Think About The Longer Term Situation

Since the deal cut by Congress to do nothing on the deficit for another two years, you hear nothing at all about it leading up to the November election. However, it is not that the deficit is shrinking. It is just racing upward less fast. This will accelerate when the recent budget deal expires, and the rise of the deficit again moves up at a rate that is crippling. Right now, the Fed is essentially carrying the US government by keeping rates historically low. If the ten year were once again around a more normal 5%, the interest burden would quite simply consume the budget and make it impossible to provide many of the services people have come to demand. 

Instead of dealing with reality, all we hear is income inequality, women are grossly underpaid, we need to raise taxes, etc. So here is some of the reality. Only 58.9% of the population works and earns money. Only about Only 86 million people, 27% of the population, pays taxes. 49.2% get some money from some government entity. 70 million people are on Medicaid with another 16 million projected to join them due to Obamacare. That will mean there will be as many people on Medicaid as pay taxes. Add on another 50 million receiving Medicare going to 73 million. 47 million receive food stamps and the administration runs programs to sign up more people.