Baraka_Guru

Well, let's stop dancing around the issue. Both the right and the left have to realize that neither one of them should get their way. There is only one real and meaningful solution to the U.S. budget problem, and that's austerity.

Namely, deep cuts to development and entitlements (mainly welfare and social spending), the significant raising of taxes across the board (weighted highest towards the wealthiest), and adding user fees (mainly to transportation and other essential services).

Only then will we know whether anyone is serious.

But no. It's either a longer-term deficit reduction program (too gradual) or a one-sided focus on spending cuts (not enough).

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot