The growing national debt is a real problem for the up and coming generation in the United States. We have accumulated debts from foreign wars from as far back as world war two, without having any plan of actually paying it back. Instead as a nation, we keep pushing it farther and father into the future without regard for how our descendants are going to be able to handle it. This process of consistently shirking financial duties should be taken care of before it all comes crashing down on us.

This problem should be taken care of in a direct and methodical manner. I believe that we have been undertaxing the upper class, that one percent of the Americans who own seventy five percent of the wealth, that is a statistic that is often thrown around. In order to save this nation, I believe that the huge gap between classes should be reduced, if not eliminated; I understand that some will make more than others, but it should be a fluid and gradual change from one class to another instead of a large jump. The problem is not the amount that they have to pay, but how much it is in comparison with the amount of money they make. I believe that the tax cuts implemented by former president George W. Bush should be undone, because according to Holly Sklar of CommonDreams.org, The tax cuts allowed for the top 1% of people in the United States erase about a half trillion dollars that would have belonged to the government, especially because of the reduction in the tax of wealth gained through capital goods. But I do not think all of the ailments of our economic state lie with bungled tax distribution and wealth distribution throughout our class system, a look at our government's spending habits is long due.

When looking at government spending, it appears to be large and complicated, mostly because it is. But something as simple as a checkbook can suffice for my example, although it is admittedly oversimplified. Say all you have is five hundred dollars cash for the month, and you decide to open an account at the bank and deposit those five hundred dollars. So when you make the month’s budget, instead of budgeting to spend, say, four hundred fifty dollars that month, you decide that you are going to spend seven hundred dollars. Also, you decide that you’re not going to work any overtime, not going to do any odd jobs, and you feel lazy, so you’re not going to even bother checking your couch for change. You will end up two hundred dollars in the hole. So, to get out of the hole, you decide to borrow money from your good old buddy, let’s call him Chad. So, Chad gladly gives you the money so long as you promise to pay him back, with interest. So, happy day, all is forgotten. The next month, you deposit another five hundred dollars, and again you budget to spend seven hundred. And since he was so gracious the last time, you again borrow from Chad, agreeing to pay it back, with interest. From this a pattern develops, you spend more than you make, and take money from Chad, promising to someday pay it all back with interest. And Mr. Chad is keeping count of the money and really expects it back someday. Now, instead of you, it’s America, and instead of a checkbook, it is how much money America makes by taxing its people, and Chad representing the other countries we have been borrowing from. When you add in baby boomers getting ready to retire, increasing healthcare costs, giant stimulus packages, and corporate bail out money, the result is pretty much a hot mess. We are building a house of cards that is unbalanced and will eventually fall. But when it is as simple as a single person and their checkbook, the solution seems so easy and is clear as day. Make more money, while spending WAY under your means so you can pay Chad back before he decides to break your legs. On the larger scale, it means no more budgets that we can’t afford with what we have in tax dollars, coupled with taxing more. It all sounds easy on paper, while comparing it to a personal checkbook, but it really is not so easy for the government. The main reason is while you may be fine eating Ramen Noodles and skipping the cable bill for a few months until you can pay Chad back, the American citizens would not stand for cutting off Social Security and giving the National Guard an unpaid and indefinite vacation until you can pay all the countries back.

In conclusion, the huge gap between the most wealthy and the least wealthy should be reduced if not eliminated, taxes should be based on how you would be effected by it, instead of how much money you make and all earning should be taxable, while taking care not to squash the working class, and the government should immediately start cutting back on how much it is spending, again, while being mindful of the working class, and someday, hopefully fairly soon, try to have a surplus of tax money which they should use to pay back the countries that we owe, and not allocate it to some fancy program.

References

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/17-9