Here’s what needs to be done…
- Decrease military spending by 30-50%
- Raise the Social Security retirement age to 68
- Increase Medicare eligibility age to 68 and cap Medicare growth based on GDP
- Increase taxes to Clinton-era rates and create new tax bracket for incomes over $1 million
- Close all tax loopholes for individuals and corporations
- End military operations and bring (nearly) all troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq
- Lower the estate tax exemption to $2 million with a tax rate of 50%
- Across the board reductions in pension benefits for all public workers
- Real regulations on banks and financial institutions
- Require anyone on unemployment to work 20 hours/week of community service
- Eliminate farm subsidies
- Tighten eligibility on disability insurance
- Return capital gains tax rates to Clinton-era
- Implement a carbon tax
Of course to do any of this would require major sacrifices across the political spectrum. Unfortunately, in this political environment, sacrifice means Democrats agreeing to keep unsustainable low tax rates and Republicans not cutting any meaningful spending.
See the Budget Puzzle Calculator from the NYT. Here is my plan.
