Cut the military by 50%. Get rid of everything not focused on the option of defending our borders. (While I don't think we're particularly under threat of invasion, I'm willing to posit a need for a defensive force. We do not, however, need to be able to invade other countries.)
Cope with the fact that this will create ~10 years of chaos as the marketplace adjusts to the loss of huge sectors of industry. Encourage those industries to refocus on private uses: arms manufacturers could become science/tech manufacturers. Military uniform providers would need to find different customers to sell to, probably different styles to make.
Reduce government pensions to an amount tied to minimum wage. (By state for state officials, by federal level for federal officials.) Whether the pension is "three times minimum wage" or "ten times minimum wage" or "3x for state senators, 5x for governors, 10x fed min wage for presidents"--attach it to a metric based on the current economic situation, not an arbitrary number.
Drastically reduce income for elected government officials. Where appropriate, increase benefits to match: if the gov't provides your job with housing and a car, your income obviously doesn't need to support rent & gas money.
Reduce the amount spent guarding our southern border.
Shift laws to require that migrant farm workers are subject to the same labor laws as everyone else--minimum wage, overtime, whatever health benefits are required by law. This would remove the incentive to hire non-citizens.
Require registration for copyright past the first ~20 years. Increase cost of registration to actually cover the expense of database maintenance. Remove the ability to not file a copy in the archive.
Allocate school spending on a state level at the same amount per student, regardless of district. No more "rich districts get new buildings and good books; poor districts get leaky roofs and obsolete texts." (This is not, specifically, a money-saving measure, but it's doesn't cost money, either. Improving education helps *everyone*, and more kids staying in school longer & learning more & better means more tax revenue in the long run.)
Legalize several currently-illegal drugs and tax them like cigarettes. Stop wasting money incarcerating people for crimes that don't affect anyone but themselves & their social circle. Decriminalize prostitution, hand out licenses for sex workers (like food service licenses: basic health awareness & business registration is all it should take), and tax the business.
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