Sorry, Alan and Erskine -- it's not nearly enough (Holding spending down to 21% of GDP is a fantasy)

Washington Post ^ | 11/11/2010 | Matt Miller

[WebFocus]

I'm torn between cheering some of the "tough choices" (by Washington standards) that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson have usefully put on the table -- and running from the room screaming at how phony and inadequate so many of the steps they've laid out are, despite first-day commentary hailing them as "bold." Here's a two-minute Radical Centrists's guide to how to think about what they've floated (drafted at the airport while waiting for a flight, so forgive the short strokes).

[gleneagle]

The country did just fine with federal spending at 10% of GDP,which, would allow more for the states and local governments to assume more of their rightful role.

[KoRn]

What I don’t get is nowhere in their report was a recommendation to do away with the NEA, National Endowment for The Arts, or many of the other totally useless federal agencies/programs.

We are NOT going to get out of this mess we have created for ourselves until we gradually phase out Socialist “Security”, Medicare, and roll the scope of the Federal government back to where it was around the year 1920. I’d rather see it go back to 1789, but I’m willing to compromise....

[Uncle Ike]

” guide to how to think about “

The arrogance of WaPo writers knows no bounds.....

No thank you - I believe I’ll just figure out for myself ‘how to think about....’

[Drango]

Defund public broadcasting AKA PBS/NPR.

[WebFocus]

RE: Defund public broadcasting AKA PBS/NPR.

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Unless we do something about the BIG 3 — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, all the rest (like the one you are proposing above) are simply trimming around the edges.

[WebFocus]

RE: What I don’t get is nowhere in their report was a recommendation to do away with the NEA, National Endowment for The Arts, or many of the other totally useless federal agencies/programs.

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Unless we do something drastic about the BIG 3 -— Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, all the proposals for cutting (like the ones you are proposing) are simply trimming around the edges.

[Drango]

PBS/NPR received $1.1 BILLION in tax funds. And yes it’s trimming but add up a lot of trimming and it counts. No one is suggesting the big three be ignored.

[griswold3]

21%?
Hauser’s Law states tax revenue has been around 19-20% after that it falls and lowers GDP.

Many taxpayers believe that controlling the amount they send to .gov is the only way to reign in their reach. But they always overreach.

[Doulos1]

Wonder why Osambo put Alan Simpson on the “committee”?
Alan was a sell out back in the nineties. When we read about
a moderate Republican we know what that means. RINO.
He is pro-abort piece of crap. He was no good then and he is
no good now. He is the window dressing to fool the ignorant
public that this scheme is “bipartisan”.

[KoRn]

We might have to reach a point to where .gov says “tough shit”.... The money isn’t there. You already spent it, by electing politicians that bent to your every demand for decades.

I’m sure that isn’t going to happen though. Obviously, the elites have a multi-pronged offensive to attack this:

Socialize the healthcare system to manipulate it toward serving their ends, import millions of workers from across our Southern border, trash the dollar, and inflate the debt away.

I can envision how this might actually work, for a little while(long enough for another two or three generations of politicians to live the good life), but eventually it all come crashing down. Close to the root of all of our problems is how we moved away from being a production oriented economy, into the new “service based economy”. When you aren’t producing anything, you aren’t creating anything of real value. You’re just moving ‘money’ around.

What I don’t like is we aren’t hearing ANY politicians directly attacking these issues as a whole. Sure a few might single out illegal immigration or spending, but if they aren’t willing to take on the big picure, nothing will change in any material way.

I’m afraid this is going to end with the United States no longer being ‘United’. By the middle of this century, I fully expect our country will be broken up into several countries. I’ll be an old man by then(70s). It’s sad to think that I might actually one day look back upon these times as being “the good ol’ days”.......

[VRWC For Truth]

Invest in guillotines ...

[Kellis91789]

I don’t know why they need a commission. The answer should be obvious. Go back in time to the last time we had a Balanced budget. Reset all spending levels to those, adjusted for inflation. Then set the conditions for economic growth so it will expand faster than inflation. Simple.

[drubyfive]

So you are going to reverse those tax cuts?

[Kellis91789]

I said “reset spending levels” not tax levels.

Then I said “set conditions for economic growth” which means cutting tax rates even further.

People seem to forget that out of $14T of personal income, the combined income tax and corporate tax collects just $1.4T — in other words, you could set the corporate tax rate to ZERO and you would only need a flat 10% income tax on individuals to collect the same revenue. Eliminating the corporate income tax and eliminating the “success penalty” of progressive tax rates would trigger economic growth like we’ve never seen.

The biggest disappointment for me in this leaked report is that they are not talking about eliminating ALL tax deductions and going with that straightforward 10% flat rate. Instead they talk about “lowering tax rates” to 8%, 14%, and 25% on individuals and 26% on corporations. That makes it obvious that even though they are considering eliminating the “mortgage” deduction, they are leaving huge deductions in place, probably huge standard deductions, child credits, EITC, and other nonsense.