77 percent of Americans prefer to reduce spending to cut the deficit. Only 9% want to raise taxes. The difficult part is people have trouble naming a program they want to cut.
(CBS News)- A new CBS News poll finds that Americans strongly prefer cutting spending to raising taxes to reduce the federal deficit. While 77 percent prefer to cut spending, just nine percent call for raising taxes. Another nine percent want to do both.I have a couple of suggestions for spending cuts. The first place is federal employee salaries and benefits. Federal employees made $108,476 on average (wages and benefits combined) in 2008. It is more now. This needs to be trimmed by 10% ~20%. Billions of dollars are being wasted on earmarks and other pork-barrel spending for home districts. This has to end. Also, the federal government should end subsidies for illegal immigrants. California is estimated to spend over $10 billion annually for education, medical care and other support for illegal immigrants. Tye federal government should reduce money given to states bi the amount that goes to support illegal immigration.
Yet most Americans could not volunteer a program they’d be willing to see cut in order to reduce the deficit – only 38 percent could name a program they would support cutting. The top responses were military/defense (six percent), Social Security/Medicare (four percent) and welfare/food stamps (four percent).
Military spending should not be cut (keep tabs on what's being spent), but government employees pay and benefits need to be cut immediately. As a civil servant for 20 years, my husband and I paid our bills and managed to save money for our retirement. Unions need to go as well, since most states are going under financially trying to pay for these pensions.
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