I love Republicans. I mean, they create a fictional narrative and they pound away at it until people really start to believe it.
They've created an image in the minds of voters---mostly less educated, less engaged voters---that they are warriors against pork spending, big government, gun control, the radical secular liberal agenda, abortion rights.
My favorite of these is probably tax cuts. We can't raise taxes in good times (2000). No, no, give the money back to the people and things will get even better. We can't raise taxes in bad times (2010). No, no, that kills jobs.
The same could be argued about spending. You shouldn't cut spending in good times---if the government is flush with money, you should INVEST in the future of the country. And all of those investments will spur growth. If the economy is in the toilet, cutting spending will only kill jobs and make things worse.
Now, I believe that's probably true. And if we were better at selling that, we'd have more Democrats pushing more stimulus.
But I also believe that major deficit spending is bad. And I'm unwilling to jeopardize the future of the country.
Ecclesiastes says, "There's a time for everything under heaven." (Or, if you don't see wisdom in scripture, the Byrds did a pretty nifty song called "Turn! Turn! Turn!" if you prefer)
Republicans want to run the country like a business. What would a responsible business do? They'd try to generate more revenue AND they'd cut spending.
So, what do we do?
You could hope that the economy rebounds so robustly that the budget balances itself. PIPE DREAM! It didn't happen under Reagan or Bush. Clinton was the only one to actually balance the budget and he did it be addressing tax cuts AND spending.
The consensus seems to be that even with a top bracket of 60%, the government would still generate revenue. If you're not familiar with the Laffer curve, this is a great read:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
But let's entertain the thought that we can balance the budget with tax cuts only....
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Government revenue in 2010 was 2.3 Trillion
Government spending was 3.5 Trillion
The deficit was 1.1 Trillion
Mandatory spending: $2.184 trillion
* $677.95 billion (+4.9%) – Social Security
* $571 billion (−15.2%) – Other mandatory programs
* $453 billion (+6.6%) – Medicare
* $290 billion (+12.0%) – Medicaid
* $164 billion (+18.0%) – Interest on National Debt
* $11 billion (+275%) – Potential disaster costs
Discretionary Funding: $1.368 trillion
o $663.7 billion (+12.7%) – Department of Defense (including Overseas Contingency Operations)
o $78.7 billion (−1.7%) – Department of Health and Human Services
o $72.5 billion (+2.8%) – Department of Transportation
o $52.5 billion (+10.3%) – Department of Veterans Affairs
o $51.7 billion (+40.9%) – Department of State and Other International Programs
o $47.5 billion (+18.5%) – Department of Housing and Urban Development
o $46.7 billion (+12.8%) – Department of Education
o $42.7 billion (+1.2%) – Department of Homeland Security
o $26.3 billion (−0.4%) – Department of Energy
o $26.0 billion (+8.8%) – Department of Agriculture
o $23.9 billion (−6.3%) – Department of Justice
o $18.7 billion (+5.1%) – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
o $13.8 billion (+48.4%) – Department of Commerce
o $13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of Labor
o $13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of the Treasury
o $12.0 billion (+6.2%) – Department of the Interior
o $10.5 billion (+34.6%) – Environmental Protection Agency
o $9.7 billion (+10.2%) – Social Security Administration
o $7.0 billion (+1.4%) – National Science Foundation
o $5.1 billion (−3.8%) – Corps of Engineers
o $5.0 billion (+100%) – National Infrastructure Bank
o $1.1 billion (+22.2%) – Corporation for National and Community Service
o $0.7 billion (0.0%) – Small Business Administration
o $0.6 billion (−14.3%) – General Services Administration
o $19.8 billion (+3.7%) – Other Agencies
o $105 billion – Other
Hmmm....where to cut?
Well, you could cut ALL spending and halve the Defense Department budget. If Republicans were proposing that, at least I'd consider them serious about the deficit (although in one election cycle we'd control every seat in Congress)
Or you can propose drastic cuts in Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid. Which, of course, would also mean Democrats in every Congressional seat in America.
And even if we did slash spending that dramatically, it would not only slow our economic growth, it would send us into a deeper recession.
Let me repeat: DEEP CUTS IN SPENDING ARE BAD FOR THE ECONOMY.
So........we can not balance the budget that way, nor are the Republicans willing to try.
We must take the Clinton approach to the budget. Modest tax increases, modest spending freezes.