Abolishing the Commerce department

[justfollowingtheelections]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derek-shearer/advice-to-the-president-a_b_167223.html

I think we should definitely do it.  The less people in government getting paid to do nothing, the better for us taxpayers.

Does anyone know how this can be done?

[Bacon King]

The complete idea at the link sounds very good, and should be implemented.

[opebo]

I think we should definitely do it.  The less people in government getting paid to do nothing, the better for us taxpayers.

Actually no, it benefits us to have more people getting paid to do nothing (Keynesian stimulus).

[jamestroll]

Abolish most of the cabinet..

Just have these departments:

Department of State
Department of Justice
Department of Economics
Department of Human Services
Department of US Security (Defense)

[Beet]

Abolish most of the cabinet..

Just have these departments:

Department of State
Department of Justice
Department of Economics
Department of Human Services
Department of US Security (Defense)

A reorganization of the Cabinet along roughly these lines would not be a bad idea. I would:
* Merge Commerce into Treasury.
* Merge Homeland security into Defense.
* Merge all other departments into the Interior.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Shut down the Dept of Energy, Education, and Commerce. Take the Commerce Dept and put it under the Treasury Dept, except the census put that under the Dept of Interior. Put  trimmed down Depts of Human Services, Labor, and Health under the the Treasury. Split Homeland Security and divide its agencies up among Defense, Interior, and the Justice Dept.

So you have the Departments of State, Justice, Defense, Treasury, and Interior.

[justfollowingtheelections]

I think we should definitely do it.  The less people in government getting paid to do nothing, the better for us taxpayers.

Actually no, it benefits us to have more people getting paid to do nothing (Keynesian stimulus).

Actually no, it doesn't benefit us to produce below our production possibility frontier, which is what happens when resources such as labor are not used efficiently.

[justfollowingtheelections]

Shut down the Dept of Energy, Education, and Commerce. Take the Commerce Dept and put it under the Treasury Dept, except the census put that under the Dept of Interior. Put  trimmed down Depts of Human Services, Labor, and Health under the the Treasury. Split Homeland Security and divide its agencies up among Defense, Interior, and the Justice Dept.

So you have the Departments of State, Justice, Defense, Treasury, and Interior.

IMO we should keep the Education department.

This is what my cabinet would look like:

- State Department
- Economic Department
- Defense Department
- Justice Department
- Conservation Department
- Agriculture Department
- Technology and Innovation Department
- Labor Department
- Health and Human Services Department
- Education Department

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Shut down the Dept of Energy, Education, and Commerce. Take the Commerce Dept and put it under the Treasury Dept, except the census put that under the Dept of Interior. Put  trimmed down Depts of Human Services, Labor, and Health under the the Treasury. Split Homeland Security and divide its agencies up among Defense, Interior, and the Justice Dept.

So you have the Departments of State, Justice, Defense, Treasury, and Interior.

IMO we should keep the Education department.

This is what my cabinet would look like:

- State Department
- Economic Department
- Defense Department
- Justice Department
- Conservation Department
- Agriculture Department
- Technology and Innovation Department
- Labor Department
- Health and Human Services Department
- Education Department

The Education Dept can be easily slipped into the treasury dept or interior. Conservation could be put into the Treasury or Interior. The last 5 can easily be put into the Treasury Dept as well. I will admit the Education dept can be a great check against the teachers Union.

[justfollowingtheelections]

I think the Education department is necessary considering the awful state of education in this country.  I'm also getting rid of the Interior department and handing most of its responsibilities over to the Conservation department.

[frihetsivrare]

I agree that the Department of Commerce should be abolished, just like most other departments.

I think the Education department is necessary considering the awful state of education in this country.  I'm also getting rid of the Interior department and handing most of its responsibilities over to the Conservation department.

Has education really gotten better since the department was created?

[justfollowingtheelections]

I agree that the Department of Commerce should be abolished, just like most other departments.

I think the Education department is necessary considering the awful state of education in this country.  I'm also getting rid of the Interior department and handing most of its responsibilities over to the Conservation department.

Has education really gotten better since the department was created?

No, but an effort should be made to improve the educational system in this country and you can't do that without a department of Education.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Make a new Research department. It can get NIST, the NOAA, Patent office and so on from Commerce. Fold the rest of Commerce into Labor.

[Verily]

Commerce is the most wasteful one they could find?  There are plenty of other more gargantuan wastes than Commerce.  The first priority should be fixing entitlements and the military.

Commerce would be the least controversial, which is part of the appeal.

No one ever wants to cut Defense spending even though it's by far the most bloated arm of government. Politically, only Republicans can get away with any Defense cuts (since any Democrat would be accused of being a pacifist ninny, or something similar), but on the same token no Republican since Ford would even consider cutting Defense spending.

Other departments such as HHS, Labor and Education appeal to important constituencies, for both parties. Plus, while there is some waste in each, none of them is anywhere near as absurd as Commerce (although Labor could do with being merged with something else, and HHS and Education could survive in one department).

Anyway, Verily's Cabinet!

Department of Internal Affairs
*Subdepartment of Justice
*Subdepartment of Health
*Subdepartment of Education
*Subdepartment of the Treasury
*Subdepartment of Transportation, Energy and the Environment
*Subdepartment of Innovation and Technology
**Office of Urban Affairs (non-cabinet, reports to Secretary of Internal Affairs)
**Office of Rural Affairs (non-cabinet)
**Office of Indian Affairs (non-cabinet)
**various other minor things: Office of the Census, Office of Weather Services, etc. (all non-cabinet)

Department of External Affairs
*Subdepartment of Diplomacy
*Subdepartment of War
*Subdepartment of Trade
*Subdepartment of Espionage (let's not kid ourselves with the names)

[Verily]

Make a new Research department. It can get NIST, the NOAA, Patent office and so on from Commerce. Fold the rest of Commerce into Labor.

There's the trade stuff, too. That would find a much better home in State.

[DanielX]

Here's my proposed government reorganization:

- Department of State
- Department of Defense (includes most of Homeland Security)
- Department of Justice (includes the rest of Homeland Security)
- Department of the Treasury (deals with government revenue)
- Department of Economic Infrastructure (Commerce and Labor, plus bits from elsewhere including Agriculture)
- Department of Social Welfare (HHS, HUD, and Education)
- Department of Natural Resources (Interior and the eco-minded bits of Agriculture)
- Department of Science&Technology (from Energy, and various items from elsewhere like the Patent Office, NIST, and anything that involves non-military tech R&D)

Minor offices that may not be attached to one of the above:
- Indian Affairs
- Office of Personnel Management
- Executive Budget Office (I forget the current name for this now)

[Brandon H]

I would dump the Department of Education first.