Wild: Today Featuring Hannah Nathan as Guest Blogger!

I believe that the state of our nation’s deficit is atrocious.  Our United States’ debt is too large, and a change needs to occur in order to lessen the burden of future generations.  My solution to this horrendous situation is to cut spending and to modify taxes.

In order to reduce the deficit, I propose to cut spending on numerous programs.  The United States’ current national debt is about $14 trillion, but its total debt adds up to $54.5 trillion.  Click here, http://www.usdebtclock.org/, to see the real time debt clock.  As one can see, this is a very large amount of money the US is indebted.  My first proposal is to raise the qualifying age for Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security.  Medicare/Medicaid is the largest budget item, followed closely by Social Security.  The United States government is spending $823 billion on Medicare/Medicaid and $722 billion on Social Security.  When the Social Security law was put into action, in 1935, the life expectancy was 62 years old.  Therefore, if we raise the eligibility for Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security to 70, closer to the current life expectancy rate, we will be able to cut spending immensely.

My second suggestion is to cut spending on some of the more outrageous business subsidies.  A subsidy is a grant from the government given to a private company in order to help it to continue to function.  While government supports businesses in the energy, agriculture, and transportation fields that look to develop new technologies, it also supports rather outrageous companies as well.  Click here, http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/185_top_10_list.html, to see ten ridiculous government subsidies.  In 2002, the United States government spent $50,000 on a tattoo removal program in California.  Click here, http://www.drtattoff.com/media, to see a video of a tattoo being removed.  In 2003, an Iowa senator received a grant for $250,000 to start the National Preschool Anger Management Project.  In 2006, $10 million was given to the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program, in which $46,908 was awarded to Hampton Jitney Inc., a company devoted to shuttling wealthy New Yorkers to their summer homes in the Hamptons.  I propose to either get rid of programs like these all together, or reduce the amount of money the programs receive from the government.

The state of our nation’s debt is out of control.  In order to reduce this debt, I propose a modification to our taxes.  I suggest that a flat tax is set up for everyone at a lower rate.  If we implement a flat tax rate, then everyone who pays taxes will be on an equal playing field.  This will get rid of all the tax loopholes, and will not allow anyone to cheat the system.

If we look back to the time when President Reagan was in office, he lowered taxes in hopes of boosting the economy.  During this time, inflation dropped from 13.5% to 4.1%, the top interest rates decreased from 21.5% to 10%, and the gross national product rose 26%. 

If these statistics reflect the changes in the 1980s, then in today’s economy these significant changes will be warmly welcomed.  At first, the government will lose money, but with time the economy will start to improve and the government will eventually begin to make money again.  With this new tax structure, the unemployment rate will start to decrease, as well as our national deficit. 

In conclusion, my solution to the United States’ deficit is to cut unnecessary spending and to implement a lower flat tax.  Our debt is too large for our current government to manage, and requires a tremendous change.  We need to be adamant about finding a solution for this huge problem.

This is an official blog entry for the YourLocalSecurity.com <a href="http://yourlocalsecurity.com/scholarship">Blogging Scholarship</a>. If selected, I'll receive $1000 towards my college expenses in 2012. This scholarship is sponsored by <a href="http://yourlocalsecurity.com">

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