Debt

The national debt increased by $11 trillion over the past 5 years to a total of $36 trillion and thus is once again in the news and once again the same solutions are put forward. The democrats want to raise taxes and the republicans want to cut spending. These are standard answers to questions that have been around for 50 years. Everyone knows that if the government collects more taxes the money will not be directed toward the deficit but will be used to create new programs to get votes. The public also knows that to cut spending means tackling social security and Medicare and no politician is going down that road. So where does that leave things? The only answer is to limit the increase in spending to one half percent less than the inflation rate and in 75 years the debt will be down to zero.