Azazello1313 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 (edited) chit, that was easy...and in my plan, I did it with only few tax increases: converting mortgage interest deduction to a credit, reducing the tax break for employer-provided health insurance, a carbon tax (which I could support if it were fairly small, simple, revenue-creating, and applied across the board with no exemptions), and adopting the lincoln-kyl estate tax proposal. edit to add: the "Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013" option sounds a bit TOO easy. just pretending to enact massive, $500 billion medicare cuts without explaining how is how they managed to make obamacare look like it reduced the deficit. that option is a bit of a cop-out, so extra credit if you can come up with a scenario without using that one. Edited November 15, 2010 by Azazello1313 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Is there a "kill the old people" option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 That is very interesting. Just for giggles I did it taking the most aggressive tax approach making no cuts, and found out that while I would have a surplus of $133 Billion in 2015, I'd have a deficit of $61 Billion in 2030. That is 100% of savings coming from taxes. Now if I could really do it the way I wanted to given the options at hand I would end up with 35% of savings due to tax increases and 65% of savings due to spending cuts. I ended up with a $71 Billion surplus by 2015, and a $146 Billion surplus by 2030. I'd actually be ok with more taxes and fewer cuts if the options were tweaked some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 I'm a hatchet man today... I accepted ALL spending cuts except "foreign aid" and the "cap Medicare growth starting in 2013" option that Azz wanted us to try to avoid (and in the cases where there was an option between A and B, I took the one with the biggest impact). Then, on tax increases, I (i) assumed we continued w/ ZERO estate taxes, (ii) added the "millionaire's tax", (iii) eliminated loopholes (the Bowles-Simpson plan), (iv) converted mortgage interest deduction to a credit, and (v) added a VAT. 35% of savings from tax increases 65% of savings from spending cuts $179 billion surplus by 2015 $350 billion surplus by 2030 ...what do I win? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 (edited) here's how I did it without using the $550 billion medicare copout. the medicare thing I actually kind of like in principle, I just wish it would be more explicit in how it would end up working. like if it said explicitly, the goal here is to ration and reduce the quality of care under medicare so that seniors have to pay more of their health costs out of pocket or with supplemental plans. adopting something like that would allow me to NOT raise the age of eligibility for SS and medicare to 70, which I do think is a bit on the high end. I also didn't want to put timetables on iraq/afghanistan. I think that is fine as a goal, but don't think it should be explicitly spelled out in official policy because you need to have flexibility there. Edited November 15, 2010 by Azazello1313 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 Just for giggles I did it taking the most aggressive tax approach making no cuts, and found out that while I would have a surplus of $133 Billion in 2015, I'd have a deficit of $61 Billion in 2030. That is 100% of savings coming from taxes. and that doesn't even take into account the massive GDP hit that would result from those kinds of tax increases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 I couldn't get there without sacrificing things I think are important. Very disheartening. Maybe it is because I am a government employee that votes Libertarian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Very easy. Unless you plan to be reelected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeR Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Extremely easy. Now all you have to do is convince enough of Congress to agree to each one. Not so easy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Very easy. Unless you plan to be reelected. QFT. And if you don't get re-elected, the guy who does will run on a "repeal everything Ursa did!" platform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Very easy. Unless you plan to be reelected. this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 I couldn't get there without sacrificing things I think are important. Very disheartening.Maybe it is because I am a government employee that votes Libertarian. Well then, there is always paying more taxes. If you feel so strongly about these programs, maybe you and the other Libertarians can send in extra money to help out the Federal Government every year. You do realize that you can pay more in taxes than you should, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Well then, there is always paying more taxes. If you feel so strongly about these programs, maybe you and the other Libertarians can send in extra money to help out the Federal Government every year. You do realize that you can pay more in taxes than you should, right? Damn straight. One of the reasons I moved to Texas, other than the significantly better job, was higher school taxes so my kids could get a good public education. I don't think you will find anyone defending the low school taxes in Ocean View as a benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 (edited) Damn straight. One of the reasons I moved to Texas, other than the significantly better job, was higher school taxes so my kids could get a good public education. I don't think you will find anyone defending the low school taxes in Ocean View as a benefit. Are you serious? There are a lot of things that Texans can brag about, but schools for the most part aren't one of them. Of course the testing really doesn't show a whole lot, as they are drastically lower than most due to the high number of non-English speaking students. ETA: Roughly 10% of the money spent on education in Texas is spent to educate illegals and children of illegals in 2004. Edited November 16, 2010 by Perchoutofwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameltosis Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 QFT.And if you don't get re-elected, the guy who does will run on a "repeal everything Ursa did!" platform. I had to google this to see what it meant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Are you serious? There are a lot of things that Texans can brag about, but schools for the most part aren't one of them. Of course the testing really doesn't show a whole lot, as they are drastically lower than most due to the high number of non-English speaking students. ETA: Roughly 10% of the money spent on education in Texas is spent to educate illegals and children of illegals in 2004. Depends on where you live. Clear Creek ISD is one of the best school districts in the state and the education my kids are getting is much better than the one I received in NY. CCISD encompasses NASA. So you have a highly educated population that is willing to buck-up for a good public school system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 (edited) Depends on where you live. Clear Creek ISD is one of the best school districts in the state and the education my kids are getting is much better than the one I received in NY. CCISD encompasses NASA. So you have a highly educated population that is willing to buck-up for a good public school system. It has nothing to do with having a highly educated population willing to buck-up for good schools as you say. Texas has Robin Hood school laws, so it really doesn't matter how much the local people are willing to "buck-up". All districts are paid the same per student, anything raised over $1.50 per $100 goes back to the states general education fund and distributed evenly among all districts. The difference is probably you live in a relatively small district (geographically) that is more affluent than most, and has fewer illegals and minorities than most districts in the state, due to them not being able to afford living in that small geographical area. Edited November 16, 2010 by Perchoutofwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millerx Posted November 16, 2010 Share Posted November 16, 2010 Depends on where you live. Clear Creek ISD is one of the best school districts in the state and the education my kids are getting is much better than the one I received in NY. CCISD encompasses NASA. So you have a highly educated population that is willing to buck-up for a good public school system. Throwing money at education is not the answer to a good public school system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I had to google this to see what it meant. Wait'll I drop a QED on yer ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millerx Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Wait'll I drop a QED on yer ass. what does Quantum Field Theory have to do with fixing the budget? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 what does Quantum Field Theory have to do with fixing the budget? I'd tell you what it actually means but I suspect you already know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameltosis Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Wait'll I drop a QED on yer ass. hawt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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