A simpler motive, however, is that Republicans just want to put their collective heads in the sand.
Slate reports on people's responses about ways to cut the deficit.
When Republican legislators vote "no" on everything, they're just following the childish, fairy-tale wishes of their party members.
3 comments:
Maybe Republicans are not extremists who believe in major cuts.
That's funny, you should write for Letterman.
For FY 2012, the federal government is spending 54% ($1.3 trillion) more than it is taking in. To balance the budget without any tax increases, the average program would need to take a 37% cut (the figure accounts for $225 billion in interest that cannot be cut).
The military, Social Security, and Medicare account for 55% of the federal government's non-interest expenses. Altogether, the military, Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the existing debt will total $2.2 trillion in FY 2012; revenues will total $2.5 trillion. To balance the budget without touching these programs, you would have to cut everything else (courts, border enforcement, Medicaid for the elderly, air traffic control, etc.) by 83 percent.
Even if you subjected the programs from the survey to "modest" cuts of 5 percent, the other programs would have to be cut by more than three-quarters.
Good luck with that.
When Republican legislators vote "no" on everything
Now, to be fair, there are other ways to work on the deficit.
But I agree, those items listed are the big spenders. We have to address each of them in some way.
To balance the budget without any tax increases, the average program would need to take a 37% cut
You could allow taxes to stay where they are and simply slow the rate of growth and we'd balance the budget in 2023.
http://tarheelred.com/2011/11/21/the-deficit-why-its-a-spending-problem/
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