National Debt :: Argumentative Economy Economics Papers

National Debt I disagree with the resolution presented. I believe that the time has come for thegovernment to start taking some more drastic actions in order to alleviate the problem of theNational Debt. This resolution might have worked back when the dabt wasn't so massive, but at this point, I think that the only thing that will have any great effect is to start making some cuts. One of the biggest problems in dealing with the debt, by way of the budget, comes in theform of entitlements. Entitlements, the biggest of which beign Social Security, make up a majorportion of the national budget, and are completely left alone when it comes to discussing whereto make budget cuts. But it's very difficult to make cuts in Social Security, due to powerful lobbying groups such as the AARP. Many politicians don't want to anger such groups, becausethey make up a major portion of their constituency. Another problem area is charitable donationsmade by the government. There are many charities which recieve federal funding, and all of them feel that they should be exempt from cuts. But the government needs to take a stand andstart cutting from some fo these groups. One possibility could be taking an equal percentage from each group. So I oppose this resolution and favor other plans of attack, such as the Concord Coalition's "Zero Deficit Plan". The Zero Deficit Plan calls for cuts in entitlements, but not cuts in entitlements to those families who have an economic need for them. According to one of the Coalition's web page (http://www.texas.net/users/andyn/deficit/zdpent.html), "About one-fifth of entitlement benefits are provided according to economic need. These benefits should not be the target of deficit reduction.