[Pearls Before Swine]

I love Trump, but at some point we’ve got to control the deficit.

The key is cutting spending. Increasing taxes alone doesn’t help with deficits, because it depresses the economy. Indeed, that adds extra spending in the form of unemployment expenses.

Biden would not only increase taxes, but he’d also increase spending—a double whammy.

I think the key problem here is baseline budgeting. For any department, the defalut is for expenses to always go up, because the baseline is last year’s spending plus a CPI kicker. And, as often happens, when government runs under continuing budget resolutions, even less thought is given to the actual budget amouints.

[central_va]

Increasing taxes alone doesn’t help with deficits,

Increasing income taxes DECREASES federal tax revenue. The only way to increase revenue is through import tariffs. If you are not for import tariffs then you are not serious about fiscal responsibility.

[Dilbert San Diego]

True enough. You are getting into talking about the 20+ trillion dollar national debt, which has grown a few trillion this year due to Covid spending. The national debt exceeds the gross domestic product, which many economists tell us is a major danger zone.

The national debt and unfunded liabilities for programs such as Social Security are a major financial threat to all of our futures. But there hasn’t been political will to deal with these problems.

[spokeshave]

For any department, the defalut is for expenses to always go up, because the baseline is last year’s spending plus a CPI kicker. And, as often happens, when government runs under continuing budget resolutions, even less thought is given to the actual budget amouints.

Trump already attended to that

1. His EO mandating federal offices move to enterprize zones

2. Departments get what they spend the previous year...no last minute spending on offices trips and other perks

[Paleo Pete]

I agree with most of that but the national DEBT, not the deficit, is the biggest problem. The deficit is certainly an issue, the debt is a bigger one

Deficit - spending more than you make. What politicians have done without a second thought since at least LBJ. And including republicans.

Debt - What you owe because of it. When your insane spending means you have to borrow money to keep the doors open, not a good thing. No nusiness could operate this way, you’d be out of business in 2 months. No politician manages his/her own finances that way, way do they run our country that way?

Spending and deficit are big issues, for sure. But that $21 trillion plus debt is going to kill us. Once it hits $22 trillion, I’ve seen it said we are finished. (or was it 24?) As it is, our great grandkids will still be paying just the interest...

Spending is insane. I’ve wanted to see Trump get in some huge spending cuts since day one, and it hasn’t happened, my one disappointment in his current administration. I can’t think of another negative. I think he has taken some small steps, but nothing major like I thought might happen. And spending is a huge issue. I hope to see better in his second term.

And that is why there must BE a second term...