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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (115106)	6/11/2012 5:56:29 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

I have been one of the loudest proponents since the Bush Administration of getting rid of the Bush tax cuts, and you know that. The real question is not whether I am ready, but are you and the Dems? Are you ready for the pain that will come from balancing our budget and living within our means? I don't think you are. We are running deficits of $1.7 trillion. I believe a deficit of 1-2% of GDP is sustainable if GDP is growing by 2-3% per year. So that means we can run a $150-300B deficit. That means an increase in taxes and cuts in spending totalling $1.4T, which would be an immediate contraction of $1.4T/$15.5T = 9% of GDP. Are you ready for that? My advice is that we phase that in over 10 years. Contract spending and increase taxes by 1% per year. So we take a 1% hit to GDP each year, which means GDP growth of 1-2% per year for the next 10 years. That would help us get out of this without too much pain. But I don't see any Dems or GOP members willing to take ANY pain and none are willing to do what it takes to solve this problem in the next 10 years. Simpson-Bowles were, but Obama and the GOP ignored them. So much for solutions.