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Tom Coburn Proposes $9 Trillion Deficit Cut Measure

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GaDeac

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http://news.yahoo.com/coburn-proposes-9-trillion-deficit-cut-measure-192145582.html

All over the next decade.

Cuts Pentagon budget by $1 trillion

Raises Taxes (some through closing loopholes) $1 trillion - this includes higher tax brackets, eliminating mortgage interest deductions on second homes and limiting first homes to $500,000

Raises the age for full Social Security to 70

"The plan by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is laced with politically perilous proposals like raising to 70 the age at which people can claim their full Social Security benefits. It would cut farm subsidies, Medicare, student aid, housing subsidies for the poor, and funding for community development grants. Coburn even takes on the powerful veterans' lobby by proposing that some veterans pay more for medical care and prescription drugs."

"I have no doubt that both parties will criticize portions of this plan, and I welcome that debate," Coburn told reporters. "But it's not a legitimate criticism until you have a plan of your own."
 
I was wondering which senator was going to counter Ryan's plan.
 
Good for him. We're not going to get through this mess until people quit with the personal attacks and start proposing solutions.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
Good for him. We're not going to get through this mess until people quit with the personal attacks and start proposing solutions.
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I agree completely. Now I would like to see a democrat in both the house and senate do the same. Throw the ideas out there and start doing a little heavy lifting.
 
You can do first homes at $500,000 with places like CA, NYC, DC and other high priced locations. That's simply not doable.

maybe what you do is 100% of the average price of homes in your county.

Although I agree with raising the age for Social Security, you can't do it overnight or for people over 50 as they have planned for an imending retirement.

You can raise it to 70 or more by raising it 2-3 months/year.
 
RJKarl said:
You can do first homes at $500,000 with places like CA, NYC, DC and other high priced locations. That's simply not doable.

maybe what you do is 100% of the average price of homes in your county.

Although I agree with raising the age for Social Security, you can't do it overnight or for people over 50 as they have planned for an imending retirement.

You can raise it to 70 or more by raising it 2-3 months/year.
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That is actually a very equitable proposal on raising the age rj.
 
Say what you want about Coburn but he appears to be the real deal as far as practicing what he preaches. There are no virgins in DC (settler down rj...I said DC not collage basketball ;) ) but he seems to follow his principles of fiscal conservatism.
 
There is more waste in defense than any other sector of our government...and that is saying something. The quickest way to make millions in this country is to call yourself a defense contractor and start printing money.
 
Ha, that a little bit of hyperbole there; at least 90% of DoD spending stays in house. $100 billion cuts every year is absurd, and would require not only drastic cuts to the armed forces, but also cuts to VA, NASA, Homeland, and FBI counterterrorism division, all of which derive their appropriations through DoD funding.
 
And that's just defense, by the way. Spending cuts of this kind would have a disastrous effect on our economy. You want to end our status as a superpower? Enact this plan, and we'll be on par with Finland in no time.
 
I just got back from Switzerland and while they don't have the cool title of superpower or world police they have a KICK ASS economy and are the envy of Western Europe.
 
Yeah, that probably was not the best example. Look at it this way: Right now, government spending is around 25% of GDP. $1 trillion dollars a year is a 30% cut in total government spending. That's 6.5% of our GDP which is going into a black hole (paying down debt). If these cuts actually passed, we'd see unemployment approaching 20%, and the percentage of the population below the poverty line would soar. So yeah, we'd be like Finland in terms of world power. But our economy would be comparable to post Soviet Union Russia's.
 
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We could never be Finland. we don't respect teachers.
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
I just got back from Switzerland and while they don't have the cool title of superpower or world police they have a KICK ASS economy and are the envy of Western Europe.
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Except when it comes to guns. Then the rest of the European liberals think they're nuts.
 
RJKarl said:
You can do first homes at $500,000 with places like CA, NYC, DC and other high priced locations. That's simply not doable.

maybe what you do is 100% of the average price of homes in your county.

Although I agree with raising the age for Social Security, you can't do it overnight or for people over 50 as they have planned for an imending retirement.

You can raise it to 70 or more by raising it 2-3 months/year.
Click to expand...

Ok. But since many of these areas have greater affluence, make the marginal tax rates higher for these zip codes too. too
 
Bold move. Looks pretty good from that article. My only concern would be making sure the Medicare cuts result in more efficient, cost conscious delivery of services rather than people left out to dry.
 
RJKarl said:
You can do first homes at $500,000 with places like CA, NYC, DC and other high priced locations. That's simply not doable.

maybe what you do is 100% of the average price of homes in your county.

Although I agree with raising the age for Social Security, you can't do it overnight or for people over 50 as they have planned for an imending retirement.

You can raise it to 70 or more by raising it 2-3 months/year.
Click to expand...

They can do it however they vote to do it.

Your idea encourages the kind of price inflation that's already wracked the economy. If you can't afford the mortgage interest on your 600k house somewhere, go live somewhere cheaper and get a job there. We need to encourage settling in other states anyway.

And I don't see the problem with making people in their 50s work a little longer when they're probably going to live to their mid 80s or later.
 
KanhojiAngre said:
They can do it however they vote to do it.

Your idea encourages the kind of price inflation that's already wracked the economy. If you can't afford the mortgage interest on your 600k house somewhere, go live somewhere cheaper and get a job there. We need to encourage settling in other states anyway.

And I don't see the problem with making people in their 50s work a little longer when they're probably going to live to their mid 80s or later.
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I agree with you in principle. Maybe instead of changing to 70 for people in their 50s, allow them only to get a small percentage from 67-70. Definitely go ahead and jack it up to 70 for everybody under 50.

Definitely agree with the interest deduction. $500K is fine. I'd go even lower. Definitely don't do a cost of living adjustment. If you're paying $500K for a house that costs $200K somewhere else then you're paying $300K not to live somewhere else. Only an idiot thinks they're just paying for the actual house.
 
I love the idea of raising the social security age, deleting the 2nd home mortgage deduction (didn't know there was such a thing bc I don't have a second home), lowering the 1st home deduction to a maximum of 500,000. Those are three very simple differences that will actually make some difference and won't hurt anyone that can't afford to be hurt.

Haven't looked at the details yet, but I liked a lot of the details of the Ryan plan, and from first glance, I like a lot of this.
 
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