Four of the most unlikely partners have joined forces to show how the government can reduce spending by $380 billion over the next five years and help the environment. Their recommendation is called Green Scissors, and it’s co-authored by Taxpayers for Common Sense, The Heartland Institute, Friends of the Earth, and Public Citizen.

It would be hard to imagine four groups with more divergent goals or views of government. Taxpayers for Common Sense is considered “a deficit hawk.” The Heartland Institute is focused on free market solutions to society’s problems. Friends of the Earth is a progressive environmental group, and Public Citizen is a consumer watchdog that protects individual citizens.

Yet together they have identified how to save one quarter of the money the new congressional Super Committee is charged with finding, in half the time.

Green Scissors focuses on cutting environmentally harmful, wasteful spending in energy, agriculture, transportation, and land/water use. Their proposed cuts are particularly targeted at expensive government subsidies that are counterproductive. Some of the key programs they highlight for elimination include ethanol tax credits, subsidies for fossil fuel, and archaic laws that give away precious resources found in public lands and waters.

For more details, click here to access the full report. Green Scissor Report

• What problems have we assumed are impossible to solve? Should we take a new look at them?
• What unlikely partnerships could we form to benefit our business? Should we take the first step to create a bridge?