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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imagine what could be done with that money if you spent it on schools, investment on renewable energy, upgrading the sagging infrastructure etc.
There's the rub. The money's NOT THERE... The US is spending what it doesn't have, and has to stop doing that...
I can't read the comments for this article. It makes my brain hurt. Everything from 9/11 being an inside job to increase the national security net to the concept that the USA exists as a totalitarian empire.
I live in China, which I wouldn't even call totalitarian but rather authoritarian ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism#Difference_betw... ), so I can't find much sympathy for the 'totalitarian' part. But I think a decent knowledge of history would reveal that the US functions in many ways that are similar to how historical empires functioned. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/US_milita... I…
Basically, to get USA back on its feet we have to encourage industry to invest in hiring and consumers to reduce their own debt and produce savings.
By having the deficit this high it encourages those groups to make those economic choice as they are the best option as far as return on investment compared to other rates of returns..
When the employment, savings, and consumer deficit figures improve then you reduce the deficit.
That is not to say that parts of the budget do not need fixing, they in fact do..
Earlier quoted context omitted.
1.) FYI - Your car insurance analogy falls apart in aggregate because some people do use it, but the element of luck is what you can't account for, so we use risk tables. There's no refund for you because other people got unlucky - you're paying for them to absorb your risk. Social Security isn't insurance - it's a progressive tax for the purpose of generating a small pention for everyone.
Except that it's actually a regressive tax (being capped at $106k/yr).