One more thought on the WW II comparison if you will indulge me.
Note how every tax bracket was raised by 20-30% at the onset of WW II to pay for war. Common sense economics when you go to war. As opposed to starting a war in Iraq and lowering taxes at the same time. BTW, the Iraq war is now the second costliest war in US history.
On the flat tax, I dont think it is just a matter of the IRS, lobbyist, pols, media oppose it but also because there has never been a flat tax model that realistically is revenue neutral, even assuming significant spending cuts.
On spending cuts, they should be strategic and not ideological. Foreign aid is insignificant (about 1% of the budget) and aid to some countries should absolutely be cut, but aid to others pays off is ways that are not easily measured but meaningful.
At the same time, in order to regain our economic competitiveness, we also need to spend more in some areas. R&D spending has been flat in recent years and while others, like China most notably, are making significant investments in R&D, particularly in cutting edge technologies like clean energy.
We also need to spend more on infrastructure on everything from roads and bridges to broadband. A recent
report from the Organization for International Investment documents the issue.
There are many areas we can cut that make sense but it will require compromise and shared sacrifice (there I go again with those buzz words).
At the same time, Americans are paying the smallest share of their income for taxes since 1958.
Quote:
The total tax burden — for all federal, state and local taxes — dropped to 23.6% of income in the first quarter, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data.
By contrast, individuals spent roughly 27% of income on taxes in the 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s — a rate that would mean $500 billion of extra taxes annually today, one-third of the estimated $1.5 trillion federal deficit this year.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/...cord-low_n.htm
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Spending cuts that make sense, entitlement reform w/o gutting programs through more costly (to the end users) ideological privatization plans and tax reform, including restoring the marginally higher rate for the top bracket as well as closing the multitude of corporate tax loopholes (and perhaps even lowering the corporate rate a bit).
Oh, and I dont think my right wing nut job monitor has ever gone off in your presence. It is highly selective.