If I was in charge I would push for enormous changes to fix the economy. Here is what I would do.
- Abolish several departments. Agriculture, Education, and Homeland Security do not need entire departments. These departments are either too big, obsolete, or just useless. I’m sure there are other departments that can go as well. One of Bush’s biggest mistakes was creating the Department of Homeland Security.
- Reduce the number of government employees, reduce wages, and reduce pensions. Government employees’ wages have been going up the past two years. It’s time these people start sacrificing like the rest of us. Federal and State pensions are absurd. We’re basically paying able bodied people not to work.
- Raise the entitlement age for Medicare and Social Security. Don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen. If there’s one thing elderly people do well, it’s vote.
- Temporarily cut the payroll tax. This would be much more beneficial for the average American than the stimulus package.
- Halt the stimulus package. Use the allotted funds to help pay for the shortfall in payroll receipts.
That’s just a short list of things to do. I could think of others, but this would be a step in the right direction. I don’t expect Obama to take up any of these ideas any time soon. Politicians love to talk about reducing waste, but they lack the courage to do it.
During the past year there has been an endless stream of news about corporate waste, and for good reason. Exposing waste and fraud are one of jobs of the press. The Obama administration has gone so far as to blame the economic malaise on CEO pay. But if private companies are having to eliminate pensions, why aren’t we doing the same thing for government employees? It’s time for Americans to address public pensions. The Economist touched on this subject a couple of weeks ago.
Join a private-sector company these days and you will be very lucky if you get a pension linked to your final salary. In Britain almost three out of four companies that retain such schemes have closed them to new employees. The cost of paying such benefits, which are partly linked to inflation and offer payouts to surviving spouses, is simply too high now that many retirees are surviving into their 80s.
Yet most new public-sector employees in Britain and America continue to benefit from pensions linked to their salaries. The pension costs facing the public sector are roughly the same as those facing the private sector; their employees are likely to live just as long. But because of the presumed largesse of future taxpayers, governments seem under much less pressure to reduce their pension costs.
Why are we allowing so many of our citizens to receive permanent vacations at taxpayer expense? I’m sorry if this seems harsh, but if you’re an able-bodied American at age 55 who can still contribute there’s no need for you to be on public welfare. This idea of guaranteed retirement without contribution is insane. I don’t have a problem with offering good benefits to those in the armed forces or the police, but that’s about where it ends.
The Democrats, despite their cries of being the party of the poor, have basically become the party of the handout. The reason why no one will stop the gravy train is because the Democrat party is invested in the status quo. The party has built a constituency that needs government assistance. More government means more Democrat voters. Is there any possible way to starve this beast? It seems like most progressives don’t care what their party of choice has become, but history suggests the outcome of this party philosophy ends in tyranny.
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