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I was talking with my wife last night about the transition to a more libertarian society. And the question came up.
I am curious as to what agency's / programs / jobs etc. Could be immediately cut without serious harm. I am not interested in "LDO ! wipe em all out" type answers. I am asking for real world answers about how we can get government under control.
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Good question, and doubtless the answer is complex.
A simple factoid, though:
* Year 2000 Federal Budget = $1.8 trillion
* Year 2007 Federal Budget = $2.8 trillion
Wiki Federal Budget United States
Perhaps this is food for thought?
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Are those inflation-adjusted dollars? If so, SWEET JESUS [censored] CHRIST!
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I was not assuming that they were inflation adjusted and my guess on that would be no.
First a 25% cut from FY 2008 budget of $ 2.9 trillion: ---> cut down to $ 2.175 trillion, and comparing that to 2000 FY budget level of 1.8 trillion. That leaves $ .375 trillion increase for inflation adjustment, and I have no idea how accurate that may be (the difficulty of adjusting for inflation is also exacerbated due to shifting standards for gauging inflation. So I'm just allowing some leeway or ballparking it and asking why we can't revert to roughly FY 2000 spending levels even if adjusted for inflation).
Put another way, I'd probably feel more or less OK with a FY 2008 $ 2.175 trillion budget provided that I also felt OK with a FY 2000 $1.8 trillion budget. I don't feel OK with a continuous yearly spending growth that led from from 1.8 trillion to 2.9 trillion over 8 years, inflation or no; and I don't see why we couldn't roll back spending to approximately FY 2000 levels. Getting out of Iraq would help but it isn't the only factor propelling the massive spending increase.