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Do we have a spending or revenue problem when it comes to the debt?

Do we have a spending or revenue problem when it comes to the debt?

  • Spending problem

    Votes: 17 50.0%

  • Revenue problem

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Mostly its a spending problem and some its a revenue problem

    Votes: 8 23.5%

  • Mostly its a revenue problem and some its a spending problem

    Votes: 5 14.7%

  • other

    Votes: 4 11.8%
  • Total voters
    34
JohnWOlin said:
That is all fine and good, however in order to keep taxes where they are now and have no yearly debt we would have to not only drastically downsize entitlement programs, we would have to drastically downsize infrastructure spending, and the military. This can be counteracted by gradually progressing the tax code, loopholes, and such.
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when you simplify the tax code you want to lower nominal rates to keep effective rates the same. everyone from paul ryan to bill clinton has come out in favor of this basic structure for growth.


in reality, we will never collect enough taxes to pay for our entitlements. they will be slashed. the question is "how" and "will it be in a manner of our choosing, or our creditors".
 
cpwill said:
when you simplify the tax code you want to lower nominal rates to keep effective rates the same. everyone from paul ryan to bill clinton has come out in favor of this basic structure for growth.


in reality, we will never collect enough taxes to pay for our entitlements. they will be slashed. the question is "how" and "will it be in a manner of our choosing, or our creditors".
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Nonesense if america was working there would be no revenue problem...but the pigs at the trough choose to create china our biggest threat for a few more bucks and employ communist chinese instead of americans....you made your bed sleep in it
 
Ikari said:
6 in one, half a dozen in the other. As we progress as a society and decide to enact certain legislation and benefits such as Medicare or a true universal healthcare system, you have to pay for it. On the same front, the government spends a ton of money and a lot of it goes for things which do not serve the People as a whole. It's not a Republican or Democrat problem as this has happened continuously over their decades of rule. You're not really going to solve it by say putting in all Republicans. They do the same thing.

In the end the problem is the difference between spending and revenue; that difference will have to be made up and it's probably not all going to come at the hands of cuts.
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And this kiddies is what being honest is like. Note how rare it is here.
 
mike2810 said:
I agree on the cut spending. The issue is how to increase revenue for those that see a need. For those that are living paycheck to paycheck an increase in taxes may push them over the edge into insolvency. I major overhaul of our tax system needs to be done and not just change the rates.
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But we also must face the ugly fact that major spending cuts will cost direct jobs and indirect jobs. Houston right now is facing large NASA layoffs. Some Florida towns are likely to economically disappear after the last Shuttle Launch. People focus on taxes as job killers but fail to recognize that cutting government spending cuts jobs. Lockheed Martin is cutting large numbers of employees because they see defense reductions coming down the line. Raising taxes and cutting spending are both going to hurt people. It's just that each party is pretending that either tax increases or spending cuts won't hurt, it's the other guy's proposal that's the pain.
 
Redress said:
You got the problem 100 % right. However, I think we can fix things without increasing taxes.
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Really? The deficit is set to be a trillion dollars. If we cut a trillion right out of the budget we'd STILL not be dealing with the debt. 2010 budget was $3.5 trillion. To actually cut enough to not only get us back to balanced but to generate a surplus to pay down the debt is going to likely generate a recession which will cut revenue. Which actually makes it harder to get on stable financial footing. I genuinely think we need a mix of cuts and taxes.
 
lpast said:
Nonesense if america was working there would be no revenue problem..
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this is wildly inaccurate. revenues for the past 60 years prior to the recession averaged at about 18.5% of GDP. current spending is at about 24.5% of GDP. if "America was working", our deficit would still be around 6% of GDP. And in fact, it would be higher, given government's being less inclined to tax itself.
 
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