AHHHHH!
There's a lot of that kind of talk going on right now, and it's coming from both sides. Both sides are partially right, which of course means both sides are partially wrong. We need to trim spending efficiently so as to spur investments, but cutting it wholesale will hurt the economy and actually cost jobs. Remember, what we need is consumer purchasing power and government employees are spending money on consumer goods too.
So let's talk about REAL ideas. I have some:
1) Raise the retirement age. This is kind of a must. Social Security came about in 1935; it's 2011, people live longer, they can retire later. It's not crass, it's pragmatic and practical. Many people are working past 65 anyhow. Disability is different than retirement, so if you're hurt, you still qualify. But raise the retirement age.
2) Take steps to fix the rising cost of healthcare. Oh wait, we already did this. So stop trying to undo it. If you want, try to perfect it, because the bill isn't perfect. It is good and it will put a dent in the budget, so enough with all the lies surrounding it. If Republicans have ideas to improve it, then by all means, let's do it. I get the feeling they don't. Either way, it's a good bill and lowering healthcare costs is really the most important step to take, so kudos to President Obama for taking a huge step in the right direction.
3) Raise taxes. Listen, I don't want to pay higher taxes; neither do you. I get it. But there's no way to fix the deficit by cutting spending alone. And besides, the truth is that this is all rhetorical. No one wants higher taxes, but people don't want cuts in government programs that benefit them either. So saying "cut spending" sounds better than saying "raise taxes," but both things are bad in a sense. Taxes don't have to go up for everyone. Raise the floor for the highest income bracket from $250,000 to at least one million. We need to make sure that small business owners can still invest, but let's be real, the government needs money more than Bill Gates does, and giving him extra back on his taxes does absolutely nothing to help the economy. He doesn't reinvest it in his publicly owned multinational corporation, and he has more money than he can spend anyhow. Raise the floor on the highest tax bracket, then raise taxes. It has to be done. By the way, have I mentioned a gas tax...
4) Cut military spending. Along with Social Security and Medicare, military spending completes the trifecta of sinkholes for dollar dollar bills. It's important for America to invest in our military, but we must do so efficiently. The poster boy for military waste has become an amphibious landing vehicle for the Marines. Really? We were spending money on that? WWII ended 70 years ago, are we planning on storming the beaches of Iwo Jima again for the hell of it? This makes no sense. WWIII won't happen and if it does, the world will end, so I feel confident that America can cut down on conventional weapons while continuing to invest in the military of the future.
5) Invest in infrastructure, education and the future. This is America, there shouldn't be headlines about crumbling bridges killing motorists. If we want a 21st century economy, we need a 21st century infrastructure that can accommodate it. This doesn't just mean fixing potholes, it means improving the speed at which we travel (bullet trains?) as well as the speed at which we communicate. America needs 4Gs in every corner. We need a digital infrastructure, and most importantly we need an educated populace so that high-skill, high-paying jobs in America don't go the way that low-skill, low-paying jobs have gone...that is to Vietnam and China. Only if we educate will we remain the world's leader in innovation. American education means American ideas, American businesses and American jobs, and of course all those things mean revenue.
6) Reform the tax code to make it lucrative for companies to hire and research in America. American factory jobs have moved overseas and we've adapted and maintained a strong economy. We don't want research jobs following factory jobs. Those jobs should stay here, and the government must make it financially appetizing for companies to keep those jobs here.
These are just some first steps. There are other things that we could do, but Medicare, Social Security and the military are the big money holes, and so the Republican plan to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending sounds good but does bad. The economy isn't ready for that, and it does little to fix the long term problem.
And yet, we do need to cut spending as Republicans say. So it's time to make SMART decisions about where to cut and where to invest, because only by doing both things appropriately are we going to right the fiscal ship.
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