Fiscal Cliff

Fiscal cliff Dec 19 2012

In trying to reach a deal to avoid going over the Fiscal Cliff, both President Obama and speaker Boehner have mixed too many elements into the discussion without doing an adequate analysis of the real issues that need correcting.  There are at least three dissimilar areas in their respective plans that need to be tackled on an individual  basis and time frame. 

Two areas that should be removed from these discussions and addressed  in their own right are Social Security and Medicare. These two programs are currently fully funded  and are not directly responsible for the current deficit. In fact they are solvent for a number of years, and yes they do need adjustment to improve their future financial  prospects. But that should be a separate discussion for each and should not be lumped in with the current deficit problem.

The deficit is mainly due to the economy and the fact that we had to pay for un-budgeted wars  with revenue that had been negatively impacted as a result of poorly thought out tax reductions by the Bush administration. Focusing on improving the economy, creating growth to improve employment , and implementing tax reform are the main  thrusts that will reduce our deficit. That is where the discussion  should be, and not on extraneous self funding social programs that have no immediate impact on the economy.