I've met a fair number of Americans from many different parts of this country over the years, and in general we have a lot in common. Most want security, prosperity and freedom. Most of the elected officials promise us those things but somehow they end up being so opposed to each other that they can't fund the government or raise enough funds to pay our bills.
Now, each problem has more than one solution, but it would seem that right now we are faced with some simple choices. We have made promises to our citizens related to various benefits (entitlements) and we haven't raised enough money to pay for these promises. This plus a couple of wars and a horrible recession has led to large deficits and increases in our national debt.
The only way to balance the books is either to cut those benefits or raise more money (taxes). This is the problem we face and we have some people arguing that we have to live up to our obligations and others who say we can't raise taxes. This results in borrowing. It is a tough problem and we don't have a short term magic solution, although there are many promising signs related to economic growth and increased national resources in energy that have some promise to help out over time.
We are faced with a potential time bomb in the current low interest rates that make our interest payments almost affordable. This is not a situation that can last forever and when interest rates go up so do our debt payments.
The solution is fairly obvious, we need to reduce some future entitlements while increasing revenue. This has to be done in a way that promotes economic growth, which in and of itself improves revenue since the tax base grows and the entitlement rolls shrink somewhat. Why our elected officials can't figure this out is the mystery.
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