Reply #9: First cut the military, obviously...

[JackRiddler]

More than this. Convene a world disarmament conference and lead the way in cutting militaries in all regions. Stop selling arms and move with the other major sellers to end the arms trade. (The US is most of the market so it has the leverage of saying it's giving up the most.)

End the war on drugs and release a million prisoners. Tax marijuana.

Execute the zombie banks and cancel any government debt they hold.

Raise taxes on the rich to pre-1980 levels.

Tax hydrocarbons.

Transaction tax.

Set up a new Bretton Woods currency system and end the era of completely free capital speculating to destroy currencies for profit.

After these measures are enacted, see how bad the deficit is then and open a national debate on what cuts to make. (Give everyone a blank pie chart and ask them to draw how they would divvy up the budget.)