The focus of the Tea Party members is "cuts."

 

Which of these would be off-limits?

 

Raising the SS retirement age to 70.

 

Cutting military pay.

 

Adding deductibles to VA benefits.

 

Cut Medicare benefits.

 

Reduce farm subsidies

 

Defense

 

Move Social Security to a need-based ie welfare-like system

 

mortgage interest deduction

I kept hearing throughout the excruciating runup to the election that Mr. Paul favored a $2,000 Medicare deductible. Would that be considered a cut in Medicare benefits?

The focus of the Tea Party members is "cuts."

 

Which of these would be off-limits?

Not sure any are "off limits" but there should be a lot more on the radar.

 

Raising the SS retirement age to 70.

SS needs to be looked at deeply and carefully. I read somewhere that it will now take the average person 16 years to recoup what they paid in. Average age is not 86. So IMO age is not the issue. The issue is that SS was supposed to be financial assistance for the elderly. That is not what it is now. There are a miriad of entitlement programs under the guise of SS. They did it that way on purpose so they could use the"We can't cut Social Security" defense. Let's remove everything from SS except for the seniors. Once all of those entitlement programs are brought out we can look where to cut them. For the record, I am in favor of phasing out SS in favor of personal retirement accounts.

Cutting military pay.

 

Adding deductibles to VA benefits.

I am ok with this a $10 deductable or so would be good. This should also apply to Medicaid, a $5 deductable would cut out a huge number of unnecessary visits.

 

Cut Medicare benefits.

Again this is a specifically funded program. First step is to return it to what it was intended for. Find the breaches into the program and remove them. Once those items are removed, if we find that the specific medicare tax does not cover the cost. Then it is time to move the costs to the user.

 

Reduce farm subsidies

Don't know enough about them.

 

Defense

Reduce military occupation in foreign countries by 30-40%.

 

Move Social Security to a need-based ie welfare-like system

Phase out SS to a private investment fund. Find a way to force people off of welfare.

 

mortgage interest deduction

Don't have a problem with it.

 

 

Every piece of the Federal Government needs to be looked at. Every department. Everything. Return the things that are supposed to be handled at the state level back to the states. The last numbers I saw said that 58% of federal spending in 2008 was on entitlement programs. That increased by 24% in 2009. The government is supposed to govern not be a nanny.

 

It's not something that can be done over night, it took a long time to get here. It's time to start phasing things out. I think we'll find that as we phase out secftions that are wasteful, we will find we have the funds to support the necessary.

I kept hearing throughout the excruciating runup to the election that Mr. Paul favored a $2,000 Medicare deductible. Would that be considered a cut in Medicare benefits?

 

Need to be careful. Aren't we already cutting Medicare as part of 'the Bill'? I believe 1/2 a billion a year.

Not sure any are "off limits" but there should be a lot more on the radar.

 

SS needs to be looked at deeply and carefully. I read somewhere that it will now take the average person 16 years to recoup what they paid in. Average age is not 86. So IMO age is not the issue. The issue is that SS was supposed to be financial assistance for the elderly. That is not what it is now. There are a miriad of entitlement programs under the guise of SS. They did it that way on purpose so they could use the"We can't cut Social Security" defense. Let's remove everything from SS except for the seniors. Once all of those entitlement programs are brought out we can look where to cut them. For the record, I am in favor of phasing out SS in favor of personal retirement accounts.

Cutting military pay.

 

I am ok with this a $10 deductable or so would be good. This should also apply to Medicaid, a $5 deductable would cut out a huge number of unnecessary visits.

 

Again this is a specifically funded program. First step is to return it to what it was intended for. Find the breaches into the program and remove them. Once those items are removed, if we find that the specific medicare tax does not cover the cost. Then it is time to move the costs to the user.

 

Don't know enough about them.

 

Reduce military occupation in foreign countries by 30-40%.

 

Phase out SS to a private investment fund. Find a way to force people off of welfare.

 

Don't have a problem with it.

 

 

Every piece of the Federal Government needs to be looked at. Every department. Everything. Return the things that are supposed to be handled at the state level back to the states. The last numbers I saw said that 58% of federal spending in 2008 was on entitlement programs. That increased by 24% in 2009. The government is supposed to govern not be a nanny.

 

It's not something that can be done over night, it took a long time to get here. It's time to start phasing things out. I think we'll find that as we phase out secftions that are wasteful, we will find we have the funds to support the necessary.

 

You may be confusing deductible with co-pay. Deductible is a threshhold that must be met (often something like $500 or $1000) and that figure must be paid by the member each plan year before benefits kick in. Co-payments are paid by members after the deductible has been reached; and are typically a fixed price per service ($10 for an office visit, $250 for an ER visit, etc.).

I have NO PROBLEM with a $2000 Medicare dedutable for future recipients (say those that are 50 or younger now and yes I do fall into that catagory).

 

I have little faith that Social Security will be there in 18 years when I'm eligible for it si I'm all for phasing in privatization for younger people to make each person responsible for themselves.

 

Even though they are a small percentage earmarks need to go.

 

ALL funding of public TV & Radio, the arts etc should be gone.

 

Across the board pay cuts for all government workers as well as government retirement packages & benefits being pased out from being guranteed for life.

Not on the list, salaries and pension of federal government employees. I would look at this first. If the rest of us are going to continue to see social security get cut, federal employees should have their salaries and pensions cut also.

The focus of the Tea Party members is "cuts."

 

Which of these would be off-limits?

 

Raising the SS retirement age to 70.

 

Cutting military pay.

 

Adding deductibles to VA benefits.

 

Cut Medicare benefits.

 

Reduce farm subsidies

 

Defense

 

Move Social Security to a need-based ie welfare-like system

 

mortgage interest deduction

At first glance these two jump out at me as no no's. I would like to see farm subsidies reduced or done away with altogether.

The focus of the Tea Party members is "cuts."

 

Which of these would be off-limits?

 

Raising the SS retirement age to 70.

Cutting military pay.

 

Adding deductibles to VA benefits.

 

Cut Medicare benefits.

 

Reduce farm subsidies

 

Defense

 

Move Social Security to a need-based ie welfare-like system

 

 

ttt

The focus of the Tea Party members is "cuts."

 

Which of these would be off-limits?

 

Raising the SS retirement age to 70.

 

Cutting military pay.

 

Adding deductibles to VA benefits.

 

Cut Medicare benefits.

 

Reduce farm subsidies

 

Defense

 

Move Social Security to a need-based ie welfare-like system

 

mortgage interest deduction

 

I wouldn't cut military pay, but everything else you've mentioned is on the table in my mind. Raising the age of SS doesn't matter to me, because I'm not planning on it being there for me anyway; and since I'm smart I'm not going to need it either. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was paying into that program, as I had the opportunity to opt out.

 

I think the most feasible are Defense cuts & Social Security. And probably even deductibles to VA benefits.

Not on the list, salaries and pension of federal government employees. I would look at this first. If the rest of us are going to continue to see social security get cut, federal employees should have their salaries and pensions cut also.

 

You do realize that federal employees hired after 1985 or so are in social security, not the separate system? Do you hit them twice, or really thrice?

Did anyone see the articles on the administrations committee about debt reduction that were out yesterday? Some interesting (and drastic) options thrown out there. Of course, they'll get torn apart by one side or the other and we'll continue to spin our wheels while debt grows. I'll see if I can find a link.

Did anyone see the articles on the administrations committee about debt reduction that were out yesterday? k.

 

Yes.

 

It's where my list came from.

I am of the firm belief that SS needs to be phased out completely.

Not on the list, salaries and pension of federal government employees. I would look at this first. If the rest of us are going to continue to see social security get cut, federal employees should have their salaries and pensions cut also.

 

 

I agree. Federal employees have always had a security blanket and are currently making more than their private sector counterparts in most cases. I think they are part of the problem.