I'm not trying to politicize this question with references to any party, but will it ever be possible to lessen our debt? Surely, some debt is good, but $8.65 trillion is a little excessive. Our debt was $2.35 trillion 19 years ago. Of course, factoring in the time value of money, that would be quite a bit higher today - about $4.12 trillion assuming 3% inflation - but that was still somewhat manageable.
Are we ever going to get to the point where debt gets so expensive (since we have so much) that it's not worth getting more?
To lower it will we have to raise taxes, cut spending, or both?
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
2006-12-06 15:45:36 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
We will not see any progress on that area as long as bush is in office that's for certain.
2006-12-06 17:50:42 · answer #1 · answered by Rain 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Today, the interest on the national debt robs us of about 20% of our revenues. And we go father into debt every day. The fact that the current administration has nearly doubled the debt, and probably WILL double it before they get out, is a serious problem. More money spend on interest makes it less likely to actually pay down the debt.
I'm not sure it can be done now. We would have to raise taxes to the point that it would have a negative impact on the economy which would again prevent us from paying it. But much of that debt is in Treasury Bills paid into the Social Security Trust Fund. It is money we owe to our own retirees. If we don't pay it back, we will be leaving our seniors without benefits after a lifetime of FICA payments.
To pay it off, if we CAN pay it off, we will have to make our Federal government leaner and meaner. I would suggest that we (A) pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, to prevent the debt from getting bigger, then (B) create the national equivalent of a 50-year mortgage on the debt, and make that part of the budget that must be balanced. Then we pay it off over 50 years, the same amount every month.
It then becomes a matter of politcal will: this WILL hurt people economically, just like it would impact your family to have to pay off $115,000 of credit card debt. (The equivalent for a family of 4 to the debt's current level.) It CAN be done, but it means making a lot of cuts that I don't think our politicians have the political willpower to make.
2006-12-06 15:59:07 · answer #2 · answered by Chredon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe if we put Clinton back in office and raise taxes . Hey Republicans , deal with that !!!
2006-12-06 15:55:27 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
not untill the US stops helping other countries out..... Thats when
2006-12-06 15:54:36 · answer #4 · answered by turmoilwithin 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In all honesty I think it will never happen!!!
2006-12-06 15:48:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋