A few points to ponder:
- The National Debt does not need to be paid off...ever. It is not like your personal finances. All that needs to happen is that it be serviced - the interest paid when due.
- While both sides of Congress share responsibility for the massive DEFICITS, the Democrats are mainly at fault. They spend money, invariably, on programs that are unconstitutional, unwise, and unaffordable. Consider this: There is NO PROVISION WHATSOEVER in Article I that gives Congress the power to provide benefits to individual citizens. Nor does the President have that power. So consider SNAP benefits, housing subsidies, education grants, MEDICAID, "forgiving" student loans...the list is endless. All Democrat programs, all unconstitutional.
- Democrats never understand the workings of a "dynamic" economy. That is to say, corporations and wealthy people RESPOND to changes in the tax code, and change their behavior accordingly. To suppose, as the OP does, that if the tax rates had remained as they were, the Government would be raking in mountains more money is a manifestation of total ignorance of this phenomenon. Think about it this way: If the corporate tax rate were increased to 80% of "profits," do you really think that revenues from corporate taxes would increase to four times what they are at 20%? If you do, you need to think a little deeper on the issue. Same concept applies to personal income tax. The only people who get fucked when the top marginal tax rate increases are sports stars who have to take it on the chin. Other high earners just change the way they handle their finances.
- Nobody knows how much debt the U.S. can tolerate. We are already far beyond what anyone historically would have expected, and the dollar hasn't crashed, and Congress is as irresponsible today as it ever was.
- Finally and most importantly, Social Security and Medicare are not part of this discussion. They are off-books activities, separately funded. FIT dollars MAY NOT be used to fund SS, and Congress WILL modify SS so that the "trust fund" doesn't go broke. You can count on it.
Parenthetically, if Congress ever goes completely off the rails and tries to implement "universal healthcare" (or whatever they call it), it will also have to be paid for by a separate "payroll" tax going into a "trust fund" set up for that purpose. Because they will never have the super-majority to get a Constitutional Amendment.
