The National Debt and ways to reduce it.

Every developed country has this problem (minus Singapore) and it's up to our government to figure out how to reduce and hopefully eliminate it. In the U.S, our national debt is through the roof. Although Obama has reduced our deficit, our debt is still being added to due to increased government spending and not enough taxes.

What are some of your ideas on how to reduce the national debt in your country?

-Reduce our military to pre-1950's size to reduce military spending.

-Bring Afghanistan troops home to reduce military spending

-Reduce student loan interest rates to prevent students from going bankrupt.

-Implement single-payer healthcare to reduce healthcare spending.

-Cut foreign aid (how can we help others if we can't help ourselves)

-Return tax-rates to Clinton levels since that was the last time we had a surplus.

-Pass the 2013 immigration reform bill, which will increase GDP by 3.3% by 2023.

-End the War on Drugs. Legalize and place a tax on marijuana and LSD (they are the least harmful drugs).

-End reliance on oil and utilize renewable energy to reduce spending on foreign oil. While I'm on this topic, reduce government subsidies to oil companies and increase their taxes to deter oil use.

-End corporate welfare because it's unnecessary spending since they don't need the money in the first place.

I think the government should focus a bit more on reckless spending rather than tax increases. Still, reducing the national debt and to have a surplus requires both sides.

 

Sorry to say, I have so little faith in the government that I don't believe the debt problem will ever be solved. Pretty soon the interest will be higher than our ability to repay, and we'll default for sure.

What that means I have no idea, but yeah, for some reason politicians don't focus on it as an issue.

 

In a word, growth.

Unfortunately, the government in the UK spent three years cutting and stagnating the economy, whilst increasing the most pernicious tax of all (VAT) to 20%. They followed this by cutting income tax for the richest on the false premise that it would stimulate investment and boost revenue. That's Conservative economics for you - increase VAT but make the richest even richer.

The only fair and reasonable way to reduce debt is through investment and growth, not cuts.

 

I completely agree with everything you said, although I'm not a fan of the ACA.

I was trying to get Medicaid as the ACA started eariler this year, and went through hell and back to get it. I still believe the government should lend a helping hand, but I think just expanding Medicare/Medicaid without all the extra headache of the ACA would've been better. Plus, forcing everyone to go on it was a bit much. Then again, all you said was "single-payer heathcare..."

No sure if you meant ACA... or just straight up medicare/medicaid...

Fixed it for ya. :lol:

I do think some people need to be taxed more, but it shouldn't be the lower/middle class. We're being taxed the shit out of enough already.

When I turn 18, I'll still be a childfree, single lesbian. Do you have any idea how hard they're going to tax me?

 

- Reduce our military budget by 50-75%
- Bring back ALL troops in Afghanistan
- Stop production of pennies and nickels
- .75% Student Loan Interest rate
- Let the ACA run its course
- Increase federal minimum wage to $10.10 at minimum
- Increase top income tax bracket to 45%
- Increase capital gains tax to 35%
- Get rid of tax loopholes for those making more than $250,000
- Give subsidies to car companies to make their cars run on cheap, safe alternatives to petroleum
- Expand medicaid in all 50 states
- Give all people here illegally an easy path to citizenship
- Legalize marijuana and regulate it, and decriminalize all drugs.
- Legalize prostitution and regulate it
- Release all nonviolent drug offenders
- Focus more on rehabilitating prisoners who might have a chance to leading a productive life
- Free job training and job searching services for unemployed people
- Corporations are not people, and shouldn't be taxed as such
- Get more people who need them on social safety net programs
- Pass equal pay act for women
- Pass ENDA for the LGBT Community
- Legalize SSM in all US jurisdictions

 

Lol have to cut corruption before you can cut spending ^,^

 

^^ I agree aside from the fact that we can't cut the military by half. We need a strong military. I'm not in favor of legal prostitution. I'd also work on tax breaks for the REAL small business owners making under 300,000.

---------- Post added 8th Jun 2014 at 06:21 PM ----------

Limit foreign aid as well.

 

Oh! Similar thinker! Couldn't have said it better myself!

 

One of the most risky ways to lower the national debt is to sell government assets i.e to privatize. Mrs Thatcher did so in the 80s and selling of certain companies is fine but retaining a stake in companies with a natural monopoly is important according to certain studies. Like a stake in electric and phone would be good so government could influence tariffs and pricing that is balanced both for the people and the company, not just so the company makes a maximum profits. We all know the fiasco with British Railway and I was sad to see the Royal Mail go, those that bought got it at a good rate but still and now the NHS is being fragmented the last of the government securities.

In my country (Netherlands) the outward show is that we are quite wealthy but the truth is that the government debt per working head is one of the highest in the world. practically bankrupt.

 

Here ya go, Just for you to look at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/opinion/a-military-budget-to-fit-the-times.html?_r=0

 

I agree with you on the military spending. We have so many bases in other countries and there's no point in them.

I'm not sure if we should bring back ALL the troops, but it can be accomplished.

I agree with the student loans. I doubt that I'll be able to get a university grant from Cali's govn't, so I really need to work hard to repay student loans and I really don't want them to inflate due to interest.

The ACA is alright. I prefer single-payer since it's much cheaper than the ACA.

Marijuana, LSD, and E should be legalized since they are rather harmless compared to tobacco, heroin, and meth.

 

- Cut the defense budget by half gradually.
- Reduce entitlements.
- Close tax loopholes.
- Raise taxes for those that are the wealthiest in the top half of the 1%.

There needs to be a combination of cuts and revenue. Only raising taxes significantly on the wealthy would not do much to reduce debt, but also cutting entitlements and our massive military would definitely reduce the debt. Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for our ridiculous military spending, and they like to use scare tactics to make people believe that we have to allocate such an exorbitant amount of money toward the military. We don't. Cut it by 50% over a few years and we still would spend more than the next six countries combined.

---------- Post added 9th Jun 2014 at 02:30 AM ----------

Eh, foreign aid and congressional budgets/salaries are always a popular target for people who aren't all that bright. But the thing is, foreign aid is such a tiny amount when compared to other government programs that cutting it would do almost nothing to the debt. It'd be like a person who's $50,000 in debt no longer purchasing a daily cup of coffee. If we truly want to reduce the debt, bold decisions need to be made rather than eliminating small things that don't matter all that much.

And as for congressional budgets, I would argue that members of Congress should get more allowance to use on staff, not less. The turnover rate for congressional staff is insane because the pay is so shitty, and the average age for congressional staffers is quite young as well. Put the two together and you have very young staffers just out of college who have no policy experience trying to write laws. Most members of Congress lose their staffers to lobbying firms because they want to "cash in" once they gain experience from working in Congress. Not good.

 

Apart from the suggestions above, which I largely agree with, for the US, enormously reducing the harshness of legal penalties, especially for victimless crimes and crimes unlikely to be repeated would be good. Enormous amounts of money go into that, and even if it saved only a few hundred million, legal reform would come out of it, which is necessary. Examples include drug use, theft (when the thief was in need of something necessary), etc. And on the other hand, increased punishments for corruption, embezzlement, tax evasion such as off-shore holdings etc., including entire confiscation of assets from corrupt individuals and companies.

And the military budget is too big. Reduce the navy dramatically (by not renewing the extra fleets' ships when they get out of date), get rid of the ridiculous number of military bases in countries already allied with the US (who have their own forces). Jesus Christ, the US doesn't need a strong military, especially given that the US is the largest aggressor in the world with more allies than anywhere else. I also think that the US should have complete transparency about budgets; the classification of any part is completely undemocratic and doesn't allow for actual criticism to occur.

Above all, no austerity. No cuts on public services, no reduction on welfare. An increased minimum wage wherever possible, and anything to get the US back on its feet as a people, not just as a stock market. Also, modernisation is important. It may be expensive in the short term, but the enormous burden of outdated infrastructure has to be addressed soon, otherwise it will be too much to handle.

 

The US won't default, it's GDP is too high. Half the world would default first before the US. Eventually as long as countries reduce the growth of their national debt, inflation will sort it out.

 

The arguments in favour of cutting overseas aid are very short sighted and largely based on inaccurate data, peddled by the right wing media. You will not reduce national debt in any nation by raiding the aid budget.

If you examine the purposes of overseas aid very carefully, you'll soon realise how the small investment (0.7% of GDP in the UK) will actually benefit your home economy and save taxpayers money. It's not a waste.

Don't be taken in by the hyperbole of right wing conservatives who say charity begins at home. It doesn't work like that at all. It's not even a popular argument when you see how people respond to international disaster and crisis appeals. Why do politicians even suppose that taxpayers are so mean spirited about aid when millions of pounds/dollars/euro's are donated to organisations like the DEC or Red Cross for humanitarian relief?

There are many other area's of government spending that could be cut to help reduce debt, but I still maintain that growth (not cuts) is the fairest, most effective and equitable way to ease the debt burden. This applies to my own country and others.

---------- Post added 9th Jun 2014 at 12:44 PM ----------

I certainly wouldn't follow the Thatcher way to reduce national indebtedness. The harsh medicine approach of her right wing government was cruel and set people against people.

Doubling VAT, closing down the manufacturing base of the economy, deep recession, mass unemployment and civil unrest is what you get by pursuing Thatcherite economics. Further down the line you get rising prices, an inflationary boom and soaring interest rates with even more pain.

 

cut costs by:

Huge cuts to foreign aid
Eliminate child benefit
Eliminate all green subsidies, such as free car tax and wind farm subsidies
Exit the European union
Cutting or cancelling space programmes
Making national parliaments unicameral by having one chamber only
Privatisation of nationalised companies
More stringent benefits cap and welfare restrictions
Eliminating quango organisations
Deport foreign criminals from prisons
More oversight into local government to prevent
Stop illegal wars and interventions
Prevent new immigrant arrivals from claiming welfare or universal services
Remove free bus passes and prescriptions from old people
Remove devolved assemblies by offering in-out referendums.

Increase Income by:

Sizeable increases in fines and penalties
Increase costs for items including passports, court costs
Infrastructure projects where demand is strong
Cutting tax and regulation for business
Ensuring there is as global commitment to end tax avoidance by powerful people and organisations.

 

Well, if you're trying to save money, every dollar, or in the case of a federal budget, every $100 bill counts.

 

Scary list - would be horrifying to see it implemented in real life.

People believe the US is too big to fail, and the US defaulting on its debts would cause economic pandemonium across the world. Having one country with the ability to cause a global meltdown is worrisome.

 

Keynes balanced budget fiscal multiplier is the most humane way to go about it and it can be explained in a few easy to follow points.
1) Hypothetically by raising the taxes on the riches you will not reduce the amount of spending in the economy much as they save a large proportion of their income.
2) therefore you increase taxes on the rich and increase government spending on infrastructure projects by the same amount NOT EXCEEDING the additional revenue
3) this means there will be an increase in employment for those who earn low incomes
4) this increases overall consumption as people with low incomes tend to spend a larger proportion of their income thus increasing tax revenue through VAT and Corporation tax (as consumption rises)
5) infrastructure projects also attract FDI which will, in the short term, generate a net inflow into the economy and in the long term result in more tax revenue
6) ultimately net government spending is reduced resulting in them being able to pay off national debt
The only problem with this is that the majority of high income earners are greedy and right wing.

---------- Post added 9th Jun 2014 at 07:09 AM ----------

think i would emigrate if this happened...

 

I agree with you about the foreign aid and illegal wars, the rest seem a bit extreme. Deporting people costs money and unicameralism doesn't work well.