How to balance the Federal Budget

I think I just had a great idea for how to balance all government budgets over the next 10 years.

"What?!" you say! "Turk, you just posted today that you'd have to tax the literal life's blood out of the GDP to balance the budget.  How can you say now that you have a great idea regarding how to balance the budget?"

Well, the debt is only about $16.3 trillion right now.  To pay that off in 10 years would only take 10 easy payments of $1.63 trillion a year.  Given that the actual current income of the Federal government is about $2.4 Trillion, that means they need to get actual spending down to $770 Billion so they can plow the other $1.63 trillion into principle payments on the debt and get that mortgage on the future paid off.

Now look -- that's just the math: that's not the great idea.

This is the great idea:

Since we know that politicians are utterly greedy reprobates who would do anything for money, let's pass a constitutional amendment which says the following:

1. The annual salaries of the President and the members of the House and Senate shall be reduced to ZERO dollars, and they will be given ZERO allowance for staff and secretaries.  This includes all cabinet members and staffs of cabinet members.

2. It is already the responsibility of the Congress (House + Senate) to pass a budget every year (Congressional Budget Act of 1974, also Article I section 8 of the Constitution), not later than 31 August of the previous fiscal year.

2. Failure to pass a budget invalidates the terms of all members of the house and senate, and triggers an automatic recall for all seats; failure to pass a balanced budget triggers an automatic recall election for all seats.  No sitting congressman or senator may be eligible for re-election for 50 years.

3. For the first 10 years of the act, the budget must be balanced to include a payment against the principle of debt owed by the US Federal Government.  This amount will be calculated on the day this amendment is added to the constitution  and it will be equal to the total debt owed divided by 10.  The net effect must be 10 payments of 10% of the original debt load, with a balanced budget supporting a zero-growth strategy against the debt load.

4. For the first 10 years after this amendment is passed, the net accounts of the United States Federal Government shall be tallied no later than 31 Jan of the following year. Whatever is left over after all taxes are collected and all bills have been paid, including the 10% payment against the debt, the Senate, Congress, and President shall split in this way:

President: 1% of net surplus

Senate (Including VP): 24% of net Surplus

House: 40% of net Surplus

Using this money, the various elected officials can fund their own staffs to their hearts' content -- let them use their bonus money to employ their own bureaucracy, if that's what they think they need.

The other 35% of net surplus shall also be paid against the debt until such a time as it is completely paid off.

If there is a deficit and not a surplus, the elected officials listed here are responsible to pay it themselves from their own personal funds.

5. After the debt is completely paid off, the net accounts of the United States Federal Government shall be tallied no later than 31 Jan of the following year. Whatever is left over after all taxes are collected and all bills have been paid, the Senate, Congress, and President shall split in this way:

President: 0.25%

Senate (including VP): 7.75%

House: 10%

Using this money, the various elected officials can fund their own staffs to their hearts' content -- let them use their bonus money to employ their own bureaucracy, if that's what they think they need.

If there is a deficit and not a surplus, the elected officials listed here are responsible to pay it themselves from their own personal funds.

The remaining 82% shall be paid back to the citizens of the US proportionately, based on the amount they paid in through the taxes they were assessed by the IRS in the previous fiscal year.

That should do.