Forging Aid: Eliminate, Indefinite Freeze, Reduce by 75% or 50%
Options presented in order of precedence. Bottom line: You can’t steel to Peter to give to Paul.
Browse Ideas with tag 'eliminate':
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled6 votes
This idea is active.Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »Add your comment for Idea: Forging Aid: Eliminate, Indefinite Freeze, Reduce by 75% or 50% -
I agree
Voting is Disabled
23 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate US Dept of Education.
4 comments for Idea: Eliminate US Dept of Education.FY 2010 cost: $47-Billion. Overhead costs extremely high. US Dept of Education does not represent interests of States and DC fairly. Instead, pass funds directly to States and DC and let them decide best use of funds for their people - incl, gifted programs, charter schools, home-schooling, voucher programs, etc.
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
7 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »NED, ACILS, NDI, IRI
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and the International Republican Institute (IRI) are no longer needed. Labor, Liberals, Conservatives, and Private enterprise can espouse there ideas very easily through Information Communication ...more »
1 comment for Idea: NED, ACILS, NDI, IRIThe National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and the International Republican Institute (IRI) are no longer needed. Labor, Liberals, Conservatives, and Private enterprise can espouse there ideas very easily through Information Communication Technology and onine social media. NGOs like the Carter Center can fill in the gap for promoting democracy by assisting with elections, election monitoring, and other activities.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
8 votes
This idea is active.Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »Move USTR into Commerce Dept and Change Commerce Dept
Eliminate USTR and his/her office by moving those functions into the Department of Commerce, and have National Security Council and/or National Economic Council take over the interagency oversight role. (The Secretary of Commerce, Deputy Secretary and one Under Secretary for Trade Policy would be equivalent in rank, authority and power to negotiate equivalent to the current USTR and Deputy USTR positions.) Like the State ...more »
1 comment for Idea: Move USTR into Commerce Dept and Change Commerce DeptEliminate USTR and his/her office by moving those functions into the Department of Commerce, and have National Security Council and/or National Economic Council take over the interagency oversight role. (The Secretary of Commerce, Deputy Secretary and one Under Secretary for Trade Policy would be equivalent in rank, authority and power to negotiate equivalent to the current USTR and Deputy USTR positions.) Like the State Department, there should be a Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources and a Counselor (troubleshooter). As David Rothkopf has suggested in his Foreign Policy magazine blog, DOC should focus solely global trade and U.S. exports. Part of that would be accomplished by spinning off non-global trade related units of PTO, NOAA, Economic Development Administration (EDA) and Minority Business Development Agency. The Under Secretaries of the new DOC should consist of 1) trade policy (with authority to negotiate international trade and investment agreements) with sections in U.S. Embassies solely on trade policy; 2) trade administration with subunits for a foreign exports service (trade promotion) and monitoring of market access and compliance; 3) trade finance --which would absorb OPIC, ExIm Bank, and TDA; 4) trade enforcement with subunits for trade remedies (anti-dumping and countervailing duties) and for export controls.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
10 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Reduce Bureaucracy
The Bureau of Prisons is broken into six regions with associated regional offices and staff. With the current computer systems and other automation available this could easily be reduced to three regions with a 50% reduction in facility cost and staffing. Many of these staff positions could then be shifted into the field to increase institution staffing which has suffered due to the increase in unnecessary overhead ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Reduce BureaucracyThe Bureau of Prisons is broken into six regions with associated regional offices and staff. With the current computer systems and other automation available this could easily be reduced to three regions with a 50% reduction in facility cost and staffing. Many of these staff positions could then be shifted into the field to increase institution staffing which has suffered due to the increase in unnecessary overhead and bureaucracy. I'm sure this idea applies to many other Federal agencies that could reduce the number of regional offices and central office staffing.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
16 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Save $30 Million by Closing Small Transportation Offices in DoD
About 50% of all freight Transportation Offices in the Department of Defense (about 341) process fewer than 2,400 shipments per year. The largest DoD Transportation Office processes this many shipments in less than 8 hours. These small volume Transportation Offices typically have 1-2 people working in them. By having 1 or more centralized Transportation Offices process shipping documents for these small facilites, ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Save $30 Million by Closing Small Transportation Offices in DoDAbout 50% of all freight Transportation Offices in the Department of Defense (about 341) process fewer than 2,400 shipments per year. The largest DoD Transportation Office processes this many shipments in less than 8 hours. These small volume Transportation Offices typically have 1-2 people working in them. By having 1 or more centralized Transportation Offices process shipping documents for these small facilites, greater economies of scale can be achieved. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and the NAVSUP Logistics Operations Center already provide this type of remote transportation support, so this is not a new process. Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) processing costs would also be reduced due to the consolidation of billing accounts and the aggregation of transactions with the same Line of Accounting. About 270-330 jobs could be eliminated with an annual savings of about $30 million in just personnel costs. This same concept could be expanded to non-DoD Federal Agencies as well.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
27 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Cut Congressional, Judicial, Executive salaries to 1984 levels
Cut all of their pay, Congress, White House members, Judges, etc. in half. This would save us 50% of what we taxpayers pay now. http://federaldaily.com/articles/2011/03/11/salary-cut-bill-for-congress.aspx "Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., introduced a bill on March 10 that would cut by 10 percent the annual salaries of the president, vice president and members of Congress. For President Obama, that would be a $40,000 ...more »
3 comments for Idea: Cut Congressional, Judicial, Executive salaries to 1984 levelsCut all of their pay, Congress, White House members, Judges, etc. in half. This would save us 50% of what we taxpayers pay now.
http://federaldaily.com/articles/2011/03/11/salary-cut-bill-for-congress.aspx
"Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., introduced a bill on March 10 that would cut by 10 percent the annual salaries of the president, vice president and members of Congress. For President Obama, that would be a $40,000 reduction."
This is a start but I say 50% at least! The average Congress member gets a minimum of $174,000 a year (2011 levels).
From 1789 to 1815, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 while in session. Members began receiving an annual salary in 1815, when they were paid $1,500 per year.
In 1989, Congress passed an amendment allowing for the automatic raises, unless lawmakers specifically voted to reject it. Which Congress did, until 2000...
Since 1990, congressional pay had increased from $98,400 to $154,700 in 2003.
Also... Presidential pay history:
September 24, 1789: $25,000 (actual) $566,000 (2009)
March 3, 1873: $50,000 (actual) $865,000 (2009)
March 4, 1909: $75,000 (actual) $1,714,000 (2009)
January 19, 1949: $100,000 (actual) $906,000 (2009)
January 20, 1969: $200,000 (actual) $1,175,000 (2009)
January 20, 2001: $400,000 (actual) $487,000 (2009)
Decrease pay so that it will not be the sole factor to run for office. Notice how the dollar's value has decreased!
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
25 votes
This idea is active.Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »ELIMINATE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
I propose to eliminate any and all activities, positions, etc., that fall under the umbrella of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is an atiquated and racist program that recruits, hires, and promotes according to race, sexual preference, gender, etc. The government is in dire need of placing the right people in the right positions by evaluating and basing decisions on qualifications and performance. This will greatly ...more »
3 comments for Idea: ELIMINATE AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONI propose to eliminate any and all activities, positions, etc., that fall under the umbrella of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is an atiquated and racist program that recruits, hires, and promotes according to race, sexual preference, gender, etc. The government is in dire need of placing the right people in the right positions by evaluating and basing decisions on qualifications and performance. This will greatly increase productivity, eliminate wasteful spending in MANY areas, and help to eliminate racism.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
18 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Combine Agencies
A fantastic way to increase efficiencies is to reduce administrators and doubled/tripled efforts and no efforts due to confused overlap. I work as a regulator in private establishments that are scrutinized by multiple agencies which produces over the top waste. We should not be squandering our limited resources by wondering: does a given responsibility belong to my agency, another agency, multiple agencies, or no agency? ...more »
3 comments for Idea: Combine AgenciesA fantastic way to increase efficiencies is to reduce administrators and doubled/tripled efforts and no efforts due to confused overlap. I work as a regulator in private establishments that are scrutinized by multiple agencies which produces over the top waste. We should not be squandering our limited resources by wondering: does a given responsibility belong to my agency, another agency, multiple agencies, or no agency? It is my belief from experience, that more than fifty percent of the fluff in this bloated government can be eliminated. In a welcoming way we can improve results with far less funding – efficiencies the federal government has lagged relative to private industries that cannot print money or utilize unlimited borrowing powers.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
8 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Get rid of the Copyright, Patent & Trademark office
Add your comment for Idea: Get rid of the Copyright, Patent & Trademark officeAbolish the Copyright, Patent & Trademark office. Let Business police itself!
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
17 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »STOP WASTING MONEY CONTRACTING OUT
There are so many employees from Ivy league Colleges who look down on those without degrees, yet can't perform the work needed without spending contract dollars. If they are so intelligent, let them start earning their pay; show what those degrees have done for them. Stop wasting our tax payers dollars on projects that contractors are hired to perform. How about no more grants, coop agreements, work assignments, etc., ...more »
3 comments for Idea: STOP WASTING MONEY CONTRACTING OUTThere are so many employees from Ivy league Colleges who look down on those without degrees, yet can't perform the work needed without spending contract dollars. If they are so intelligent, let them start earning their pay; show what those degrees have done for them. Stop wasting our tax payers dollars on projects that contractors are hired to perform. How about no more grants, coop agreements, work assignments, etc., doing the work for them. With all the wealth, talent, and education in the federal and local government, there should not be a need for contracting out work. Use this suggestion and I bet it will cut thousands, millions, or even billions of dollars.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
5 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate the Commerce Department
1 comment for Idea: Eliminate the Commerce DepartmentThe Commerce Department has a lot of diverse organizations, some are redundant, could be aligned elsewhere or could be eliminated. In addition, many of the bureaus do not to stimulate commerce directly or efficiently. The Department should bring about early retirement authority to initiate and implement this process.
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
18 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Remove Dell, AdTrav & GSA As Mandatory Purchase Agents
Significantly reduce the role for the contract computer company (Dell), contract travel agency (AdTrav) and government purchasing agency (GSA) to restrict agencies purchasing decisions. First, these archaic purchasing schemes are obsolete in the internet era. While they may be useful for remote locations where UPS/FedEx do not deliver, they hinder many agencies purchasing ability to use the internet in finding the best ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Remove Dell, AdTrav & GSA As Mandatory Purchase AgentsSignificantly reduce the role for the contract computer company (Dell), contract travel agency (AdTrav) and government purchasing agency (GSA) to restrict agencies purchasing decisions.
First, these archaic purchasing schemes are obsolete in the internet era. While they may be useful for remote locations where UPS/FedEx do not deliver, they hinder many agencies purchasing ability to use the internet in finding the best deals for the government.
Secondly, they produce inferior products.
For example: GSA sells snow shovels that are so poorly designed ... our office staff would almost rather shovel snow with their bare hands than use the GSA supplied equipment.
Another Example: Our agency ordered a flight through AdTrav. Weeks later there was no confirmation. The week of the flight our admin staff contacted AdTrav again for confirmation. Apparently a $400 round trip flight half way across the country suddenly became a $2,100 flight...probably because the contractor AdTrav failed to make the booking until the last minute. If you allowed each agency to use online sources such as Kayak.com the result would be a big government savings.
Additionally: No one and I mean NO ONE should be Entitled to First Class Airfare (Generals,Admirals, SES positions). You think you deserve first class airfare... pay for it out of your own pocket !
Finally, Dell is not the worst computer company to order from...but its on the bottom 5 of my list. Give agencies computer purchasing rules...do not hamstring them in finding the best online deals/sources for high quality computer needs. This solution would be agency dependent as not all federal employees are computer savey.
« less full details »
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
33 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate little used laptops and implement a ...
12 comments for Idea: Eliminate little used laptops and implement a ...Many employees have laptops that are little used.
For example, an employee might have a laptop that is used for a presentation off site or to work from home a couple weekends a year. This employee could just check a laptop out from the department when needed.
Since laptops have to be serviced and eventually replaced this would save equipment costs and IT staff time to re-image or repair the devices.
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
26 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Reform Eeo
5 comments for Idea: Reform EeoIts a bad solution to a bad problem. Find a better way to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the work place. It costs the taxpayers money every time some one says something ignorant to a fellow employee.
-
I agree
Voting is Disabled
11 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate Poor Quality Military Officers
The military has been decreasing its numbers for years through a variety of programs. Most of these effect enlisted/non-commissioned members. I think we should target officers, who cost more in terms of base pay. All too often, officers who have quality indicators (unfavorable information files, letters of reprimand, etc), are given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue their service with few repurcussions to ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Eliminate Poor Quality Military OfficersThe military has been decreasing its numbers for years through a variety of programs. Most of these effect enlisted/non-commissioned members. I think we should target officers, who cost more in terms of base pay. All too often, officers who have quality indicators (unfavorable information files, letters of reprimand, etc), are given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue their service with few repurcussions to their overall career. I say we eliminate these officers first! No need for a board to convene and decide who is the best, and no need to offer separation pay to officers to voluntarily separate; just take out all of the worst.
« less full details »