Originally Posted By: TurkeyJ
Paying down the debt is pretty much the most uncontroversial position in the nation. The real questions are:

1) Who bears the burden (middle class, upper class, seniors, etc)

2) When you do it. Traditional economics say you pay when times are good, go into debt during the bad times. Pretty much the opposite of what we've been doing the last several years.

3) Aggressiveness. Do you risk a recession during shaky economic times when we are in no danger of defaulting? Or take things easy?

Answer these, then we can't get into the nastiness of specific policy.


Spending cuts would be #4. Current spending level is undeniably too high for the level of tax revenue collected. We all like everything, all the time, at the same time - most practical solution is to cut what possible, and make up the rest with tax increases. Unfortunately meaningful cuts (e.g. defense) are political non-starter and most harmful cuts (e.g. social safety nets) are politically fetishized.

As to answers - nobody going to sign up constituents (and re-election prospects) for #1; and unfortunately #2 and #3 are used as a weapon to manipulate #1.

Last edited by sini; 01/01/13 08:10 PM.
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