If members of Congress want to cut spending on some program, then they should use the constitutional mechanism they already have: Don’t pass that bill to begin with.

The President needs to stop letting Congressional Republicans use the debt limit for extortion. When they refuse to raise it, then he will have two conflicting sets of instructions from Congress. 1) Pay for the programs they already authorized. 2) Don’t pay.

He will have to decide exactly which things to fund and which things to defer. And that should be rather hilarious, since that will effectively mean that Congress is granting him one of their most cherished powers! Nothing would stop him from limiting Social Security payments to $700/month (which would have all the Republican well-off retirees howling for their Congressmen’s blood) or cutting off all federal payments just to Red states.

Step 1: End the wars, recall the troops, close the permanent bases around the world. $1,200,000,000,000 savings per year, more than ending Medicare/Medicaid entirely combined.

Step 2: End the “War on Drugs,” pardon those incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses, tax and regulate recreational drugs like alcohol. $90,000,000,000 savings per year, increased tax revenue from drug tax up to $100,000,000,000 per year. (Assumes an illegal drug trade of $500 billion or more per year.)

Step 3: Tariff imports to spur national growth and end trade imbalances caused by currency manipulation and lopsided trade agreements.

Step 4: End the income tax. It’s no longer needed without wars, drug tax, and a tariff on goods imported generating surplus revenue.

Step 5: End the Federal Reserve and fiat currency.

Now sit back and enjoy the boom. Are you listening America?