Letter to the Editor: Funding solution simple
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By the time you read this, Congress may have passed another "continuing resolution" which is a code phrase for "we refuse to provide a budget." This is to avoid a government shutdown. There seems to be no way they can come together to provide a spending plan for America.
Congress does not want to make the hard decisions to provide spending bills. The last time all spending bills were done on time was in 1996. Congress works best in a crisis. It will take a crisis on the national debt load and the crushing amount of interest paid to get them to act. We are not at that point, yet.
There is a lot of hand-wringing over social security and Medicare funding. Funding for these is really simple. You can accelerate the point beyond which you don't pay Social Security taxes on yearly earnings, which is $160,200 for 2023. I don't think there are many people who would have a problem with someone who makes, say, $300,000 per year paying Social Security taxes on all of that. You could also raise the Social Security and Medicare taxes each by 0.25%. That would go a long way toward making them solvent for many years to come. What you cannot do is raise federal and state taxes. Since the '80s these taxes have been politicized to the point where it is political suicide for a politician to suggest raising these taxes.
In spite of our issues, America remains the greatest nation on earth. A trusted beacon to many, many countries of the world. We also have the best leaders (even in Congress) in the world.
Doug Reeder
Vincent