All the News That's Fit to be Tied

I have an axe to grind, but unlike the New York Times, I freely admit it.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A Modest Effort to Reduce Spending

Whenever people want to criticize those who say cut spending they say “give me specifics.” This column is dedicated to those people. This is The New Narrative’s contribution of a spending cut that can save over $6 billion this year. Do not replace any federal employee that retires in 2011. That simple step would save the Federal Government $6 billion this year alone. A modest research effort demonstrates that approximately 86,558 federal employees have retired every year since 2000. While there are some variations in what an average federal employee earns the numbers range from $66,000 to $74,000 so I selected $70,000 as the calculating amount. Put it together and you have a savings of $6 billion. That's billion with a B or if you prefer $6,000,000,000; enough zeros for doing nothing? Give us a little time; we can probably come up with more.