Better living through budget cuts
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 byNow that the Democrat’s 2nd Great Capitulation is complete, let’s identify $2.4 trillion in budget cuts that will actually make America a better place. In my first attempt, I’ll try to do this without addressing tax breaks, just subsidies.
I’m going to do this over the next few days so bear with me!
| Budget Item | Savings | Reference | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shrubya's Wars | 170,000,000,000 | Shrubya's Wars | Duh...Losing! |
| Nuclear Weapons Program | 52,000,000,000 | Nuclear Weapons Spending | You'd think that 5,113 warheads would be enough to deter any one country - or every country - from attacking the U.S. |
| Crop Subsidies | 20,000,000,000 | Crop Subsidies | |
| Fossil Fuel Subsidies | 18,200,000,000 | Fossil Fuel Subsidies | Why are we subsidizing one of the most profitable industries on the planet? Not to forget pollution, global warming and those annoying people who drive massive cars... |
| Global Information Grid | 17,842,000,000 | Global Information Grid | Err...EMP blast anybody? This is just a pricey new playground for Chinese hackers or for NORAD Nerds to surf porn faster. And it won't be very helpful in fighting terrorists and insurgents in the failed states of the future. |
| F-35 Lightning II | 12,000,000,000 | F-35 Lightning II | Pentagon estimates $1 trillion dollars will be spend during the 50-year life span of this program...when our existing fighters work just fine. Boondoggle of the century? |
| Biofuel Subsidies | 6,000,000,000 | Ethanol Subsidies | |
| Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected Vehicle | 4,300,000,000 | Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected Vehicle | Rollovers, drowning, electrocution, cancer. Suggest we just get the hell out of A'stan & Iraq! Much cheaper, and safer. |
| Ford Class Supercarrier | 3,636,000,000 | Ford Class Supercarrier | Just in time for the Chinese to test out their new anti-carrier missiles! Sweet! |
| Star Wars | 2,000,000,000 | Missile Defense | |
| Nuclear Power Subsidies | 1,200,000,000 | Nuclear Power Subsidies | Pay industry to create new U.S. reactors, then pay again (through taxpayer funded unlimited liability) if they Chernobyl or Fukushima? Seriously? |
| Littoral Combat Ship | 1,250,000,000 | Littoral Combat Ship | “LCS is not expected to be survivable in terms of maintaining a mission capability in a hostile combat environment." Doh!! |
| V-22 Osprey | 1,500,000,000 | V-22 Osprey | Helicopters can do the job better and more cheaply. |
| Airlines Subsidies | 1,000,000,000 | Airline Subsidies | |
| Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle | 1,000,000,000 | Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle | Churchill doesn't need to fight 'em on the beaches no more. Scratch this boondoggle! |
| Navy/Marine Intranet | 1,000,000,000 | Navy/Marine Intranet | Er...would they not be part of the $10B/year Global Information Grid? Apparently they have been |
| Commercial Fishing Subsidies | 713,000,000 | Commercial Fishing Subsidies | Don't we pay for fish in the store? So - why we paying twice? |
| Ground Combat Vehicle | 350,000,000 | Ground Combat Vehicle | We spent $340 billion on the "Future Combat System" with nothing to show for it. This is the "same program, same contractors. , same goals..."They're baaaack... |
| Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Subsidies | 170,000,000 | Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Subsidies | Additional nuclear subsidy in disguise, as hydrogen is not a fuel source |
*Update 8/15/11* I’m at just over a $314 billion dollars and I haven’t finished up with Pentagon boondoggles yet, much less gotten to the wars! Note that the Super Congress is only looking to save $2 trillion over a period of 10 years – extrapolated over ten years, we’re probably already past $3 trillion…