scott
08-26-2011, 04:20 PM
You've probably seen plenty of these before - here are two more. Both have a number of "pre-set" choices, so you can make up your own tax increases or spending cuts, but there are a lot of options.
First one: The goal is to get the debt to 60% of GDP by 2018. What I don't like about this isn't it doesn't show the impact on the deficit, but rather translates it to the effect it will have on the debt and your goal is to get it to a certain % of GDP (which in my opinion is not a particularly good approach). It also ignores any economic benefits enacting certain things might have (for example, a job creation program or reduction of business taxes are only shown as things to increase the debt, it doesn't assume any economic benefits or losses from enacting such programs). http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/
Second one: This one shows the projected defecit in 2015 and 2030 based on your choices. I like this one better because the results of your choices are easier to see and more direct, but it doesn't have as many choices as the first one (but it has pretty much the same choices plus a few others). http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html
Post how you did and how you got there.
For the first one, I got us to 57% in 2018 by:
Reduce Troops to 30,000 by 2013
Allow All the Tax Cuts, Except for AMT Patches, to Expire
Grow Regular Discretionary Spending with Inflation
Cut Foreign Economic Aid in Half
Cancel Unobligated ARRA Funds
Raise the Normal Retirement Age to 68
Use An Alternate Measure of Inflation for COLAs
Repeal Legislation (ObamaCare), but Keep Medicare/Medicaid Cuts
Establish a Public Option in the Health Exchange
Reduce Farm Subsidies
Expand Spending on Federal Research & Development
Cut All Earmarks and Use Half of Savings for Deficit Reduction
Increase Mass Transit Funding
Sell Certain Government Assets
Repeal LIFO Accounting Methods and Eliminate Oil and Gas Preferences in the Tax Code
Enact Carbon Tax or Cap-and-Trade
Increase Gas Tax by 10 Cents per Gallon
Raise Social Security Earnings Cap to Cover 90% of Earnings
Eliminate Subsidies for Biofuels
In the second, I created surpluses by doing the following:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?choices=w3553jw0
Cut Foreign Aid in Half
Eliminate Earmarks
Eliminate Farm Subsidies
Reduce nuclear arsenal and space spending
Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
Reduce noncombat military compensation and overhead
Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 30,000 by 2013
Increase the Medicare eligibility age to 70
Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013
Tighten eligibility for disability
Use an alternate measure for inflation (for Social Security)
The Lincoln-Kyl proposal (Estate Taxes)
Allow tax cuts to expire for income above $250,000 a year
Allow tax cuts to expire for income below $250,000 a year
Payroll tax: Subject some incomes above $106,000 to tax
First one: The goal is to get the debt to 60% of GDP by 2018. What I don't like about this isn't it doesn't show the impact on the deficit, but rather translates it to the effect it will have on the debt and your goal is to get it to a certain % of GDP (which in my opinion is not a particularly good approach). It also ignores any economic benefits enacting certain things might have (for example, a job creation program or reduction of business taxes are only shown as things to increase the debt, it doesn't assume any economic benefits or losses from enacting such programs). http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/
Second one: This one shows the projected defecit in 2015 and 2030 based on your choices. I like this one better because the results of your choices are easier to see and more direct, but it doesn't have as many choices as the first one (but it has pretty much the same choices plus a few others). http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html
Post how you did and how you got there.
For the first one, I got us to 57% in 2018 by:
Reduce Troops to 30,000 by 2013
Allow All the Tax Cuts, Except for AMT Patches, to Expire
Grow Regular Discretionary Spending with Inflation
Cut Foreign Economic Aid in Half
Cancel Unobligated ARRA Funds
Raise the Normal Retirement Age to 68
Use An Alternate Measure of Inflation for COLAs
Repeal Legislation (ObamaCare), but Keep Medicare/Medicaid Cuts
Establish a Public Option in the Health Exchange
Reduce Farm Subsidies
Expand Spending on Federal Research & Development
Cut All Earmarks and Use Half of Savings for Deficit Reduction
Increase Mass Transit Funding
Sell Certain Government Assets
Repeal LIFO Accounting Methods and Eliminate Oil and Gas Preferences in the Tax Code
Enact Carbon Tax or Cap-and-Trade
Increase Gas Tax by 10 Cents per Gallon
Raise Social Security Earnings Cap to Cover 90% of Earnings
Eliminate Subsidies for Biofuels
In the second, I created surpluses by doing the following:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?choices=w3553jw0
Cut Foreign Aid in Half
Eliminate Earmarks
Eliminate Farm Subsidies
Reduce nuclear arsenal and space spending
Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
Reduce noncombat military compensation and overhead
Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 30,000 by 2013
Increase the Medicare eligibility age to 70
Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013
Tighten eligibility for disability
Use an alternate measure for inflation (for Social Security)
The Lincoln-Kyl proposal (Estate Taxes)
Allow tax cuts to expire for income above $250,000 a year
Allow tax cuts to expire for income below $250,000 a year
Payroll tax: Subject some incomes above $106,000 to tax