No Free Parking

The United States has a huge debt problem. Everyone knows that and everyone claims they want to do something about it. So, the president put together a special panel on deficit reduction. The panel announced their plan: cut medicare and military funding, gradually increase the retirement age over the next several years, and eliminate certain tax cuts and tax deductions, like mortgage interest, among other things. This plan wouldn't solve our deficit problem entirely, but it would cut into the deficit by trillions of dollars over the next decade. Which is good, right? Well, it will never be implemented because BOTH political parties HATE the plan. Despite all their posturing and campaigning on cutting the deficit, our elected leaders, like millions of Americans, fail to realize that actual deficit reduction will require MAJOR sacrifices. Sacrifices we are simply unwilling to make. Rightfully so, such spending cuts would shrink the economy and tax increases would leave less cash in our pockets. We don't want either of those things. Bottom line, our national deficit is here to stay. Republicans: cutting spending alone will not solve the problem, especially if you also CUT taxes. Democrats: increasing taxes alone will not solve the problem, especially if you are unwilling to make cuts to social programs. If you haven't already, watch a documentary called I.O.U.S.A. It's available on Netflix. You'll be amazed.