Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

"The public debt is the amount owed to individual investors, including foreign countries, but excluding money the government owes to its own trust funds. It has soared from $5.8 trillion to $7.6 trillion this year alone � and is more than half the size of the nation's economy for the first time since 1956...

The focus is on the White House as President Obama prepares his State of the Union address and 2011 budget. Lawmakers and lobbyists seeking to cut the record $1.4 trillion budget deficit and stabilize the debt want Obama to back the creation of a commission that would recommend spending cuts and tax increases and require a vote by Congress. It's a process that has worked since the 1980s on military base closings.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-30-debt_N.htm

I'm not in favor of a commission since we elect a Congress to do the work the commission would be tasked to do. However, given how Congress is structured to operate, it may be the only way to address the problem.

At this point, I say give Congress one year to show what they can do. If they fail, then try a commission the next year.

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Here's a Washington Post editorial on the same topic.

"President Obama has voiced support for such a plan, and 35 Democratic and Republican senators have signed on to legislation that would create a bipartisan commission with broad power to force painful spending cuts and tax increases through Congress.

Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), an ardent opponent of the idea, has signaled in recent weeks that she could accept the establishment of a commission. The White House has been talking to Congress to try to craft a proposal that would not wholly relinquish congressional control over major decisions on taxes and spending."

[Ya-ta Boy]

One part of the solution is taxes:

America must overcome its allergy to taxes

"Americans have not always hated taxes. The marginal tax rate was approximately 90% for the wealthiest Americans during World War II, but 85% to 90% of the public still described their tax rate as fair. In the mid-20th century, new payroll taxes were enacted to help pay for Social Security and Medicare, while federal taxes helped fund the Interstate Highway System, strengthened research and education at America's premier public universities and built the world's most powerful military."

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/12/29/2009-12-29_america_must_overcome_its_allergy_to_taxes.html

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Rusty Shackleford]

[mises]

[Reggie]

Hopefully, we'll hit our credit card limit with our lenders soon and will have to stop living like the welfare queen America has become.

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]