What would y'all cut? Currently, about 40% of federal spending is deficit spending. You can't cut Social Security; people have been paying in to that system for decades with the expectation of receiving benefits. Besides, cutting Social Security also means cutting tax revenues by about 30%.
Cut Medicare? Good luck with that -- and keep in mind that eliminating it would only fix half of the deficit problem. OTOH, the civil unrest from millions of people suddenly losing health coverage would make deficits seem a lot less important.
Cut military spending? Again, good luck with that. Though TBF, we could easily afford to trim the defense budget. Slow down R&D a bit, decommission 2-3 carrier groups, close some of the hundreds of bases on foreign soil, and bring the troops back home (I'd make an exception for Korea, but we really should get out of most places).
Everything else in the budget? That would make a dent in the problem, but doing a blanket-dismantling of the entire rest of the government would cause more problems than it would solve.
People talk a lot about raising taxes to cover the budget or cutting spending, but no one ever has anything remotely like a realistic plan.
|