QUOTE (onlyinlancaster @ Sep 16 2008, 07:55 PM)
So please explain to us, no matter who wins, how anything gets paid down without either redistributing the money that's already coming in, or increasing someone's taxes. Or is that just a ficticious number that really doesn't matter?And don't tell me the market will take care of it on it's own. I look forward to this explanation.
You forgot the third side of the triangle, when income exceeds expenditure, we call this surplus, when expenditure exceeds income, we call this debt.
To pay down the debt, we need short term surplus which can be the result of increased income or
reduced expenditure.
There is tons of wasted money that goes into gov't coffers and never comes out. Eliminate even half the waste and there's no need to raise taxes or cut services. I would recommend both reducing waste and cutting services, but in this "gimme gimme" society, as soon as you say "we really can do with a new fire engine for two more years, this one is working great and does not require a lot of work to keep it running" you have all sorts of people, some justified, some not, up in arms.
Another area of waste, the fire engine was just an example, is gov't borrowing. Sometimes this is needed, the fire house burned down, the equipment is a total loss and there's not enough money in the "rainy day" fund to cover the loss, the insurance was only enough to cover the building. So borrowing is the right thing to do, because well lets just say I don't want to be the citizen who's house is on fire in a township with no fire truck.
But... this same township who's spending $500 a month on maintaining an old, but not obsolete, fire engine who opts to pay $2000 a month in interest on a new fire truck loan is misguided. There's other options, used fire trucks are bought and sold would a used one for 1/5th the cost perform well enough until the money needed can be accumulated with out making all the interest payments? What about an extra carnival, people love these things. Where I live, the fire dept is volunteer, the ambulance is paid. The fire guys are great, so are the EMTs. But the EMTs are "at work" 24 hours a day for two days straight. The ambulance company is paid each time they pick someone up and by member fees. The fire guys only come to "work" when there's a fire. They don't get paid.
Both operations are on the fire department's grounds and once a year, they hold a carnival. Ever kid in town will be there at least once, most accompanied by parents all of them spend money on everything from vendors and rides to donations and raffle tickets.