ON balancing the budget, paying off the debt and such.
People WILL lose government jobs.
That is a given.
While we're a long way from even contemplating reducing debt, you're right we must first tackle the budget deficit in order to keep from adding to the debt. Less government jobs would be a consequence, should we ever get serious about our deficit. I'm fine with that. There are far too many government jobs anyway.
Becuase in spite of all the right wingnut spew govt spending does create jobs.
That's short sighted. Sure, there is such a thing as a government jobs but government doesn't really create jobs because it must first take capital out of the economy, causing fewer private sector jobs. At best, government redistributes jobs.
And govt spending must be cut.
Agreed.
How we do it is the only question.
True. Personally, I like the Mack Penny plan, which balances the budget by:
1) Cutting total federal spending by one percent each year for six consecutive years,
2) Setting an overall spending cap of 18 percent of gross domestic product in 2018, and
3) Reducing overall spending by $7.5 trillion over 10 years.
We also must end the bush tax cut and possibly raise some taxes for a while.
The problem with this approach is that there is no guarantee that actual revenues would increase. In fact, many would argue raising taxes would result in less revenue to the government. Some would go even further and would suggest that lowering tax rates would boost the economy and result in more revenue to government. No one knows 100% for sure, but even if you're right and we saw an increase in tax revenues following tax rate increases and new taxes, Washington has demonstrated an unwillingness to reduce the deficit. In other words, they would only spend more. Personally, I'd agree to try higher tax rates after Washington began to live within their means. We have a spending problem first and foremost and it's not one that can be overcome with hope for more tax revenue.