Interest Rates On The Federal Debt Won't Stay Low Forever
And the 2015 Federal Deficit increased for the first time since 2009...not good.
If the next President is a moderate, he could combine business tax reform with a foreign profits repatriation agreement. There are hundreds of billions of profits abroad that companies would bring back to the USA with comprehensive reform. A 15% one-time tax on those profits could yield over $300 billion in tax revenues.
Comments
-
That would be nice if it went towards the deficit. However, we all know it will get wasted in more military spending or social welfare programs.
-
Nogaf about the deficit.
-
The only material threat that the debt poses is if bond investors think there's a possibility that we default. The Tea Party's "let the government default" kabuki theater of several years ago gave real credence to the idea that we may in fact have political leaders who are stupid enough to let our government default on it's debt. Thankfully Boehner, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP leadership were aware of just how disastrous that would have been, and did everything they could to squash that movement. Unfortunately the Tea Party fad has not died out, and there is still reason for legitimate concern about our creditworthiness as long as they hold any political influence.
But while a certain faction of the GOP has almost single-handedly destroyed the credit of our country, the Republicans are the only one who are even willing to address the large entitlement elephant in the room. Most of the Presidential candidates have bit the bullet and proposed unsavory reforms that will reign in SS and Medicare spending in the long-term. You will see no such proposals from the dems, who have no desire to take on the AARP behemoth and are turning a blind eye to our ever growing national debt.
-
or both, it's a compromise. The dems let the republicans waste money on the military, and the republicans return the favor with money for social welfaregreenblood said:That would be nice if it went towards the deficit. However, we all know it will get wasted in more military spending or social welfare programs.
-
The social security fix is easy. Right now the tax ends at $118k of income. Reinstate the tax at $400k or something and social security will be fine. Put a 30 year time bomb on it so when the boomers are dead it'll revert back.GreenRiverGatorz said:The only material threat that the debt poses is if bond investors think there's a possibility that we default. The Tea Party's "let the government default" kabuki theater of several years ago gave real credence to the idea that we may in fact have political leaders who are stupid enough to let our government default on it's debt. Thankfully Boehner, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP leadership were aware of just how disastrous that would have been, and did everything they could to squash that movement. Unfortunately the Tea Party fad has not died out, and there is still reason for legitimate concern about our creditworthiness as long as they hold any political influence.
But while a certain faction of the GOP has almost single-handedly destroyed the credit of our country, the Republicans are the only one who are even willing to address the large entitlement elephant in the room. Most of the Presidential candidates have bit the bullet and proposed unsavory reforms that will reign in SS and Medicare spending in the long-term. You will see no such proposals from the dems, who have no desire to take on the AARP behemoth and are turning a blind eye to our ever growing national debt. -
Haha true though a better deal would be that half of the money goes towards paying down the FY's (2017 or 2018 when the new President is in office) and half goes towards infrastructure spending.dhdawg said:
or both, it's a compromise. The dems let the republicans waste money on the military, and the republicans return the favor with money for social welfaregreenblood said:That would be nice if it went towards the deficit. However, we all know it will get wasted in more military spending or social welfare programs.
-
In the spirit of compromise, where are you going to cut spending? Can't keep raising taxes to satiate an ever growing Federal Government bureaucracy.2001400ex said:
The social security fix is easy. Right now the tax ends at $118k of income. Reinstate the tax at $400k or something and social security will be fine. Put a 30 year time bomb on it so when the boomers are dead it'll revert back.GreenRiverGatorz said:The only material threat that the debt poses is if bond investors think there's a possibility that we default. The Tea Party's "let the government default" kabuki theater of several years ago gave real credence to the idea that we may in fact have political leaders who are stupid enough to let our government default on it's debt. Thankfully Boehner, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP leadership were aware of just how disastrous that would have been, and did everything they could to squash that movement. Unfortunately the Tea Party fad has not died out, and there is still reason for legitimate concern about our creditworthiness as long as they hold any political influence.
But while a certain faction of the GOP has almost single-handedly destroyed the credit of our country, the Republicans are the only one who are even willing to address the large entitlement elephant in the room. Most of the Presidential candidates have bit the bullet and proposed unsavory reforms that will reign in SS and Medicare spending in the long-term. You will see no such proposals from the dems, who have no desire to take on the AARP behemoth and are turning a blind eye to our ever growing national debt. -
Make lobbying illegal, or at least using money to lobby. Then put it on all departments to report where they can trim their budget and provide incentives to the departments that trim the most. Fire those who can't find anything to trim.HFNY said:In the spirit of compromise, where are you going to cut spending? Can't keep raising taxes to satiate an ever growing Federal Government bureaucracy.
2001400ex said:
The social security fix is easy. Right now the tax ends at $118k of income. Reinstate the tax at $400k or something and social security will be fine. Put a 30 year time bomb on it so when the boomers are dead it'll revert back.GreenRiverGatorz said:The only material threat that the debt poses is if bond investors think there's a possibility that we default. The Tea Party's "let the government default" kabuki theater of several years ago gave real credence to the idea that we may in fact have political leaders who are stupid enough to let our government default on it's debt. Thankfully Boehner, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP leadership were aware of just how disastrous that would have been, and did everything they could to squash that movement. Unfortunately the Tea Party fad has not died out, and there is still reason for legitimate concern about our creditworthiness as long as they hold any political influence.
But while a certain faction of the GOP has almost single-handedly destroyed the credit of our country, the Republicans are the only one who are even willing to address the large entitlement elephant in the room. Most of the Presidential candidates have bit the bullet and proposed unsavory reforms that will reign in SS and Medicare spending in the long-term. You will see no such proposals from the dems, who have no desire to take on the AARP behemoth and are turning a blind eye to our ever growing national debt.
That puts the responsibility on the departments for two reasons. 1) politicians who cut from their constituents will get voted out, this eliminates that issue. 2) it's impossible to determine the best ways to save money at a macro level. So what ends up happening is a blanket 5% cut or whatever, rather than specific cuts that can be accomplished effectively. Not to mention, getting 500 plus politicians to agree on cuts is impossible. -
So establish a non-deductible 6% tax for both upper-middle class Americans and employers? That's a political dead-end that will never see the light of day.2001400ex said:
The social security fix is easy. Right now the tax ends at $118k of income. Reinstate the tax at $400k or something and social security will be fine. Put a 30 year time bomb on it so when the boomers are dead it'll revert back.GreenRiverGatorz said:The only material threat that the debt poses is if bond investors think there's a possibility that we default. The Tea Party's "let the government default" kabuki theater of several years ago gave real credence to the idea that we may in fact have political leaders who are stupid enough to let our government default on it's debt. Thankfully Boehner, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP leadership were aware of just how disastrous that would have been, and did everything they could to squash that movement. Unfortunately the Tea Party fad has not died out, and there is still reason for legitimate concern about our creditworthiness as long as they hold any political influence.
But while a certain faction of the GOP has almost single-handedly destroyed the credit of our country, the Republicans are the only one who are even willing to address the large entitlement elephant in the room. Most of the Presidential candidates have bit the bullet and proposed unsavory reforms that will reign in SS and Medicare spending in the long-term. You will see no such proposals from the dems, who have no desire to take on the AARP behemoth and are turning a blind eye to our ever growing national debt. -
So make lobbying illegal, i.e. reverse the 2010 SCOTUS decision. At the very least, that won't even become a possibility until the current conservative justices die, and aren't replaced by other conservatives. Then you actually to have politicians sacrifice their own kickbacks and pass a law that bans lobbying. I won't hold my breath.2001400ex said:
Make lobbying illegal, or at least using money to lobby. Then put it on all departments to report where they can trim their budget and provide incentives to the departments that trim the most. Fire those who can't find anything to trim.HFNY said:In the spirit of compromise, where are you going to cut spending? Can't keep raising taxes to satiate an ever growing Federal Government bureaucracy.
2001400ex said:
The social security fix is easy. Right now the tax ends at $118k of income. Reinstate the tax at $400k or something and social security will be fine. Put a 30 year time bomb on it so when the boomers are dead it'll revert back.GreenRiverGatorz said:The only material threat that the debt poses is if bond investors think there's a possibility that we default. The Tea Party's "let the government default" kabuki theater of several years ago gave real credence to the idea that we may in fact have political leaders who are stupid enough to let our government default on it's debt. Thankfully Boehner, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP leadership were aware of just how disastrous that would have been, and did everything they could to squash that movement. Unfortunately the Tea Party fad has not died out, and there is still reason for legitimate concern about our creditworthiness as long as they hold any political influence.
But while a certain faction of the GOP has almost single-handedly destroyed the credit of our country, the Republicans are the only one who are even willing to address the large entitlement elephant in the room. Most of the Presidential candidates have bit the bullet and proposed unsavory reforms that will reign in SS and Medicare spending in the long-term. You will see no such proposals from the dems, who have no desire to take on the AARP behemoth and are turning a blind eye to our ever growing national debt.
That puts the responsibility on the departments for two reasons. 1) politicians who cut from their constituents will get voted out, this eliminates that issue. 2) it's impossible to determine the best ways to save money at a macro level. So what ends up happening is a blanket 5% cut or whatever, rather than specific cuts that can be accomplished effectively. Not to mention, getting 500 plus politicians to agree on cuts is impossible.
Getting 500 politicians to agree on cuts is a lot more likely than waiting around for a court ruling that may take decades to resolve itself.
