is not what will happen. Programs deemed too important to cut like, oh, say, defense, will not have to cut anything, programs like SNAP would be cut by 2% or however much due to other programs being too important to cut.

Same with that 18% of national income limit on spending. As the 1% get out of more and more taxes, and wages continue to shrink, national income will shrink. And shortfalls are NOT gonna come out of defense of subsidies to corporations.

This, IMO, is not a good plan, and is just an excuse to inflict austerity.

http://www.onecentsolution.org/the-one-cent-solution/

Under the One Cent plan, the sum of all discretionary and entitlement spending will have to go down from one year to the next, by one percent or more.

Guess what will be getting cut. Guess what will not be getting cut.

No, I do not think it is a good plan at all. I am sure the Kochs think it is a good plan.

But I'm wondering if it isn't somewhat out of date since the economy under Obama has been improving...

The real object of the plan is to cut social spending. IMO, etc.

Krugman has tirelessly taken his axe to the whole idea of austerity. I'd like to think he and folks like you are winning the argument. I sure hope so...

Getting the GOP and the Third Way corporatists out of power is the only way to counter proposals like this from slithering in, in any form. Feel free to quote me to your FB friend! And sorry if I sounded testy.

claims he once was a Dem, union member, shop steward, but then he saw the light and became a Republican. Old white guy. I've given him a hard time over his attitude toward poor people of color and how "irresponsible" he thinks they are. The guy is comfortable and retired and he has no idea what he is talking about. Clueless and more than a little smug. It makes me so mad...

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/jul/05/connie-mack/connie-mack-says-cutting-one-penny-out-every-/

Linden, who called Mack’s plan "ridiculous", noted that this plan could mean an even cut larger than 1 percent for each senior, since the number of seniors getting Social Security will increase. And if Social Security and Medicare were off the table, that would remove about 35 percent of non-interest spending from the chopping block, leaving bigger cuts elsewhere.

Most proposals to control spending account for the fact that more people are going to be getting Social Security and Medicare benefits in the future, Peuquet said. That means making actual cuts to the programs is very difficult.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities hasn’t analyzed the Penny Plan but examined a 2011 plan by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to limit total federal spending to no more than 20.6 percent of the gross domestic product -- slightly larger than Mack’s proposal of 18 percent. The Center wrote that the cuts to entitlements would be massive:

"There is little possibility that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security all would be exempted from these cuts. To do that would require cutting everything else — including defense, veterans’ programs, education, scientific research, and the like — by unthinkable amounts.
...and the cuts would have to be even larger if the economy faltered."

Social Security and Medicare aren’t the only programs that our experts raised concerns about.

Linden raised questions about whether Mack would cut veterans’ benefits although their needs are growing.

This is an insane Koch wet dream, that is all this is.