Please Reduce My Benefits and Raise My Taxes

No, seriously. I am sick and tired of Americans who loudly complain about how big the federal government's budget deficit is and will be, and yet when pressed about which programs they want to be cut, they don't want to cut any of them. Further, when asked if they would accept a tax increase to reduce the deficit, they again say no. Guess what? It doesn't work that way.

I think it would be worth a tax increase to reduce or eliminate the budget deficit, and improve areas like infrastructure, education and energy independence. Ideally, this would come in the form of eliminating deductions and exemptions and lowering overall rates to move towards a simpler, flatter system while still increasing total tax revenues. Also, unlike 60% of Americans, I do not want the government to cut the less than 1% of the budget that goes to foreign aid. I would actually like to increase it to 1%. If you think you have it bad in this economy, try being among the billions of people who survive on less than $2 a day.

I would also like my social security age to be raised. Look, no one in my generation thinks Social Security is going to be around when we retire anyway, so go ahead and cut it so the numbers improve. Life expectancy has gone up since Social Security was created so the age in which benefits are received should also go up. If everyone on the right who claims to be against "big government" and for "individual responsibility" backs it up by supporting this, it can pass. No one is saying you can't still retire at a younger age, just that the government is not going to help you do it. Fair enough.