Manifesto 2.0

1. The role of government in regard to the economy should be minimal. I believe that taxes should be minimal to the point of providing the government with just enough to fund the necessary programs. Regulations on business are too invasive and not as necessary now as they were before. Some regulation is needed, of course, but it should not be to the point where it has negative effects on businesses. Consumer and worker safety along with minor involvement in environmental preservation should be the extent of the governments role. "The best government is that which governs least" (Civil Disobedience, 1849. By Henry David Thoreau).

2. I strongly disagree with the amount of money that is taken in by the government through collection of Social Security. It was never mean't to be a significant source of spendable revenue for the federal government, but rather a government subsidized form of savings that they started to dip into and fund programs with. Now we are forced to buy into a system with the expectation of getting that money back, unfortunately many people don't get anywhere close to the money they put in back. It has basically turned into an extra income tax.

3. The main problem that I have with the chart is that each section could be shrinked by millions or even billions of dollars if government officials could just prioritize and agree to cuts in certain areas. It is all very dependent upon the ability of both sides to cooperate and make necessary cuts. It seems to be unanimous that there needs to be cuts. I would focus the cuts on the Medicare and Medicaid which mostly includes ObamaCare. Defense also has room for rearrangement. There are just so many earmarks in the budget that need to be sorted and prioritized.

4. I believe that the first step to shallowing the financial hole that we are currently in is tax reform. With this we would undoubtedly see an increase in federal revenue if done correctly. Unfortunately, tax reform isn't an option in the simulation and it also fails to recognize the potential for increasing revenue by lowering taxes. However, I also believe that this country doesn't have a revenue problem, but rather a spending problem. My plan for shrinking the federal deficit involved mostly cutting federal programs. The defense budget is incredibly high and definitely has some room to make cuts to unnecessary programs. For example, the F-35 program sucked up $397 billion and ultimately failed. I'm sure that if they took the time, every federal program could find a couple areas that could use some trimming down.


5. The reason I chose scissors as my symbolic image should be clear. Our government needs to start cutting back on things that we don't need. Consistently running trillion dollar deficits is not a healthy practice. The spending is totally out of control in my opinion and needs to be brought back down to earth.