Spending caps should be in the constitution

[Deleted member 53821]

I thought of a way to control taxes, spending, as well as debt. That way is to introduce a spending cap that can't be set by the legislative branch. These caps are often extended indefinitely which don't make them caps at all. A constitutional amendment to a state constitution that caps spending at a rate in proportion to that states population may do the trick. A state that had a million people may only spend a thousand dollars per person or some other number.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Seeing that we're now spending the least on our own country in areas like infrastructure and science. Well, where is all this money going??? I think a spend cap is ******* stupid as we need to spend money to fight wars and be the best. It is very rare when we are balanced!!!

Of course, you don't care if we become like Haiti...

 

[DarkFury]

Seeing that we're now spending the least on our own country in areas like infrastructure and science. Well, where is all this money going??? I think a spend cap is ******* stupid as we need to spend money to fight wars and be the best. It is very rare when we are balanced!!!

Of course, you don't care if we become like Haiti...

Tie it to the GDP of the state that way states who spend and invest smart get more benefits.

 

[OKTexas]

I thought of a way to control taxes, spending, as well as debt. That way is to introduce a spending cap that can't be set by the legislative branch. These caps are often extended indefinitely which don't make them caps at all. A constitutional amendment to a state constitution that caps spending at a rate in proportion to that states population may do the trick. A state that had a million people may only spend a thousand dollars per person or some other number.

Constitutional spending caps are in place, they're called the enumerated powers, which mean nothing in a post-constitutional world.

 

[Deleted member 53821]

Seeing that we're now spending the least on our own country in areas like infrastructure and science. Well, where is all this money going??? I think a spend cap is ******* stupid as we need to spend money to fight wars and be the best. It is very rare when we are balanced!!!

Of course, you don't care if we become like Haiti...

you stated the best reason right there which is governments can't fight wars as easily if they know they have limited resources. Politicians might start computing the cost of a war and realize that they won't have enough money for those wars.

 

[Deleted member 53821]

I thought of a way to control taxes, spending, as well as debt. That way is to introduce a spending cap that can't be set by the legislative branch. These caps are often extended indefinitely which don't make them caps at all. A constitutional amendment to a state constitution that caps spending at a rate in proportion to that states population may do the trick. A state that had a million people may only spend a thousand dollars per person or some other number.

Constitutional spending caps are in place, they're called the enumerated powers, which mean nothing in a post-constitutional world.

True but a spending cap hard wired into the system may be the only way to limit what the government can do.

I wasn't aware of this but local governments are often bigger than city or state counterparts with respect to spending per citizen. A cap of some kind may slow down their growth and limit how much they can do. It seems like the best way to limit givernment.

 

[OKTexas]

I thought of a way to control taxes, spending, as well as debt. That way is to introduce a spending cap that can't be set by the legislative branch. These caps are often extended indefinitely which don't make them caps at all. A constitutional amendment to a state constitution that caps spending at a rate in proportion to that states population may do the trick. A state that had a million people may only spend a thousand dollars per person or some other number.

Constitutional spending caps are in place, they're called the enumerated powers, which mean nothing in a post-constitutional world.

True but a spending cap hard wired into the system may be the only way to limit what the government can do.

I wasn't aware of this but local governments are often bigger than city or state counterparts with respect to spending per citizen. A cap of some kind may slow down their growth and limit how much they can do. It seems like the best way to limit givernment.

Well I hate to burst your bubble but money is power and no politician will vote to limit their power. Article 5 even depends on State level politicians, most of which aspire to a federal level election.