How would you fix the Deficit

[Noblesse Oblige]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html

My friend from another forum (Ace Combat Skies) gave me a link that shows what you would do to solve the defecit problem based on current policies and other potential problems. I did this just recently and I managed to solve the problem by doing the following:

Domestic Problems/Foreign Aid:
-Eliminate Earmarks
-Cut Aid to States by 5%

Military Spending:
-Reduce Military to pre-2003 levels and reduce troop sizes in Asia and Europe
-Reduce number of active troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 30,000

Healthcare:
-Reduce the tax break for employer-based health insurance
-Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013

Social Security:
-Use an alternate measure for inflation

Existing Taxes:
-Return the Estate and Investment Taxes to Bill Clinton-era levels
-Allow expiration of the Bush tax Cuts to everybody.

My result:
By 2015: I would have a budget surplus of $135 Billion
By 2030: I would have a budget surplus of $247 Billion

Now I have the link up on the top of the screen, post what you would cut or tax and your results here if you so desire.

 

[Dragon Mage]

I'd fix it slowly, and with care, not by crazily jamming higher taxes up the asses of the American populace in a frantic attempt to pay it off as quickly as possible just to save face.



(more to come later)

 

[Valvalis]

I ended up closing the 2015 gap and almost closing the 2030 gap I mostly cut the military spending and raised taxes for large-income people. Also eliminated the farm subsidies, if that would indeed help small farmers, they have extremely higher business ethics in most cases than large-scale agricultural businesses with the way they manage and treat their animals.

 

[coffeecup]

Saw this on the nytimes. I think this is great for getting people involved; however, it'd have more utility if it gave a general description of how your choices might impact our economy/standard of living/foreign relations/etc.... I mean you can just slash spending and raise taxes without restraint you'll get a surplus within a couple of years. You'll leave the USA in a state of disrepair, but at least you've closed the defecit, right?

But all in all, pretty cool that they'd put up something like this.

 

[Noblesse Oblige]

well when you think about it, the U.S. is pretty much in a state of disrepair to start with, basically solving the defecit problem would create a new host of issues in itself, so that's probably not gonna change anytime soon.

 

[blakstang98]

I'll choose the "none of the above" option. Remove the "president" from office and we'll start to see some headway. I think if we have Republicans in Congress (like we do now, thankfully) and a Republican President, then our chances of climbing out of debt will happen more efficiently. Democrats can keep the Senate, so long as there are enough of them to balance out the power for voting.

The administration that is now coming out of power (to an extent) has worked way too hard to spend money on new bills to try to fix the country. A severe lack of patience has taken it's toll in a very counter-productive way. The economy will straighten out without forcing bills down our throat that our children will be paying for, it will just take a little time, and a little common sense.

We need less intellects in office and more real people, hence the reason I think Sarah Palin will do a legit job in a higher position. I don't want someone who makes a good salesman, I want someone who's willing to make their own time and effort to help the common people. I don't want great talkers or people who are charismatic, I want someone who's real. Less star-studded people and more salt of the Earth people.

So, to hell with those narrow options, lets just put some people in office who have these traits I mentioned. Then from there, we can develop new and more plausible options.

 

[Noblesse Oblige]

To be fair and factual Stang, I don't care about the government. I don't want Obama in office anymore, but I don't want Palin either, or anyone in the Executive, or Legislative branches. Forget party issues, I rather have a united coalition government that both sides can agree on, but it will never happen because both parties are too damned polarized to really care about the people. You're right, the Democrats are not doing a good job, but do you honestly think the Republicans are gonna do any better?

 

[blakstang98]

You're right, the Democrats are not doing a good job, but do you honestly think the Republicans are gonna do any better?

Yeah, I honestly do think the Republicans can do better. Even if they put up the most awful group of Republicans up, you really can't get any worse.

Overhauling the entire government system will only hurt us in the long run. Rushing to make a drastic change in how things go is the same way Hitler made it to office. Would you rather have that? A country in dire need of overhaul resorts to radical government, which in most cases (if not all, I'm not a history person so I don't know) have led to some very nasty leaders. Don't be fooled by what the media tells you. Our country's state and government state aren't as bad as you think. You could be living in Cuba, then you won't even have the freedom to be on a forum, let alone voice your opinions and thoughts on it.

 

[Noblesse Oblige]

True, but I don't really believe in the media, or in the government. I don't like to sound like a selfish prick, but this whole recession had led me to believe that the only person or group I can ever rely on, is myself.

 

[Valvalis]

Well...if I can put my two cents in, I think the government could be a lot more "democratic," by definition of the word, than it currently is, and than it could ever be with either party in power. I think the representative system in general is undemocratic, because it consolidates power within a handful of only a few, rather than "the people." I think IIRC we're called a democratic republic, but in reality it seems like it's more of a corporately-run plutocracy. And in order to get rid of that, the government would need a serious overhaul. However, you rarely see it suggested by anyone famous who's involved in politics, because they would lose all their power, and so the only real way to get rid of it would be through an old-fashioned physical revolution, which is unlikely in this country in this day and age.

IMHO, the best possible system of government, even though it's unrealistic, would be a benevolent monarchy, where someone extremely kind, considerate, generous, and intelligent was able to rule, and had everyone's best interests in mind; that way, if the majority favored doing a lot of stupid, destructive things, they wouldn't be able to vote it into law. However, consolidating power into one person or one small group of people has never worked in reality, so the second best thing would be to have a democratic system in which every citizen in the country gets to vote on every single law, rule, etc., rather than relying on corrupt representatives to hopefully do the right thing. The votes could be carried out electronically, and since there would be no more Congressmen (also, we'll throw away the Electoral College, since that's an unfair load of crap), it would be much more difficult for corporations to influence the way the government is run through lobbying and bribery. Most likely, the only real damage they could do would be to somehow rig the equipment, but if it was somehow designed to be secure enough to prevent this, then it wouldn't be a concern.

And yes, if the majority voted for something stupid and destructive in this case, it would be unfortunate; but without the existence of representatives to shove propaganda down the throats of people who aren't educated in politics, people would have to take it upon themselves to learn more about politics (or be required in school) before voting, and would hopefully make more intelligent decisions based on at least some form of logic. And anyone who couldn't be arsed to vote on a particular law would just have to deal with the ramifications.

It's an unrealistic situation as it stands now, I know, but I think people in general would be a lot happier if the government was more under their control. Rather than being disappointed time and time again by the representatives they vote for doing the wrong things, and not following through with what they've promised.