Deficit

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20101015/pl_yblog_exclusive/what-would-it-really-take-to-trim-the-deficit

There's all of this talk this election season about controlling the deficit, reducing the national debt, etc.

First -- definitions

The national debt is the cumulative amount of money the nation owes to other entities.

The national deficit is the amount of money the nation accrues in debt over the course of a year.

Only one President has ever gotten the debt to 0, Andrew Jackson. The last President to have a deficit of 0 was Bill Clinton, who upon the Internet boom of the late 1990s, began to pay back against the debt.

Moving on, both the debt and deficit have been big issues of this, and most, election years. Many want us to get rid of some/most/all of the debt to reduce dependence on foreign entities, namely China -- who actually only owns a plurality of the debt. Many have also seen deficit spending as one of the best ways to get the nation out of recession. The latter statement has been less popular since the passing of TARP, and most tend to focus on the other "half" of Keynesian economics -- tax cuts.

I wonder what the figures are on what the taxes would be currently, with the bush tax cuts, with the bush tax cuts for just those who earn under $250,000 a year, and without the bush tax cuts entirely. Sadly, I don't think anyone would make such a chart, and me being only 14-15 at the time the cuts took place, I am woefully unaware of what it was like financially pre-cut.

As the article states, I find it interesting that tax cuts are among the most inefficient ways to help the economy. I knew of the fact that upper-class cuts help the economy the least, but seeing as how they are the ones who control the media etc, the fact is easily ignored.

How have we really gotten so bad that tax cuts are the only way our politicians can campaign about fixing the economy, that not being for tax cuts is the equal of being against tax cuts?

The Republican plan, which was published earlier this year, in the summer I believe, only has rhetoric about cutting the deficit, while not doing much to actually reduce it in the meat and bones. The tea party contingent plans on cutting back the government as much as possible, except in the personal government project that helps each individual person.

The Democrats have not listed any plan besides letting the bush tax cuts above 250,000 expire, and keeping the rest (Obama pledged not to raise taxes on anyone who makes under that, and you'd be damn sure he's gonna keep that if he wants any shot at re-election, it killed Bush Sr.'s shot).

Honestly, raising taxes might be the only way to get out of it. With the current economic recession being largely caused by fiscal instability in people being unable to pay off their houses and credit cards, perhaps the country should look inwards and not become a parody of its people. We've spent more than we've had, but the projects can't be cut, people need them, they've come to rely upon them. So we need to suck it up, and make more than the minimum monthly payments.

-- Knuttel