Today is Tax Day, and the Tea Party Express has commenced on Washington to protest our high taxes, bloated government, and record deficits.
Ok folks, if you were president, what would you do? Cut taxes and balance the budget, right?
Let's look at the
budget for 2010 to see what to cut.
The military is out, we can't cut defense when there are terrorists lurking. Can't cut homeland security either.
We can't cut veteran's affairs, after what they've done for our country.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? No, you can't pull the plug on Grandma, right? Our old folks need full benefits, so that's off the table.
And yes, we've run up huge deficits and we need to pay interest on our debt (think what would happen if the mighty US defaulted!). That's also not negotiable.
Our "must-have" expenditures? $2.4 trillion. Now, let's assume we don't cut taxes and we keep the money coming to the government the same...only $2.4 trillion. What about health care and housing for the poor, roads, education, energy, courts, our national parks? That's extra.
So you want to cut taxes and spending? Where?
Yes, we are in a world of record deficits. Damn that Obama for getting us here...right? Well, after record surpluses, it was actually the Bush administration that
frittered away over a trillion dollars through tax cuts, two wars, and bloating Medicare via the presciption drug giveaway that erased the surplus and started record deficits.
Obama's not done anything yet to reverse this, but then again he would likely end up as popular as Herbert Hoover if he tried to cut spending while looking down the barrel of the Second Great Depression.
