Could a presidential candidate win on a platform of a "Balanced Budget" ?

Cutting freeloaders weekly SNAP junk food haul never won anyone any votes.

It would be an empty campaign promise because the president has no power to balance the budget.

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Could a presidential candidate win on a platform of a "Balanced Budget" ?

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Sure.
Could a POTUS execute that promise? Nope. It's a Legislative Branch issue.

Same with SS.

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not if they spell out what must be done to achieve either

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That is the correct answer.

Everyone is in favor of the concept of balancing the budget, but not the reality of it meaning cuts to programs they benefit from. Just to balance last year's budget (October 2024 - October 2025), spending would have had to have been cut by ~30% (assuming debt is fully serviced).

Spread evenly, that's nearly 1/3rd of spending cut to everything - Medicare, pay for the military, SNAP, water bills at federal offices, toner, VA staff, etc. If cuts are more targeted then those items which are cut face even larger cuts. The larger and/or the more items cut, the bigger the outcry. The bigger the outcry, the more DC will cave on following through.

As many here have said many times over the years, this has only one mathematical outcome and it's not a good one.

We're nearly $40 trillion in debt and have open Marxists surging in popularity country wide who advocate opening the borders to millions of foreigners to add to the welfare system.

If you are arguing about a "balanced budget" being the top campaign concern, you aren't seeing the forest for the trees.

I think a platform of cutting the budget by eliminating the theft of our tax dollars and eliminating the income tax would be interesting. It would have to be another outsider running though.

There are tons of examples of theft of our tax dollars recently: Somali daycares, LA county hospice care centers, USAID corruption.

What party is fighting investigations funding paid protesters to create diversions.

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Everyone is in favor of the concept of balancing the budget, but not the reality of it meaning cuts to programs they benefit from.

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As I’ve long said and has been proven since DOGE, the budget would be balanced with programs intact if you just got rid of fraud, waste, and abuse.

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Could a presidential candidate win on a platform of a "Balanced Budget" ?

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Don't know. But, would win my vote. as Elon has noted, the gulf between what we revenue (4.9T) and what we spend (6.9T) is likely 2T in fraud.

what would a message sound like if a candidate with a pair said "I will balance the budget simply by eliminating fraud"

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Could a presidential candidate win on a platform of a "Balanced Budget" ?

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Voters love spending on themselves, want others cut. Problem is, damn near everyone gets SS. So no realistic proposal will be popular.

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Secondary Question: Could a presidential candidate win on a platform of reforming Social Security?

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GWB tried it. It’s how we got a Pelosi led Congress if that tells you anything.

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If the answer to both of those questions is "No", then it makes me question the future greatly.

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No reason to question it. Our fate is already sealed. Instead… prepare.