Designed for the Business, Non-Business, Economics, Non-Economics Major(s) to Explore and Understand a Variety of Real-World Issues.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Solving the Deficit
The article we went over in class. Try solving the deficit on your own and see what our Federal Government looks like. Imagine the political will it would take to do it.
I solved the deficit and also attacked the debt to the tune of about half a trillion dollars. I think that in order to solve these enormous problems we must increase taxes and cut spending on things like war, earmarks, and foreign aid. I do not think that things like education and most social programs should be cut but perhaps more social problems should be watched more carefully as to help control people taking advantage of these programs. I know that my ideas are probably almost impossible to enact due to the logistics and the fact that they would have to be agreed with, but I think that its the best way to go.
Bruce Chubb MWF-10:00-11:00 I think that the government needs to focus on spending less money abroad and more money at home, for example, the governement is currently spending 1 billion dollars a year on support of the Pakistani military to support their efforts to eliminate the Al Qaeda in the region. Spending like this is rediculous considering that the United States is trillions of dollars in debt and the Chinese own most of it which is unsettling considering the fact that America is no longer able to support itself and we rely on other countries for support.
Even if we could cut half of these programs, we would see huge back lashes. People who are used to enjoying medicare would be up in arms. Reducing federal worker pay in itself would cause riots; Wisconsin had huge protests when it tried to balance the budget by limiting the union. People don't always adjust well, or at all, to change. Current spending is blatantly unsustainable, Paul Ryan's proposed cuts are more of the direction that US needs to take. His plan won't pass even though, despite how radical it is, it isn't enough to completely knock out the deficit.
It is clear that great sacrifices need to be made in order to work towards eliminating the deficit. After visiting this site in class it is clear that people are willing to make cuts, as long as they or their families will not be effected directly. Cutting peoples salaries, defense, or health care or educations are some ideas on the chopping block. Current spending certainly cannot continue to sustain us however taking money or benefits away from hard working Americans will not even make a huge enough impact. I do not know a perfect solution but cutting someone's pay to pay for .1% of the deficit does not work for me.
As everyone else said, cuts need to be made, deep cuts. However, I think it's best to go at it with a moderate approach that will please both parties. Because the extent of the cuts is so extensive that both sides need to sacrifice something.
I solved the deficit and their are some sacrifices to be made in this economy and for 2015 and 2030. I increased the medicare eligibility age to 68, and I cut foreign aid in half. I believe since we are helping enough people abroad but it is also tapping gin to our budget plans so some drastic measures need to be made in order for America to prosper. I also reduced the federal workforce because it is a major thing since the more people the bigger the government.
I'm still amazed by how many expenses we have that are due to the military. While some expenses are logical to alter because they are out date, like extending the age for social security, I wonder if the U.S. will ever cut back on its military expenses. Since the Iraqi war, the U.S. seems to find ourselves intervening in (or creating) one war in the middle east after the next. Although to me this seems like a destructive waste of money, I know it is much more complex than this. Our country has a reputation of a strong and active military and I think it would be difficult for a president to stand against spending money on the military since it may make some people fear that they are less safe or that people in the military are not getting the well-deserved benefits they should. However, I feel there must be some way that we can spend less money on the military, even cutting back a little could make more of a difference that eliminating complete expenses in other areas.
What I did is that I eliminated all of the military spending, and it already solved one third of the debt problems. The greatest problem is not if American can stand on its feet to produce more and make more money. The problem is how politicians really be nice to the people for one time and not allow lobbyist to get laws passed. In many countries, when the government is corrupted, people suffers. I am not saying the U.S. government is corrupted, but if they listen to the bottom level of the country for once and provide jobs for American citizens instead of making nuclear weapons to kill more people in other countries, I think everything would look a little better.
I get the sense that the majority of people in class and people I know outside of class are for cutting spending and/or reworking the big four: Defense, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Very few people I've talked to have said that any of these things should stay the way they are, yet they are the 4 things that the govt refuses to touch. It blows my mind. Even this "puzzle" doesn't really address social security; it only gives the option to raise the eligibility age and cut spending by an almost insignificant amount by getting rid of social security for the wealthy.
Wasteful spending almost seems to be the mantra of the American way of government and politics. We are spending too much money on everything from Defense to Foreign Aid and Education. Putting it simply; everything needs to be thrown out the door and completely retooled. The country needs to stop policing the globe at the expense of the tax payers. The country needs to stop worrying about the needs of other nations and needs to focus on it's own population.
We need to abolish Pork programs that greedily waste the dollars of our taxpayers. The programs that we do keep need to be revised and accountability measures need to be placed within them. The notion of throwing money at all the problems in our country isn't one that needs to be continued. We've place the problems of the present onto the shoulders of our future generations. Our children, grandchildren and even our great-grandchildren will be paying back the debt that the generations before us have accumulated.
This isn't the country our forefathers sacrificed their lives for in order to protect and uphold. Wholesale reforms needs to take place before their is no country left for us to enjoy and we're nothing more than a colony under the control of the Chinese Government. Scary thought, eh?
Debt is not created by spending. Debt is created by using credit. The problem is not the spending. The problem is that we use credit for money. This is why spending cuts have not solved the debt problem. Spending is not the cause of the problem.
Everybody with a dollar in savings is a competitor with the Federal Reserve. Like the Fed, your money-in-the-bank is available credit, which someone can borrow.
The balance between money-issued-by-the-Fed and private-sector-lending is significant. When private-sector-lending is relatively low, the Fed's power is strong and what the Fed says, goes.
When private-sector-lending is relatively high, the Fed is weak and has little control over what happens in the economy.
When private-sector-lending is relatively high, we are using credit for money. The economy is full of debt. Like now. Like it has been for 40 years.
Nicholas Poiron
ReplyDeleteMWF 10-10.50
Here is a link to my solution to the deficit.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?choices=ym9ng2qv
I solved the deficit and also attacked the debt to the tune of about half a trillion dollars. I think that in order to solve these enormous problems we must increase taxes and cut spending on things like war, earmarks, and foreign aid. I do not think that things like education and most social programs should be cut but perhaps more social problems should be watched more carefully as to help control people taking advantage of these programs. I know that my ideas are probably almost impossible to enact due to the logistics and the fact that they would have to be agreed with, but I think that its the best way to go.
Bruce Chubb
ReplyDeleteMWF-10:00-11:00
I think that the government needs to focus on spending less money abroad and more money at home, for example, the governement is currently spending 1 billion dollars a year on support of the Pakistani military to support their efforts to eliminate the Al Qaeda in the region. Spending like this is rediculous considering that the United States is trillions of dollars in debt and the Chinese own most of it which is unsettling considering the fact that America is no longer able to support itself and we rely on other countries for support.
Even if we could cut half of these programs, we would see huge back lashes. People who are used to enjoying medicare would be up in arms. Reducing federal worker pay in itself would cause riots; Wisconsin had huge protests when it tried to balance the budget by limiting the union. People don't always adjust well, or at all, to change. Current spending is blatantly unsustainable, Paul Ryan's proposed cuts are more of the direction that US needs to take. His plan won't pass even though, despite how radical it is, it isn't enough to completely knock out the deficit.
ReplyDeleteCmac
MWF
9-9:50
Samantha Anderson
ReplyDeleteMWF 9-9:50
It is clear that great sacrifices need to be made in order to work towards eliminating the deficit. After visiting this site in class it is clear that people are willing to make cuts, as long as they or their families will not be effected directly. Cutting peoples salaries, defense, or health care or educations are some ideas on the chopping block. Current spending certainly cannot continue to sustain us however taking money or benefits away from hard working Americans will not even make a huge enough impact. I do not know a perfect solution but cutting someone's pay to pay for .1% of the deficit does not work for me.
Ryan Lowry
ReplyDeleteMWF 9-9:50
As everyone else said, cuts need to be made, deep cuts. However, I think it's best to go at it with a moderate approach that will please both parties. Because the extent of the cuts is so extensive that both sides need to sacrifice something.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html.
ReplyDeleteI solved the deficit and their are some sacrifices to be made in this economy and for 2015 and 2030. I increased the medicare eligibility age to 68, and I cut foreign aid in half. I believe since we are helping enough people abroad but it is also tapping gin to our budget plans so some drastic measures need to be made in order for America to prosper.
I also reduced the federal workforce because it is a major thing since the more people the bigger the government.
Michelle Zei
ReplyDeleteMWF 10-10:50
I'm still amazed by how many expenses we have that are due to the military. While some expenses are logical to alter because they are out date, like extending the age for social security, I wonder if the U.S. will ever cut back on its military expenses. Since the Iraqi war, the U.S. seems to find ourselves intervening in (or creating) one war in the middle east after the next. Although to me this seems like a destructive waste of money, I know it is much more complex than this. Our country has a reputation of a strong and active military and I think it would be difficult for a president to stand against spending money on the military since it may make some people fear that they are less safe or that people in the military are not getting the well-deserved benefits they should. However, I feel there must be some way that we can spend less money on the military, even cutting back a little could make more of a difference that eliminating complete expenses in other areas.
Zhao Liu
ReplyDeleteMWF 9:00-9:50
What I did is that I eliminated all of the military spending, and it already solved one third of the debt problems.
The greatest problem is not if American can stand on its feet to produce more and make more money. The problem is how politicians really be nice to the people for one time and not allow lobbyist to get laws passed.
In many countries, when the government is corrupted, people suffers. I am not saying the U.S. government is corrupted, but if they listen to the bottom level of the country for once and provide jobs for American citizens instead of making nuclear weapons to kill more people in other countries, I think everything would look a little better.
I get the sense that the majority of people in class and people I know outside of class are for cutting spending and/or reworking the big four: Defense, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Very few people I've talked to have said that any of these things should stay the way they are, yet they are the 4 things that the govt refuses to touch. It blows my mind.
ReplyDeleteEven this "puzzle" doesn't really address social security; it only gives the option to raise the eligibility age and cut spending by an almost insignificant amount by getting rid of social security for the wealthy.
Nicholas Camaioni
ReplyDelete9 - 10 MWF
Wasteful spending almost seems to be the mantra of the American way of government and politics. We are spending too much money on everything from Defense to Foreign Aid and Education. Putting it simply; everything needs to be thrown out the door and completely retooled. The country needs to stop policing the globe at the expense of the tax payers. The country needs to stop worrying about the needs of other nations and needs to focus on it's own population.
We need to abolish Pork programs that greedily waste the dollars of our taxpayers. The programs that we do keep need to be revised and accountability measures need to be placed within them. The notion of throwing money at all the problems in our country isn't one that needs to be continued. We've place the problems of the present onto the shoulders of our future generations. Our children, grandchildren and even our great-grandchildren will be paying back the debt that the generations before us have accumulated.
This isn't the country our forefathers sacrificed their lives for in order to protect and uphold. Wholesale reforms needs to take place before their is no country left for us to enjoy and we're nothing more than a colony under the control of the Chinese Government. Scary thought, eh?
Arthur Shipman
ReplyDeleteMacro 101, 1977
Debt is not created by spending. Debt is created by using credit. The problem is not the spending. The problem is that we use credit for money. This is why spending cuts have not solved the debt problem. Spending is not the cause of the problem.
Everybody with a dollar in savings is a competitor with the Federal Reserve. Like the Fed, your money-in-the-bank is available credit, which someone can borrow.
The balance between money-issued-by-the-Fed and private-sector-lending is significant. When private-sector-lending is relatively low, the Fed's power is strong and what the Fed says, goes.
When private-sector-lending is relatively high, the Fed is weak and has little control over what happens in the economy.
When private-sector-lending is relatively high, we are using credit for money. The economy is full of debt. Like now. Like it has been for 40 years.
ArtS