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OK YOU balance the United States Federal Budget
O.K., You Fix the Budget http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/11/14/weekinreview/LEON/LEON-articleLarge-v2.jpg Quote:
In terms of the US Budget, economists do point out that if we truly do want to "balance the budget" we have to do one (or more) of 4 things: 1. Cut Medicare Spending Well, I'm willing to do this. But everytime people actually do try to propose certain things like price negotiation (preferably controls) of prescription drugs, standardized payments for procedures or comparative analysis enforcement you get decried as a.) A Socialist or b.) Wanting to "kill grandma." 2. Cut Social Security 3. Cut Defense Spending Well at least the United Kingdom's Conservative-Lib Dem coalition is showing some guts over this. 4. Raise Taxes Either by ending the Bush-era Tax cuts or instituting a VAT. Etc. I mean we give tax cuts but are not willing to pay for it, we just simply borrow the money for that tax cut. Well none of those are popular at all. And yet it must be implemented if one really wants a budget balanced instead of electioneering. But even if we do stop all Non-#'s 1-3 spending that wouldn't balance the budget. It's just that we as a country decided that the federal government leave certain aspects of spending to the states (Which is why there are state taxes) such as most spending on education, police-force etc. There's also a Deficit Balancing interactive program in the New York Times: Twas able to balance the budget with a: 87% Tax Increase Return the estate tax to Clinton-era levels Return Investment Tax rates to Clinton-era levels Allow expiration of Bush Era Tax Cuts for income above $250,000 a year Millionaire's tax on income above $1 million Eliminate loopholes (Bowles-Simpson Plan), but keep taxes slightly higher Reduce mortgage deduction and others for high-income households National sales tax Carbon tax Bank Tax 13% Spending Cuts Eliminate farm subsidies Cut 250,000 government contractors Reduce nuclear arsenal and space spending Enact medical malpractice reform Use an alternate measure for inflation (Social Security) Originally it was: 80% Tax Increase 20% Spending cut But since that had a $150+ Billion surplus over the long term projections I was able to restore most defense spending and Social Security cuts. Call me tax & spend but our tax levels are the lowest they've been for decades. |
3. Cut Defense Spending
4. Raise Taxes First off, these should happen, then consider Social Security and other entitlement program cuts. Getting out of Afghanistan/Iraq, cutting Nuclear arsenals (Which Obama has already worked on) and finally repealing the Bush Era tax cuts would go a long way. But I concur with your proposed budget. Like seriously, mail that to Washington. |
We definitely need to cut our defense spending, and in that vein, also cut down on foreign disaster relief. Not only is it a huge money pit for our nation, but it's also giving other nations the impression that we need to be meddling in everyone's business.We can help alleviate both of these if we begin pulling out of the Middle East and cut down on disaster aid that we send outside of the country.
Then we should focus on raising taxes, with re-aligned tax brackets to make sure the wealthy really do pay more in taxes than those who earn less. |
Yeah "Simplifying the tax code" sounds good but eliminating tax brackets did create such an imbalance in the progressive income tax system. It went from around 20 to 6 so apparently my Gov't teacher is paying the same percentage in taxes as Governor Schwarzenegger!
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I support all your ideas except for Number 4. We need taxes low to stimulate the economy in this recession by giving consumers more spending money.
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Personally I think we wouldn't be considered fools at this point if we moved out of the middle east and called all our troops abroad on home. Then we line up all our ducks and cut defensive spending. Next thing on the chipping block is Social Security. Cut the Social Security spending way down.
Next thing on the chopping block is the tax cuts. We need to severely modify the tax breaks that Bush implemented. Give everyone with an income of less than 150k/yr a tax cut...the poor need not be taxed, only those doing well enough to afford a tax. Of course this ain't always fair to small business either. So we give companies with less than 25 employees and make less than 1 million dollars a year in total a small tax break too. Of course, giving the poor and the smallest businesses a break isn't gonna be cheap. So we implement a nationwide 1-3% sales tax. This adds on to the state/local sales taxes and so the cities and states must manage collection of this tax and ensure it gets paid up to the Fed. (IRS?) This sales tax can be somewhat variable...Food and essentials need not be taxed, but other things can be taxed, and a higher sales tax can be charged on things such as tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. Additionally a higher sales tax can be charged on items which are commodities. I know that taxes are a hard pill to swallow, but I think America must do so or face it's own slow, agonizing, untimely death. :< |
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Most American businesses are privately owned and operated, so consumers need more money to spend. Stimulus checks are only effective when employment goes back up. If people are unemployed, of course they'll save the money. |
I am very partial to 3 as the most necessary, and 4 the second most. Oh, and subsidies to large-scale commercial farmers.
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Less taxes to put more money in the hands of the citizens, which creates a pure stimulation of the economy. Also free market principles go a long way, and less government projects that just waist money.
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Most of the so called "growth" over the past few decades has been fueled by consumption right? How was that consumption funded? Credit and debt. And we don't want that right?
And with wages remaining flat (when adjusted to inflation) and the job market not necessarily adjusted for the former manufacturing worker (re-training is difficult to obtain in the US :/) I doubt we'll be out of the recession without another bubble. 8( |
3. Cut Defense Spending
4. Raise Taxes Now I don't know too much about the US's budget problems, but these 2 seem to be fairly obvious to me. |
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Another suggestion would be to force politicians and other high-paid government officials to take significant pay cuts and pay them based on how much they actually do (if they routinely skip meetings/sessions, dock them pay).
The same could be said for executives in the private sector, forcing them to give up the hefty bonuses in order to increase wages for employees. |
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