[redgolum]

. Suggest a cap on the mortgage deduction or point out that seniors are taking out of Medicare several times what they put into it such that a hike in the eligibility age might be in order or propose the removal of farm subsidies or even taking away ethanol payments or...

Which are all tax hikes (or benefit reductions). And yes, it will hurt. Thing is we are screwed. To get un screwed we need to either cut spending (and that includes entitlements like Social Security), or increase taxes. LH made the statement that she doesn't want SS cut, so I guess that means taxes.

It is a simple mass balance. Income must equal outflows, or you go negative. We have to stop going negative, and no one wants to cut anything.

[9YearLurker]

I’d argue that spending is out of control and we can’t dig our way out of it with tax hikes. The only way we can get a healthy economy again is to cut spending. Period.