There must be 5 ways to cut the U.S. budget deficit

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon 40 years ago had a hit record with “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.” In that spirit, I hereby submit five ideas to cut the federal deficit that I believe deeply would work, but we lack the political will to do it.

Five ways to cut the federal deficit, suggestions that should apply nationwide:

1. Legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in all 50 states. We lost our destructive War on Drugs long, long ago.

Let’s terminate our costly policies that have swelled our prisons to the largest numbers and percentages in the world. We have far too many people who harmed no one locked up and unproductive in our society. Let’s free up non-violent pot heads and put them to work.

2. With that in mind, let’s follow the lead of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhouwer and Franklin D. Roosevelt by re-launching a massive public works program, putting many people to work and earning decent wages, rebuilding our country to boot.

Our infrastructure is crumbling. We have too many people on welfare and too many unable to support their families because of low-wage jobs. If people are making good money, they’ll spend it and boost the economy.

3. Take the lead long suggested by the late Frank Zappa and tax churches that rake in $200,000 or more per year.

Too many pastors have become filthy rich while too many others are poor and homeless. And too many pastors and churches have become political lobbyists. They have a right to offer opinions publicly, but when they do, they should pay taxes, just like the rest of us. They should not be accorded special privileges.

4. We should finally institute a single-payer Medicare for all health care system.

The United State has the most expensive health care at more than $6,000 per person, with our nearest competitor about $2,000 less per individual. And we don’t even have the best outcomes. And we’re buried in paper work and administrative costs. Almost all other industrialized countries on the planet have single payer systems or something like them, they’re doing just fine at lower costs.

5. The U.S. government should declare all water used for drinking public property and levy taxes on any company that removes such a precious public resource to sell it back to us for profit.

One good example not far away is Nestle, which brings its trucks into communities such as Evart and sucks out water from the Muskegon River and then brings it back to sell it to unwary customers. There is no proof the water they sell is any better than what most of us (Flint excluded) get out of our taps. Water most of us drink at home is tested and safe.

I can already hear howls of protest, but it is my firm belief that the combination of all five of these suggestions would severely reduce the deficit, eventually the national debt and improve the quality of life for all of us. Most of what I propose would improve revenue for government to do its job — solve problems on behalf of the people.

The only real problem here is our lack of political will, given the results of elections every two and four years in our history.