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And the 2011 Federal budget is estimated to be [1]: Revenue: $2.17T Expenditure: $3.82T Deficit: $1.65T So, $12T public debt aside, it's growing at a rate o
by cletus 16y ago
And the 2011 Federal budget is estimated to be [1]:
Revenue: $2.17T
Expenditure: $3.82T
Deficit: $1.65T
So, $12T public debt aside, it's growing at a rate of about 12% per year, the government is spending almost twice as much as it's bringing in and much of that expenditure is mandated rather than discretionary.
This doesn't even account for other debts the US government, such as the Social Security debt of current and future retirees.
Something has to give and there is no political will to do it. I see two likely outcomes:
1. Raising the retirement age to 70 or even higher; and
2. Introducing a national consumption (sales) tax.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_States_federal_budget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_States_federal_budg...
- espeed 16y agoSee the discussion here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2476584 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2476584
- ender7 16y agoSales taxes are a really inefficient way of raising money. More specifically, you end up extracting most of your income from the poor and the middle-class, rather than the wealthy. We already have a fair way of levying a tax - it's the proportional income tax and it's done just fine in the past. You'd be amazed how those numbers change if you remove the Bush tax cuts from the budget (or, even more shocking, go back to Reagan-era income tax levels). I, for one, would rather raise taxes to their old levels than do away with government services that I value and that my friends and family depend on. My salary is pretty damn healthy - I would be "unfairly" taxed at a high bracket. That's the way it should be.