Let's All Help to Reduce the National Debt and Fight Gridlock

Well, the election is over, but we seem to still be where we left off.  The United States is rapidly approaching a debt ceiling crisis, and will hit the $16.4 trillion mark at the end of the year.  The debate on reducing the deficit will begin as well.  Obama wants to let the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $200,000 ($250,000 for those filing jointly).  John Boehner is still opposed to raising any taxes, in spite of the fact that if an agreement isn't made and the debt ceiling extended, we will go into sequestration.  Obama says that will not happen, but I don't know what he can do to prevent it if the Republicans don't give in on the tax issue.  Here we go again with gridlock, and this time it could lead to disaster.

We need to let our elected officials know that they must come to a bipartisan agreement.  Perhaps one of the ways is for all of us to make a donation to the special agency which is set up by the Treasury Department to receive gifts. You can actually make a gift by check or credit card that will be used to directly pay off the national debt.  If everyone who voted gave only $10, our national debt would be reduced by over a billion dollars a year.   After making the gift, we should send a message to our  representatives informing them that Americans of both parties know to take action to lower our national debt, and that they should take our lead and come to an agreement on these critical issues.

I've already made my donation.  If you're interested in this idea, and want to join me, visit the following link:

http://mperrottet.hubpages.com/hub/How-You-Can-Help-Reduce-the-National-Debt-Right-Now

How We Can All Help Reduce the National Debt

Many of us in this country are disturbed and extremely concerned about the growing national debt in this country.  The super committee is now looking at ways to make reductions in our expenses and bringing in more revenue.  I myself support raising the taxes on the wealthiest, but it occurred to me that all of us could help out.  If a line item was added on our income tax form 1040 to contribute $3.00 or more to the "Reduce the US Deficit Fund" in the same way that we contribute $3.00 to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, I would readily donate, and I think the majority of other people would too, especially those that were getting money back.

The Tax Policy Center reports that there will be 155.1 million tax units in 2011.  If we collected an average of  $3.00 from all of them, that would bring in $465 million a year, and over 10 years would bring in $4.65 billion - not a trivial amount!  Individual contributions would be such a small amount that hardly anyone would miss it.  However, it would make us all feel as if we were helping our nation dig out from under the tremendous burden of debt that we are in, rather than feeling helpless and frustrated.  If the amount were left open so that we could contribute whatever we wanted, the amount would probably be even larger.

The bottom line is that most of us, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, love this country dearly, and if called upon to donate a small amount to help solve this critical debt problem, we would be more than glad to do so.