Balance the Federal Budget, Just Like a Business
Given all the controversy about balancing the federal budget, you'd think that somebody would start thinking like a CEO and just go fix the problem. After all, we've seen plenty of CEOs run for public office saying that their business experience is useful. So let's just take the plays from the CEO playbook!
Most CEOs of massive conglomerate companies, when faced with a deficit (i.e. massive negative profit margin) would immediately start by closing down unprofitable divisions, rather than trying to improve profitability everywhere.
In the case of the United States, the logical equivalent of the divisions are the states. From the viewpoint of the federal budget, states where the citizens pay more federal taxes than the state receives in federal money are profitable divisions. Contrariwise, states where the citizens pay less federal taxes than the state receives in federal money are unprofitable divisions.
Therefore, the most logical way to balance the federal budget is simply to throw the unprofitable states out of the union. Dump 'em just like unprofitable divisions.
The unprofitable states are (in order of increasing unprofitability) Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, North Carolina, Vermont, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Arizona, Idaho, Tennessee, Maryland, Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Maine, Hawaii, Montana, Kentucky, Virginia, South Dakota, Alabama, North Dakota, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alaska, Mississippi, New Mexico.
Mississippi and New Mexico, for instance, each eat up more than TWO federal dollars for every dollar they pay in taxes! Definite candidates for a radical rightsizing! A lot of those states nobody would ever miss anyway. I mean, seriously, when was the last time anybody ever thought about Vermont, except when you have to drive through it to get somewhere interesting, like New Hampshire?
With the freeloader states dumped, that would leave New Jersey, Nevada, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Illinois, Delaware, California, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Oregon and Rhode Island.
All those states pay more in taxes than they receive. New Jersey, for instance, pays more than three dollars for every two federal tax dollars it receives! Heroic citizens, clearly!
Of course, some of those states are profitable only in terms of federal money. Otherwise, they are in dire financial straits. But here's the good part. Once we've dumped the freeloader states, we can lower federal taxes in the heroic states, and then raise state taxes. Presto: the state budgets are suddenly balanced, too!
As an added bonus, those 18 heroic states contain most of the country's big cities, with most of the best cultural institutions and universities. As a result, the new and improved USA, freed from the burden of all the freeloaders in the flyover states, will be wildly competitive in the global economy!
After all, that's exactly how a smart CEO runs a good business! Dump the non-performers, keep the strong performers, and focus on the competencies that will serve you well in the future! As for the states that don't make the cut, how about this for a sound business idea: outsource them to China. That's what any big company CEO worth his salt would do!
Now, I suppose that SOME bleeding heart types might find this solution a trifle draconian. But the way I figure, if it's a good idea for a corporation, it should be a good idea for a country, too. As for those who oppose the idea: Whatsamatter you? Doncha like capitalism?
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