New York Times' Deficit Reduction Challenge

[mawilson 2,133]

39% tax increases

61% spending cuts

• Domestic Programs and Foreign Aid: Eliminate earmarks
  
• Domestic Programs and Foreign Aid: Eliminate farm subsidies
  
• Domestic Programs and Foreign Aid: Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
  
• Domestic Programs and Foreign Aid: Reduce the federal workforce by 10 percent
  
• Domestic Programs and Foreign Aid: Cut 250,000 government contractors
  
• Military: Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
  
• Military: Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 60,000 by 2015
  
• Health Care: Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013
  
• Social Security: Use an alternate measure for inflation
  
• Bush Tax Cuts: Allow expiration for income below $250,000 a year
  
• Bush Tax Cuts: Allow expiration for income above $250,000 a year
  
• New Taxes and Tax Reform: Carbon Tax
  

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• New Taxes and Tax Reform: Carbon Tax
  

I believe you're the first respondent on this thread thus far to advocate for a carbon tax. Interesting, I would have thought it would be Steven.

[mawilson 2,133]

I believe you're the first respondent on this thread thus far to advocate for a carbon tax. Interesting, I would have thought it would be Steven.

I'm also the only one for expiration of the Bush tax cuts across the board - for those above as well as below the 250k mark.

We're all in it together and everyone should make sacrifices.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I believe you're the first respondent on this thread thus far to advocate for a carbon tax. Interesting, I would have thought it would be Steven.

I didn't get that far before I already solved the deficit. I'd rather see caps on carbon emissions than just a tax.

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I'm also the only one for expiration of the Bush tax cuts across the board - for those above as well as below the 250k mark.

And you didn't touch space spending. Good man.

[mawilson 2,133]

And you didn't touch space spending. Good man.

Or foreign aid - which as a percentage of GDP already makes the US the most miserly among the industrialized nations.

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Or foreign aid - which as a percentage of GDP already makes the US the most miserly among the industrialized nations.

Cutting foreign aid isn't about actual impact, it's about emotional impact.