Musing of One on Crutches When Someone Offered to Help Him Put Roller Skates Under the Crutches to Help Him Go Faster

There has been a multitude of appearances by politicians on tv discussing the need to cut costs in order to balance the federal budget, but no one so far as I know has offered any specific suggestions on cutting costs. Congress should be leading in this respect, not prodding others. So I make the following suggestions:

1. Cut the pay of members of Congress and their staffs by %10. Freeze the salaries at this level until the budget is balanced. Also, freeze benefits at their current level.

2. Cut the pay of the President and all memebers of his staff by %10. Freeze pay at this level as well as benefits at this current level until the federal budget is balanced. (If this causes a ripple effect down through the ranks, so be it.)

3. Cut the other budget items of Congress by %10 until the federal budget is balanced.

This is known as an incentive. The states (especially California and New York) should follow this procedure.

4. Freeze social security payments at their current level. This will be the hit the seniors take. It's not an incentive for seniors, but it will probably cause them to vote against any handouts.

5. Freeze federal pay scales and benefits at their current levels, except for those possibly of the military. Keep this freeze in effect until (1) the federal budget is balanced and (2) the average pay and benefits for federal employees no longer exceeds those of employees in the private sector.

If this offends anybody, just remember that I belong to Krotchety Old Kurmudgeons Klub.