…I have a path to $4 trillion in budget solutions over 10 years – let the Bush tax cuts expire. That’s it. All of this hoop-jumping by these deficit-cutters could be accomplished entirely by moving tax rates back to the Clinton era, when we created over 22 million jobs in 8 years.
That doesn’t mean that some of these other options, like defense cuts, Ag subsidy cuts and cuts to tax expenditures, shouldn’t be explored. But that we’re trying so hard to come up with a “painful” solution, and attacking Americans’ retirement security in the process, when the answer is staring us right in the face, tells you something about the real intentions of people like Mark Warner and Saxby Chambliss.
Agreed. This really isn’t that difficult, so why are Warner, Chambliss, the deficit reduction commission folks, etc. making it so difficult? Ditch the Bush tax cuts, which were a horrible idea – unaffordable, supply side garbage – in the first place, and you pretty much solve the budget problem. Then, cut off all corporate welfare for crap like corn-based ethanol, for Big Oil and Big Coal, etc. Then, cut the defense budget down to a sensible level. Then, if you really want to get ambitious, ditch the current health care system and move to single payer, or at least add a robust public option, and help “bend the cost curve” for the fastest growing part of the budget (and the deficit). Voila, problem solved! As for the proposal by Mark Warner and the heinous Saxby Chambliss, I have only one question: WHY!?!
P.S. Oh, and after we’ve done what’s outlined above, then we’ll actually have the money to invest in our infrastructure – things like a smart grid, clean energy/energy efficiency, high-speed rail, etc. that will wean us off foreign oil, dramatically help our economy, and slash greenhouse gas emissions. All that in exchange for ditching the @#$@# Bush tax cuts? Sounds like a deal we can all live with!
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