A debate topic we may or may not hear much about this year is that of the budget deficit. Common sense should tell us that a reasonable amount of debt is not only acceptable but arguably good business. Too much debt, however, is a destructive path. What ever happened to the politicians who used to discuss the growing budget deficit as becoming problematic?
Social security benefits will not be reduced without its proponents having committed political suicide. When is the last time someone seriously questioned why wage earners receiving around $170,000 per year in salary don’t contribute to the social security trust fund for money earned over that amount? That in and of itself would not completely fix the problem, but why not try it? Would it not be better than reducing benefits? Would it not be better than doing nothing? Are we like Sam the bartender in Cheers who said that if he ignored his problems long enough, eventually they would just go away? Is that sound public policy?
We want a strong military. We want disaster relief. We want state-of-the-art highways and bridges. We want a state-of-the-art education system. We want social security and Medicare. We want flood control. We want research and development. We want a safety net for our farmers to ensure a dependable domestic food supply. We want safe drinking water. We want adequate police and fire protection. We also want lower taxes or, at the very least, have someone else pay our taxes for us. Lowering taxes and raising tariffs while continuing to spend? Isn’t that like getting economic advice from the Easter Bunny?
A very salient quote on these subjects came from a former president of the European Union. He said, “We all know what we need to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it.”
