I applaud any effort to reduce the national debt, but am a bit puzzled by the House Speaker John Boehner & Republicans' refusal to include the wealthy as part of the solution. It was the George Bush Administration who went to war but reduced taxes favoring big business under the guise of some sort of theory that big business would then hire on a bunch of people and, like a child's fairy tale, everyone would live happily ever after.
As of January 5, 2012 at 12:52 a.m., the national debt is $15.2 trillion, a figure beyond comprehension. The daily interest on this debt is $3.99-billion and accrues additional interest of nearly $2.7 million per minute; so by the time you read this article, our national debt will have risen over $3-million in interest and counting.
There are those in Congress who propose cuts in Medicare and Social Security benefits to reduce our national debt - why not? After all, the aged and afflicted paid into this fund believing they would get some form of benefits upon retirement; therefore, they should be penalized for their stupidity!
For many years Social Security received funds in the form of withholding which exceeded the amount necessary to pay benefits for retirees. Our National leadership replaced these excess funds with 5 ½% interest bearing Federal notes. The annual interest was paid by another government bond. Shucks, this was a private source of revenue to help balance the budget. But in this bad economy, there are no surplus funds to take which leaves the Social Security Trust with no actual cash only U.S. Government notes. Apparently certain Republicans conclude that, since there are no funds left to take, it is time to take away the benefits!
According to the "2011 Annual Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund Report" presented by the Boards of Trustees, Social Security did have a $49 billion deficit last year and is projected to have an additional $49 billion shortage this year; however, these figures do not include the $108.2 billion interest earnings which has accrued on the $2.5 trillion in Federal notes or bonds; hence, Social Security is not running a deficit but rather this merely means our Government, who borrowed this money in the good times, now is called upon to honor its debts and pay up. Bernard Madoff was convicted of ripping off a few thousand investors - a mere "piker" compared to the Federal Government's handling of Social Security!
House Speaker Boehner wants to put everything on the table - o.k. How about looking at the more than $23 billion in annual foreign aid and the more than $6 billion in military aid of which Pakistan received approximately $11.5 in direct military aid since 9/11/2001 - part of which conceivably could have been used to house Osama bin Laden - the very man we wanted to bring to justice.
Then there is the 2012 Department of Defense spending of $707.5 billion and if you add in FBI counter-terrorism, CIA, Veterans Affairs Homeland Security, NASA satellites, interest on debt incurred in past wars, etc. this budget is more like $1.4 trillion. This figure does not include our war expense in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan of nearly $2.7 trillion which the Brown University study concludes that, even if we pull our troops out now, it will cost this nation more than another $-trillion in medical, psychological and related military issues. And what about all those military bases all over the world; is this necessary? How much is it costing this nation to put in the anti-ballistic shield along the Mediterranean Sea to protect Europe? Why can't other nations pay for our help?
It was not all that long ago that Soviet Russia pulled out of Afghanistan because that war led them on a path to bankruptcy. It is obvious we are a nation of busy-bodies and feel compelled to insert ourselves into the middle of other peoples' problems; however, at what point in our national debt do we determine to mind our own business?