Hey, here is one way to get more voter support

[kandrathe]

They stopped lying about the budget, by saying the already active wars didn't really count.

The war budget stuff is just accounting tricks -- they pretend we won't be their long so it's a temporary change... Meanwhile, how long have we been funding a war in Afghanistan? It's not the only shenanigans with budget smoke and mirrors though... But, if you step back, we have about 2 trillion of revenue, and over 3 trillion in expenses. A chunk of that is war costs, a chunk of it is runaway spending programs that "are the third rail" to politicians, and a big chunk is the increase in government spending from GWB to the present day.

But, simply put; It is far easier for politicians to raise taxes than to risk the wrath of constituents by ending or trimming back any government program to control spending. As of 2009, the US was taxed overall at about 35% of GDP. Not nearly the 50% of Sweden. I read the Republican stance as that 35% is enough, and we should cut spending. The could tax the rich at 100% and you wouldn't raise enough, so, that too is a deception. You'd need to reach well into the middle class to get enough on taxation alone.

I believe that the reality is that in order to bring the budget into control (and still honor their commitments to pensioners) they will need to both trim costs, and increase revenues until the growth in the economy can again sustain either more services, or lower taxes. But, both sides have their stake in the ground attempting to force the other side to balk.