Baby, The Rain Must Fall
And, We Need to Begin Patching the Roof
This should be on every voter's mind. It's a non-partisan issue.
Despite the popularity of "Free Stuff" and "Increase in your ---- monthly check" promises from politicians and candidates, we simply CANNOT keep affording to do it.
It's very like your household budget. When you're in over your head, you can either:
- Increase income, or
- Cut expenses. Or BOTH.
What you cannot do it the Same Old Thing.
The GOP is suggesting a 3-pronged approach:
Cut unnecessary expenses. That might mean targeted RIF - Reduction in Force of the federal government. AND reductions to budgets - ACTUAL reductions, not just “less than you asked for”.
Is that going to be painful for the employees/contractors? It certainly WILL. I have no problem with TEMPORARY help, perhaps in the form of tangible assistance - moving costs to cheaper cities, job placement, help with debt counseling. But NO long-term help. Their unemployment insurance, savings, and assets should suffice. Is that kinda harsh? Yes, but we cannot continuing to spend to help people through financial crises.
That reduction should NOT include shuffling off to another job in the Federal government. Those jobs are going, and will NOT return. No more hip-hopping through a series of jobs to keep employed until the OTHER party comes back, all the time fomenting dissension and workplace activism.
If someone was NOT affiliated with a party - EITHER party (Unlikely), have their file tagged for special attention at getting another job - NOT in the Federal sector, but private industry, local government in a state, or self-employment, should they have the experience/training and a little seed money (Might help them look for loans/investments that are affordable, if needed).
Start the reduction with the departments that are harboring/have harbored in the past those employees that changed jobs quickly after an election to get into an exempt job (Jobs that are considered merit, rather than political appointees). A BUTTLOAD of them were last-minute hires when Trump first took office. Any department or agency that conspired to keep political appointees on the Federal payroll, who were originally political hires, should bear the brunt of the reduction. Make them PAY for their actions, and they might be less likely to repeat them.
Second choice to target for reductions are the parts of government that are doing jobs that don’t need done, or which have acted consistently in a partisan manner. Reduce their budget further, and force cuts in staff. Why should we pay for the not at present needed political workers during that time between elections?
Next step in reduction is staff - the Executive Branch should lead the way with a 10% reduction in their employees.
This gives the administration the chance to cut out placeholders, legacy positions not needed, and political employees that are operating under the radar (How will those wielding the ax determine who they are? Heck, social media alone has simplified that job to the point where a literate 5th grader could do it).
It also allows Trump and his administration to argue that THEY are also working harder with fewer people to handle the job. To fill in gaps, they might consider temporarily hiring part-time (Several days a week, rather than part-days) retired workers who prefer not to have a full-time job. Of course, hiring of these workers should be CONTRACTED, rather than going through regular channels. It’s a whole lot easier to say to the contracting agency that a particular individual isn’t working out, than to fire a Federal worker.
Make that the STANDARD for staffing in government’s executive branch. Other than necessary administrative staff - kitchen workers, cleaning staff, garden staff, etc., ALL staff are on contract, which will be terminated when the party in control of the Executive Branch changes. Challenge the other party to do the same, should they be elected.
Those contracts should be generous enough to provide ability to get health care at an affordable price. Their should also include matching money for Retirement Savings Plans - NOT government pensions. Although I hate to take a suggestion from a very partisan person, Sununu’s idea of making signing up for an IRA the default is a good idea. I’m always amazed just how many people, including teachers in states where they are not eligible for Social Security, don’t sign up when first employed.
This cannot be punitive. It should be done as compassionately as possible. Any targeting should be of those who are grossly non-performing, or are open partisans. That way, you make it clear that this is not a wholesale purge.
Military RIFs - There are a WHOLE lot of generals and admirals who need to retire. Start with those who engaged in partisan political activity or open support, which is a violation of the Military Code of Conduct. Reduce them in rank, then suggest retirement. By this action, you make it clear that injecting themselves into politics is never going to be overlooked.
Intelligence Agencies - Start with the Washington-based staff. The biggest problems aren’t in the raw intelligence, it’s in the slanting/concealing of such evidence for partisan purposes.
Anyone who is found to have concealed requested information from the White House (Yes, they may restrict access, NO, they may not hide it.), will be summarily discharged for cause. NO permissible employment in ANY branch of the Federal government, or any company or organization that has business with it. Any organization flouting that restriction will be automatically disqualified from ANY government contract.
Declare a holiday as soon as inaugurated for ALL Federal employees, except for those in essential protective activities in the field. Instruct them to leave their computers in the offices, to be inventoried as part of the change of administration.
Pull the plug on ALL government computers - not physically, but lock down ALL access. For 48 hours, NO ability of ANYONE - even the new President, or his predecessor - to have any access or any kind.
Bring in IT teams to clone all info on laptops, and copy ALL information in any computer that employees have access to to secured remote sites. Replace the original drives with clones. Document each step via video.
Check all of the original drives to make sure none have “timebombs” on them to wipe or corrupt information. For the present, set them aside, untouched, to examine when employees suspected of partisan info need to be investigated, and for the purposes of building a case for lawful firing.
If they are leaving voluntarily, put those drives in storage. Don’t bother with them unless they continue actions that seek to use government resources/info to undermine Trump’s administration.
Reduce - and preferably eliminate - subsidies for all but companies mining essential minerals, or components for military equipment - hardware, software. No screw/bolt/integrated circuit should be made outside of the USA.
Increase income. This does NOT have to mean increasing taxes, and - for now - should not. There are other ways to meet this goal:
Target Fraud, particularly Medicare Fraud. This is two-pronged, looking at medical and pharmaceutical expenses, but also at dumping those recipients who never should have been on the benefit.
One of the FIRST steps is to put a Secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services who is able, and willing, to do the job of reducing the size of the agency. The new head of HHS should direct CMS - the Center for Medicare Services - to return to the earlier classification of the aliens as COMPLETELY INELIGIBLE FOR ANY MEDICARE SERVICE, INCLUDING MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND MARKETPLACE SUBSIDIES. That one action, alone, will reduce the strain of the alien invasion on our health services budget. They may still attempt to receive care at hospitals, but the Feds won’t cover the cost. That puts the responsibility of paying for their lenient treatment of those present illegally on the locations that caused the problem.
For those border states, provide assistance in funding to set up and run (Over the next year only - no long-term promises), Urgent Care Centers near the hospitals. They can be used to triage incoming patients, direct some to the hospital ER, and decide whether to quickly treat and send home, or make appointments for the future. Expect this to be widely used for a time - the Centers should RENT space, as the need may change quite a bit as (I assume) aliens return to their birthplaces.
Tariffs - which, for the clueless, is NOT a sales tax.
Targets of tariffs should be - first - directed at countries that have a large number of exports that could be made in the USA, with some investment (They could be ramped up in months, rather than multiple years).
Of course, any country engaging in “dumping” - selling goods below cost - should make the list.
If companies are directly controlled by government, as happens in China. Their directors/leadership team are Chinese military, usually, but, in fact, the company operates as a subsidiary of government.
Flat Tax - this is likely a hard sell, so it may have to wait until the next administration. The Tax Prep industry will fight this one tooth and nail. It wouldn’t hurt to phase this one in over several years, as the disruption of a major industry will cause some pain. Keep in mind, those that are permanent employees are a distinct minority; probably 90% are temp staff.
Change the Corporate Tax to a Tax on GROSS INCOME - this will stop the game the multinational corporations have played for years, whereby they route money through other countries, pay inflated prices for their supplies and materials, and otherwise leave the bulk of their profits out of the USA, and, thus, not taxable. Keep that tax rate low. We only have to collect a small amount to make it worth our while.
Will some of the companies re-locate permanently to other locations? Possibly. However, the greater stability of the USA for business is a powerful factor in keeping them here.
Will this cause employment loss? Likely - mostly of those employees whose jobs don’t contribute to the bottom line. This will give a BIG boost to those guys who work with their hands. Expect the women to shriek, as most of them work in the non-manual jobs.
Reduce the size of government at the Federal level. That will likely mean sunsetting some programs, eliminating departments (while also reducing their size), and providing some TEMPORARY assistance in offloading state responsibilities. If the states CHOOSE not to provide a service, the Feds won’t make it mandatory.
Cut both regulations, AND the power to impose them. That means using the recent Supreme Court decision to have the Secretaries of the Department/Agencies take out a whole lot of regs.
These decisions will likely be resisted by staff - those staff should be informed that this is the direction that has been determined is the correct one, and that if they aren’t comfortable with that, a good reference will be supplied - UNLESS they have acted contrary to direction, whether openly or covertly, in which case, firing for cause is on the table.
Set up monitoring of the staff complaints on the job; if they use government equipment or resources (Stack Workplace or MS Teams apps, for example) to foment resistance or activism, document, warn, and if it continues, fire for cause.
Same as above, should they use information gained on the job to pass along ammunition to NGOs/activists/partisans, or their organizations.
It’s going to be a long slog. Trump understands how to run a lean operation, as well as move people out of their jobs with the least uproar. Despite his TV reputation as a guy who likes to fire people, he has a long history of giving people multiple chances.