Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Debt Ceiling Political Shenanigans Are Ridiculous

It is time for the politicians to stop trying to gain leverage over each other politically and form a lasting deal that will save this country from financial ruin.  A deal that could help in the long run and not hurt as much in the short turn could look like this:

*Cuts to Entitlements--Entitlements are a severe drain on the budget.  They will soon become unaffordable.  A reasonable deal to limit the cost of these programs is necessary.  The Ryan plan may be unreasonable, but it does bring up the issue that we need to change what is broken.  We cannot afford to spend loads of money on entitlements down the road.

*Cuts to Defense--We spend WAY too much money on foreign wars, foreign bases, and expensive military technology.  We're not saying get rid of all of this, but surely some dough could be had from limiting foreign involvement and doing without a few new ships, tanks, or joint strike fighters.  These projects do bring money to several special congressmen's districts, so it may be hard, but limiting the expenditures of the state will surely help us down the road

*Cuts to make government more efficient--Lots of businesses are saving money simply by the way they operate.  The government could take a lesson from SOME private sector companies (HINT: NOT BANKS) in order to lower operation costs of some departments.  Trimming some here and some there may not seem like much, but applied to the whole government, one can have real and significant change.  People might not like it, but hey, we've got to trip money, and that's one way to do it.  Trim from the first and second bullets first though.

*Increase in revenue--Notice we didn't say "increase in taxes".  While others debate of what the exact meaning of not raising taxes is, there is no denying this: the governmental needs money.  In order to temper what will likely be harsh cuts, revenue must come to the government.  Taxes are how the government gets its money.  So, in order to ensure the severity does not fall to America's industrious middle class, who are fighting for their lives in the recession, we must turn to those who can stomach it, the rich.  We have tried trickle down economics, and it has not worked.  We need a strong middle class in America, so they shouldn't have to bear the burden of the recession and debt. Another note:  if the rich are taxed more, they're still rich, just as if the middle class are taxed less, they are also still in the middle class.


There are doubtless other ideas at how we can cut, trim, increase, decrease, or whatnot.  If we come up with any more, we'll definitely post them.  Feel free to tell us your own opinions.  We shouldn't throw out ideas just because of where they come from.  The citizens of this country must have their voice too.