CountofTuscany
Senior Member
- Aug 6, 2010
- 1,061
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Over the past few months as the debt limit debate heated up, both sides have offered a host of meaningful reforms that cross party lines. Instead of getting any of those reforms passed, it appears we will either default or pass a tepid bill full of potential cuts that may or may not occur in future Congresses.
Meanwhile, we've left the following on the cutting room floor - ideas that many in both parties support:
1. Cutting government subsidies for profitable private sector oil, agriculture and energy initiatives.
2. Reforming SS and Medicare to make them sustainable for decades to come.
3. Reforming the tax code to reduce rates, remove exemptions and create a more efficient tax system.
4. Cutting spending on unnecessary defense programs.
I'm sure there are many, many more. What else have we left on the table?
In the end, we will achieve zero of these things and maintain the decades-long status quo, strictly for partisan political reasons. A massive opportunity lost to the extreme wings of both parties who have pulled their leadership away from the negotiating table and into their ideological corners.
Maybe people will start waking up to the fact our government does not operate in our best interest. Either side.