How would you balance the US budget?

[Dauphin]

Raise minimum wage, and then more people will pay more tax.

[rmsharpe]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Raise minimum wage, and then more people will pay more tax.

That would create inflation which would reduce the value of the country's currency and it'd create additional unemployment, which means more people on government subsidies and fewer taxpayers.

[Dauphin]

You mistake me for a serious commentator.

[Krill]

A lot of people seem to do that...

[rmsharpe]

Originally posted by Dauphin
You mistake me for a serious commentator.

When you've heard ideas this bad before, it's hard to separate the sincere with the facetious.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Krill
A lot of people seem to do that...

Sarcastic suggestions often help you identify the quieter nutjob followers of the practice who will say "I agree" more easily than "You're wrong". They are lulled into false senses of security.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Raise minimum wage, and then more people will pay more tax.

I better idea would of course be to raise taxes.

[rmsharpe]

Originally posted by Kidicious

I better idea would of course be to raise taxes.

Spending begets more spending. You won't balance the budget by raising taxes; you'll create an excuse for additional spending.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'll never figure out why people are so content with the trade deficit even while wages are low and unemployment is high in the US, but when we are in a recession everyone is so insistent that we balance the budget. People just keep repeating the same old crap no matter how bad it works.

Unemployment is high in the US?

It's lower there then in anywhere else in the world.

[rmsharpe]

Eurozone: 7.2%
Canada: 6.0%
U.S.: 5.5%
Australia: 4.2%
Japan: 4.0%
Korea: 3.2%

[Dinner]

Oh, burn.

[GePap]

A better comparison is what percentage of working age adults are working, because different countries calculate unemployment differently. OFr example, besides not counting those that aren't looking for work as unemployed, the US does not count people in prisons as unemployed either.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by rmsharpe

Spending begets more spending. You won't balance the budget by raising taxes; you'll create an excuse for additional spending.

Bush seems to have managed to spend money despite cutting taxes.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Unemployment is high in the US?

It's lower there then in anywhere else in the world.

.

This has nothing to do with the rest of the world. I'm talking about the current crisis. It is causing unemployment.

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in June (-62,000), while
the unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment continued to fall in
construction, manufacturing, and employment services, while health care and
mining added jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent,
over the month.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

[rmsharpe]

Originally posted by Kidicious


Bush seems to have managed to spend money despite cutting taxes.

You've mistaken me for someone that supports George Bush.