What are you willing to cut?

"America is a milk cow with 310 million tits. There's not a person in this country not getting something from the thing called government - state, local, municipal, federal, and bitching about that government as if it were an enemy." - Alan Simpson

It's easy to say you want a balanced budget and that you want to cut the national debt; until your interests are at stake.  Don't just point your finger at others and say they need to go on a budget diet, ask first what are YOU willing to do to go on a budget diet?  I for one am willing to have my taxes raised or have some of my deductions (home loan, student loan) or tax credits (child tax credit, hybrid credit) eliminated.

Once you've identified the things you're willing to sacrifice, you are now free to point your finger without guilt.  I feel that even so-called non-discretionary spending - Medicare, Medicaid and national defense could all use budget trims.  I am also for the creation of a Social Security fraud agency (if one doesn't already exist) whose budget is completely dependent on the amount of money recovered from those gaming the system.  Fifty percent recovered goes to the agency and the other half goes back to the American people.  Still, this sort of selective cutting may be costly in terms of money and politics and we may be better off simply saying "Once unemployment is 6% or less and GDP is growing by 2.5% or more, all government programs will be cut by 10%."

But this sort of sacrifice and compromise is hard work.  It may just be easier to keep pointing fingers.