What Congress Should Cut

COMMENTARY | Cuts must be made to the federal budget. With a deficit out of control and the Recession hanging on like an angry dog chomping on a mailman’s leg, the decision has been made to slash government spending. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the government will be eliminating some $2.1 billion in spending over the next decade – a painful experience that will be felt by many Americans.

First and foremost, it is not difficult to determine what would be most efficient to cut: defense spending. While defense hawks in Congress may thump their chests and warn of impending doom, run-of-the-mill Republicans have even acknowledging that America’s military machine should be pared down a few sizes.

According to a study by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, defense spending is the least efficient way to create jobs. Compared to spending in other sectors, defense spending creates the fewest jobs, making it dreadfully inefficient. Basically, to cut our nation’s unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, as listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we need to transfer government dollars away from defense spending, which generates the least employment bang for the buck.

Given that our nation’s military might still far surpasses that of our only real rival, the People’s Republic of China, we can afford to trim defense spending without worrying about a Red Dawn scenario and losing our freedoms to a horde of communist invaders.

What to cut next? Well, it gets tough. As a professional educator, I love the arts and humanities. As a person who was previously unemployed, I want every available government dollar going toward jobs. Therefore, I advocate slashing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Though this slashing has already begun, according to the Theatre Communications Group, there still appears to be over $120 million going toward “starving” artists.

I was a professional cartoonist for years and still dream occasionally about making a living with a delightful comic strip, similar to my favorites like Calvin & Hobbes and Zits, but I must say government money for the arts is rarely, if ever, a thing that should occur in times of need. Removing federal assistance to artists will make the arts stronger by increasing competition and fostering an atmosphere of artistic collaboration during times of woe – a benefit that will be seen in the increased power and potency of the works of art of Great Recession-era artists.

Finally, federal funding for colleges and universities should be cut. This seems strange coming from a longtime graduate student, but just as I advocate limiting funding for the arts I must, in good faith, admit that funding for higher education has become bloated and misappropriated, necessitating strict cuts for the good of society. Moneys must be redirected from inefficient colleges and universities and toward better employment sectors.

An article by the Washington Post details the troubles dealt to institutions of higher education by the reduction of state funding, but federal assistance (in 2009) made up some of the gap. Sadly, given that many colleges and universities are overcrowded with students who lack the skills, abilities, and motivations to secure academic success, federal money going to higher education is often, to be blunt, wasted.

College campuses are expensive to fund and maintain; pouring in government dollars broadly does little to assist the best and brightest of our impoverished students. Talent is not nurtured properly and dollars are misspent. Federal funding going to colleges and universities should be redirected elsewhere to help more potently with our national unemployment problem.

Budget cuts are tough, painful, and will hurt. Many excellent and invaluable soldiers, defense contractors, artists, university employees, and government personnel will be hurt by these cuts I advocate…but they are the most efficient cuts we can make in a time when we must make them.


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