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Supercommittee gives up

The day of reckoning looms: The Congressional supercommittee has given up. The perspective of one member of the committee can be read here. Key quote:

The Congressional Budget Office, the Medicare trustees, and the Government Accountability Office have each repeatedly said that our health-care entitlements are unsustainable. Committee Democrats offered modest adjustments to these programs, but they were far from sufficient to meet the challenge. And even their modest changes were made contingent upon a minimum of $1 trillion in higher taxes—a move sure to stifle job creation during the worst economy in recent memory.

Even if Republicans agreed to every tax increase desired by the president, our national debt would continue to grow uncontrollably. Controlling spending is therefore a crucial challenge. The other is economic growth and job creation, which would produce the necessary revenue to fund our priorities. [emphasis mine]

This needs repeating: regardless of whether you think we should raise taxes in this situation, no tax increase can eliminate the deficit. The problem is out-of-control spending that needs to be seriously curbed.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

One comment

  • Chris Kirkendall

    The most telling thing of all in the argument over whether to raise taxes or cut spending is this: When was the last time any tax increase reduced the deficit? It never happens – Congress (especially Dems, but some Repubs are complicit as well…) sees the new funds & figures they have more money to play with & immediately start figuring out ways to spend it. They NEVER use it to pay down the debt. Does anyone (besides Michael Moore, Warren Buffet, et al) think they are not taxed ENOUGH? The Fed Gov’t takes in $2.5-3 Trillion/yr, and it’s NOT ENOUGH?? If you make $70,000 a year & can’t pay your bills, is it a “revenue problem” or a spending problem? Unlike the Fed Gov’t, most of us cannot walk into the boss’ office & demand more money because we can’t pay the bills. The only way we’ll get a raise is to actually perform better. But imagine if you somehow convinced your boss to give you more $$ based simply on the fact your spending outstripped your salary, and then upon receiving your increase, instead of paying down what you owe, you start another whole new round of spending – you buy a new, expensive car, decide to put a pool in your backyard, etc. Basically, that’s what the Fed Gov’t is doing with OUR moiney – and make no mistake – they don’t have a single DIME of their “own” money – every penny they get is taken from us, and they are not spending it wisely. The rest of us cannot live that way – at least, not for long, without ending up bankrupt…

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