How would you, DU, eliminate the US debt/deficit if it were up to you?

[Politics_Guy25]

What do you all think is the best process to go about in order to eliminate the US deficit/debt? My idealistic solutions would be to absolutely slash the Pentagon's budget, immediately end the war on terror, the war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan, eliminate all Bush/Reagan era tax cuts, raise the income tax threshold in the US to Canadian/UK/Australian style levels and end forever any semblance of earmarks/pork in any government bill whatsoever.

I am not being sarcastic in the above paragaph at all. Just because I've defended President Obama doesn't mean I would follow in his footsteps. I do understand, however, that he has to toe a fine line to avoid getting tarred and feathered by FNC and a rethug elected who would be far worse.

So paragraph #1 is how I would reduce the debt/deficit, how would you all? The steps I outlined above would make the GOP apopletic and I'd be tarred and feathered as the 2nd coming of Mao himeslf. lol.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Restore tax rates to 1950s levels

Cut middle class taxes in half, triple them on the rich.

Everyone prospered in the 1950s.

[tabatha]

2. Agreed. (For once)

or at least to Clinton levels.

And do something about outsourcing jobs.

[Politics_Guy25]

3. Good plan

Yeah, the 50s were a golden age in many respects. Everything went to hell on November 22, 1963.

[Tunkamerica]

8. especially in terms of rights for minorities!

[Politics_Guy25]

17. Haha-I knew someone would say that to me!!

True you are m'am/sir

[Tunkamerica]

32. Sir, and happy to be that somebody.

[davidinalameda]

4. bake sales

and 50-50 raffles

[WCGreen]

5. Seriously...

charge the other economies in the world for protecting the high seas and allowing for the free flow of commerce...

We are spending trillions of our dollars so that other countries don't have to.

[Lasher]

6. Let all the Bush tax cuts expire and end the Bush wars.

That would give us a surplus, not accounting for the Bush recession. It's just that simple. Funny thing, how you never hear it put that way in the news.

The 2006 National Budget Simulation Game

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. I wouldn't...

...a national debt, provided it's not too large, is a good thing.

[tabatha]

9. how?

[Davis_X_Machina]

11. Did you buy your house, car, or college degree with cash?

Paying the full balance due at the time of purchase?

If not, why not?

[Exilednight]

28. I took a loan out for my car, but I did pay cash for car and I was paid to get my degree........

Granted, I did have to serve in the military in order to get paid to go to school, but my education cost me nothing in terms of finances.

I only took a loan out on my car because I had just took my life savings and purchased my first home. I paid a grand total of 60k for my first house in 1992. That same house sold just before the bubble burst for almost 250k.

Edit: but I do see where you're coming from. Sadly, at this moment and time, our debt is out of control. I would estimate that a manageable debt would need to be about half of what we owe now.

[dkf]

10. I would simplify the tax code getting rid of most deductions.

Make the tax code flatter. Tax estates over $5 million 50% with a declining credit for charity.

I would do single payer.

I would have a declining corporate tax rate based on equality of pay and domestic vs. international employees.

[provis99]

12. I'd agree with all your ideas except cutting pork.

Pork barrel spending is good; it puts people to work,and takes up only a small portion of a budget anyways.

[demwing]

13. Easy to write , difficult to accomplish

1. End the wars
2. Scale back the military
3. Tax the fuck out of the top 33% of all incomes
4. Increase the Soc Sec tax to cover all income levels
5. Have a National Lottery
6. Legalize Marijuanna nationally, and tax it.
7. Start a Single Payer health care system

Do that and we;ll wipe our debt in 2 years.

[ladjf]

24. Would you be interested in running for President? nt

[applegrove]

14. A value added tax like they have in Europe, New Zealand and Canada.

If you go and get your hair dyed? You pay 7% tax. Send your tweens to the mall with $100? They spend $7 in tax. If you don't spend your money on stuff, and services but save it or use it only for food, you don't pay the tax. And the poor get money back twice a year to cover the taxes they have paid. It really works.

[JamesA1102]

23. A VAT is regressive that hits low and middle income people nt

[defendandprotect]

15. End the wars immediately...STOP building new Taj Mahals of Embassies ...

all over the word -- usually now costing just under a billion $$ each!!

Pass MEDICARE FOR ALL ... starting at age 57 .. and then every six months or so ...

move down another 10 years -- put kids in immediately!

That will save government money and also create 2.3 million jobs.

Restore the tax rate on corporations to at least Eisenhower years --

AND, assess added taxes on corporations which have moved jobs out of America

and use it to pay for the unemployment benefits -- and keep the long term

unemployed on u/e benefits.

STOP the foreclosures -- let judges re-set the mortgages rates and keep owners

in their homes -- we don't need more homeless nor more impoverished.

OVERTURN the trade agreements -- all of them --

And, STOP Obama from working on any new ones as he has been doing!!

That would be a good start --



and then, do whatever Bernie Sanders tells you to do from there on ..... :)

[Politics_Guy25]

16. I haven't seen a single idea in this thread

that I disagree with. Wow. Awesome!

VAT jumps out to me as something that would really help a lot as well as a national lottery in particular.

[Kaleva]

18. Let the tax cuts expire, raise the gas tax .75 cents a gallon.....

Allowing the tax cuts to expire ought to generate about 4 trillion in revenue over 10 years.

The National Highway Trust Fund is underfunded by about a 100 billion a year and our highways and bridges show it. Raising the tax on gas 7.5 cents a gallon over 10 years ought to generate enough revenue to fully fund the Highway Trust Fund and create close to half a million new and good paying jobs. Jobs that will generate more general and FICA tax revenue.

Our electrical grid system is overloaded and inefficient and power interruptions cost the nation $80 billion annually. I'd propose an extra tax on electrical usage to be used to upgrade our national electrical grid system over a 20 year period of time. The tax would have to be enough to generate approx. 8 billion annually (160 billion total in 20 years) that is estimated to be needed.

I'd propose raising the minimum wage .50 cents an hour each year till it reaches $10.50 an hour. This would give those earning minimum wage the same purchasing power those who made minimum wage back in 1968. This would reduce demands on our social services and also raise FICA tax revenue.

I'd propose raising the FICA Tax cap to approx. $190,000.00. Until the budget shows a surplus, it's very important that the Social Security Trust Fund is not drawn upon and this will put of doing so for a period of time. I'd also use the surplus FICA tax revenue to purchase local school and municipal bonds instead of special Treasury bonds which the Federal Govt. is obligated to back. Historically, 90% of wages earned were subject to FICA tax and raising the cap to $190k would bring that back to such levels.

If possible, I'd find some way of eliminating the money owed by the govt. to the SS Trust Fund (4 trillion?) but only if enough income is garnered to cover all obligations.

Personnel costs are one of the biggest when it comes to our national defense. If and when the shit really hits the fan, there are nations that are almost certain to join us (Canada, Great Britain and Australia). I think it'd be wise to consider their forces as part of an overall joint defense. In order to reduce our own manpower costs, I'd propose a combination of the following: to build equipment in country and transfer them at little to no costs to the aforementioned nation for them to operate and maintain and to either partly or fully fund some of their own equipment programs.

I'd also look into creating a special tax on the ultra rich. A tax on their total wealth. Some of the very wealthy pay little to no income tax even though they may have assets worth many millions to billions of dollars.

[boppers]

30. Why "raising the FICA Tax cap to approx. $190,000.00"?

Why cap it at all?

[Kaleva]

36. Because then it becomes a welfare program instead of insurance program.

It'd be like requiring you to pay a $100,000.00 for a health insurance policy that provides only $10,000.00 in coverage.

[boppers]

37. I've paid roughly $24,000 into my car insurance program, never seen a dime of it.

Insurance only exists *because* of the gamble that you will pay in more than you can ever get out... that's their whole business model.

[jeanpalmer]

19. Cut $600 billion out of the defense budget

and let the tax cuts for the wealthy expire. That would reduce the deficit to where it would be manageable.

[JamesA1102]

22. I like you plan.

[Tunkamerica]

33. Plan like you!

[gristy]

20. I'd raise taxes, cut military spending, and a number of other things

The NY Times has a simple exercise to show how the deficit can be eliminated. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?ref=weekinreview

[cornermouse]

21. End the war in the mideast,

slash the pentagon's budget as soon as everyone was out down to a level more befitting of our no-longer-first-class-nation status; by at least half, if not more.

[polichick]

25. 1st thing: close at least half of the almost 800 bases we have around the world...

Yes, we have almost 800 bases not counting those in the two on-going war arenas - this, according to Chalmers Johnson in his new book, DISMANTLING THE EMPIRE. Johnson implores the prez to begin dismantling, but I doubt the prez is listening.

What is being done in our name around the world is despicable.

After that, I'd make sure that corporations doing business in the U.S. pay their fair share, and that would require the elimination of endless loop-holes. Also, end subsidies to old-school corporations.

[NorthCarolina]

26. Lots. Here's my top 25

1. End wars in Iraq and Afghanistan immediately
2. Review necessity of all military bases on foreign soil, and eliminate where appropriate.
3. Create a national program similar to the WPA with a focus on rebuilding infrastructure.
4. Invest in vastly improved rail services, including high speed rail and subways.
5. Invest in retooling and reopening closed textile mills that would be employee owned; similar programs for other manufacturing now void from the US.
6. Require that all military hardware be produced using US made steel, incremental implementation over a period of years as needed until manufacturing output is sufficient for demand.
7. Expansion of Medicare as a national program covering all citizens.
8. Eliminate ALL unnecessary military expenditures.
9. Strictly enforce all companies to comply with existing immigration laws in hiring practices.
10. Immediately eliminate all unfair trade agreements such as NAFTA.
11. Increase the income cap on Social Security to $250k, and decrease the retirement age to 60 to free up jobs for the young.
12. Push HARD to enact comprehensive campaign finance reform, and enact legislation repealing the Citizens United decision.
13. Reenact portions of Glass-Steagall that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies.
14. Increase the mileage requirements for vehicles at a much accelerated rate.
15. Immediately and permanently outlaw fracking, and off-shore drilling in depths over 150'.
16. Establish an incentive program to promote a return to the use of returnable/recyclable glass bottles in lieu of plastic.
18. Establish grants that largely fund up to 4 years of college tuition, possibly tied to some level of academic performance in high school.
19. Legalize marijuana and regulate it to (a) increase tax revenues, and (b) reduce the high incarceration rate resulting from possession violations.
20. Establish a tax credit to encourage the use of public transportation, with an allowance for rural residents without access to public transportation.
21. Strictly enforce tax rules for religious organizations that politicize the pulpit.
22. End Federal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
23. Reestablish the Fairness Doctrine, updated to account for modern technological advances in communication.
24. Establish laws that restrict media consolidation.
25. Enact comprehensive Net Neutrality rules covering both wired/wireless internet systems.

There's more to be done, but that would be a good start IMO.

[Honeycombe8]

27. Grow the economy to increase revenues, plus cut spending. Both things

have to be done, is what I understand.

But it would require a much more complicated plan...it's way above my head. But then I'm not President, am I? I expect our leaders to be smarter and more knowledgeable than I am, and surrounded by experts who inform them. And, finally, have the leadership skills to decide on a plan and execute it.

[GeorgeGist]

29. Why would someone unrec a question?

Because they don't like the obvious answer:

Make the rich middle class.

[Tunkamerica]

34. Why would someone question an unrec?

[quaker bill]

31. Raise taxes, cut defense, bring the troops home.

that is all.

[Norrin Radd]

35. kick

[AtomicKitten]

38. shut down the wars

[Life Long Dem]

39. Cut back on some defense weapons.

Cut a few jets, a few ships, a few tanks, and if need be cut back on some missiles. That should do the trick.

[Recursion]

40. I would by no means "eliminate the debt"

That would frankly be very irresponsible.

I would cut defense spending and farm aid (primarily; there are other discretionary treasure hoards we can plunder), eliminate most tax credits while lowering the nominal rate, and remove the FICA levy cap (and apply it to unearned income). By my cocktail napkin calculations (and I am literally at a bar writing on a cocktail napkin this second), that would put the deficit at about 5% of GDP, which is very manageable and leaves enough for there to be a bond market for investment.

[Warren Stupidity]

41. There is absolutely no reason to eliminate the debt or the deficit.

Reducing the rate at which we are accumulating debt would be a good idea during economic booms, but certainly not in the midst of a prolonged recession.

1. reduce our military spending by 50% over ten years.
2. re-introduce more tax brackets at the upper end of the income scale, and increase taxes on tne indisputably wealthy.
3. implement universal healthcare properly, by extending the existing medicare program to everyone, funded by a capless payroll tax (i.e. an increase in the medicare portion of FICA.)
4. end the war on drugs and reduce the DEA funding by 90%.