From: [d--w--y] at [bga.com] (Dewey Coffman) Newsgroups: austin.politics,tx.politics,alt.politics.usa.misc,talk.politics.misc Subject: CAGW: How to trim $1.3 Trillion from US Budget Date: 14 Jun 1994 10:31:18 -0500 Summary: Lots of good idea, pick some and write your Congress-person. Every year, the Citizens Against Govt Waste(CAGW) puts out a Special report on how to save money in the Federal Govt., compiled from many sources, White House, Congress, National Performance Review and this years shows that we could save $1.3 Trillion in 5 years & Nearly balance the budge in 1995: Some Ideas I thought were notable: Replace dollar bills with dollar coins: 1 year savings: 5 year savings: 422 Million 2.110 Billion Elimnate Tobacco Support Program 1 year savings: 5 year savings: 14 Million 70 Million Reduce members of Congress Salaries to 100K 1 year savings: 5 year savings: 2 Million 11 Million ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The entire report is now availble in several electronic formats, see below. Disclaimer: I am a member of Citizens Against Government Waste. I got the following in hardcopy format because I'm on their mailing list. I called and got this in electronic form. I've put three different versions on cactus.org(192.207.27.4) for anonymous ftp in ~ftp/pub/CAGW/ final2.ps postscript output from WinWord 6.0 final2.doc Windows Word 6.0 format final2.rtf Rich Text Format final2.txt clear text, but not very useful in that form. final2.zip dos/os2 zipfile final2.tar.Z UNIX tarfile compress Finally, for more info on these numbers, where they came from or to JOIN CAGW, please contact THEM, (tell them you saw this on the Internet)1-800 BE ANGRY(232 6479) or : CAGW 1301 Connecticut Avenue, Northwest, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 J. Peter Grace, Founder & Co-Chairman Thomas A. Schatz, President MAKE SURE an Tell them you got the info off the Internet, and them to give a special thanks to David Williams, who works for CAGW, who provided it to me. =============================================================== PRIME CUTS: MENU TO CURE THE WASTE TAX, 1994 PRIME CUTS, 1994 America is more than $4.5 trillion in debt. The federal budget deficit was $255 billion last year. And each day, while Wash-ington dawdles and dickers over the nuances of deficit reduction, the nation slips nearly a billion dollars closer to bankruptcy. Taxes already consume nearly 40% of our pay, but insati-able Washington wants more. Citizens are lured into the acceptance of higher taxes with promises of deficit reduction -- a "bargain" Washington has broken before. Each time taxes have risen, spending has grown even more. And what kind of return do taxpayers get on their investment? Waste, inefficiency and mismanagement remain pervasive in the federal government, claiming 34 cents of every individual income tax dollar. For a nation facing such realities, symbolism and shell-game accounting won't cut it anymore. With America's economic future at stake, the time for posturing and paper cuts has passed. The people are demanding dramatic, tangible action to restore America's fiscal well-being. As in 1993, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has compiled the most comprehensive catalogue of private and public- sector reform recommendations available anywhere, which we call "Prime Cuts: Menu to Cure the Waste Tax." CAGW estimates that this year the federal government will squander $186.8 billion on pork, bureaucratic bloat, and programs that are poorly managed, have failed or outlived their usefulness, duplicate other programs, encroach on state and local responsibilities, enrich special interests at the expense of families, or are simply extravagant. This $186.8 billion equals 34% of the estimated $549.9 billion that individuals and families will pay to the federal government in income taxes this year. For a median-income, two- earner family of four, waste consumes $1,850 out of a $5,442 federal income tax bill. That $1,850, the "Waste Tax" for a typical family, could supply: six months' worth of groceries; or two house payments; or the down payment on a new car; or most of a year's medical insurance premiums; or one semester of tuition at a state university. Interest payments on the public debt, estimated at $298.5 billion for Fiscal Year (FY) 1994, consume another 54.3% or $2,955 of this family's federal income taxes. Waste and debt interest combined absorb $4,805 of this family's income taxes, leaving only $637 for government services. To determine the Waste Tax, CAGW examined waste-cutting recommendations from government sources such as the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget, as well as private-sector sources such as the Grace Commission, and totaled the non-duplicative savings. In 1993, $78 billion in prime cuts identified by CAGW were enacted by Congress. Until the 556 recommendations outlined in this document are implemented, taxpayers should not be asked to fork over another cent. These waste cuts can reduce the deficit and save taxpayers more than $1.3 trillion over five years. Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with more than 600,000 members nationwide. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of CAGW or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress. For more information regarding CAGW or Prime Cuts call 1-800-BE-ANGRY. -- Dewey Coffman [d--w--y] at [ctci.com] [d--w--y] at [cactus.org] [d--w--y] at [bga.com] Zone 8, CST6CDT, 78759 ..oh yeah, Austin, Texas, USA, North American, Earth Committee of 'Oh My God' -David Baerwald, Liberty Lies "Not for publication in newsprint or broadcast media."