It's disturbing to think that there are people reading this paper who believe that our nation isn't really facing $16 trillion in federal debt. Equally alarming is the fact that there are Americans who believe Social Security is "solvent."
In 2000, I was sitting in the office of an economics professor at a local university. On that day he told me, "The Social Security trust fund is nothing more than a bunch of IOUs, stuffed in a file cabinet in Parkersburg." In the time since, USA Today has reported the same thing.
Social Security isn't solvent. Medicare isn't solvent. Obamacare isn't solvent. The reason is simple: America isn't solvent. The country is broke. Moreover, as disgusted as I am with Republicans, who have done more than their share to run up our national indebtedness, I am outraged that there is not one single Democrat in Washington who can find $1 in cuts they are willing to make from any of these same bloated programs.
Suppose for just a second that you decided to follow all the administration's rhetoric about the rich "not paying their fair share." Therefore, you took all of their income-every dollar-from the richest Americans. In addition, you also doubled the taxes of every single American citizen.
Having done those things, it still wouldn't make any significant impact on our national debt. In fact, you would soon realize that it wouldn't pay for one month of our nation's yearly budget America isn't heading for a fiscal cliff; we have already driven off of it.
We're just along for the ride, waiting for the car to hit the bottom of the ravine. That is because our problems do not originate from a lack of tax revenue; they are caused by too much spending. We have heard this all before.
While agreeing in good faith to work with Democrats in Congress, Presidents Reagan and George Bush Sr. consented to tax increases in return for spending cuts. The taxes started immediately. Strangely enough, the spending cuts never materialized. They never do. It will be no different this time. America cannot tax its way out of our fiscal problems.
If we really want to avoid an economic melt-down in American, it will only be accomplished by making significant and meaningful cuts on federal entitlements.
Robert Yoho
Little Hocking
