I want to spend a moment to reflect on Thomas Friedman’s newest column in the New York Times. He poses a series of questions to Governor Palin after her response to Joe Biden in the VP debates:
“if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.”
Friedman, the author of “The World is Flat” and “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” articulates what so many of us have been thinking: how can we possibly pay for all of our initiatives without raising taxes?
With ten trillion dollars of debt, and an overall debt load of 56 trillion dollars, it is irresponsible to continue borrowing money from China and other nations. Similarly, it is impractical to suggest that cutting government waste is an acceptable alternative to raising taxes.
We can’t continue borrowing money, and we can’t cut our budget in any meaningful way.
So how do we solve this problem? I’d like to hear your ideas.
Josh Anderson 