A solution to eliminate part of the national debt

[Bluzmann57]

I am not an econmist and in fact, I sometimes have trouble figuring just exactly how much is in my checking account at any given time, but I still feel I have a simple solution to eliminate at least part of the national debt. End the fuckin' Iraq war. How many billions of dollars are being spent for basically nothing? I forget, but it is an astronomical amount. End the war, put some of the money toward paying down the debt, and things are better economically. As I said though, I am not an economist, so maybe I'm being naive.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. It was one of the solutions I gave in my phone calls to senators

:kick:

[DesertFlower]

2. i agree. did you notice

when McCain talks about out of control spending he never mentions the war?

we could pay down the debt, have universal health care and rebuild our infrastructure which would create new jobs.

[Old and In the Way]

3. That and cut the defense budget by 20% accross the board.

That'll add $120BB/year savings.

[Truth2Tell]

5. Try 70%

if you want to save America. And even that might be too little too late.

[Old and In the Way]

8. I'm in.

But we need to use this money to employ all the people that'll go on the sidelines....lets really upgrade our national security by investing in a new energy infrastructure for the 21st century.

[Truth2Tell]

9. Now yer talkin'!

Let's educate and provide healthcare to our children while we're at it so they can enjoy the National Security of being employable and alive in the new economy.

[Venceremos]

4. Agreed

and I don't think it takes an economist to figure it out. And hello Davenport - I'm about 15 miles across the river in IL.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

6. Who knows, this could be the first step

Oh wait, no one can veer from their Apocalypse Now script this week.

[freestyle]

7. That is part of rule 1 of getting out of a hole. Stop digging.

Unfortunately, federal debt is over $10 trillion. We would need over 30 years of late 1990's level surpluses to eliminate it entirely. Just returning the budget to balance will be an immense struggle. Running surpluses will be more difficult still. But, ending the war is a good start. Ending the Bush tax cuts is better. Closing corporate loopholes gets us further. Then, if we focus on educating Americans and growing businesses in this country, surpluses are a distinct possibility.