> Debt Ceiling : EVERYTHING must be on the table
Philosophically, these people are correct. However, our country is based on a two party system that requires compromise to work properly. The result is NEVER the perfect solution. But, it is USUALLY the best solution for the greatest number of people. These people need to compromise.
The system does NOT produce the best solution when one party bypasses the process, as the Democrats did when they passes Obamacare. Our future heathcare costs under Obamacare are, by far, the greatest contributor to our spending in the next decade (in 9 years we are projected to have spent a total of $2.2 trillion on healthcare).
The risks are far too great to play this political game with a debt compromise. Unfortunately, as we saw during the financial crisis, our elected officials do not truly understand how the global financial markets function. It is NOT an option to allow a “hard” or “soft” default on our debt and a downgrade of our credit rating would have devastating repercussions for ALL Americans and people around the world. This is not “scare tactics”. This is reality. It is time for adults to take over in Washington and reach a compromise BEFORE TUESDAY.
Ultimately, we need a revision to the tax code that can produce the income that Democrats want (not tax hikes for the top 5% of taxpayers, who pay 60% of the tax burden). Keep in mind that over 50% of Americans pay “0” Federal income tax. The solution to our debt problem is truly on the spending side, and particularly with healthcare. There is also waste in military spending that can be eliminated. We need to cut “future” entitlement growth and EVERYTHING must be on the table. But, this does not need to be (and can’t be) accomplished by Tuesday. Job #1 is to ensure that we pay all our bills and that we establish a sufficient amount of cuts to be made ($3.5 – 5 trillion) and empower a commission to draft the law over the next month.
