Balanced Budget

A Blueprint for Balance: A Federal Budget for 2017

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Re-Blogged From The Heritage Foundation

The Blueprint for Balance provides detailed recommendations for the annual congressional budget. Congress needs to drive down spending – including through reform of entitlement programs – to a balanced budget, while maintaining a strong national defense, and without raising taxes.

While Congress cannot solve everything at once, it can and must take opportunities through the annual budget and appropriations process to make a down payment of putting the government’s finances back in order. They can do this by immediately reducing discretionary spending and taking meaningful steps to reduce mandatory spending by reforming those programs.

The Blueprint:

  • Balances the budget while reducing taxes. The Blueprint reaches primary balance (i.e., without including interest of the debt) within the first year and eliminates deficits by 2023 without counting any benefits from growing the economy (that would result in balance even sooner). The budget stays in surplus while allowing the nation to begin reducing the national debt. It does this while completely eliminating over $1.3 trillion in the tax revenues included in Obamacare.

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How to Balance the Budget

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cropped-bob-shapiro.jpg   By Bob Shapiro

The US federal Budget has been in Deficit for generations. Our leaders in Washington have borrowed from our children without any prospect that the money will be paid back, at least not in Dollars with anywhere near the same value.

The current National Debt stands at over $18 Trillion, and with annual deficits resuming their previous $1+ Trillion, some projections are that the National Debt will double within 10 years. If the current levels are not sustainable, why would any sane person expect that a $36 Trillion National Debt could be reached without a collapse of the US Economy?

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Putting Uncle Sam on a Diet

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By Bob Shapiro

I have written several times that every Dollar that our government spends must come out of the private, productive sector of the US Economy. I have called for Balancing the Budget, setting a Dollar Limit on federal spending, and other measures to reduce government spending. The Heritage Foundation has put together a detailed plan for shrinking our federal government, outlining 106 specific proposals for cutting spending. Though there are some of their recommendations I do not agree with – they want to increase spending for the Department of Defense even though the US spends more than all other countries combined – there is a wealth of good ideas.

Please set aside some time to look at their proposals. I think you’ll be glad you did.

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American Generosity vs Entitlements

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cropped-bob-shapiro.jpg   By Bob Shapiro

Many people doubt the generosity of Americans, especially Americans. They don’t want to depend on the generosity of strangers to provide food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, medical care for the medically indigent, or education for the poor. For them, if we don’t force all those American versions of Scrooge to cough up tax dollars, those in need won’t be provided for.

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