Budget Research Committee Discussion Thread

[ilikeverin]

No, seriously, what if we did cut all the programs and just wrote new ones?

Then we'd have a lot of writing to do.

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No.

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Yes; there would be a lot of programs to write and we'd probably forget some.  It's a good idea in theory, though.

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See above.

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Now you are.

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Yes.

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It's happy

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Education!

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I believe so.  I think the Federal Government builds Interstates and Federal Highways, and we can build whatever we darn well want!

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Yes

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Frustrated/impatient

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Yes.

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What a philosophical question!

[CheeseWhiz]

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Yes; there would be a lot of programs to write and we'd probably forget some. It's a good idea in theory, though.

Yeah, I figured it was something easier said then done.

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Okay, I say we take almost all the money from building roads and just build cheap dirt roads


P.S. Thanks for explaining those smileys.

[CheeseWhiz]

I had a wonderful idea on how to get rid of our deficit!  I'll work for free!  No, I'm not kidding, I'd actually be willing to give up my salary for our Region

[ilikeverin]

I had a wonderful idea on how to get rid of our deficit! I'll work for free! No, I'm not kidding, I'd actually be willing to give up my salary for our Region

Yes, I already thought of cutting all of the Governors' budgets but teh cheapest, so I guess now we'll be cutting all of the Governors' budgets

I think that makes our fdeficit about $1,000,000 less.

Another idea would to be to cut funding for maintainance of state capitals, as we only need to pay for one.

[CheeseWhiz]

I had a wonderful idea on how to get rid of our deficit! I'll work for free! No, I'm not kidding, I'd actually be willing to give up my salary for our Region

Yes, I already thought of cutting all of the Governors' budgets but teh cheapest, so I guess now we'll be cutting all of the Governors' budgets

I think that makes our fdeficit about $1,000,000 less.

Another idea would to be to cut funding for maintainance of state capitals, as we only need to pay for one.

YES!  And the one we have is only a shack so it doesn't need much upkeep.  I say I have no pay, because I can get money from being an Atlasian Messenger Reporter, (I will be making new articles soon, I promise!)  We lower Jas's pay, (if Jas agrees,) and only have about 50$ per year for Maintenance of the Regional Capital.

Lowering the deficit as only the Midwest would

[Јas]

We lower Jas's pay, (if Jas agrees,)

Anything for the Midwest!

[CheeseWhiz]

We lower Jas's pay, (if Jas agrees,)

Anything for the Midwest!

Great!  But John Ford will have to tell us how much are salary is.

[CheeseWhiz]

Bump.  So, Sam, can you tell how much we will save by reducing our salaries to, say, $5.00 an hour?

[CheeseWhiz]

Okay, me and Jas's combined salary is about 400000, and we have a deficit of 1900000000, so we would still have a deficit of 1899600000

Any other ideas?

[ilikeverin]

Well, currently we are still paying for 9 governors & lieutenant governors (assuming there are Lt. Governors in every state; 9 governors figure is from John Ford merely adding all of our budgets together)

So we can cut more

[CheeseWhiz]

Okay, so could we actually cut all State Government positions?  We don’t really need them, do we?

[Јas]

Okay, so could we actually cut all State Government positions?  We don’t really need them, do we?

Certainly not the governors/lt. governors of the states, indeed we could cut most state's administrations, though I presume we need some sort of administration ourselves.

[ilikeverin]

Yeah, I figure we can just use the cheapest state's administration costs and cut the rest.

The problem is computing which state is the cheapest (probably Wyoming, but ya never know...)

[The Duke]

Am I correct to say that in four months, you've settled on reducing the salary of Regional officers and that's it?

Well, at least your government is realistic.

[CheeseWhiz]

Am I correct to say that in four months, you've settled on reducing the salary of Regional officers and that's it?

Well, at least your government is realistic.

Did you have to say that so...  Rudely?

I'm sorry, but none of us are very good at economics, but we have been making great progress in constitutional and social issues.

[The Duke]

Am I correct to say that in four months, you've settled on reducing the salary of Regional officers and that's it?

Well, at least your government is realistic.

Did you have to say that so...  Rudely?

I'm sorry, but none of us are very good at economics, but we have been making great progress in constitutional and social issues.

I didn't mean to be rude, I was just a bit incredulous.  Sorry.

[CheeseWhiz]

Am I correct to say that in four months, you've settled on reducing the salary of Regional officers and that's it?

Well, at least your government is realistic.

Did you have to say that so...  Rudely?

I'm sorry, but none of us are very good at economics, but we have been making great progress in constitutional and social issues.

I didn't mean to be rude, I was just a bit incredulous.  Sorry.

Okay, sorry, I've just had a long day...

[Max Power]

How about you reassess all of the spending, and conduct an audit on how well the funds are being used?

[ilikeverin]

Ok, this isn't going to be perfect, but it'll be close.

Amazingly, most states in the Midwest (and in the country at-large) don't like to give out employee salary information or pension numbers.  Kansas seems to be the only state that does, so I'm basing some of this off that.

If I am estimating correctly, the total budgets of the 10 Midwest states come to being about $150 billion.  (John Ford can correct me here if he wants to).

Government employee spending (in Kansas at least) comes to being roughly 16% of the state budget.

So, if you were to cut state government employee salaries by 5%, according to my math, you would save $1.2 billion.

Once again, I'll listen to objections, because I may have calculated this wrong.

Just doing that would cut our deficit by 63%

[Sam Spade]

Ok, this isn't going to be perfect, but it'll be close.

Amazingly, most states in the Midwest (and in the country at-large) don't like to give out employee salary information or pension numbers.  Kansas seems to be the only state that does, so I'm basing some of this off that.

If I am estimating correctly, the total budgets of the 10 Midwest states come to being about $150 billion.  (John Ford can correct me here if he wants to).

Government employee spending (in Kansas at least) comes to being roughly 16% of the state budget.

So, if you were to cut state government employee salaries by 5%, according to my math, you would save $1.2 billion.

Once again, I'll listen to objections, because I may have calculated this wrong.

Just doing that would cut our deficit by 63%

That is across-the-board.  I would say across-the-board cuts are probably not the best idea.  John Ford has presented me targeted cuts in salaries that will produce less revenue, but will be responded to much better by government unions.

[ilikeverin]

Ok, this isn't going to be perfect, but it'll be close.

Amazingly, most states in the Midwest (and in the country at-large) don't like to give out employee salary information or pension numbers.  Kansas seems to be the only state that does, so I'm basing some of this off that.

If I am estimating correctly, the total budgets of the 10 Midwest states come to being about $150 billion.  (John Ford can correct me here if he wants to).

Government employee spending (in Kansas at least) comes to being roughly 16% of the state budget.

So, if you were to cut state government employee salaries by 5%, according to my math, you would save $1.2 billion.

Once again, I'll listen to objections, because I may have calculated this wrong.

Just doing that would cut our deficit by 63%

That is across-the-board.  I would say across-the-board cuts are probably not the best idea.  John Ford has presented me targeted cuts in salaries that will produce less revenue, but will be responded to much better by government unions.

Well hmph

[CheeseWhiz]

So, I'll write a proposal up tomorrow.  Thanks for the info, Sam, and thanks for asking for it, ilikeverin!

[CheeseWhiz]

1. Any and all duplicated positions in the Midwestern States shall be combined into one Regional position.
2. The Governor and Lt. Governor of the Midwest will hereby receive $15,000 per year in salary.

Since Jas and I already said we’d work for free, the $15,000 is for future Governors.

I’ll add more once John gets the salary-cutting info.

[Max Power]

You can take me off the governmental payrolls.

[Јas]

1. Any and all duplicated positions in the Midwestern States shall be combined into one Regional position.
2. The Governor and Lt. Governor of the Midwest will hereby receive $15,000 per year in salary.

Since Jas and I already said we’d work for free, the $15,000 is for future Governors.

I’ll add more once John gets the salary-cutting info.

I strongly support this.