A few nights ago while watching Fox Business, an argument which I had thought to have been over for months was reignited -- an argument over class warfare. Being that the Obama administration has recently issued new intentions of raising the debt ceiling once again for just over one trillion dollars, a debate in congress and senate has erupted once more. Arguments over taxes and trickle-down theories is nothing new. Republicans arguing for reducing taxes overall, especially on the rich, and cutting social welfare programs such as public housing and medicaid, detours many of the lower class voters and increases arguments.
In the quarrel over the debt ceiling, a system that is only seen in the United States and Denmark, it is apparent that the party has ignored the idea that the only way to cut the debt is to increase on taxes and to cut wasteful spending, two things that seem impossible for the two party congress to agree on. Former and current Republican members of congress often are quoted saying that they want to rid the country of systems such as social security, but these are not the types of wasteful spending that have brought our country into great debt. Many fail to realize that the reason for the enourmas debt is the lack of taxes while fighting two wars in the Middle East. When former president George Bush promised no new taxes while standing on the rubble of the September 11 attacks, he ignored the costs of having two full battles in the Middle East. Arguments about debt increasing faster than it ever has has no validation. Debt in current times will be increasing at a slower rate since many of the forces and supplies that were being wasted in the Middle East in Iraq will now be used in more productive ways. Many Republican senators such as John McCain and Jim DeMint often claim that their refusal to raise taxes are due to their attempt to prevent the country form becoming socialist, but the fact is that even if the taxes are raised to what the Obama administration is requesting, the country will still be far from a socialist system.
The socialist systems which the Republican party seems to be so scared of are the types of governments seen throughout Europe. Bringing great concern to the public, many fear that adapting some of the systems that have been implemented in socialist countries such as Greece or Spain would lead the U.S. only into more debt and higher unemployment. However, the problem here is very simple, and similar to the one in the United States -- there is not enough funding.
In order for first-world countries to have the systems in place that they wish while maintaining their large infrastructures, it has become apparent that to keep the ways of life which citizens now take as social liberties, a country must find ways in order to increase funding. Many have proposed the idea to decrease taxes on the rich and allow a system called the trickle-down effect to happen, where money and taxes will be dispersed across an entire economic system. The largest supporters of this system so far have been conservatives. What many Republicans seem to ignore are the numbers. According to a government study, it is shown that over that over the last 30 years, the top one percent has had their income increase by 275 percent while the lower 99 percent has only increased by 18 percent. This is strong proof that the trickle-down theory that Republicans often use to justify lower taxes on the upper class is void. If the theory would work as planned, it would be seen that both the lower class and the upper classes would increase almost paralleled, but the discrepancy between the two shows that there is no truth behind the idea.
Decreasing a country's debt while maintaining the social liberties that many Americans have come to rely on is a multilateral approach. In order for systems such as social security to remain, or structures such as medicaid, all must contribute, even those who never plan to rely on the systems. Many politicians fear saying that increasing taxes is the cure to the system, but what they must realize is that must stop fearing about being reelected, and start working for the betterment of the country. Some fear that the increase of taxes would only decrease the growth of the economy, but decreasing government debt and improving American infrastructure would boost the American economy more than anything else. This is because American consumer confidence would increase, therefore increasing sales. Consumers do not invest and spend if they are not confident of their economic situation, and when the country is unsure, so are they, therefore halting sales. Increasing taxes to the government also increases job growth. The money that the government collects is put directly back into the economy creating jobs. With an increased money flow into the government, states throughout the union will be able to better their failing infrastructure. All the jobs that the government creates are not only in the public sector. Many of the jobs that the U.S. will create are in the private sector through contracting, since all of the works that America will create require different job criteria, with every work that the government will commission using developments in each sector. Until an agreement can be reached in Congress as to whether to decrease spending or to increase taxes, the fate of the economic system globally can not be assured and the American public can not put full confidence in their legislatures.
Although many changes have to be made in taxes, what also must be considered is the reform in the programs that the government provides. Systems such as social security are under some of the greatest scrutiny. Structures like this are some that must be analyzed into great extent to see where funding can be cut, and where improvements can be made. Many find this to be an area with widespread corruption and false claims, but having stronger enforcement of rules and regulations, and having a stronger base and plan; large, seemingly complicated systems can be fixed with less means than originally thought. By working on both taxes and government systems, a reform can be made that appeals to both sides of the house, creating a bipartisan legislation that may hopefully help the American people and government find some way out of its 300-year battle with debt.