Strong America Now advocates cutting waste
By TIM ROHWER
Staff Writer
It’s not about cutting programs, but wasteful spending.
That’s the issue a new organization called Strong America Now is touting for the upcoming presidential election, said its founder, Mike George, Wednesday.
“We can reduce federal spending by $500 billion per year just by waste reduction,” he said during a Council Bluffs visit.
George, who lives in Dallas, has been touring the Hawkeye State in recent weeks to drum up support for this issue and it’s playing to an ever-growing audience.
“We have 10,000 people already signed up, and we’re just getting started,” George said. “We’re trying to build the largest grassroots organization in Iowa.”
There are also 2,000 activists who have signed up for community training in getting the message out, he added.
The Iowa Caucuses are the nation’s first major presidential campaign test.
“This is non-partisan,” George said. “Our goal is to get a grassroots movement going - (people) who will only vote for those candidates who pledge to reduce (federal spending) $500 billion per year. We believe Iowa is the lever by which you can move the world.”
When programs or agency cuts are suggested, George said, the process becomes highly politicized and its defenders do everything possible to save it.
Strong America Now believes that reduced spending can occur if every department, agency and program goes through a waste elimination process proven successful in the private sector, he said.
“Waste has no constituency,” George said.
In 1986, he formed the George Group, a consulting firm to help U.S. companies be more effective in the global economy. Because of its success, the firm was hired by the U.S. Army in 2004 to weed out wasteful spending. As a result, the Army reduced costs by $14 billion.
For more information, go to www.strongamericannow.com.
Topic: Environment Tags: None
