our allies and generally do really great things that we can’t really afford:

Here's what a budget problem looks like. Source: usgovernmentspending.com. Click the picture for nauseating details.

• One third of the budget is simply paying for the past in the form of interest payments on debt or paying former employees.
• One third of our budget goes for welfare and healthcare.
• Defense and everything else cover the other third.

So to cut the budget, our politicians are going to have to grow spines because the only way you can really tackle a monster like this is by making some very painful systematic changes:

First, sell assets to pay down debt. One look at how much land the Federal Government owns shows there’s quite an opportunity to raise big-time money by simply selling land to the people.  High value, urban properties should sell before low value rural property.  In short, potentially trillions of dollars could be raised by simply selling off real estate (not to mention the stuff in the warehouse from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”):

How much land the Federal Governement Owns in Each State. Time for an Auction?

Pay Federal Employees less and lower benefits.  This reduces costs across the board.  Federal salaries have grown to eclipse the private sector, and Federal benefits are the cream of the crop.

Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in more than eight out of 10 comparable occupations. — Dr. Mark J. Perry, University of Michigan.

Finally, there is the question of increasing taxes.  Here’s where things get a little difficult. According to a January 10 Rassmusen poll, the majority of Americans:

• Believe tax cuts help the economy.
• Believe that tax increases hurt the economy.
• Think the government needs to cut spending.

These beliefs haven’t changed much over the past few years. People don’t want higher taxes, and they want spending cut yesterday. Political reality is that there is absolutely no support for raising taxes, no matter how wise or prudent it would be. It is no surprise that the Tea Party, which at it’s core is a tax protest movement, has climbed into the driver’s seat in electoral politics.