As our national debt grows greater and greater. We run into many problems within our nation. People not being able to buy houses, inflation, stock market fluctuations grow, and general economic stability decreases. These issues that arise are very harmful to our nation as a whole.
The question that arises is how can we get out of debt?
This question is a very difficult one, which presidential candidates don't like to comment on all that much. This is because there is no easy answer.
Sure we all like giving shelter to people without homes and giving food to the poor, but these things cost money. It is important to realize this because we are already in debt. Some renowned economists are even saying we're in a recession.
The only way to get out of debt is going to being not something that is painless. We would need the following reforms:
1. Index the Social security retirement age to the average lifespan for Americans. Make it so expected time spent retired is equal to 15% of time spent in the workforce. So if someone starts working at 20, and the average life expectancy is 80, SS retirement age will be 72. This way people on average only get out of social security, what they paid in, and will get paid their average per year lifetime pay in total benefits per year. Still indexed to inflation.
2. Get out of Iraq, bring most of the troops abroad in unnecessary nations such as Germany and Japan home. Save much money here.
3. Start phasing out social security, to a privatized system. Maintain current dependents out of the general funds, anyone under 40 will have their money deposited directly into personal accounts that they have full control of, and will be able to retire whenever they feel comfortable with their current savings.
4. Get the Federal government out of education, welfare, and other social services. Allow the State governments to run the programs as and if they wish, and out of the states budgets.
5. Eliminate all pork barrel spending
6. Pass a constitutional amendment making it illegal for the federal government to run a deficit, except in times of declared war. Require that all war debts be paid within X years of the wars end, where X = 2x the length of the war.
7. Edit free trade agreements adding the requirement that there must be an equal trade relationship, or tariffs proportionate to the unevenness will be applied until trade becomes even again.
8. Use all funds saved on entitlements, unnecessary military spending (soldiers in Japan, Germany, etc.), pork barrel projects, and other increased efficiencies to start paying down the federal debt.
Each of these reforms will anger some generation in the US. Now I know you can make the argument that I don't care about SS because I'm young and that is wrong. I understand that the baby boomers are retiring, but we have to start cutting somethings in this nation. If we don't , we're in serious trouble.
But as it's looking now we still will be even in the next presidency with all these liberal reforms being passed.
Ron Paul fan by any chance?
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do."
Benjamin Franklin
no?
+mspin
Well, got your PM, so I won't ask who.
When you're replying specifically to a person, if you hit the reply button at the bottom of their box, it will do what this reply does. It makes it easier to follow conversations.
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do."
Benjamin Franklin
Here is a graph to put it in historical perspective.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US_Public_debt_per_GDP_1791-2006.svg
Note how Government surplusses and repaying the debt durring the 1920s failed to prevent the great depression.
I agree with the general drift of reducing government, but the debt is not quite the overwhelming problem it seems for several reasons:
1) If you calculate the value of the federal Governments land they still have a positive net worth.
2) Though indirectly this debt has helped create infrastructure like interstate highways and the like that adds to our wealth and ability to create more wealth.
3) We the people owe most of that money to ourselves.
Here is another set of graphs the top one shows the alarming dollar figure growth that is often used, the bottom one shows debt as a percent of GDP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:USDebt.png
I agree that pulling troops out of unnecessary places like Germany and Japan would save our country loads of money. They tend to spend more with having the troops over there because they start building comfort places for families and what not to make them feel more at home (rec centers, youth centers, camp grounds, restaurants etc). If they pulled out of there they'd be cutting down on a lot of unnecessary spending.
~*El Kc*~
Great Post dude.
We cant just leave the Iraqis to be slaugthered in a civil war to protect our budget. Also, our troops are where they are because the govenrment has taken countless hours and funds to choose their troop placements to be as cost effective aspossible.