Is transferring debt really a great idea?

The richest people in america which are the billionaires and multimillionaires can afford to pay more taxes. they are richer then they have ever been and so are corporations which also of record profits yet the majority of american's are still suffering. its obvious if you look at the numbers. however, they have to be careful not to tax corporations too much because they can just relocate their entire business overseas to avoid the higher taxes. i doubt the richest people are going to do that though as taxing them more won't phase them hardly at all if any. i think more then anything its the republicans trying to block the increased taxes more then america's richest individuals. Being worth over $250,000 isn't as much as it use to be due to inflation although its still alot of money. America Needs a Fourth Tax Bracket For the Richest People. They have the money. Others do not.

So we cut federal spending so we do not have to raise taxes okay but let us not live in an imaginary world where all of those services that were being funded by that spending keep going on like nothing happened. If the states decide to fund those services themselves state taxes will, most likely, have to go up or the services will have to be dropped. It would be easier if the wealthiest two percent started paying at the same rate they did during the Clinton administration, than to shift the funding for programs from the feds to the states.

The difference here is that states can't print money. That means that, when up against the wall, they WILL balance their budgets. There's also the matter of how important that federal money is to the states. A lot of that money is earmarks for pet project including everything from new dirt bike trails (yes, it's in the stimulus) to studying fruit flies (yes, it's in the stimulus too). Sure, not all federal dollars are for silly things like that, but some, like the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, are very expensive and not that critical. A lot of them also are matching funds for state investments like high speed rails which in the end cost state taxpayers a fortune since the matching fund from the government only count towards construction, not operating costs and maintenance. You're right about Medicare which is why changes, not simply cuts, are the best solution. As with the construction I mentioned, federal money for medicare is typically matching funds which motivates the states to waste more on medicare to get more from the feds. The problem is that if we don't balance the budget it will just keep growing. Right now the interest alone on the debt is ungodly and that will continue to grow every year that we have a deficit creating a vicious cycle. We need to end the deficit and start paying down the debt so our interest doesn't increase. I AM a local government employee and even I support some pretty heavy cuts. No, it doesn't benefit me directly that I will be paying for insurance for my family. I don't make that much and it's going to force me to cut my own spending, but I know it's what needs to happen. Just to clarify, my insurance for my entire family was 100% free, paid for by taxpayers, until about June of last year when Chris Christie passed legislation making all state government workers pay a minimum of 2% of their salary towards their insurance. Even that is a piddly amount. Basically I'm paying about $22 per paycheck to insure my entire family. Now he's pushing legislation to make state workers pay something like 30% of the premiums. Now I haven't checked the numbers, but that's certainly going to cut into my paycheck. Of course now my work email is flooded with union crap saying how he wants us all to go broke and die, but I know he inherited a massive deficit from Corzine and he's doing what he must to balance the budget without raising taxes. On a side note if I had the power to cut costs I could save so much money in the library system here. Even in my small branch library I could cut 3 low level people who I consider borderline useless and 2 higher level people who are overpaid and have redundant responsibilities. They could easily be replace with 1 person a rank lower who hasn't been a leech on the system for 30 years. My library is so overstaffed it's ridiculous, but nobody with the power to fix it wants to do anything about it.

Spending cuts are going to hurt PERIOD. There really isn't any other way to sugar coat it. America simply can't keep spending at the level it has been. So, YES. People are going to get hurt when their government can't provide for them anymore. That's a fact. It will be painful. But hopefully, it will inspire people to start looking after their selves instead of relying on the government even in retirement. Frankly, the states would have had to cut spending far sooner than now. The stimulus merely delayed the issue rather than solved it. Let me say it again. IT HURTS TO CUT SPENDING... (That's even true in household budgets.) Likely, if the Government does the spending cuts right, the US will see another Recession before things begin bouncing back.

There is not enough money in the US to pay off its debts...But, cutting pork spending is something it should do. Pork has become insane. They should also cut the size of the Bureaucracy. That too has become insane. There are an average of 5 times as many people doing the jobs of 1 person in the private sector. This would put folks out of work, but an effort would then have to be made to stimulate the private sector. People think the government should support them...This too is an insane idea that must be stopped. All of this will take time. More time than it took to get us in this mess.

You can't spend money that you haven't got! All Americans need to understand this. It doesn't matter who gets the blame. When you talk about "the debt". it is like something real. It isn't! It is a huge lump of NOTHING. You can't see it, feel it, carry it or spend it.

I don't even know where to start responding to this topic so please forgive me if I start to jump around a lot. Firstly, America can't spend many and budget in projects we can't afford. Is it practical to remodel your house with a fancy pool just cause your guests would like that even though you have not worked in years and not retired? Secondly, with tax breaks. Why should the rich be the ones to keep an entire country afloat? All we are doing is pushing off big businesses from opening here with all these taxes. Also, you are aware that with lower taxes comes a higher personal spending which creates local jobs? Gas stations, malls, salons etc. Once you take that away the government is getting less tax money and has to pay a far great unemployment rate/wages. Thirdly, how about we stop sending billions of dollars to Pakistan in aid? Yes, specifically Pakistan who has shown their loyalty lies not with us but with the other side and just takes our money. How about we stop funding Anti-American liberal organizations that are bent on destroying us and everything we stand for as a people(nothing to be with political parties)? When you increase tax all you are doing is hurting the average Joe who is struggling to survive as is.