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The Tax Bill's Automatic (by law) Spending Cuts

trblmkr said:
Paul Ryan, last week along with a few other Republicans said that next year we will address the deficit and dept by looking at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
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The best thing that could possibly happen is that Republicans cut Social Security. Picking a fight with blue haired ladies will work out great for Democrats in 2018. Cutting taxes on rich people at the expense of grandmother's is called income redistribution. We been playing this game of entitlements forever. Why are the filthy rich entitled to a tax cut?

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trblmkr said:
On the face? Nothing. Obviously adjustments are required. But considering how they have miss-represented the current work, I will wait to to make any judgment on the future work. FWIW. I expect them to try to screw me out of what I have been promised my entire working life. They will want to tax my 401K, my pension and my SS benefits at much higher rates. But, we will see.
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But you haven't waited to make your final judgment.
 
iguanaman said:
Actually waste and fraud are most prevalent in military spending programs which is why they are being increased.



https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/articles/2016-02-03/the-pentagon-could-reach-a-historic-level-of-wasteful-spending
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That's peanuts compared to the $140 billion in Medicaid fraud.

In September, the Department of Health and Human Services sent out a warning that improper payments under Medicaid have become so common that they will account this year for almost 12 percent of total Medicaid spending — just shy of $140 billion.

Read more at: Medicaid Fraud?s Staggering Cost: 140 Billion | National Review
 
holbritter said:
That's peanuts compared to the $140 billion in Medicaid fraud.

In September, the Department of Health and Human Services sent out a warning that improper payments under Medicaid have become so common that they will account this year for almost 12 percent of total Medicaid spending — just shy of $140 billion.

Read more at: Medicaid Fraud?s Staggering Cost: 140 Billion | National Review
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Bill left office with a 200 billion dollar surplus. Republicans never cut the deficit because they have to payoff their donors. Koch brothers, your rich enough.

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trblmkr said:
I cannot disagree. But for what appear to be differing reasons.
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Probably not that different. If they cut Medicare and Social Security it will be devastating to seniors. I'm hoping it's just the same hype that comes around every so often that scares people. But seriously, if they would effectively cut the waste and fraud out of many services, there would be no need to cut anything. Medicaid alone was 140 billion in improper payments in 2016. And that's just one service.
 
Dirt Sands said:
Bill left office with a 200 billion dollar surplus. Republicans never cut the deficit because they have to payoff their donors. Koch brothers, your rich enough.

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WTH does that have to do with what I posted?
 
holbritter said:
That's peanuts compared to the $140 billion in Medicaid fraud.

In September, the Department of Health and Human Services sent out a warning that improper payments under Medicaid have become so common that they will account this year for almost 12 percent of total Medicaid spending — just shy of $140 billion.

Read more at: Medicaid Fraud?s Staggering Cost: 140 Billion | National Review
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Peanuts?

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.

Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.

The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.63af625bb353
 
reinoe said:
OH NO! Unnecessary goodies that people like will be cut! In other news children like candy even though it isn't essential to their diet!
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Don't worry, they won't stop the goodies in tax cuts they are giving to the wealthiest people in the country. Those will stay in place while the rest of the country goes to hell. Of course the GOp cares only for their donor class. And they will cut such unnecessary goodies as food and heat, no one needs those.
 
holbritter said:
SS is NOT an entitlement program. I pay into it as does my employer.
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The following is an excerpt from the link provided:

"Entitlement Programs of the federal government include Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment and Welfare Programs. Entitlement programs are rights granted to citizens and certain non-citizens by federal law. Entitlement programs can be broken into non-contributory and contributory programs."

Entitlement Programs - Federal Safety Net
 
bluesmoke said:
The following is an excerpt from the link provided:

"Entitlement Programs of the federal government include Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment and Welfare Programs. Entitlement programs are rights granted to citizens and certain non-citizens by federal law. Entitlement programs can be broken into non-contributory and contributory programs."

Entitlement Programs - Federal Safety Net
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ok, you're correct. The federal definition is entitlement. I don't agree with it, but it's called what it is.
 
I don't see any downside to cutting government spending for a government already too large, too powerful, and out of control with spending. If those departments truly need the funds, they should go to the Congressional Pig Book and reallocate.

As a citizen, I loathe sending any additional dollars to Washington until they can demonstrate they spend their current dollars wisely.
 
holbritter said:
A law to keep the deficit from growing larger requires cuts to federal spending if the tax bill passes and Congress takes no further action.
If Congress passes its tax bill and then takes no other action, the funding for dozens of federal spending programs could be cut — in many cases to nothing — beginning next year.

The cuts would be automatic, the consequence of a 2010 law that Congress passed to keep itself from increasing the deficit too much.

Social Security is not an automatic cut.

There is more in the list
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/29/upshot/paygo-medicare-cuts-tax-bill.html

I'm not saying I'm for or against, I'm just trying to provide some facts over the hyperbole.
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IMO, this is one of the best things about this bill - it forces Congress to make spending cuts. Cut taxes, cut spending, increase growth, increase income, increase tax revenues - keep repeating until the waste is gone and we're only paying for what we NEED and not what we WANT.
 
trblmkr said:
Paul Ryan, last week along with a few other Republicans said that next year we will address the deficit and dept by looking at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
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So they are looking at ways to reduce the waste in those depts. Is that now a bad thing?? You're so desperate to find fault that you'll INTENTIONALLY apply whatever interpretation you can find that backs your hunt.
 
holbritter said:
ok, you're correct. The federal definition is entitlement. I don't agree with it, but it's called what it is.
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Whatever definition is there? The holbritter definition?
 
bluesmoke said:
Whatever definition is there? The holbritter definition?
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Yeah, the holbritter definition of entitlement programs is along the lines of medicaid, food stamps, welfare, housing, etc. Social Security is a viable fund; each person who receives benefits has contributed to that fund throughout their working life. Moreover, if a person is self employed the annual contribution is doubled. To call such a program as an “entitlement” is false. Also, with Medicare, each of us pays for our Medicare benefits — this payment is typically deducted from one’s monthly Social Security check so that it’s never, or rarely seen.
 
holbritter said:
Yeah, the holbritter definition of entitlement programs is along the lines of medicaid, food stamps, welfare, housing, etc. Social Security is a viable fund; each person who receives benefits has contributed to that fund throughout their working life. Moreover, if a person is self employed the annual contribution is doubled. To call such a program as an “entitlement” is false. Also, with Medicare, each of us pays for our Medicare benefits — this payment is typically deducted from one’s monthly Social Security check so that it’s never, or rarely seen.
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You are not the one that decides what is an entitlement program nor what the definition is. The "holbritter" definition is not the
definition:

ENTITLEMENT

The kind of government program that provides individuals with personal financial benefits (or sometimes special government-provided goods or services) to which an indefinite (but usually rather large) number of potential beneficiaries have a legal right (enforceable in court, if necessary) whenever they meet eligibility conditions that are specified by the standing law that authorizes the program.

https://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/entitlement_program

ENTITLEMENT

An individual's right to receive a value or benefit provided by law.

Commonly recognized entitlements are benefits, such as those provided by Social Security or Workers' Compensation.

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Entitlement

You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. You can say what you think things should be, but they are not so. If you continue to post otherwise, there is no sense in my continuing to reply.
 
bluesmoke said:
You are not the one that decides what is an entitlement program nor what the definition is. The "holbritter" definition is not the
definition:

ENTITLEMENT

The kind of government program that provides individuals with personal financial benefits (or sometimes special government-provided goods or services) to which an indefinite (but usually rather large) number of potential beneficiaries have a legal right (enforceable in court, if necessary) whenever they meet eligibility conditions that are specified by the standing law that authorizes the program.

https://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/entitlement_program

ENTITLEMENT

An individual's right to receive a value or benefit provided by law.

Commonly recognized entitlements are benefits, such as those provided by Social Security or Workers' Compensation.

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Entitlement

You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. You can say what you think things should be, but they are not so. If you continue to post otherwise, there is no sense in my continuing to reply.
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IMO, SS and Medicare should be considered entitlements.
 
holbritter said:
IMO, SS and Medicare should be considered entitlements.
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Meaning you no longer stand by your assertion that SS is not an entitlement? Your acknowledgment of such is laudable.
 
bluesmoke said:
Meaning you no longer stand by your assertion that SS is not an entitlement? Your acknowledgment of such is laudable.
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I misspoke. I meant 'should not' be considered entitlements.
 
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