Is More Debt Really the Solution?

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For weeks, we have been hearing of the need for a “second stimulus” from Obama's advisers. The $787 billion approved in February was a “bit too small," says Laura Tyson.
 
This is getting scary.
 
Excessive debt caused our near-economic collapse. While the private sector's massive de-leveraging is painful, it's necessary to fix the system's structural problems. The government should now step back and right its own balance sheet before the damage is irreversible.
 
Thankfully, more economists, politicians, and regular folks question the amount of money being thrown at our economic woes. The health care debate may be indicative of a growing recognition that we need a course correction.
 
The more debt we lay on our nation (including debt from former administrations), the more the GenXers, GenYers, Millennials, and future generations will have to sacrifice.
 
The country needs to get its spending under control now. It will cause hardship, especially the 20 percent of the economy that is heavily dependent on government spending. But the longer we delay, the more sacrifices we will need to make.
 
Here are some ideas for getting the federal budget back on track now -- ideas Young Professionals should strongly consider posing to congressional representatives:
 
1) Freeze all government wages for five (5) year.
 
2) Decrease the current stimulus package to only that which has already been promised as well as infrastructure improvements; this should be fairly easy, as much of the stimulus has yet to be distributed.
 
3) Remove the cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security for three (3) years.
 
4) Increase the age requirement for collecting Social Security benefits to 70 years, effective immediately.
 
5) Reduce Medicare benefits and increase the eligibility age to 70 years.
 
6) Remove the cap on income used to calculate social security taxes due -- all workers' income is subject to the taxes.
 
7) Reduce corporate taxation to create incentive in the private sector to invest capital and expand.
 
This is not meant to shock. This is meant to get YPs thinking about some of the real -- and more severe decisions -- we'll be forced to make down the road.
 
If we don’t make hard choices now, such as selling real assets (Alaska anyone?) to pay back creditors, more severe impacts on our Nation and Sovereignty may follow, such as the collapse of the Social Security and Medicare systems, or even complete federal bankruptcy.