Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulS
To pay down/cut the deficit, balance the books. There is no way we can cut enough to balance the budget.
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Yes we can. Just don't spend more than is being taken in. That would "balance the budget." Perhaps you are confusing the deficit with the debt. You don't pay down the deficit. You create a deficit by overspending. That creates a debt, which every administration does and passes on to its successor. It is the debt that is difficult to "pay down" since it continues to grow--because more is spent than is taken in.
The idea that, surely, we
must raise taxes as well as cut spending to balance a budget means that there is some free money floating around out there in the private market that we can confiscate at will to provide for all the goodies needed to get us elected. And the more goodies we provide, the more and more we (politicians/government) must provide to justify our re-election since the old goodies become a staple to be expected and we must satisfy the what are you doing for me lately psychosis. The more the Gov. does, the more we expect it to do. The Federal Government has bloated massively beyond what it was originally allowed, but it doesn't seem to want to halt the trend.
Unfortunately, the money is not free. The private sector can balance its books by spending less and/or raising prices. Raising prices in a competitive market can lead to shrinking sales which leads to either higher prices or deeper cutbacks (or both). The Federal Gov., not having competition, operates under the assumption that it can raise its price at will. The problem is that its source of revenue is from the private sector which cannot so easily do so. When that source is taxed at higher rates, the private sector must either cut back or raise its prices to pay those rates. Which not only leads to the private market's aforementioned problem, but leads to problems with
its source of income--the consumer, who must now pay more for the goods, because of the goodies promised to him by those he elected. And some of his consumer buddies will have lost jobs due to cutbacks, so the Government will have to hand out more goodies . . . and on . . . and on.