Economic Times and in Bad,

¶ … economic times and in bad, public managers will often need to review their budgets and suggest areas in which their budgets may be reduced. Read Question 1 at the end of Chapter 4 in your text and propose how you would approach reducing the School of Public Affairs at Enormous State University budget by 5%. Begin with the strategies offered in your text and try to find articles or information on how cutbacks are handled in your city or state.

Collecting ideas from other schools and similar large universities (e.g. Smithtown patches, 2013; and CSU (2011) that also had to cut their budgets, we may propose the following:

Certain subjects could be eliminated with only the most important and popular ones retained.

Certain divisions could be likewise eliminated and the duties of various employees cut-out or doubled.

Washington Governor Gregoire cut his education budget by introducing less school day. The university could do this too.

University bus transportation (if there is) can be eliminated. Budgetary cuts can be introduced to university meals

5. Other options can include student tuitions increases, less paid furloughs for employees, and cuts in employee benefits, enrollment cuts, workforce reductions, and cuts to administration.

National Budget Simulation: The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Stabilize the Debt Simulator - http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/

Imagine that you are an Economic Advisor to the President and need to provide a plan for reducing the federal debt.

What were the major changes you made to the budget to reach the goal? Why did you choose those changes over others -- " what were the trade-offs involved? How will the changes you made affect different groups of citizens? Do you think these changes would be politically feasible?

Defense -- First and foremost, I would reduce troop levels in Iraq and consider other, less costly, ways of ensuring national security. Domestic politics (partisan affairs) impacts foreign policy sometimes making defense more costly than it needs to be. Zellizer (2010) shows that this was the case with Bush who chose to see Iraq as a War. Clinton, on the other hand, took the path of legality to shape his policies. Cuts can be introduced into national security and foreign policy by evaluating the rationality and nuances of the president's impact on foreign policy.

Tax cuts _ I would also increase tax cuts on a specific population, namely the very wealthy. Tax rate should be raised for both wealthy and the middle-class, but that it should be raised in different rates for unearned income and earned income. In other words, those who earn minimal wage should be exempt from tax, whilst certain brackets should have an increase of 10% per bracket. The super wealthy should, however, be taxed, not on what they earn, but on the accruing of their stocks, investments, and so forth. Warren Buffet, for instance, earned $46 million last year and was taxed a mere 17.7 per cent, while his secretary who earned $60,000 was taxed 30%. Buffet, after all, super rich as he is, is not working making his money instead from investments, capital gains and dividends that, as imposed by the bush administration, are taxed at rates that are as low as 15% (Grosz, 2012). This kind of treatment should be reversed. There will be political reactions from the most wealthy and powerful in the nation. This needs to be withstood and may not have long-term ramifications.

Health insurance - Given the difficult economic times and its cumulative debt as well as given rising cost of health insurance and rising amount of people who need it, the U.S. government may well decide to make its conditions for receiving health insurance even more rigid. Consequently, less people will be qualified to receive health insurance -- less people will receive the benefits and fewer benefits will be included in the package deal. This will increase the number of people without health insurance, but may cause people to be more innovative in looking for and more importantly creating their own jobs.

I would also adopt the Bowles-Simpsons' Committee idea for having the Sustainable Growth Rate, the formula which determines physician payments under Medicare, frozen through 2013, have a 1% cut in 2014, then a reinstatement of the previous formula in 2015 starting with 2014 levels. Further cutting the physician's payment would only further decrease the notorious Medicare treatment (e.g. Hood, 2010). I would employ an exploratory period to assess repercussions of my activities. This too may not be too politically unsettling.