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Originally Posted by Danzig
ok--how much would that save? what are those budgeted amounts compared to the real drains on the treasury?
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It would help. But you have a good point -- the real drains on the treasury are the "unfunded mandates", a term that can only exist in Washington, calloquially equivalent to "you must pay for this, no matter how much it costs, and regardless of whether you actually have the money." It's absurd.
This is compounded by the fact that at least some of the programs, like Social Security, are in fact unsustainable due to their mathematical resemblence to other Ponzi schemes. These programs ought to be first on the chopping block since they are guaranteed to fail once the paying population is less than the collecting population -- the "Baby Boomer" bubble.
Other things, like maintaining a nuclear arsenal, are expensive and continuing drains as well, but may be planned for and will likely improve as technology improves. Lower maintenance designs will be made.
Only the roads we can't seem to make indestructible. Those government contracts to repair highways, that go on for 5, 6 years at a time at a snail's pace, they seem to wrap up just as the road needs to be redone. Amazing.