The CBO says that ObamaCare is nearly twice as expensive as previously advertised. The Obama Administration has broken its promise that Americans can keep the insurance plans they like by unconstitutionally demanding that Catholic organizations have birth control pills in their coverage. The supposed "good" unemployment number of 8.3% ignores the U6 number, which is the number of people who stopped looking, went back to or are in school, and underemployed with part-time jobs. That number is 14.5%. Gas prices are near $4/gal and rising while the so-called "Energy" Secretary, Steven Chu, testifies before Congress that he has no issue with high gas prices and will do nothing to lower them. He then goes back to Congress and says he no...

There are some value added elements to each of the departments you cited (although you missed HUD which has the least value added contribution to the people) but what the real problem with having 16 departments is the overhead. Each department has a super expensive secreatary, deputy secretary, undersecretaries for this that and the other thing. Plus, there are comptollers, office of legislative affairs, equal opportunity, blah blah blah. Point here is that we need to collapse the government down to 9 departments. Combine the value added elements of labor, commerce, education, HUD, and veteran affairs into one Department of Human Resources, split from the department of Health. From 16 down to 11. Combine Agriculture and the Interior...

Just so everyone knows, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines posted in Japan on March 3rd were here ready to go out and help the Japanese help themselves. For that investment of 35,000 Americans forward deployed in Japan, we have the heart-felt gratitude of the Japanese people. Furthermore, it is a return on investment from the Japanese. They spend $10 billion on life support, facility improvements, and maintenance, as part of our mutual treaty with Japan. No other nation pays US for defending and supporting them. Of course, Representative Paul, a sitting member of Congress since the Carter Administration, does not know this or else he would not ask why Americans are serving in places like Japan.

How about this one? "Mr. President, a two-part question...as Commander-in-Chief, how do you reconcile your proposal, as recommended by the Defense Business Bureau, to replace the current $34 billion military retirement system with a 401(k) system, when this was exactly the plan under the Bush Administration to priviize 2% of Social Security through investment in the stock market and was universally rejected by Democrats? Part two is how will cutting costs on the backs of those that have retired after spending the last 10 years fighting America's wars during a 20 plus year carerr do anything to make their future's secure given the poor performance of the stock market in that same 10 year period or maike ?"

I would close the Departments of Education, HUD, Commerce, Labor and the VA. I would merge the legitimate functions of each department in to one department called the Department of Human Services. VA medicine would fall under a new Department of Health. Departments of Energy and Transportation would merge as would the Departments of Agriculture and Interior. this would shrink our federal departments from 15 to 9 and devovle many things, like education, down to the state and local levels where they belong. None of the closed departments actually do the jobs for which they are titled. No children are taught by the Ed Department, no commerce is created by the commerce department, and only the employees of the Dept of Labor have jobs as a...

While we can hold a philosophical debate on the "size" of government, I believe the actual size of government is too big. Why do we have a Department of Education that does not educate a single child? That's the job of the states. What it does is pass out welfare to the the states for things that the states already do, like adult education and drug-free schools. Why do we have a Department of Labor that doesn't create a single job? That's the job of businesses. What the Department of Labor does is mostly statistical analysis of who DOESN'T have jobs. Why do we have a Department of Commerce that doesn't actually create trade deals? That's the job of the US Trade Representative. What it does is statistical analysis of why the inflation...

This is again why we need federally financed elections. The whole food fight over collective bargining has little to do with reank and file benefits packages. it has EVERYTHING to do with how unions raise the cash to buy politicians with the union dues of that rank and file. With federally financed elections, our politicians would no longer have to do the rubber chicken dinners for the likes of either the NRA and other right-wing causes or beg for patronage from the likes of the AFL-CIO or other left-wing causes. Federally financed elections with no private donation of any kind will make our politiicans beholden to the only people that matter: the taxpayers.

Our political class is populated with an overwhelming number of cowards only concerned with the preservation of their political power.

The striking teachers in Wisconsin are not "public servants"... they are "self-servants".

The shame is that you have to serve 20 years in the miltary before you can earn half of the average of your last 3 years. These "teachers" get pensions after as little as 18 months? Where is the justice here?