TSA? DEA? BATFE?

\didn't rtfa
\\dreaming

We get it, he's black.

I guarantee this will be spun as a big-government move to give them more power. I'll put money on it.

CPennypacker: We get it, he's blah.

FTFY

Obama: The world is round.
GOP: It's flat!

fark, here we go again.

Sounds like a good idea. Too bad he's a Democrat, otherwise the farking immature assholes in the GOP might support this.

I must not have read the full article. Republicans aren't attacking him yet, according to the article, although I'm sure that their desire to see Obama fail will take precedence over both their desire to help the economy and to stick to their own party's principles.

They are: the Commerce Department's core business and trade functions; the Small Business Administration; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Export-Import Bank; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the Trade and Development Agency. The goal would be one agency designed to help businesses thrive.

Huh. Good idea, looks like. Though the word you're looking for is "merge" not "eliminate", i think, subby.

So Obama is holding back on the announcement that he is in favor of breathing until October, then?

the same can be said about dems

DEMS: OMG Repubs want to cut government, they want to destroy us!!!!
Obama seeks to cut government

DEMS: Herp derp!

/party lines are stupid, wake up people

Hooray, smaller government! But we'd have to give Obama more power and actually vote on his proposals. But we'd get smaller government! But we'd have to give Obama more power and actually vote on his proposals. But we'd get smaller governme...

Fatal Error: Out of memory.

stevenr868: the same can be said about dems

DEMS: OMG Repubs want to cut government, they want to destroy us!!!!
Obama seeks to cut government

DEMS: Herp derp!

/party lines are stupid, wake up people

So you've chosen to ignore the actual topic and article, and then shout that both sides are bad. Well, it's a free country.

In what he called his favorite example, Obama said: "The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they're in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they're in saltwater. And I hear it gets even more complicated once they're smoked."



Lah-dee-frickin'-dah, salmon. Why cain't this blah person eat Real American food, like swamp rodents?

GOP: "We need a president who acts in the image of Ronald Reagan"

Obama: "Good, give me the ability Reagan had to restructure the government and I'll make it smaller, after all, government isn't the solution..."

GOP: "OMG THIS IS A BRAZEN OVERREACH OF POWER TO PROMOTE YOUR SOCIALIST AGENDA"

Obama: *facepalms*

Counter_Intelligent: I must not have read the full article. Republicans aren't attacking him yet, according to the article, although I'm sure that their desire to see Obama fail will take precedence over both their desire to help the economy and to stick to their own party's principles.

They're not ATTACKING him, but he's been trying to do this for 18 months. The problem is that some guy on some sub-committee on commerce overseeing those agencies doesn't want to lose his committee chairmanship.

Good jerb Obama!! Reduce that government.

/I can get behind this!
//No funny names for Obama today!!

Keep in mind, Mitch McConnell very specifically said that the economy and the American people are not the top Republican priority.

Impasse: TSA? DEA? BATFE?

\didn't rtfa
\\dreaming

Yeah, that's one hell of a wish.

OMG How can you guys not see it? He's consolidating power and getting rid of anyone that can stand up to him. He wants a smaller government so it's only his people who can then jackboot all the rest of us and take our freedom, guns, money, and McDonalds.

I'm not a fan of Obama by any means, but I don't see a problem with gutting redundant bureaucratic crapholes by the dozen. Just because someone you don't like has a good plan/idea doesn't mean you should automatically be against it. Obvious underlying issue is obvious, politics is ruining this country.

Obama supports initiatives that would shrink and streamline the government, in line with the decades-old conservative mantra, which puts Republicans in a bad situation since they have built their entire campaign on an "oppose everything Obama does" soapbox. I see no problem with this: American people get what they want; political douchebags get shafted. It's a win/win.

Lackofname: They're not ATTACKING him, but he's been trying to do this for 18 months. The problem is that some guy on some sub-committee on commerce overseeing those agencies doesn't want to lose his committee chairmanship.

Thank you for filling me in.

Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

Clearly, Obama is history's greatest monster for wanting to do exactly what Republicans want to do.

stevenr868:

/party lines are stupid, wake up people

Farking do something about then instead of thinking how sophisticated you are by not playing the game.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

Neither does defunding Planned Parenthood and NPR or outlawing abortions, but that didn't stop the reactionaries in Congress from trying to do so.

Won't this Kenyan usurper's thirst for power ever be sated?

He won't stop before he's destroyed America before Real Americans have had their chance! Affirmative action! Affirmative action!

Free_Chilly_Willy

Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

The article states that they will remove about 1000-2000 jobs through attrition. AKA - not hiring new people to fill those jobs once they retire/quit. Sounds good to me.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

You make it sound like he's trying to form Captain Planet or Voltron. I would at least hope if those agencies are redundant and he's merging them that he'd be able to cut the redundant positions or at least reorganize them to a more efficient way rather than having 6 fluffers doing one job now.

MichiganFTL: OMG How can you guys not see it? He's consolidating power and getting rid of anyone that can stand up to him. He wants a smaller government so it's only his people who can then jackboot all the rest of us and take our freedom, guns, money, and McDonalds.

You sound fat.

LasersHurt: I guarantee this will be spun as a big-government move to give them more power. I'll put money on it.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

What do I win?

stevenr868: the same can be said about dems

DEMS: OMG Repubs want to cut government, they want to destroy us!!!!


No.

Jake Havechek: stevenr868:

/party lines are stupid, wake up people

Farking do something about then instead of thinking how sophisticated you are by not playing the game.

does not blindly voting based on them count as doing something? I guess it's more than 90% of America is doing anyway

• Cut military/defense spending by 50%.
• Raise the social security and medicare eligibility age to 70.
• End all subsidies to Big Energy, Big Ag, and Big Pharma
• End the War on Drugs
• Repeal the Patriot Act
• Close all overseas military bases
• End the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes >$250,000 per year
• Reduce the salaries and benefits of all Federal elected officials to what they would be if those individuals were on welfare.
• Skaboom! More money, smaller government. What do I win?

LasersHurt: LasersHurt: I guarantee this will be spun as a big-government move to give them more power. I'll put money on it.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

What do I win?

A fun filled day with John Boehner and Eric Cantor!

Jake Havechek: Sounds like a good idea. Too bad he's a Democrat, otherwise the farking immature assholes in the GOP might support this.

THIS.
And you said GOP three times.

Wyalt Derp

stevenr868: the same can be said about dems

DEMS: OMG Repubs want to cut government, they want to destroy us!!!!

No.

Lol, yep. At least some.

/when the few represent the whole, everyone is an asshat.

cubic_spleen: Skaboom! More money, smaller government. What do I win?

The chance to make a more detailed examination of and explanation for your cuts.

LasersHurt: LasersHurt: I guarantee this will be spun as a big-government move to give them more power. I'll put money on it.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

What do I win?

Nothing. It was obvious this was going to happen. I've been told by at least one reactionary that he would rather have less IRS "henchmen" enforcing the tax code even if it meant that tax rates could be lowered more and the rest of government could be even smaller without them. Sadly, their only real motivation appears to be making their tribe win.

I support the president in this endeavor.

I also didn't see a whole lot of objections to this by republicans in the article.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

It does to me. The problem with having multiple overlapping agencies is that businesses may go to one agency and be told that they need to do one set of instructions to comply with the law, while another agency will give them a different set of instructions. It's like the cover sheet scene in Office Space. Having fewer agencies to report to decreases the chance of having to deal with inconsistent messages from the government, and thus decreases the chance that you'll be found to be noncompliant with the law.

To put it another way: do you want to be sued by one government agency or six? Obviously the answer is "none", but it's still easier to settle with one agency than with six.

Plus, a larger agency doesn't necessarily mean more power. The armed forces are the biggest branch of government we have, and there's very little they can do to regular citizens on US soil.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

I remember the last time we tried that. How did that work out?

Serious Black: LasersHurt: LasersHurt: I guarantee this will be spun as a big-government move to give them more power. I'll put money on it.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

What do I win?

Nothing. It was obvious this was going to happen. I've been told by at least one reactionary that he would rather have less IRS "henchmen" enforcing the tax code even if it meant that tax rates could be lowered more and the rest of government could be even smaller than without them. Sadly, their only real motivation appears to be making their tribe win.

FTFM.

Counter_Intelligent: I must not have read the full article. Republicans aren't attacking him yet

Read the comments section on the site.

LasersHurt: LasersHurt: I guarantee this will be spun as a big-government move to give them more power. I'll put money on it.

Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

What do I win?

Heh. I was going to make a joke about your Weeners, but then I had to attend to some burning flowers in a glass dick and lost my concentration.

Then this comes along. Really, it's funny in a way that doesn't make me laugh.

Saiga410: Free_Chilly_Willy: Consolidating six huge agencies into one super agency does not sound like steps to a small government to me subby.

I remember the last time we tried that. How did that work out?

We formed Voltron, and defeated the Robeasts.

cubic_spleen: • Cut military/defense spending by 50%.
• Raise the social security and medicare eligibility age to 70.
• End all subsidies to Big Energy, Big Ag, and Big Pharma
• End the War on Drugs
• Repeal the Patriot Act
• Close all overseas military bases
• End the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes >$250,000 per year
• Reduce the salaries and benefits of all Federal elected officials to what they would be if those individuals were on welfare.
• Skaboom! More money, smaller government. What do I win?

Looking through that, the hatred of business owners (obvious), baby boomers (I gots to wait 5 more years!??), and a dramatic spike in unemployment (cutting defense spending and closing military bases would send a lot of returning soldiers and employees at defense contractors to the unemployment line). And ending the subsidies on Big Ag, Big Energy, Big Pharm, all I've seen from that is that if you charge them more in any way, they just pass it on to the consumer, then post record profits. There needs to be a different reform for price monitoring than just ending breaks.

Not that these are the wrong ideas, I just think they might be better if they were scaled rather than drastic.

Cutting the size and scope of government agencies, especially where there are redundancies is a smart idea.

Obama's plan represents a good start, as long as it is approached from a dollars-reduction standpoint. If we end up with fewer but bigger agencies that cost more it will be a failure, obviously.

Do we just imply Republican opposition? Sure, it seems like a safe bet but shouldn't we at least wait until someone actually opposes his plan?