ConservativeHome's Big Ideas blog

So who's actually going to pay off all this new debt Congress just voted for? Meet the Debt Paying Generation

Bill Beach and Dustin Siggins have been working for awhile to wake people up to the reality of life for the Debt Paying Generation - the rising group of young workers who will spend most of working lives contributing a greater share of their taxes to paying off debt than any previous generation.

They have a McClatchey op-ed today worth reading in full.

A few snippets:

The CBO said the initial phase of the Boehner compromise would take the debt per worker in 2021 from about $161,631 to about $156,324 - clearly, laughably inadequate.

The longer that Americans bury their collective heads in the sand, the more extreme solutions will have to be.

When it really comes down to it, the budget debate can be reduced to the following points:

1. Reform our immoral and inefficient tax code, perhaps by replacing it with a flat expenditure tax, such as Heritage proposed.

2. Cut spending.

3. Shrink the size of government employee rolls...More than 30 million people are employed by tax dollars (that's one tenth the U.S. population)

From tax reform to trade agreements, Sen. Rob Portman offers seven 'easy' steps for economic growth

Natalie Gonnella
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Amid Washington's ongoing debt drama and June's dismal unemployment numbers, in his latest op-ed freshman Senator Rob Portman is challenging his congressional colleagues to get serious about economic recovery, outlining seven 'easy' ideas to boost private sector investment and job growth in America.

From tax reform to pending free trade agreements, here's a look at Senator Portman's common sense solutions for economic stability:

1. Energy independence: Washington should adopt a pro-growth national energy policy. Let’s attack our addiction to foreign oil with conviction. The plan must include using less energy through smart conservation and finding more energy by aggressively and responsibly developing our own resources. Washington shouldn’t pick winners and losers, but should remove government barriers that raise costs and threaten jobs.
2. Tax reform: Let’s start the process immediately to reform the tax code, something economists across the spectrum agree will create economic growth and jobs. Eliminating preferences and lowering tax rates will enhance our competitiveness, lead to a more efficient allocation of resources and ensure a tax code that’s fair for everyone, not just those who can manipulate it.
3. Cut the red tape: Let’s go beyond the rhetoric and enact common-sense cost-benefit analysis that separates the necessary regulations from those that kill jobs without justification, and insist that agencies use the least burdensome alternative.
4. Pass pending free trade agreements: With 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside the United States, giving our workers, farmers and service providers fair access to those markets should be an urgent national priority.  
5. Reform and modernize our job training programs: Part of the answer is an improved education system that prepares our children for the careers of tomorrow, but Congress can also act immediately to help retrain today’s workers by revamping the $18 billion spent annually on federal training programs. Those already in the workforce deserve better than the bureaucratic complexities and red tape of 44 different federal employment and training programs administered by nine different agencies. 
6. Reduce costs, add choices and put consumers in charge: Many of us believe this requires repealing the new healthcare law, which will cost trillions of dollars and kill as many as 800,000 jobs. But in the meantime, let’s reduce the costs of healthcare and add jobs by expanding choices and putting consumers in charge, through expanding health savings accounts, allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines and reining in frivolous lawsuits and other medical malpractice costs.
7. Cut and cap: Let’s reduce federal spending now and cap the growth of government. Obama was right when he said last week that dealing with our record debt and deficits would give businesses more certainty and lead to job expansion. 

George Soros's money manager: Obama's "plan" on the deficit is a mirage because, unlike Paul Ryan's plan, the money won't be there

Ryan Streeter
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The WSJ's weekend interview with Stanley Druckenmiller, the legend behind Duquesne Capital and one-time  fund manager for George Soros, is worth reading in its entirety.

This passage stands out in particular. In it Druckenmiller wonders why top administration officials are more worried about default than controlling the spending that is making the debt pile up in the first place.

Mr. Druckenmiller is puzzled that so many financial commentators see the possible failure to raise the debt ceiling as more serious than the possibility that the government will accumulate too much debt. "I'm just flabbergasted that we're getting all this commentary about catastrophic consequences, including from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, about this situation but none of these guys bothered to write letters or whatever about the real situation which is we're piling up trillions of dollars of debt."

He's particularly puzzled that Mr. Geithner and others keep arguing that spending shouldn't be cut, and yet the White House has ruled out reform of future entitlement liabilities—the one spending category Mr. Druckenmiller says you can cut without any near-term impact on the economy.

At the end of article, Druckenmiller says: "We don't have a choice between Paul Ryan's plan and the current plan, because the current plan is a mirage. . . . That money is not going to be there."

You can read the piece in its entirety here.