Did you know that when these debt ceilings negotiations are over, and there is some sort of agreement on the amount of spending to cut … that spending by our federal government is still going to grow?  That’s right.  Even if the Democrats and Republicans end up with $2 trillion in cuts, we will still see an increase in baseline spending of $1.8 trillion.  These “cuts” don’t actually do anything to get rid of wasteful government programs.  They are simply just “trims” on existing programs over the next decade.  This short video from the CATO Institute puts it in perspective.

At this point, trimming our budget isn’t good enough.  We need to be getting rid of useless programs entirely.  I propose that we start with the Department of Education.  The discretionary budget for this department alone was $70 billion in 2011, and what do we have to show for it?  Improved education?  A work force that is better able to compete in a global economy?