As I'm busy these days, I've been posting links to great articles, and adding my comments.
Paul Kasriel has just published a very simple economic graph:
The US federal deficit remains high because tax receipts are down and expenditures are static (that is, little growth, but little corresponding structural reform).My proposed fix is this simple:
(1) Trim the bureaucracies that determine who pays and who receives federal funds (they are massive and grow like Topsy).
(2) Simplify receipts with a flat tax (goodbye IRS, you can let 90% or more of the staff and all of the exemptions go).(3) Simplify expenditures with simple universal social/health programs and with good quality infrastructure initiatives with almost no bureaucrats - healthcare for all, support for the participation (and employment) of citizens with disabilities, good highways & bridges, marketable multiple sources of energy (from conventional to biodiesel to space-based solar to acoustic fusion), accessible high quality education and (yes) expanded fundamental scientific research, including molecular biology, robotics and space exploration (a big "boo" to Mitt Romney on that one)....
(4) Retrain the bureaucrats with productive skills, starting with growing gardens and flipping veggie burgers!
That's it. All better._
