A bipartisan deficit commission recently proposed a plan to cut four trillion dollars in federal spending. It’s a ten-year plan and pleases no one: liberals of furious, conservatives are trying to pretend it didn’t happen (one of those, “oh, well we’re sort of in power now, I guess we have to govern, but let’s just ignore it when we do” kinds of things), and Obama isn’t saying much about the proposal, probably for fear of alienating either side, which is inevitable with this sort of plan.
The Defense Department refused to cut its funding, so instead earmarks are supposed to end, which only saves half the cost of Secretary Robert Gates’ plan for the Department (San Francisco Chronicle). The retirement age is set to go up to 67 and, ultimately, 69 by 2075. Also, retirees would be given the option to collect half of benefits before retiring, and the Social Security threshold will raise. There are some proposed domestic spending changes, too, such as a freeze on Defense salaries and a cut of two-thirds of overseas bases, a 15% decrease in White House budgets, no more grants to large airports (who also have to fund security themselves), and less funding for public broadcasting. Taxes, too, are affected. The word “overhaul” is used a lot, particularly to describe the change in tax deductions, income tax rates for corporations, and an increase in the gasoline tax. Healthcare is deeply affected, with a limitation set for the tax-free status of employer-to-employee health care, and Medicare should have limits on annual cost increases.
This plan seems to affect a lot, and I doubt it will really all be implemented, since it seems to please very few, besides the people who wrote it. At least it’s bipartisan, I suppose.
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