Chapter+14+Discussion

=How worried should we be about the growing debt in this country? If you had to propose a solution, what would it be? Why?=

Americans should be concerned about the growing national debt. As of today, our national debt is soaring over $13 trillion dollars. As the deficit continues to grow annually, the United States sinks deeper and deeper into debt. In order to decrease the national deficit, the government needs to operate with a budget surplus. People argue that the United States has one of the smallest public sectors relative to the size of the economy and that the nation’s gross debt is less than four of Europe’s five largest debtors. However, I think that changes need to be made to our current budgetary policy before it is too late. If we don’t find a way to stop our increasing debt, the government may have no other choice but to either tax incredible amounts of money or to cut government programs like Medicare. Given the divided nature and gridlock state of our government, I think that the only solution to tackling the deficit is a proposal that will suit individuals of any political ideology. A compromise is necessary if we want to seriously lower the debt. The United States government should eliminate earmarks, for example, and speed up the withdrawal of Iraq/Afghanistan troops. However, it should consider modest tax proposals. If politicians would look past their differences and find common ground, changes could be made and the nation could be put on a path toward economic improvement.

Kimberly Varadi - February 9, 2012

We should be worried about the growing debt. With the growing number of entitlements and the Social security program, tax loopholes, tax expenditures, and reductions, maybe it would be better if we got rid of almost all of these (except the most essential) and cut the federal governments revenue/ budget in half. No more continuing resolutions and incrementalism will be tolerated. The progressive tax would stay in place because it seems fair. Defense spending would decrease by moving troops out of Iraq/Afghanistan as fast as possible. Our nation needs to form an isolationist approach to wars. Maybe these changes would decrease the growing debt. CHELSEA FRASIER- FEBRUARY 10, 2012

The U.S. debt has been growing at an incredible rate for a few years now, and there is no sign this rapid growth will slow down in the near future. As more and more baby boomers enter government entitlement programs such as Medicare, the government will be forced to increase spending more and more. Not only that, but the amount of people working and being taxed is, percentage-wise, decreasing. This means that the government will be faced with a choice: it can either decrease deficit spending and start making surpluses, or it will have to raise taxes on the people. The U.S. government is growing out of its original scope and, as the book says, is trying to please everybody. It seems as if most important policy decisions also have to have "small print" that specifies how, in the end, not much will change for certain people. This can be seen with the much cited example of government encouraging people not to smoke while helping tobacco farmers, or the government increasing pollution regulation while subsidizing those industries that were most affected by this decision. In this sort of case, deregulation needs to happen. It is also known, however, that government does not spend the majority of its budget on the bureaucracy. Indeed, most of the government's spending goes to just a few programs. Out of these, two of the major ones are the military and Medicare. The U.S. has the most disproportionate amount - compared to GDP - of military spending out of any nation in the world today. US military bases can be found all around the world, even in areas where they seem to be unnecessary. Thus, it seems a no-brainer that the government should decrease the size of its military. But, once again, it is not so simple. Not only does the military employ a massive amount of US citizens and encourage a great amount of industry for equipment manufacture, but also the decision to remove US troops from a nation is not an easy one to make. Even though, for example, the US military bases in some parts of South America (See Photo: []) seem rather useless, the decision to leave could have unexpected consequences that are better left unexplored. For that, the US government is very careful - to the point of being stagnant - about where and when troops are removed. This is especially true today with the now well-known terrorist threat. The US also gets a big part of its spending from its so-called "welfare" programs, most prominently Medicare. With the amount of people qualifying for these entitlement programs growing and growing, and with tax rates remaining relatively stable, the US government is forced to increase spending and begin deficit-spending. Thus, it seems a rather obvious solution to decrease the amount of people who qualify for Medicare in order to decrease the amount of money siphoned to this program. But politicians are not that stupid, since they know a decision like this will not only cost them their political careers, but also the know it will be eventually reverted. There are too many people living too comfortable thanks to these government programs, and any sign of government plans to decrease their size will be a source of great political distress. Americans, it seems, want the government to cut spending on everything that affects other people (as would happen in any country whose citizens live in this much comfort).

DIEGO FARIAS - February 22nd, 2012.

We should be worried about the debt. An increase in debt is an increased burden on those of future generations. The money paid on interest is simply not worth the short-term gain from borrowing. Any truly effective solution would have to be across the board. Americans from every sector and socioeconomic status of life will have to agree to give up something. For instance, personal income taxes will need to be raised, while social programs will need to be cut. The medicare and social security age will also need to be raised. Everyone will have to pay a price due to the size of our budget. If everyone agrees to sacrifice something for the budget, we can focus on helping preserve job creation. By saving costs elsewhere, the government can keep corporate income taxes low and still invest in the infrastructure (stimulus) and domestic energy dependence (more stimulus). Thus, the government can still follow Keynesian economics during these hard economic times, while also working on reducing the debt. Another thing that will save us money is a strategic review of the structure of our military and our international bases. If we withdraw out of Iraq and Afghanistan, we can save a lot of money. Furthermore, by dismantling international bases that are not strategically located, we can save further money. We can also save money by restructuring our military and downsizing it. In order to combat terrorists, we need to focus on black ops missions and intelligence gathering. We do not need to invest in a massively huge conventional army. If politicians and voters can agree to tackle the debt by both spending cuts and strategic tax increases, we can preserve business and get out of our debt problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. In the future, we also shouldn't run huge deficits during prosperous economic times, nor should we cut taxes during war. In conclusion, any viable solution to the debt problem will have to be bipartisan and require both spending cuts and tax increases.

Mike Spires - February 22, 2012

It's really rather hard not to take a stand for not doing anything about the debt, the fact that the number is just so ridiculously large and to cut it down to the case our goverment is rather useless at this time. Any resolution that could possibly help won't be put into effect until at least next year...at the earliest. I think though it's hard for people to really truly worry about it because we just assume that the government will take care of it. I mean whenever there is an election the canidates always promise to decrease the debt, and as far as some people are concerned that means it will eventually be taken care of. It's also hard for Americans to imagine a world or time where America won't be the number one nation, and I think that kind of mindset leads us to believe that even though there is an astronomical debt hanging above our heads, it just really won't affect us. So I can't be the wierd one who comes right out and says that our debt is a good thing...although it means that the rest of the world kind of depends on us because they happen to have loaned us the money or bought our debt....I can see how the American people can become complacent and never really pressure Congress to take any real action to curb our spending. :D mary