Okay after that last post and some thinking I finally came up with something to write. A list of things people should keep in mind, that they usually don't when looking at the budget.
5. NASA and foreign aid for the last few years have gotten about less than one percent each.
I'm going to level with you all. I am a nerd/geek. I think that NASA does improve our lives, but even if I didn't I am tired of hearing everybody say, "We should cut all that money that goes to NASA and foreign aid." Those budgets were slashed way back in the day and never really came back up.
4. Inflation
I'm not going to lie. The deficit is bad, but it's not as bad as everyone thinks due to this little economic trend that's been in effect of as long as anyone can remember. Inflation. Put simply 5 bucks next year isn't worth as much as 5 bucks today This is why all those financial experts tell you to invest rather than letting your money sit around, because by doing so you're letting it lose value. How does this affect the budget? Simple. Paying back the debt becomes easier. Think about it. Lets say back in the 90's you paid 10 grand for a car. That's still a lot of money, but its not as much as it was worth in the 90's. Of course this is why banks make you pay interest rates favorable to them.
3. The Economy Sucks and has for the last few years so the government has less revenue to work with.
I can already see it. Pundits playing the blame game on the deficit, but the truth is it's not really anyone's fault, or at least not as much of anybody's fault. The government makes money through taxes which it collects based on how much money people make. When people make less money so does the government, leading to two things, cuts and deficits.
2. Mandatory Spending
A lot of what's in the budget is money the government legally has to spend. It's stuff that they flat out can't get rid of even if they wanted to. This includes social security.
1. Tough Cuts
This goes back to 5. Everyone thinks that the government wastes crap tons of money and yes sometimes it does, but not as much as everyone thinks. If we really want to shrink the budget politicians would have to look at stuff that nobody wants to cut. For a micro example of this look at Michigan and Detroit. Of course Kwame screwed everyone over, but still.
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