Spence - a little word substitution. Crude yes, but I only have a few minutes off working today.
The deadline is August 2nd and there still is no deal. I think he is doing a little CYA in case this breaks. Is this political brinkmanship? Washing his hands a bit? The Whitehouse is holding the entire US economy hostage in an attempt to get the House to capitulate.
While most people think the Federal Government raises more than enough revenue, Big Government still finds a way to spend too much. Also I think the polls have pretty consistently shown that tax payers favor a balanced approach to deficit reduction but with a real emphasis of reducing spending. We're pretty good at raising revenue but we are far too good at spending it. We kick and scream at how much money we spend except for when our Reps and Senators bring it back to our district.
You say you (taxpayer) don't want yet another tax increase (for the middle class mind you) but a default would likely increase borrowing costs for EVERYBODY. That is today. Of course the long term problem is that your existing middle class deductions (mortgage interest deductions, child deductions) will need to be removed to generate sufficient revenue. Unfortunately, if we took every dime from the rich, there is not enough money to pay for programs we Americans like. So unless we really take a hard look at how we spend and make significant cuts, then the difference will again be on the backs of the middle class.
Don't forget, government is not the engine that creates jobs, American business do. So the more and more this American business engine gets crushed the more people not working, the more people needing help, the more we spend in deficit. Right now the cart is driving the horse.
And don't forget that the biggest jump ever in deficit spending has occurred between 2007-2011. Between TARP, Tax Cuts, the Wars, expansions in entitlement programs, (which was supposed to save money
) so we then and went and added trillions more in liability to come in effect after 2012 elections (sidebar, funny how the bill will come in after the next political round).
Bi-partisan problems require bi-partisan solutions and some compromise. The cash cow is dead. Big Government killed the cash cow. 40 cents on the dollar goes to pay interest. The cash cow has moved from programs to now paying interest. Why we need to borrow more and raise the ceiling.
There is a way out of this mess but fiscal common sense is being prevented along partisan lines.
