The federal budget has not been in surplus since the first years of this decade. With a recession and governmental stimulus packages and other entitlements, the deficit (and with it the debt) are rising. What should be done to bring the budget into balance? Or should we worry about a deficit during bad economic times?
If you were the budget "czar' what you do? Cut spending? If so, what spending would you cut? Raise taxes? What taxes would you raise? Or would you introduce new revenue streams?
What should be the role of government? What should it provide to its citizens?
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-Jonathan Kelly-
ReplyDeleteTo much spending and not enough revenue is one of the main problems. I think it would be great to trim some of the fat off spending and add a little weight to taxes. There is a great deal of landscaping going on throughout Roanoke and I was in Charleston, Sc not to long ago and they were working on it there as well. I think we should cut back on that with times like these. Raising alcohol taxes would cut down on the drinking....maybe lol but it would definitely bring in more revenue on the federal level. -Jonathan Kelly-
Jonathan, if I may...
ReplyDelete"Sin" taxes such as those placed on alcohol and cigarettes will certainly bring in more revenue for a time. With that added revenue, the government will add that to the budget and spend accordingly. But what happens when the tax has it's SPOKEN desired effect? What happens when people stop smoking and drinking? The government has been counting on that revenue and now it's gone. And we end up stuck with more government programs and less ways to pay for them.
I think that as previously stated we are definitely spending to much and not enough money to fill the gap. One way to fix the problem would be to raise taxes slightly but not to an extreme and cut spending slightly. I do agree with the fact you cannot keep raising cigarettes and alcohol because eventually people will begin to quit especially with the cigarettes they are already high. Taxes should be raised on things people have to buy. -Brianna Blevins
ReplyDeleteOne of his campaign slogans was "less government in business."
ReplyDeleteHe was elected as the country headed into a depression. In 1920, the gross nationI was a little disappointed by the poll. It doesn't have the option I truly want. I would cut spending and taxes.
In February of 1920, Senator Warren Harding announced his candidacy for president. He said the government should "strike the shackles from industry... We need vastly more freedom than we do regulation." The gross national product was 91.5 billion dollars. In 1921 it dropped to 69.6 billion. The number of unemployed went from 2.1 million to 4.9 million.
Harding, in his first address to Congress, said the taxes on corporate revenues and excess profits should be cut. He wanted income taxes to remain the same, but he knew that if you encourage investments by businesses, this would stimulate growth and new jobs.
Federal spending in 1920 was 6.3 billion. It was cut to 5 billion in 1921. It was cut further to 3.2 billion in 1922. Tax revenues also fell during this time, but still remained above the amount of spending. This allowed the federal debt to be paid down.
Because of these policies, the gross national product went back up to 74.1 billion and unemployment fell to 2.8 million (which equals a 6.7 percent unemployment rate) by 1922. This is when the "Roaring Twenties" began.
Another interesting point is the federal reserve stayed out of it. 18 months after Harding was elected, the nation was coming out of a severe depression. The country continued to grow, the middle class was expanded greatly, and there was no inflation.
I believe if we had taken this same approach in 2008, we would be coming out of it now a healthier nation. President Bush, and now Obama, seemed to be following in FDR's footsteps. They lifted the morale of the nation, but not the nation itself. What FDR did during the great depression was make more people dependent on the federal government. What Obama is doing now is very much the same. Those policies kept the unemployment rate at an average of 17% during the New Deal era and the only thing that fixed that was WWII. Do we need another world war to get unemployment under control again? (yes, that's a little extreme, I know.)
~C. Vaughan~
ReplyDeleteAs our text has noted, our government is a result of our wants. We have asked them to provide the services and regulations that they provide. Because we have grown accustomed to our government's coddling, it is difficult to say now that we will accept less. I believe we need to be weened of the government we have come to rely on.
We all remember Kennedy's quote, "Ask not what your country can do for you...", and I believe as individuals we need to take on more responsibility. To that end, I would encourage more coordinated volunteer efforts in communities to match skilled citizens to meet the needs of the community and train displaced workers that show initiative and desire. I would eliminate services that don't serve the best interest of all.
To increase revenue, I would place a toll on vehicles that travel during peak hours to encourage use of public transportation, which would allow us to make public transport more efficient. I would eliminate or significantly reduce income taxes for those earning less than $100K, and offer a credit to those in this category who do not use certain government funded programs such as healthcare, public schools, highways. I would try to see how families that have children involved in recreational activities could receive a tax credit for those expenses the same as businesses get credits for their expenses (this would encourage economic activity that would generate taxable revenue for the community and encourge stronger families.) I would elimate many of the tax laws that allow the wealthy to hide their income while those earning less have no protections. For example, "business expenses" would have set limits to the amount allowed for a vehicles, hotels, airfares, or company dinners. Anything over that would be not be tax-exempt and billed as income.
It will take determined leadership to make these sorts of changes, but fairness and more personal responsibility is what is needed.~/c
I think that we need to worry somewhat about the deficit even during the bad economic times. Maybe what needs to be done to help bring the budget into balance is to raise taxes on necessities. Someone mentioned taxing vehicles during certain hours. That right there would raise lots. Cutting excess spending would also help. I do think that the government should be what we rely on and provide us what we need in times like this.
ReplyDeleteIf the government is going to play a bigger role in society today, then I think it first would have to take a look within itself concerning spending. Things such as pork barrel spending as well as wasteful spending of taxpayer money concerning the many lobbyists for big companies. I believe that just as businesses are today trimming employee positions and cutting back wasteful spending, so should our government set the same example. By trimming wasteful job positions and excess spending on federal projects that are not needed could save billions and billions of dollars.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the money given in both stimulus and bailout dollars to the banks has not been monitored by the government very well. For example, small businesses still continue having a hard time getting loans and because of this, jobs are not being created and people are also being laid off. We also see foreclosures in the housing market still a problem because people are having problems getting money for loans to save their houses. I also believe if the "budget czar" should not only oversee these problems in more detail but create positions or committees to regulate where our money is being spent. In conclusion, banks need to utilize money from the government and from within to help small businesses get loans that would help them become more profitable and create jobs. This would help our problem with unemployment and help get the country back on its feet.
-Jennifer Hubbell