Given that there are now 39 federal Ministers of Cabinet all with their own budgets, I don't get too hung up on waste per se as I consider almost all of it as waste. Monty Python's 'Ministry of Silly Walks' farce has become political tragedy. Defense, Courts, and Policing are all that's required. Belonging to international organizations is not. If individuals and groups feel that foreign aid or the thoroughly corrupt UN is worthy of their money, that's up to them. A proper Constitution is all that's required to ensure free trade within the nation as well as reigning in the SCOC. The provinces are the big spenders when it comes to their areas of responsibility. I fully realize that my libertarian dream is the furthest thing away from our existing and cancerous federal leviathan but that is the only direction that will save the dominion from fiscal and moral collapse into a new serfdom.
You're right that foreign aid is a small player in the larger budget picture (although the total Global Affairs Canada budget is far larger than most departments). And you're certainly also right that we have an obligation to help others. But if a foreign aid line item isn't actually accomplishing anything useful - there's demonstrably no relief for malaria sufferers and terrorist organizations are being enriched - then how is that called "helping"?
Don't we have a moral obligation to taxpayers to ensure that either their money is used productively or isn't taken from them in the first place?
And I'm not convinced that defense and healthcare aren't adjustable - although I'll admit that I haven't got any concrete suggestions right now.
There are people receiving revenue from government spending that don't deserve it and others who simply waste it. I see no problem in cutting that revenue at all.
Given that there are now 39 federal Ministers of Cabinet all with their own budgets, I don't get too hung up on waste per se as I consider almost all of it as waste. Monty Python's 'Ministry of Silly Walks' farce has become political tragedy. Defense, Courts, and Policing are all that's required. Belonging to international organizations is not. If individuals and groups feel that foreign aid or the thoroughly corrupt UN is worthy of their money, that's up to them. A proper Constitution is all that's required to ensure free trade within the nation as well as reigning in the SCOC. The provinces are the big spenders when it comes to their areas of responsibility. I fully realize that my libertarian dream is the furthest thing away from our existing and cancerous federal leviathan but that is the only direction that will save the dominion from fiscal and moral collapse into a new serfdom.
Isn’t that the point your son was making?
The drivers of government spending are defense, healthcare and the interest of the debt.
None of these are adjustable in the short run (I lobby DC in healthcare).
Foreign aid is a drop in the bucket.
Do wealthy nations have any obligations to help others?
You're right that foreign aid is a small player in the larger budget picture (although the total Global Affairs Canada budget is far larger than most departments). And you're certainly also right that we have an obligation to help others. But if a foreign aid line item isn't actually accomplishing anything useful - there's demonstrably no relief for malaria sufferers and terrorist organizations are being enriched - then how is that called "helping"?
Don't we have a moral obligation to taxpayers to ensure that either their money is used productively or isn't taken from them in the first place?
And I'm not convinced that defense and healthcare aren't adjustable - although I'll admit that I haven't got any concrete suggestions right now.
not in Canada. the drivers in Canada are healthcare, interest of the debt, and indigenous related spending.
A billion dollars of government spending is somebody’s revenue.
You can’t cut spending without cutting revenue.
That's true. But if the revenue is received by, say, international organizations that aren't delivering results (as in the "Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria" discussed here: https://www.theaudit.ca/p/paying-for-bad-government-choices) or a half billion dollars for Hamas (as discussed here: https://www.theaudit.ca/p/how-does-unrwa-spend-the-funding), then I'm not sure we should be expected to worry.
There are people receiving revenue from government spending that don't deserve it and others who simply waste it. I see no problem in cutting that revenue at all.