Government in Wonderland, Part I

I think that eventually we will need a portion of the deficit reduction to come from increased taxes, hopefully as part of tax reform and a flat(ter) tax structure. But the chart above explains the Republicans’ reluctance to raise taxes. We have a spending problem more than a taxing problem. Note that these figures are in steady 2010 dollars. (The dollar is anything but steady—what I am trying to say is that the chart takes into account inflation.) 

Let me begin by criticizing Republicans.  I certainly want to be bipartisan! Returning our defense expenditures to 2001 levels, adjusting for inflation, would still leave us by far with the largest military in the world. It would be more than sufficient to defend us. We need to bring at least a portion of our troops home. Unless we want to keep 50,000 soldiers in Afghanistan permanently, we need to, as Nancy Reagan might put it, just say no.  I thought that was what Obama promised us. 

I was told that if I voted for McCain we would be stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, I held my nose and I voted for McCain. We are still stuck in these wars, so I guess they were right. (This is an update of the old Johnson/Goldwater joke about Vietnam.) 

But even the supposed (I use supposed because no one really knows who is proposing what) Obama proposal is $1 trillion reduction in proposed expenditures over 10 years. If you want each portion of the budget to receive proportionate cuts in order to balance the budget, the correct figure is double that. If you want to return to 2001 levels, then you need to almost triple this proposed cut. (All these numbers that I am using are over ten years.)  If we exempt any portion of the budget from cuts, then other areas have to be cut more. The needed Medicare and Social Security cuts are unpalatable enough without forcing them to be larger. 

Here is what the Reason article from which I took the chart concluded about many Republicans:

At the same time, GOP types need to face the fact that we can't keep spending $700 billion or more on defense while keeping Medicare going full steam ahead and never touching Social Security, which represents a sacred bond by which relatively wealthy old people fleece relatively poor young people. Something has got to give, because we're out of money.

I have to agree. These Republicans are the proverbial ostrich burying its head in the sand. Next time I will talk about their Democratic brother ostriches.