Of the people who actually think about these things, there are only a handful who do not believe the deficit is a BIG problem. The question is what to do about it. This is a problem at two levels. It is an immediate problem because it is extremely unlikely that Republicans will pass up a chance to keep taxes on the rich lower. I simply can’t imagine how to stop them. It will require all our energy to minimize the damage to those unable to defend themselves as the GOP tries to justify their tax policy by cutting “entitlements”. Figuring out what to do longer term is an even more profound problem. It will require a reordering of national priorities at a level that has not happened since the Depression and World War II made it unavoidable. The issue is not solely the deficit, but the fact that while we are running these unsustainable deficits, we are still underfunding critical things, like environmental protection. Under what circumstances could the current political order undertake this kind of reordering?
Taxing the one percenters must be part of the solution.
Of the people who actually think about these things, there are only a handful who do not believe the deficit is a BIG problem. The question is what to do about it. This is a problem at two levels. It is an immediate problem because it is extremely unlikely that Republicans will pass up a chance to keep taxes on the rich lower. I simply can’t imagine how to stop them. It will require all our energy to minimize the damage to those unable to defend themselves as the GOP tries to justify their tax policy by cutting “entitlements”. Figuring out what to do longer term is an even more profound problem. It will require a reordering of national priorities at a level that has not happened since the Depression and World War II made it unavoidable. The issue is not solely the deficit, but the fact that while we are running these unsustainable deficits, we are still underfunding critical things, like environmental protection. Under what circumstances could the current political order undertake this kind of reordering?
When the one percenters own more than half of all money they sequester volumes of money they cannot possibly spend. Tax them!