Fixing the Deficit

            For this assignment I was charged with the task of solving our national deficit problem. Currently, we have a projected shortfall of $418 billion dollars in 2015 and an estimated shortfall of $1,345 billion dollars in 2030. To fix the budget I used the New York Time’s interactive online game called Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget. This puzzle forces the user to either cut programs or raise or implement new taxes. While trying to solve this crisis there were many easy decisions but also very hard decisions that are sure to affect a lot of people but I feel that I did what I think is best for the country. Ultimately, my plan will have the USA at a surplus of $7 billion dollars in 2015 and a surplus of $328 billion dollars in 2030. To see my full plan you can visit this link- The Cam Smith Plan.

            Domestic Programs and Foreign Aid- I chose to cut all domestic programs and foreign aid. I don’t have problem with giving other countries aid, but with the situation that we are in right now we definitely have to scale it back a bit. In my opinion, you have to shovel the snow off your own porch before you can shovel your neighbor’s porch. Also shrunk the workforce of the federal government because it will save taxpayer’s money and I fundamentally believe in a smaller government.

            Military- I made a lot of military cuts with the only thing not being cut was the size of the navy and air force. The only cut I really had a problem with was the reduction of noncombat military compensation and overhead because it reduces the benefits of some of our armed forces members. There are some positives to this however because it gives members of the military shorter tours of duty and longer breaks between each tour. As far as pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq goes my view is that it is more or less a losing battle at this point and we should bring them home slowly, so a reduction to 60,000 by 2015 would be a good proposal.

            Health care- As far as healthcare goes I raised the Medicare age to 70 because in this day and age people are living longer than ever before and it is only five more years than the current eligible age of 65. Also I decided to reduce the tax break for employer provided health insurance and cap Medicare growth in 2013, both of which will save the US hundreds of billions of dollars down the road.

            Social Security- When dealing with social security I decided to raise the retirement age to 70, tighten eligibility for disability, and use an alternate measure for inflation. I chose to raise the age of social security for the same reason I raised the Medicare age, because people are living longer than ever before.

            Existing Taxes- The only tax I chose to implement was the Lincoln-Kyl proposal which is an estate tax that would exempt the first $5 million of any estate and tax any estate over $5 million at 35%. This is proposed tax is the least aggressive of the proposed estate taxes. I also chose not to implement any aggressive taxes on the rich because they are the people who use their money to stimulate the economy and are going to be the people who ultimately get us out of the current recession.

            New Taxes- I chose not to implement any new taxes.

            Ratio- My ratio between cuts and taxes was 98% cuts and 2% taxes.