Government and Finances

I'm going to be very unpopular after this post...

     I'm sure that you probably know of the American government's financial state, and the lack of agreement as to a solution. The conservatives are focused on cutting spending to what they see as wasteful spending programs, and the liberals are focused on taxing the rich in order to give the government more money to cover social programs. I'm not going to attack these programs now, but I am going to say that the federal budget is out of control. I have one suggestion to both sides: grow up.

     I was raised in a financially aware family, with my parents wanting me to make financially sound decisions and I striving against that, and always considered what I would do if I was ever in economic hardship or even the big d-word... debt. However, the approach is different for a government. In a government, there are special interests, impossible promises, and cries to save the whatever it is that matters today (frequently at the cost of the well being of both the people who soak the price and also otherizing or degrading the recipients). I believe that the government has a big problem in cutting the debt- itself. The way a government functions is based entirely in politics, but that is neither pragmatic nor practical.

     The solution to the problems is a marriage of the proposals by both sides- not a compromise with both sides giving some ground, but both sides must give all ground in order to promote a recovery from the debt. At 4.6% annual interest (the rate of a US Treasury I bond) is 657,360,159,500,000 (as of when I calculated it). That would be about 658 billion dollars rounded up because the amount is increasing- rapidly. This is the amount that taxpayers waste each year IN INTEREST ON THE DEBT! I don't know about you, but 657 billion could save a lot of whatevers, so here's what I propose, a radical theory that makes no sense and will be denounced as heresy- cut spending AND raise taxes. It's a principle called austerity- you keep your economy in line. Once you do that, you can actually fix the problems. The amount of interest wasted greatly increases the debt, but instead of fixing the problem, Washington twiddles its thumbs in a childish debate. Both sides need to come forward to the American people, and clearly say that there's a problem that needs to be fixed.

     Or we could just pass on the debt, because the next generation loves taxes and is entirely self reliant and won't need social programs.