I agree completely with what Thomas Friedman, in the NY Times, Nov. 28, 2010, OpEd. " . . most Americans don’t want a plan for deficit reduction. The Tea Party’s vision is narrow and uninspired. Americans want a plan to make America great again . ."
I disagree with his plan for getting there however. He goes back to the same old saw, tax reductions and reduced government spending. NO. Bill Gates and his father on 60 minutes recently made the case for more taxes on the wealthy. So did David Stockman, the Director of Management and Budget under President Reagan--in fact he wants tax increases across the board. Warren Buffet has many times made it clear that he thinks the wealthy should pay their fair share which they are not now doing. Those who have benefited the most from our form of system have the greatest obligation to it.
To make America great again, we need to get the deficit under control, demonstrate leadership in all matters, including foreign policy, civil rights, environment, energy consumption, oil independence, technical innovation and probably most importantly grow value added businesses. In short, to get our can-do attitude back. Wall Street does not add value, it is necessary just as our water pipes are, but it does not alone make a sustainable economy.
To get the deficit under control, we need to increase income to the Federal treasury - that is tax revenue. Spending reduction can be counter productive as it can reduce income to the Federal treasury so that has to be handled with expertise, competence and responsibility--capabilities our congress does not appear to have much of.
Revenue to the treasury comes from growth of the economy, and a more progressive tax policy. This includes revising the tax code to reduce the loop holes so that as Warren Buffet points out his secretary won't pay more tax than he does.
