Krugman: What Defines A Serious Deficit Proposal? [View all]
What Defines A Serious Deficit Proposal?
Just a thought: if you follow the pundit discussion of matters fiscal, you get the definite impression that some kinds of deficit reduction are considered serious, while others are not. In particular, the Obama administrations call for higher revenue through increased taxes on high incomes which actually goes considerably beyond just letting the Bush tax cuts for the top end expire gets treated with an unmistakable sneer in much political discussion, as if it were a trivial thing, more about staking out a populist position than it is about getting real on red ink.
On the other hand, the idea of raising the age of Medicare eligibility gets very respectful treatment now
thats serious.
So I thought Id look at the dollars and cents and even I am somewhat shocked. Those tax hikes would raise $1.6 trillion over the next decade; according to the CBO, raising the Medicare age would save $113 billion in federal funds over the next decade.
So, the non-serious proposal would reduce the deficit
14 times as much as the serious proposal.
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http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/what-defines-a-serious-deficit-proposal/
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021905787