Yes, taxes have come down in GDP terms somewhat. Spending was supposed to come down at the the same time. The zeitgeist was that we could have it all, and that debt didn’t matter.

I’ve put my own proposals on the table for tax reform. I would be willing to see higher overall taxes if the code itself were fairer.

http://alephblog.com/2008/04/12/problems-with-tax-reform/

And, I would eliminate the estate tax (after all, we are being taxed as traders and the government has already gotten its cut), and taxation on dividends. I would pay for that by removing the deductibility of interest to individuals and corporations, grandfathering existing debts. Lower the leverage in the system.

Dreaming, I know. It will never happen.

Notice that until the crisis spending was below the average for the period 1970-2009. Notice that the reason the deficit is so high is because revenues are at an all time low. Notice that this is because individual income tax and corporate income tax collections are also at an all-time low.

Present claims on future economic output simply cannot be met – eventually interest rates, asset prices and currency values will adjust to this reality.

One problem is that if much of the developed world adopts banana republic fiscal / monetary policies will there be many safe places to store wealth any more? (I guess gold in the basement might work)

Yeah, lets think about that:

Who got bailed out? A bunch of baby boomer aged bankers, by a baby boomer aged Treasury Secretary.

Who paid for it? It was “paid for” 100% with debt that future generations will be stuck with

Who lost their jobs? Because age discrimination laws only protect older workers, and most district attorneys are cowardly baby boomers — job losses were very concentrated in younger workers

Oh, and the GM bailout of cowardly UAW retirees was orchestrated by a baby boomer president

The “Greatest Generation” (to use Tom Brokaw’s self serving label) fought World War II — but then paid the money back!!!

The selfish “flower power” generation took the largest creditor nation in the world and turned it into the biggest debtor the world has ever known. Some legacy you cowards are leaving

Kind of a foolish thing to say to someone half your age and twice your size, don’t you think?

I stand by my comment. Baby boomers are selfish cowards.

I am fed up with you cowards spending money and sticking us with your debt.

I agree with CPJ13, that no one under 45 will ever get their money back from Social Security — definitely not in real terms, and probably not at all. I would be happy to forfeit my future “benefits”, which I won’t see anyways. Cancel the whole foolish program tomorrow

Medicare is already actuarily bankrupt, and will be cashflow bankrupt long before I am eligible. Its another empty promise from a selfish, cowardly generation.

“Entitlements” are simply age discriminatory taxes, penalizing GenX and younger generations with a tax for an imaginary benefit we will never get.

So there are some spending cuts that are simply “no brainers”. Both programs are expendable unless benefits are guaranteed for future generations.

Raising Soc Sec taxes is EXACTLY the same thing as cutting our future benefits (assuming Congress doesn’t spend the money first, which is likely). Pay more for the same, or pay the same for less. Raising taxes is a coward’s answer.

Municipal pensions? Eliminate them all. No one in my generation gets a pension, guaranteed or otherwise. We have to save money in an IRA and hope to God some corrupt politician doesn’t steal it before we reach retirement age.

We have no skin in the pension game — so we will not care when (not if) they are eliminated. The Most Cowardly Generation has lived way beyond its means for decades, and now must live below its means during their twilight years.

Endless tax increases are at least as controversial as spending cuts — and you should have acknowledged such in your post. Then commenters wouldn’t have been so angry at your post

1. Pension reform. This means haircuts, and reduced benefits. Sorry guys, you don’t deserve $150,000 a year for the rest of your life because you worked in “public service” for 20 years. Public service benefit packages over the past 10 years have been far more substantial than their private sector counterparts, ex the FIRE industries.

2. Wholesale efficiency audit of the Fed Gov. The redundancy, waste and pure theft is enough to make one’s blood boil. Has anyone contemplated the effects to our deficit afforded by a top-down re-evaluation of every job and department in the FedGov? This will never happen – but a boy can wish.

3. Soc Sec and Medicare must be addressed within the next five years. Nobody – NOBODY – my age believes we’ll ever see a dollar from either program, and yet we pay into the programs every year. This is a legalized ponzi at its apex; nothing more, nothing less. Some generation is going to have to bite the bullet on this one, and it sure as hell won’t be my kids. So whether these reforms take place now or 20 years down the road, the only difference will be the amount of pain and the generation that bears it. This is one issue that my generation is not afraid to take a hard line on, and rightfully so.

4. Cut taxes. Cut them deep, and cut them permanently. Perhaps this Obamanation has finally turned the corner and begun to realize that the answer is NOT a larger government and expanded taxation. Perhaps it took his election and bungling of everything he touches to make people understand that smaller is better. Smaller equals less taxes. Less taxes equals more freedom. The math – although I’m sure many will disagree with me – frankly isn’t that complicated. The explosion in production, investment, and growth that would follow a wholesale reduction of income taxes and elimination of capital gains taxes would be like nothing this country has ever seen. The deficit would necessarily skyrocket for a year, followed by a similarly parabolic drop.

My 2 cents. Thanks for listening. I’m pissed.