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Sequestration is the latest skirmish in the battle of the budget in Washington. Most voters and pundits scorn both parties for failing to compromise. But how can they?
The Democrats believe that there is almost unlimited funding to provide services for the needy and for universal health care, education and the environment. They believe the solution to the budget problem is making the wealthy pay more.
The Republicans believe that we are headed for fiscal calamity unless we reduce extravagant spending. We have a record national debt of more than $16 trillion and annual deficits of more than $1 trillion with future pension and Social Security liabilities that will be impossible to pay with current projected revenues. Spending is rapidly increasing with no end in sight!
Republicans correctly point out that the wealthy already pay the lion's share of taxes. If the government confiscated all the wealth of the rich, that still would not solve the government's financial dilemma. Therefore, making the wealthy pay more won't work.
The only solution to achieving economic growth is to reduce tax rates and eliminate bad regulations which drive jobs overseas. Lower, not higher, tax rates encourage investment and job creation that grow the economy and increase tax revenues.
The American people need to pay attention to the details and decide on one of the two solutions on the table. The problem is not do-nothing congressmen but rather do-nothing citizens who are intellectually lazy and lack the courage to act. The answer is not compromise but decision.
DAVE MAJERNIK
Plum
First Published March 18, 2013 12:00 am
