Federal Government Shutdown

[Aractus]

Sorry, but the government is not a company, and should not be ran like a company.

Okay, first you are completely wrong about this. By definition of the word company, a business, an NPO, a church, a school, a sports team, a union, and a government are all forms of "companies". Even a casual poker game could be described as a company.

I am sorry, but you keep mentioning cutting funds, but where? Entitlements are only a part of the government spending, and cutting all entitlements is not the solution. We need to cut and reform the budget across all government departments, close tax loopholes, and raise taxes. Yes, raising taxes on the rich, and stop with the trickle down effect. Defence needs to be cut, and hell get rid of the crazy GWB's DHS (which grew the government by 40%)! Baby boomers are starting to retire, and they will suck the system dry.

I'm no expert, but I can tell you places to look for savings. First look at subsidies such as petrol (we have no such subsidies in Australia, in fact petrol is taxed to the limit). Periodically raise the minimum wage, this pushes up the cost of employment and generates more income tax. You need serious health reforms, for instance you need to take pharmaceuticals out of general stores, and only allow specialized pharmaceutical stores to sell drugs. This will reduce the wastage that the USA has on subsidising medication that people do not need to take, but take because they are given no professional advise when they buy their drugs. You can then reduce some of these subsidies because people are already spending less by not buying as many products that they do not need. You need to cut money to defence to intelligence agencies and to NASA.

I'm assuming that income taxes in America are a federal tax? You need to raise income tax on the wealthy and the middle-income.