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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You cannot add to the national debt by tax cuts.

Taxes are not the government's to begin with.  People and organizations EARN income and then give some of it to the government to sustain it.  But that money is not the government's to begin with.

70+% of federal spending are transfer payments (mandatory spending).  So no, Iraq and Afghanistan weren't the biggest drivers. The biggest drivers of debt has been the welfare state.

BTW, go look at the national debt clock (all government supplied numbers) to see where the money is going.

We're spending more on interest on the national debt than defense.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/[/quote]

Ahh you must be one of those "taxation is theft" people.  You should refresh yourself on the US Constitution.  Some of you dopes pride yourselves on carrying around a "Pocket Constitution" yet never seem to have actually read it.  The Federal Government's power to collect those taxes is granted by Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, otherwise known as the Taxing and Spending Clause.   If you hate the US Constitution and taxes so much then I suggest you go move to Somalia where they don't have any meaningful taxation (and as a result no functional government).

And, I will reiterate some facts - of the $36 trillion in current debt, close to $13 trillion of that is due to Bush and Trump tax cuts and the Iraq war.   They were SIGNIFICANT drivers and this will continue to be a problem while Trump continues to pursue tax cuts.  Anyone with common sense should know that you can't reduce debt by cutting income.

The "entitlement" problems driving deficits are also self-inflicted wounds being driven by Republicans, given they cling to our current overpriced for-profit healthcare model, and refused to enact common-sense things like raising the contribution cap on Social Security which would have kept it solvent for the next 75 years.[/quote]

Great analysis.  But until we start cutting we will never solve the problem. Every gov program thinks they are indespensable.

And yet look at this one, that democrats refuse to eliminate .   2.5 billion is lost along with countless jobs.

The Optional Practical Training (OPT) for foreign students who have graduated from American universities allows all foreign graduates to receive a 12-month work permit, but STEM graduates are eligible for an additional 24-month work permit.  Businesses are using this program to circumvent H-1B visa caps and American and legal immigrant graduates are losing out:

OPT has grown more than 400% in recent years and is bigger than the H-1B program.
275,000 foreign workers were employed in 2017 under the OPT program.
From 2007 to 2017, employers hired 2.5 million OPT and CPT workers.

[b]Employers don't have to pay payroll taxes on OPT employees, making them 15.3% cheaper to hire.  The FICA fund loses out on $2.5 billion each year due to this.
OPT visas are not merit-based and have no restrictions or limitations.[/b]

Fewer than 50% of U.S. STEM graduates are finding jobs in STEM fields, which is a direct result of the OPT program.

The OPT program is harming American STEM grads by giving companies a financial incentive to hire temporary foreign workers, even though the government is actively encouraging American students to study for STEM degrees.

To make matters worse, a federal court has decided that the government does have the power to exempt OPT workers from Social Security and Medicare taxes, making it even cheaper for employers to hire them.

[/quote]

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