The newly elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei, just took a chainsaw to Argentina’s government. Congratulations to Milei for keeping a promise. The US desperately needs to do the same!
Javier Milei Eliminates Half of Argentina’s Government Ministries
Praise and honors to Javier Milei for fulfilling a campaign promise. On his first day in office, Javier Milei Eliminates Half of Argentina’s Government Ministries
Within hours of being sworn into office on Sunday, Milei made good on his vow to take a “chainsaw” both to government spending and to what he called his country’s “political caste,” signing an executive order to cut the number of government ministries from 18 to nine.
“Ministry of Tourism and Sports — out!” he said, tearing a ministry name tag off a whiteboard. “Ministry of Culture — out! Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development — out! Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity — out! Ministry of Public Works — out, even if you resist!”
Milei also tore off the tags denoting the Ministries of Science, Technology, and Innovation; Labor, Employment, and Social Security; Education; Transportation; Health; and Social Development.
The president-to-be concluded the video by stressing, “The thievery of politics is over. Long live freedom, damn it!”
Chainsaw Plan Now a Reality
Economic Shock
Reuters reports Argentine President Milei Warns Economic Shock Unavoidable in Maiden Speech.
Argentina libertarian economist Javier Milei took office on Sunday warning in his maiden speech that he had no alternative to a sharp, painful fiscal shock to fix the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation heading towards 200%.
“There is no alternative to a shock adjustment,” he said on the steps on Congress after taking the presidential baton and sash, with crowds of supporters cheering despite Milei saying the economy would worsen in the short term. “There is no money.”
“The outgoing government has left us on track towards hyperinflation,” Milei said. “We are going to do everything we can to avoid such a catastrophe.”
While the speech was light on details, he said key steps would include a fiscal adjustment equivalent to 5% of the country’s GDP through cuts that he said would fall on “the state and not the private sector.”
“We know in the short term the situation will worsen but then we will see the fruits of our efforts,” Milei said. “We don’t seek or desire the tough decisions that will need to be made in the weeks ahead, but unfortunately we have no choice.”
Wow and Congratulations!
I would like to see the US do the same, starting with the Department of Education and Department of Labor. Get rid of them.
It does not even have to be big bang. Something like 33% a year for three years would suffice.
Biden Drops the Term Bidenomics, Republicans Would Be Wise to Use it Instead
On December 6, I commented Biden Drops the Term Bidenomics, Republicans Would Be Wise to Use it Instead
Biden has used the word 101 times since June, but he has made no mention of it for almost a full month.
It seems the president is now embarrassed by his own term. And he should be.
Debt to GDP Alarm Bells Ring, Neither Party Will Solve This
On September 7, 2023, I commented Debt to GDP Alarm Bells Ring, Neither Party Will Solve This
Within a few years the debt-to-GDP ratio of the US will topple highs set in WWII. This time, there will not be a huge baby boomer led recovery.
No One Will Fix This
Compromise is always more spending for this in return for more spending on that.
Bnd both parties want to spend more on the military.
“Neither party will fix the deficits. Neither party will do anything about mounting debt. No one will do anything about anything because the political system is totally broken.” Mish
Government Accounts for Nearly 25 Percent of All Job Gains in 2023
On December 10, I noted Government Accounts for Nearly 25 Percent of All Job Gains in 2023
Government jobs have been on fire the entire year.
The total job gains so far in 2023 is 2.552 million. Government jobs account for 636,000 of them!
US Chainsaw Needed
Can we please take a chainsaw to the US and State Governments?
Javier Milei gives us hope that we can. But it sure won’t be this crop of Republicans and Democrats.
I wish someone would do the SAME fat-trimming in the USA!
Let’s hope we avoid a chainsaw massacre & go the route of a surgeon’s scalpel.
I seem to remember Ron Paul pledging to slash the size of the FED by 70% an dumping income taxes. We had our chance to make changes when he was running for prez many years ago… Vivek has that same spirt
Vivek wants to bomb Mexico and start a draft.
He is a genuine nutcase
Vivek wants slavery. The draft isn’t for him or any of the elite, check out Fox news participation in the Vietnam era draft. Kudlow, Trump, Huckabee etc, all too sick to serve.
Mish, your final statements suggests that there is hope, but then you say that this Crop will never do it.
There is no political WILL because the Political Class no longer cares what voters think. They only SAY that they CARE but caring is driven by political expediency, not voter’s Needs.
This country needs a reset and they are gonna DO IT.
Enter the Bonapartist, stage left.
Vivek Ramaswamy says he would lay off all social security numbers ending in either even or odd. Mass layoffs are legal. Government “services” wouldn’t miss a beat.
As an economist, I like Milei’s idea of doing a big-scale experiment on a large economy like Argentina. We rarely get this kind of experimental data in economics. On the other hand, I think Milei is batshit crazy (even more crazy than Trump, which is extremely difficult).
Why is he crazy? I think in this day of radical everything he fits right in. A radical issue caused by radical people needs to be solved by a radical guy. Although, I fear this creates a further culture of radicalism.
I do agree that this will be a great experiment that will yield very interesting data/. I hope his plan works.
To quote Ron Swanson, “Slash it! Slash it!”
You missed my point. Milei turns out to be IMF on steroids (or with a chainsaw). The IMF was and is thoroughly hated in Argentina for proposing over the last 40 years exactly the kind of policies Milei is now implementing, from FX depreciation to fiscal austerity to structural reforms. If that’s not batshit crazy, I don’t know definition of crazy.
Who in Government is NOT crazy. These people are in Government because they could never function in jobs that require competence.
Argentina isn’t the USA. Inflation is incredible. It’s virtually impossible to implement his plan in the USA, given the entrenched interest groups. Probably the same south of the border. It’s all a lot of talk.
While I have not read all the comments, I agree with the comments that HUD, DOE are rounding errors in the federal budget, but go after defense and where the real money is spent and you will see that they have offices, factories, whatever in every single state – even tiny Vermont. And no Congress member is going to vote away jobs in their state which is exactly why military contractors have so many offices. Keeps Congress happy and a lot of unnecessary dollars flowing to the military. Cant fix the high cost of medical care because the insurance companies are make sure Congress is happy. Of course we could cut back on some of these government agencies. But each one keeps someone happy.
Agreed. When you see how much of the budget goes to the DoD, you would think there would be room for cuts. Not everyone can be important.
Vevik says he’ll reduce the Federal government by 60%. He also is the least war monger of the bunch. He speaking glowing of Israel but says he wouldn’t give them $s for weapons. I’m sure AIPAC has him In their crosshairs
He is a fringe figure that has no where to do but to be forgotten. Just Like Ron Paul, a voice of reason that in that sense means that they are not PERMITTED to have a say. Ignore him and all the rest. They are not gonna save us. They are in it for the Glory and $$$$$$$$$$$
Any politician who has been captured by zionist interests (Trump, Biden, Meloni, Johnson etc.) will sell out their non-zionist voters on issues that conflict with zionist positions, regardless of political ideology.
Zionists have interests in issues that may seem to have little connection with Israel. Israel has run a trade deficit every year since at least the late 1960s. It is not self sufficient in food or energy production. So Israel relies on a steady flow of cash injections to maintain a standard of living anything like what they have now. The Shekel cannot be created as needed to the degree that the Dollar can. That cash injection comes from foreign aid, donations, industrial espionage, organized crime profits, income from overseas investment as well as probable coordinated interventions by central banks to prop up the Shekel.
The ability of non-Israeli jews to move between countries and to increase their political and economic power to provide support for Israel is also important. So an open borders policy in other nations (except for Israel of course) economically benefits Israel. It also facilitates those nation taking in refugees created by Israeli policies.
Milei has already backtracked regarding climate change.
Argentina is amongst the countries most affected by climate change. There is nothing Milei can do to change this because geographically Argentina is stuck.
What are you citing that states Argentina is one of the “…most affected by climate change.”?
Multiple sources. But it isn’t climate change alone. Argentina has a geographic problem even without climate change. Variability in climate will make things more unpredictable bc of their geographic location. Their drought wasn’t caused by climate change according to multiple sources. They have water issues at a baseline.
Can you name these sources?
His source is “Trust me, bro”.
Wasn’t it Trump, last time around, who promised to “drain the swamp”? [lol]
He exposed corruption at FBI, CIA, DOJ, USArmy, and Federal Judiciary. Yet citizens prospered.
Yeah, but he backtracked on the Paris accord and weather cult stuff, didn’t he?
He’ll be lucky to just get the historic cuts needed, and that’s what is important. Adopting the dollar and getting US financial aid isn’t going to come without a lot of conditionality from the US.
This is the canary in the coal mine. Argentina is stuck economically bc of climate change. The will get extreme flooding from the south due to ice melt and flooding from the north due to snow melt. They also have historic droughts.
This is what true leadership looks like. Honest. Blunt. Courageous. Real change instead of lip service and empty rhetoric. This is the path for Liberty. This is my vote for “Person of the Year”.
Mish, 1/3 per year is a recipe for disaster. The remaining 2/3, after the first year, will not work, actively steal, sabotage your efforts for two years, create pretenses for law suits, etc. You need to do it all in one day, and that day has to be a surprise.
With the liberal “mierda” as Milei calls them on the run, Argentina is now investable. Here is my take, nobody seems to have caught on yet. We all know that the petrodollar was a way for the US to print currency and have it circulate outside the country instead of chasing up prices in the US. The petro dollar has run out of gas. house Saud is now selling oil for Yuan. UAE abandoned its “only dollars for oil” status. The deep state con men in the US who are running the Global Debt Ponzi (GDP) are not blind. They saw this coming. It was well telegraphed. So the US is looking around for other reasons for those dollars NOT to make it back to American shores any time soon. So why not move the dollar from being the petrodollar to the commodity dollar?
Milei could not have won without the invisible hand help of the USA. No way. Nobody expected him to win, but the US went in and greased, threatened and promised those who would oppose Milei. In return, Milei had to dollarize Argentina. And now we will see the US send aid and loans and open the door for US corporations to build productive capacity over there with the main two goals of getting cheaper commodities for the US which will be paid for ONLY in dollars. Without more productive capacity, Milei’s dollarization of Argentina is nothing. But if the US now begins to build the country back into a commodity producing jaugernaut, you will know that the main reason this is being done is to keep dollars in circulation outside of the US because if there is no home outside the US then they will all come home to roost inside the US and massive CPIflation will be the result.
What are you babbling on about? The dollars used outside the US (i.e.: most of all the USD in existence) are created and destroyed outside the US – they don’t “come back”. Argentina’s state has very few USD, as in eurodollars; some of the public have hoarded physical USD (the ones that do come from the USA), but not much on the scale of things. USD returning to the US will have little impact on inflation, due to the collosal deflation occurring and baked in. There is no moneyprinting and price rises are not inflation, they are scarcity. There seems to be plenty you haven’t caught onto.
The Democrat-Deepstate regime is not a helping hand for Milei, quite the opposite, and they have ranged their media outlets against him to smear him.
Argentina is still a long way from being investable, and will remain so for years.
^ clueless
If no one outside the USA wants $US, the only place they can be used is in the USA, which means foreigners buying up the USA, or dumping them for whatever fraction they can get before the real world value goes to $0.
So yes, hyperinflation inside the US is likely if not inevitable.
“Chainsaw to Argentina’s Gov’t, Eliminating Half as Promised”
Now on to America!!!!!!!!!
Wtf did Whorekraine’s grumbling Nazi dog come to Argentina for ? ! Just Nato puppets visiting each other or merely a refuel stopover on his way to a 50 billion ‘refuel’ ?
Koch to the white house.
What gives Javier the authority to eliminate government services? He’s constitutionally required to implement programs the Argentine legislature has already passed, or face impeachment. And his veto of future legislation can be overridden. His best chance to drain the swamp is the members of the legislature fail to override his veto.
No, it’s the legislator’s fear they will be tossed to the street.
Yet, watch. Nobody will stand against him. His new backing by the US deep state makes him a dictator. And before people whine about that term, there actually is such a thing as a benevolent dictator. Qaddafi was such a man. Libya was doing VERY well under his iron fist. The place has gone to hyperinflation shit since the US killed him. I see a very positive decade ahead for Argentinean people under the combo of puppet government Milei and his boss in the US deep state. It will be a win win. If the US tries to gouge Milei too much then he will be problematic and the US will lose the dollar vacuum that our deep state wants Argentina to become.
But is he constitutionally required to pay for the programs?
In other words if he has X amount of dollars (and Argentina really does only have X amount of dollars), can he fund the ones he wants to keep up to X amount of dollars and given 0 dollars to the rest. The rest can be Milton in Office Space and keep showing up to work but not get paid or accept the fact they no longer have jobs.
Article 99 gives special powers to El Presidente to make laws with the backing of the cabinet. Other than that, he is responsible for the general admininstration of the country, which implies access to a budget.
…
Powers and dutiesThe president of the nation has the following powers granted by Constitution (Article 99):
Is the supreme head of the nation, head of government and is politically responsible for the general administration of the country.
Issues the instructions and regulations necessary for the execution of the laws of the nation, without altering their spirit with regulatory exceptions.
Participates in the making of laws under the Constitution, promulgates them and has them published. The Executive Power shall in no case under penalty, and void, issue legislative provisions. Only when exceptional circumstances make it impossible to follow the ordinary procedures foreseen by this Constitution for the enactment of laws, and not try to rules governing criminal matters, taxation, electoral or political party regime, may issue decrees on grounds of necessity and urgency, which will be decided by a general agreement of ministers who shall countersign them together with the head of the cabinet of ministers. The head personally and within ten days submit the decision to the consideration of the Joint Standing Committee, whose composition should respect the proportion of the political representation of each chamber. This commission shall submit its report within ten days to the plenary of each House for its specific treatment, they immediately considered the Chambers. A special law enacted with the absolute majority of all the members of each House shall regulate the procedure and scope of Congress intervention.
Appoints the judges of the Supreme Court with the Senate by two-thirds of the members present, at a public meeting convened for that purpose. Appoints the other judges of the lower federal courts according to a binding three candidates proposed by the Judiciary Council, with the Senate, in public session, in which the suitability of candidates will be considered. A new appointment, the same consent, it is necessary to keep in under any of those judges, once they reach the age of seventy-five years. All appointments of judges whose age is indicated or over shall be five years and maybe repeated indefinitely, by the same procedure.
May grant pardons or commute sentences for crimes subject to federal jurisdiction, following a report of the court, except in cases of impeachment by the House of Representatives.
Grant pensions, retirements, pensions and licenses under the laws of the Nation.
Appoints and removes ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary and business with the Senate; alone appoints and removes the chief of cabinet ministers and other cabinet ministers, the officers of his Secretariat, consular agents and employees whose appointments are not otherwise regulated by this Constitution.
Is the commander in chief of all of the armed forces of the nation. Thus, they are the highest-ranked officer.
Annually attends the opening session of the Congress, both Houses assembled for this purpose, this time realising the state of the Nation, on amendments promised by the Constitution, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
Attends regular sessions of Congress, or convokes extraordinary sessions when a serious interest order or progress requires.
Oversees the performance of the duties of the chief of the Ministerial Cabinet as regards the collection of the revenues of the Nation and its investment in accordance with the law or budget of national expenditures.
Traditionally, the president is the godfather of the seventh sons or the seventh daughters. This tradition came from Imperial Russia and became law in 1974. A similar tradition is attached to the king and queen of the Belgians.[5][6]
Ahhhhhh Wikipedia. Famous for its disallowance of individuals to edit articles at will…
At least use the source that the writer of that section used. Wikipedia is where you go to find the questions, not the answers
“Debt to GDP Alarm Bells Ring, Neither Party Will Solve This”
It takes an inflection point. We aren’t there, yet. When it happens, things will be forced to change.
This should be fun, big government dies hard, plus now you get to see who is vital…
This was pulled from the first article Mish referenced above….don’t get to excited just yet…
“…A century of failure might take some time to undo, but Milei nevertheless got a decent head start Sunday. Milei issued a presidential decree titled “Decree of Necessity and Urgency,” which eliminated eight government ministries.
DPA International reported that the Ministries of Social Development, Health, Labor, and Education will all be collapsed and rolled into a new Ministry of Human Capital. What remains of the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity will be subordinated to this new ministry.
According to the Buenos Aires Herald, a special commission will analyze whether the decree is valid. Afterward, it will go to a vote in the Argentine Senate and Chamber of Deputies. For the decree to be annulled, both chambers must vote to reject it….”
Landslides have consequences. I think they will come around, or get landslided themselves.
He had a good win but it was hardly a landslide. His party only got 1/4 of the vote in the parliament and the vote is only for a 33/50% of the seats each time.
So he will need plenty of cross party support for legislation.
Yup, and based on my comment above it appears as though he’s just rolling a bunch of ministries into one big ministry. It might be a cut on a net basis, but there aren’t any details to confirm.
Now THAT’S draining the swamp – if he really follows through.
Just more lip service like Trump? who then proceeded to increase the national debt by $8 Trillion!!!
Only to be “Trumped” by Biden who spent a few more Trillion$$$ for good measure.
What happened to fiscal conservatives in America??? I guess corporate PACS bought them all off – BOTH PARTIES!
Stop watching CNN
Trump’s initial Budget proposals involved cutting spending and a balanced Budget plan, but Congress (RINO) and Dem’s rejected that outright. Biden didn’t even try.
But either way Congress sets the Budget, not the President, who just makes suggestions. Trump signed the Budgets after fake promises from the lying Speaker, as did Biden.
Lots of blame to go around.
I’ve been researching other states to move to from California.
I’ve questioned several friends from several states and came up with a conclusion of how to measure the amount of corruption within the states.
It comes down to how much they charge to register your vehicles.
The two states I’m looking at charge under $100. One is even good for 2 years.
California just charged me $700 to renew my 2 year old car.
Good lord. My yearly registration in Virginia is around $40. $700 for two vehicles is crazy!!!!
That was for one (1) two year old car. Calif. effectively charges property tax on vehicles at about 0.75% per year of the purchase price (which is depreciated via some kind of schedule).
Well in that case VA localities tax the value of your car as well.
Here in Texas we pay $70 per vehicle, but we are being crushed by property taxes and P&C insurance rates because our state has no insurance regulation.
And I thought IL was bad charging $151 per car.
I prefer a scalpel if I were ever to require surgery.
What if an amputation is needed?
#DownsizeDC !!
May take 12-15 years for Argentina to recover if they stay on a Libertarian path. The next generation in Argentina will benefit if they stay of course
There is NO hope for the United States.
Where he’s planning to eliminate their central bank while at the same time eliminating government jobs, Argentinians are screwed near term – 55% of their jobs are government.
They can’t cut rates to compensate for the lost aggregate income, hope he thought this through and has a way to compensate for that massive cut to household incomes.
If it fails, and it likely will in the short term / next few years, it won’t look good for the far right’s economic theories.
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There’s nothing “far right” about these economic theories. The term is so pejorative, it makes more sense to the the so-called “centre left” the “far right”, and as such we already have failed far right regimes in the USA and the EU, and certainly in Canada.
..and what currency are these public sector parasites paid in? Surely it’s the ever decreasing circles of the Argie peso? In which case, they are getting a pay cut anyway, every day. At this point, the Argies are screwed whatever they do.
55% of their workers are government, there’s no avoiding consequences. That aside, there is a far right, trust me, they’re watching this.
^ extremist alt-left idiiot
THe unemployment rate in Argentina is 42%, so if 55% of jobs are with the Government, you just proved Millei’s point.
When Govenrment is the largest share of the economy, the economy fails. Every dime spent on “social spending” and jobs for Government morons is a dollar wasted.
Fire them all.
Knucklehead, NEVER ONCE did I say that high a ratio of government employment is good.
My point stands, dumping a large portion of the employed population suddenly will have massive ramifications.
You’re an idiot, so eager to assume I’m a left extremist you miss the point altogether.
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Milei invited Victor Orban for his inauguration, along with Zel – or he just showed up uninvited? A full cognitive dissonance.
Good luck Argentina, you will need it.
Why can’t the US Congress do the same thing. 25% of all job gains is from govt? It’s like a socialist system then no? Government revenue is a tax and to pay more and more govt employers higher and higher wages is always a stealth tax increase. If the US govt was just cut down 10% a year this would help. Why do we allow this?
1/3,1/3,1/3 won’t work Mish. Need to pull the bandaid once and for all or these power hungry politicians will find a way to sneak it back in. I endorse the chain saw approach.
“ I endorse the chain saw approach.”
For the sake of seeing what unfolds, I do too, as long as it’s another country.
The domestic economic shock is going to be massive, he’s oversimplified the solution and rushed it in far too fast.
American corporations will see a boom, but labor demand there will be a problem, pressing workers to take cheap wages, worsened by the fact that he’s eliminating their central bank and can’t offer aid with debt relief.
.
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It is amusing to read the tut-tutting here. A tidal wave of economic disaster swamps them and getting in the life boat is “far too fast.” This mindset is why the US will fail in the most violent way.
You’ve confused a lifeboat to tossing them in the sea.
Argentina’s core problem is exports… their current system absolutely penalises exports, but it’s exports that are the primary way for income to be brought into the country. Buenas Aires is a large coastal city with decent potential to become a manufacturing and exporting centre if there is an export market to sell to, regardless of the system they adopt. Rationally, they are going to be looking to sell mainly to Atlantic nations in NAFTA and EU, bring in eurodollars and euroeuros and grow up.
That’s not what I’m addressing.
He’s wants to abruptly cut “chainsaw” a massive swath of jobs out of their economy, regardless of long term good, the immediate impact will be massive. Atop that he wants to eliminate their central bank, leaving no means to cushion the blow.
Very dramatic. But did he do it, or did he just rip off tags and the bureaucrats remain in paid or pensioned positions but sit at home & watch porn?
I was wondering the same. I have no idea how Argentina’s government works, but if it’s anything like the US, the president has zero power to eliminate agencies. He can certainly strongly suggest it, but the legislature creates and kills these agencies not the executive branch.
If agencies can be elimated via executive order then they can most likely be created via executive order.
Argie president is responsible for the administration of the country, so yes, he can do it. He can consolidate all departments into one if he really wants to. The legislature does not micromanage the administration of the country.
He’s not a dictator. Had you read me comment above or the first article Mish linked to above you would know this.
“…According to the Buenos Aires Herald, a special commission will analyze whether the decree is valid. Afterward, it will go to a vote in the Argentine Senate and Chamber of Deputies. For the decree to be annulled, both chambers must vote to reject it….”
We will see how it works out. Of course ripping names off a whiteboard is different than actually eliminating the department. I would assume that there would have to be a change in laws.
I would think that he would need to examine each function of the departments and then decide to keep, eliminate, or reduce each function. Departments with little left to do could have their remaining functions folded into the remaining departments.
Or he could just stop sending money to the departments he wants to eliminate.
The government has X amount of dollars (and Argentina really does only have X amount of dollars) so can he fund the ones he wants to keep up to X amount of dollars and given 0 dollars to the rest.
The rest can then be Milton in Office Space and keep showing up to work but not get paid or accept the fact they no longer have jobs.
Not until there is Massive inflation will anything happen . . . and then Politicians will offer their usual miracles . . .
Agreed, we have to rein in the debt growth and stop monetizing it on the backs of the poor. And Trump is arguably worse than Biden. Will be interesting to see how Argentina fares, I will be monitoring. Switching to dollar backing is not without some downsides but far far better than 200% inflation
Economically, Trump is not worse than Biden, but the last 4 American presidents have all been poor examples when it comes to debt management. Biden is probably the worst US president in history, although there is some competition for the title.
There is no need for the departments of HUD, Labor or Education.
Additionally, Homeland Security can be given to the Coast Guard. No need for a separate department.
Let free markets determine HUD, Labor and Education like they do in many countries successfully.
Also, military needs to be slashed to at least half, maybe 2/3rds so that other governments can pick up the slack.
I’d also like to do away with Social Security entirely, though I realize this isn’t possible directly, but possible through gradual phaseouts.
That would completely eliminate the deficit and result in great economic pain for a few years, but then those people dependent on these programs would find profitable work in the private sector and government income would go up, due to more people working.
It’s a pipe dream, I know and would never happen, but it would balance the budget.
Eliminating the entire military, let alone only 50% of it, would make almost no difference, actually (I hope you’re joking about HUD and Education and such, those are rounding errors). We’re an insurance company, functionally speaking.
No, not joking about HUD, Education. HUD is a welfare agency that has messed up proper pricing of housing for generations now. It can be done away with albeit gradually.
DOE can be completely done away with entirely. There is no need for it at all and it can be handled locally, not federally. Funds should be raised and spent locally.
Ok, that makes more sense. If you have a philosophical issue with those departments, that’s fine. Fiscally they don’t matter. Boomers collecting checks and hanging out in the ER when they have their 10th heart attack at 95 is our problem.
What’s your proposal for the nuclear arsenal?
It’s hidden under the DOE.
And military spending is about 12% of the federal budget. Cutting it in half would save about 6% of federal spending.
It doesn’t make sense for you to state that it would not make a difference. It makes a huge difference.
HUD is an entitlement that hurts far more than it helps.
You are treating it in isolation, and forgetting the impact it would have on trade, and so that nominal reduction of costs of x % needs to be offset against a reduction of revenue from trade as well, eliminating the saving.
This is correct. Mandatory spending (SSI, Medicare/Medicaid, and food insurance) are the elephants in the room. You could eliminate all federal governemnt agencies including the military and you still would not reach a balanced budget. Eliminate all mandatory spending, excluding interest, and there’s plenty of money coming in to fund the federal government including a surplus to pay down the debt. That’s not an endorsement of the current size and scope of govenrment either (I think it should be much smaller).
Spending termed “mandatory” is given that status for a reason – because a majority of Congress voted for that spending. Such spending is unlikely to ever be canceled.
All of these departments exist to shuffle money around. Since the smallest omnibus bills are 2,000 pages, who’s shuffling the cash if we eliminate the departments? Cause the payoffs are not going anywhere. This political system is built on them.
No one is shuffling the money.
The funding and the departments are completely eliminated.
The private sector can fund education, it used to and the USA was far more dominant back when it was funded privately. Yes, there were people who got left out, but I’d rather have a system that helped far more and left a few people out than a system that helps everyone out but everyone else is kept back.
No federal funding for HUD or Education is needed at all. It’s a state issue, not a federal one.
If America reduces its military, it will be China, amongst those other nations, that picks up the slack, and that will have dire consequences for the American economy, as if they aren’t dire enough already. The CCP is fighting for survival right now.
It sounds impressive. Is he the dictator? Did he actually fire any employees?
HUD, HHS, a whole host of agencies would be well eliminated. do we really need more than Defense, Treasury, and State?
HHS just grew more with permanent regional countermeasure and plandemic departments.
Departments of Education and Labor, fiscally speaking, are a rounding error, though, assuming that’s what you meant here, Mish. Cutting them to zero would accomplish nothing whatsoever in terms of the deficit/debt. We’re an insurance company with a military, the rest is peanuts.
The Dept. of Ed is probably the biggest bank in the country! Who will collect all those defaulted student loans?!? Oh never mind they’ll just cancel everyone’s debt. Inflation baby!