2/7 I was reading about how the US budget is ~$2.5 trillion. The debt
is ~$7.5 trillion. Why not cut budgets 10% across the board and
pay this back in the next 30 years? 10% cuts are not nice, but
not crippling either.
\_ your oversimplification starts with forgetting about interest.
\_ An oversimplification that would make a libertarian proud!
\_ Not forgotten, since interest is part of the budget. In fact,
assuming that the debt gets paid back faster that will mean
> 10% available in later years. I am assuming that there is
not a *deficit* so the cuts have to be larger than 10% in
reality.
\_ I can't remember the numbers, but Cameho had a similar argument
when he ran for CA governor, which went something like this:
We have a $20B deficit, but only 6 years ago our CA budget was
$40B and now it is $100B. We should be able to cut some stuff
and have a surplus. I think the simple explanation is that
there is too much pressure (mostly promises to constituents)
to spend money, and little political benefits to actually saving
money. Just like how many people could get out of credit card debt
just by not buying lots of crap for a while, but they won't do it.
\_ heck let's tax the Iraqi people while we're at it.
\_ I can't remember the numbers, but Cameho had a similar argument
when he ran for CA governor, which went something like this:
We have a $20B deficit, but only 6 years ago our CA budget was
$40B and now it is $100B. We should be able to cut some stuff
and have a surplus. I think the simple explanation is that
there is too much pressure (mostly promises to constituents)
to spend money, and little political benefits to actually saving
money. Just like how many people could get out of credit card debt
just by not buying lots of crap for a while, but they won't do it. |
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