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Why not pull out of Europe? We've been defending them since WWII. Of course they might all start squabbling again; that could cost even more.

But a paltry 21% of 660-ish billion isn't anywhere close to making up the gap.

Why not stop spending money on stupid stuff that makes people worse off, like green jobs, union bailouts, car company take overs, buying people houses, more efficient SUVs, and so forth?

As I said, my figure was for federal income tax. It's not the latest figure, but it's close enough.

You still aren't doing the math. Expenditures were ~$3.6 T. That's a mighty big hole to fill.

It doesn't help anyone if the government goes broke. Even Andy Stern (ex-SEIU boss) sees that.

"People are trying to approach this without the traditional Democratic- Republican, left-right perspectives," Stern said. "I've never seen a more sober, responsible conversation in Washington. Everybody wonders, will there be a moment when that all changes? Will the elections in November, will the need to make some pretty hard decisions, change all that?" No one is ruling it out, he said, but in the meantime, "there are lots of conversations going on that are not normal in Washington."

That may be because the fiscal state of the nation is not normal. The Obama administration projects the annual budget deficit will reach $1.47 trillion for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The accumulated national debt is now over $13 trillion; last year we paid $202 billion in interest on the debt and that could rise to more than $700 billion in 2019. The huge numbers are beginning to unnerve voters, and the politicians who need them.

-- Cheers, James Arthur

FWIW, 43% x $2.1T =3D $903B. So, I was pretty close.

I overshot on the defense number, which I thought was ~$660B, but it seems was only $625B Not even a spendulus package's worth.. Chump change, these days.

-- Cheers, James

Tell politicians that they only get paid if the budget is balanced, and there is enough left over to pay them.

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THAT, Mr. Terrell, is brilliant. You've got my vote.

-- Cheers, James Arthur

Do you really think that their congressional salary is how they get rich? It would make it impossible for any citizen legislator, though.

How about going the other way? Make them forfeit any savings and no investments (makes tracking the money easy), then pay on a bonus system. Balanced budget makes $1M/yr ($525M is chump change), $100B deficit => zero salary.

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Eh. It's getting too complicated. Let's just vote 'em out.

-- Cheers, James Arthur

Term limits? ...or Gilloutine?

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Yes, we could pull out of Europe and a bunch of other places. As of

2004, we had about 700 military bases in 130 countries. There aren't many countries without a US embassy or a base. And don't forget Israel and Palestine that rip us off for 3 billion or more fighting over religion. We support both sides. Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where 2 planets were fighting a simulated war and computers kept track of the simulated causalities, and real people had to report to execution chambers so the war could continue.

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Just flip a coin, whenever a term ends. ;-)