4 ms·

Just hang tight a few months for our savior, the Doge, to sort it out.

fooblaster 2y ago
or they will just do as they always have, axe social security, education, epa, state department, and increase the 800 lb gorilla that is DoD
- School-Cotton 2y ago
  Social security was last cut in 1983. Education is funded by the states. The rest of the things you mention are rounding errors in spending.
  - sidewndr46 2y ago
    Everything in the US is funded by the citizens of the states and territories. Outside of the tiny area that is Columbia, the federal government has no citizens.
    - School-Cotton 2y ago
      What's your point?
    - crystal_revenge 2y ago
      Parents point is that the vast majority of educational funding in practice is not decided at the federal level but at the state and often city level. Most of the money public k-12 schools get from municipal property taxes, and most of the public funding that state universities receive comes from the state level.
  - amarshall 2y ago
    States also receive federal funding for education. DoE is 2.0% of the federal budget for 2024.
    - mulmen 2y ago
      And what percentage of education spending does that 2% amount to?
      - Rebelgecko 2y ago
        Around 15% of K-12 education in America, although a good chunk of their money beyond that is spent on aid for poor students who want to go to college and special ed.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    >Social security was last cut in 1983. yes, during a mini-recession IIRC. we're around that point. >Education is funded by the states. and federal funding.
  - fooblaster 2y ago
    missing my point. they are going to gut the parts of government that deliver value to citizens, and inevitably drive up spending of the most bloated part of government
- blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
  Right now it looks like the current administration (with enough congressional votes) will pass a bill increasing social security benefits before inauguration of the new president, even though the social security fund is in a bad shape already. I tried searching and it looks like social security is the biggest expense of the budget. Medicare is larger than defense, excluding other health stuff like Medicaid and public health spending, which separately also add up to more than defense. That said I agree defense spending is out of control and inefficient, probably due to big contractors who have been robbing taxpayers for decades.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - tzs 2y ago
    The Social Security trust fund is projected to run out around 2033. The trust fund pays somewhere around 23% of people's monthly benefits. The rest of the monthly benefit comes from the payroll taxes of current workers. If Trump gets the tax cuts he talked about before the election that moves up the exhaustion of the trust fund by 1-3 years depending on whose projections you use. There are two approaches that can reasonably get Congressional support. 1. Raise the retirement age to 69 or 70 (from the current 67). You could still retire as early as 62 just like now, but when you retire early your benefit is less than your full benefit amount. Most projections I've seen have that adding a few years to the life of the trust fund. 2. Raise the cap on the payroll tax. The payroll tax is a flat rate tax on payroll (half paid by the employee and half by the employer) on the first $168k of you annual pay. Raising that cap to something like $400k would extend the life of the trust fund something like 70 years. From what I've read both Democrat and Republican voters strongly favor approach #2. In Congress Democrats favor #2 and Republicans favor #1. We probably should do both. One of the Republican arguments for #1 is that people live longer now, so it makes sense to raise the retirement age. But #1 is only a relatively short term fix for the trust fund. #2 is long term. In particular #2 fixes it long enough to get well past dealing with the situation we are in now where people born at the peak of the baby boom are retiring. We are seeing around 11k people a day turning 65. It's expected to remain in that ballpark through 2027. With #1 the trust fund should be good long past the time all those people have died. So do #2 to deal with the trust fund. Do #1 to address longer lifespans (if we decide that your longer life should mean more working years rather than more retirement years).
rpmisms 2y ago
I expect good recommendations from DOGE, and some amount of implementation of those ideas that is non-zero, but also barely makes a dent.
threeseed 2y ago
DOGE needs to talk to people like Paul Ryan. He spent decades trying to massively reform the US government and was one of the most knowledgable, skilled and well connected people to try. And he failed miserably. Because ultimately politics is about getting votes. And there simply aren't any votes in making the US government more efficient or balancing the budget.
- catlover76 2y ago
  [dead]
- acdha 2y ago
  I don’t think it’s accurate to make that blanket statement without the qualification that his options were precluded by his political alignment. For example, Medicare cost reduction hits the broader problem of the American medical system being so much less efficient than everywhere else, but since both drug companies and doctors are key constituencies he couldn’t propose anything significant. Similarly, hiring civil servants instead of contractors would avoid several massive sources of inefficiency but that’d involve boosting pay scales, hiring more people, and shifting from saying the government is inherently inefficient to discussing realistic changes to incentives and oversight – all of which would have been political suicide.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  >And there simply aren't any votes in making the US government more efficient or balancing the budget. I hear this and wonder how The New Deal ever managed to get off the proposal floor. Real shame how underinformed the voting populace is.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

or they will just do as they always have, axe social security, education, epa, state department, and increase the 800 lb gorilla that is DoD

School-Cotton 2y ago
Social security was last cut in 1983. Education is funded by the states. The rest of the things you mention are rounding errors in spending.
- sidewndr46 2y ago
  Everything in the US is funded by the citizens of the states and territories. Outside of the tiny area that is Columbia, the federal government has no citizens.
  - School-Cotton 2y ago
    What's your point?
  - crystal_revenge 2y ago
    Parents point is that the vast majority of educational funding in practice is not decided at the federal level but at the state and often city level. Most of the money public k-12 schools get from municipal property taxes, and most of the public funding that state universities receive comes from the state level.
- amarshall 2y ago
  States also receive federal funding for education. DoE is 2.0% of the federal budget for 2024.
  - mulmen 2y ago
    And what percentage of education spending does that 2% amount to?
    - Rebelgecko 2y ago
      Around 15% of K-12 education in America, although a good chunk of their money beyond that is spent on aid for poor students who want to go to college and special ed.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  >Social security was last cut in 1983. yes, during a mini-recession IIRC. we're around that point. >Education is funded by the states. and federal funding.
- fooblaster 2y ago
  missing my point. they are going to gut the parts of government that deliver value to citizens, and inevitably drive up spending of the most bloated part of government
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
Right now it looks like the current administration (with enough congressional votes) will pass a bill increasing social security benefits before inauguration of the new president, even though the social security fund is in a bad shape already. I tried searching and it looks like social security is the biggest expense of the budget. Medicare is larger than defense, excluding other health stuff like Medicaid and public health spending, which separately also add up to more than defense. That said I agree defense spending is out of control and inefficient, probably due to big contractors who have been robbing taxpayers for decades.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- tzs 2y ago
  The Social Security trust fund is projected to run out around 2033. The trust fund pays somewhere around 23% of people's monthly benefits. The rest of the monthly benefit comes from the payroll taxes of current workers. If Trump gets the tax cuts he talked about before the election that moves up the exhaustion of the trust fund by 1-3 years depending on whose projections you use. There are two approaches that can reasonably get Congressional support. 1. Raise the retirement age to 69 or 70 (from the current 67). You could still retire as early as 62 just like now, but when you retire early your benefit is less than your full benefit amount. Most projections I've seen have that adding a few years to the life of the trust fund. 2. Raise the cap on the payroll tax. The payroll tax is a flat rate tax on payroll (half paid by the employee and half by the employer) on the first $168k of you annual pay. Raising that cap to something like $400k would extend the life of the trust fund something like 70 years. From what I've read both Democrat and Republican voters strongly favor approach #2. In Congress Democrats favor #2 and Republicans favor #1. We probably should do both. One of the Republican arguments for #1 is that people live longer now, so it makes sense to raise the retirement age. But #1 is only a relatively short term fix for the trust fund. #2 is long term. In particular #2 fixes it long enough to get well past dealing with the situation we are in now where people born at the peak of the baby boom are retiring. We are seeing around 11k people a day turning 65. It's expected to remain in that ballpark through 2027. With #1 the trust fund should be good long past the time all those people have died. So do #2 to deal with the trust fund. Do #1 to address longer lifespans (if we decide that your longer life should mean more working years rather than more retirement years).

rpmisms 2y ago

I expect good recommendations from DOGE, and some amount of implementation of those ideas that is non-zero, but also barely makes a dent.

threeseed 2y ago

DOGE needs to talk to people like Paul Ryan. He spent decades trying to massively reform the US government and was one of the most knowledgable, skilled and well connected people to try. And he failed miserably. Because ultimately politics is about getting votes. And there simply aren't any votes in making the US government more efficient or balancing the budget.

catlover76 2y ago
[dead]
acdha 2y ago
I don’t think it’s accurate to make that blanket statement without the qualification that his options were precluded by his political alignment. For example, Medicare cost reduction hits the broader problem of the American medical system being so much less efficient than everywhere else, but since both drug companies and doctors are key constituencies he couldn’t propose anything significant. Similarly, hiring civil servants instead of contractors would avoid several massive sources of inefficiency but that’d involve boosting pay scales, hiring more people, and shifting from saying the government is inherently inefficient to discussing realistic changes to incentives and oversight – all of which would have been political suicide.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
johnnyanmac 2y ago
>And there simply aren't any votes in making the US government more efficient or balancing the budget. I hear this and wonder how The New Deal ever managed to get off the proposal floor. Real shame how underinformed the voting populace is.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]