Stan Geiger

Unsustainable Policy

CBS Evening News did a report this evening that focused on the U.S. debt load. The report said $2.2 trillion in federal government debt is currently held by foreigners.

A Kuwaiti spokesman said even he is worried about the U.S. debt load. That's bad news. I mean you can print all the debt instruments you want, but if no one wants to buy them, you've got squat. The way things are today, the U.S. government can't pay the bills without foreign investors.

What has put us in this mess? Reaganomics, for one thing, has put us in this mess.

According to IRS statistics from 2005, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans---people that combined showed an adjusted gross income of nearly $1.6 trillion---paid $368 billion in federal income taxes. I'm quite certain there have been years in recent history in which the federal government has borrowed more money than it taxed from the filthiest rich people in the nation.

Sure, idiot politicians that seem to think government money grows on trees are partly to blame. Spent it whether you have it or not seems to be the attitude of Washington politicians. But even if all the pork in the federal budget was eliminated today, Washington would still have to borrow to get through a year.

It's election time, and all the politicians promote the idea of middle-class tax cuts. To be sure, the federal government over taxes the middle class. But don't believe any politician that preaches tax cuts for the people that are carrying the ball unless that politician also preaches heavy tax increases on the rich. A federal government that is already up to its butt in debt, and borrowing more every year, can't cut taxes for the middle class unless it is prepared to replace the revenue by taxing the rich.

Reaganomics has to go. It's as simple as that.

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