MY FEDERAL BUDGET FIX

I get ideas, occasionally brilliant ideas that remind me of my genius.

Some would write a book to capitalize on such a happenstance but, honestly, this latest requires maybe two paragraphs. I was watching "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace," where speculation persists about reaching an impasse that shuts down the Federal government. I had my usual reaction: Who gives a rat's ass?

Then everything came together in my brain.

Politicians and most everyone want to cut the Federal budget, but they want to be selective, which means don't cut their things, just yours. Which means nothing will happen.

So here's my solution to this seemingly insurmountable problem.

CLOSE THE GOVERNMENT
ONCE A WEEK
or
TWICE A MONTH

That's it. Wednesday or every other Wednesday would be good. Maybe every Monday, since some are holidays anyway, and Congress doesn't work on Monday because they are always on holiday. (Some would argue Congress doesn't work.) Obviously, essential services would still operate. Air-traffic control, NCIS and maybe Customs. Inessential services and offices would be closed, such as the national park police and the IRS. (I could fill a book listing all the inessentials.)

This would save a huge amount of money on salaries alone. We can be magnanimous and count these off days as work days for benefit-accrual purposes. Savings would include electricity, water, paper, red tape and much more.

The Armed Forces? Put them on alert, so they are not attacked, but don't initiate any actions. Most servicemen and women are so underpaid, we could still pick up their salaries, while saving on expensive ammunition, fuel, blown-up equipment and so on. As an added benefit, most populations would respect the US for giving its soldiers a day off.

Citizens and workers will learn to survive a day without the massive Federal bureaucracy.

We have a series on Superfluous Departments. Specific unconstitutional, unnecessary and detrimental institutions that could be slashed with no ill effects. Shutting the government once a week would allow everyone to see which departments are a total waste of resources. Or we may learn that most of them are.