General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The “Fiscal Cliff” Hoax [View all]AdHocSolver
(2,561 posts)The Federal deficit is not the problem. The problem is a revenue deficit. Cutting taxes for the rich and the corporations will exacerbate the revenue deficit.
Cutting spending will NOT reduce the deficit. In fact, cutting spending will increase the deficit because jobs will be lost reducing tax revenue still further.
All economies are demand driven. Reducing money for the middle class, the working poor, and those who depend on the social safety nets such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, whose spending helps drive the economy, will further shrink the economy and increase the deficit. At the same time, the wealthy are just "money hoarders" extracting wealth from the economy, just as leeches suck blood from their victims.
The major problem with the U.S. economy is not the Federal deficit, but the trade deficit. Bring jobs that have been offshored back to the U.S. (by rewriting the tax code and renegotiating trade agreements to reduce the unfair competitive advantage given to outsourcers) and many of our economic problems will be corrected.