Our current financial crisis is direct fallout from deficit spending as a means of preventing economic downturn. Our govt will do anything to avoid bad economic news, even mortgage our future. Keynesian economics have deluded us for a long time, but now is the time of reckoning. 3% less federal spending yoy for the next 8 years would go a long way to reducing debt and changing the debt culture.

The ratio of the National debt to the GDP decreased steadily after WWII to about 30% in 1980. Lower taxes and higher spending raised the ratio to almost 75% by 2005. To put the debt into perspective, the U.S. owes between 3.5 and 4 times the revenues it generates through taxes (and that’s before the recent bailouts). Imagine how you would feel if you were in debt for 4 times your annual salary.

Normally, the government should spend less than it takes in, but in a severe downturn, such as the one we are experiencing, government needs to borrow and spend in order to replace the lost demand in the economy. Otherwise, there can be a vicious cycle of layoffs and deflation, and the country may experience a depression.

Everyone WANTS to reduce the national debt, its when you start talking about the HOW where all the debate is. Do we reduce defense spending? Do we privatize social security? Do we raise taxes on the wealthy? I think endorsers of this should instead endorse actual solutions to the problem instead of this vague/generic goal.

Most of the increase in debt is caused by the exploding cost of health care. America spends more on health care than any other country, but gets worse care. This is because, unlike every other major country, we don’t have a single-payer health care system, so greedy corporations jack up prices to maximize profits.

I would support a more clearly defined plan for cutting spending. We need to do so, but a vague statement without saying what would be cut is meaningless.

The only way to significantly reduce spending is to cut the military. We spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined, with little benefit to us.