Jacoby wrote:
Any sensible person would agree that there is more of a spending problem than a taxing problem. Even in the article you posted with all those old taxes it would only provide $500 billion in extra revenue and that's according to them. That would still leave a trillion dollar deficit.
The debt problem is a very serious problem and will destroy our economy if it it not taken care of very very soon. The interest on our debt is getting close to that $500 billion and will probably overtake defense spending by the end of the decade. The hole our country is in right now is so astronomical, I'm not sure there is any scenario where our government doesn't default on it's debt eventually.
That doesnt make it entirely a spending problem. The loss of revenue from the collapse of the tax base is another third of the problem. As are the two wars. The idea that all of that must be financed by attacking social programs is certainly a right wing masturbatory fantasy, but not really an accurate assessement of where the money has magically gone in the twelve years since we had a surplus.
It's a drought in taxes on two fronts (weak economy + tax cuts), coupled with a decade of upaid for warfare, coupled with spending such as the entirely unfunded medicare drug expansion. The Republicans literally dumped a very expensive program into a red ink budget with no funding for it at all. In 2019 it's expected to cost $150 billion a year. Say what you will about ACA, it tries very hard to pay for itself. Tax and spend is sound policy and has been for 10,000 years. Spend and pray is a mental illness.
09 Jul 2012, 6:58 pm
