Austerity is a Lie.

[Jack Sprat]

9. I agree whole-heartedly.

I've often wondered why we don't settle the deficit spending immediately, if deficit spending is such a detriment to our fiscal health as a nation.

As Democrats, we often clamored for a 'pay-as-you-go' budget during Bush's pre-crash spending spree and tax cuts.

It would give the nation pause when considering foreign wars, if we had to pay for them in heightened taxes of 50-plus rates and higher.

I realize that additional taxation is harder for some than others. But, for me personally, I would gladly pay more in taxes if there was some reward in sight like a balanced budget. Yes, it would mean higher rates for all of us and not just the rich. But the higher rates would only last until the spending came in line with revenues. It would also provide an incentive to end Afghanistan sooner than the end of 2014.

In no way would I want to see SS or Medicare/Medicaid penalized or cut, but I would venture that there are savings in spending of a discretionary nature such as defense. Yes, we need austerity on our vastly over-used Defense Dept, but not austerity on our population. We are acting and spending like an empirical world enforcer. If the old Soviet Union had ever used its' might like we are now, we would have confronted them with nuclear threats.