You Fix the Deficit (on paper anyway)

Using an interactive spreadsheet, you can solve the budget deficit, at least figure out a how it can be done. If you want to do a Tea Party cure, just cut spending, and if you are a tax and spend Democrat, just raise taxes. Don't worry, neither of those will happen, and congress will not come up with any plan that you will like, because they spend all day, every day, with lobbyists who want to see money spent, and know that cutting out things you don't like won't be fun. Let's face it, every cut you make results in hundreds (thousands) of lost jobs and thousands of angry voters. Every tax cut increases the deficit but it makes more people happy than sad, and, most important, a $250 benefit for 150 million tax payers will cost $38 billion and the average taxpayer will not send a dime to contribute to funds needed for re-election, but half that, $15 billion, passed out to appreciative lobbyists will generate at least $15 million in campaign funds. Of course, trading $1 billion dollars for $1 million in campaign funds is not a great deal, but the $15 billion was just taxpayer money.

One of the many problems with exercises like this is that you don't really know what any option will do. Will restoring the Clinton tax rates affect you in a negative way? If you make more than $150,000 a year, yes, but not much. If you make more than $1 million a year, it would be more painful. On the other hand, more money from the rich means less from the middle class and it is middle class spending that drives our economy, and it is the lack of money in the pockets of middle class workers that is killing our economy right now.Billionaires buy yachts, not the stuff you make, or the services you provide. If they get more money they will do what they did last year, invest in China. If you get more money, say $250, you will be more likely to "invest" it in a nice new coat, maybe some shoes, and perhaps they will be made in the USA.

Give fixing the budget a try. Just click on the left side of the page to select the changes you want to pick, and watch the sum shown at the top of the page. You can do it. Higher taxes or spending cuts, flip a coin, you are a winner either way.

When you get done and look at the trillions being spent, think about this: wouldn't it cost you a lot less to pay (say) $25 a year to campaign funds and not have your taxes and income determined by lobbyists? Sure it would. You can't own what you won't pay for, so you get bill for those who do pay.

** Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget **