Virtually every post on this site and every progressive I'm listening to says don't touch:
* Social Security
* Medicare
* Medicaid
* Any welfare program
* Obamacare
This results in the vast majority of US government spending over the next 10 years being off limits to cuts according to the progressive blogsphere.
Letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire is a start but addresses only a few hundred million dollars of a five to ten trillion dollar problem.
I admit to not getting it .. just what is the progressive solution to this mess? I'm not focused on what needs to be done in the next year alone where it can be argued that we don't want to risk a double dip recession with draconian cuts. I'm focused on solving the problem so that my daughter isn't paying taxes that are for our generation's benefit rather than hers.
If I don't hear progressive's:
1. Acknowledge there is a problem that is serious and must be acted upon
2. Acknowledge that the revenue problem goes beyond just taxing the wealthy more and propose solutions
3. Propose specific long term cuts and targets for federal expenditures that are realistic and not fantasy (liberal equivalent of supply side economics)
then I can only conclude that liberals are no more solution oriented than the Tea Party's insanity.
Right now .. I'm hearing a deafening silence of liberal solutions. Help me out. I don't happen to have the silver bullet and would love answers. With facts.
Thank you to all who provided ideas. In a nutshell, the following cost reductions have been presented so far:
* Eliminate wars
* Reduce defense even further (to 2.5%-3% of GDP?)
* Reduce health care expenses (single payer? drug negotiations?)
* Eliminate farm subsidies
* Eliminate oil/gas subsidies
* Eliminate policing of drugs via legalization (and tax them?)
The following revenue increases have been proposed:
* Increase taxes on the wealthy
* Eliminate difference between capital gains tax and ordinary income
* Eliminate corporate tax loopholes
* Increase tarriff's
And the following increases in expenses have been proposed:
* Invest in infastructure ($4T)
* Increase government jobs programs ala WPA
Starting tomorrow, I'll try and score these to see how they add up.
I'll be not dialoging with those who don't believe we should worry about this .. I just think that belongs in a separate thread to debate the issue of whether deficits matter. For this thread, I'm going to assume they do matter and need to be addressed.