No more tuition assistance

[sanantone]

I previously deleted my comment to prevent a thread hijack, but since this thread has already been blown-up....

This is the absolutely worst time to cut spending and raise taxes (whether your repub, dem, libertarian, socialist, etc.). Cutting spending and raising taxes is a tactic best left for trying to slow a rapidly expanding economy and curb inflation. Doing this while mired in recession/depression, stagnant growth, etc just exasperates the problem. The Great Depression was made into a greater depression from the same thing, why does history always seem to repeat itself?

We have Cons insisting on spending cuts, we have Libs insisting on tax increases, both are being done at the wrong time.

Many economists believe that the Great Depression was prolonged by the reliance on excessive, government spending.

It takes that long to cut 1 trillion because most money in the budget is mandatory spending (Social Security, Medicare, interest, Defense). Very little money is under discretionary spending, which is the spending that can be cut.

You all have to remember, that government spending is subject to the money multiplier. Every dollar not spent is not just a dollar saved. That's money not being spent at stores, on infrastructure, new employees, etc.

Why does history always seem to repeat itself.

So the explosion from a half a trillion dollar deficit to a trillion dollar deficit was mostly caused by Medicaid, Social Security, and Defense? For one, I think most of the increase in defense spending was unnecessary because the war in Iraq was unnecessary. As far as Social Security goes, the raiding of the fund for non-Social Security spending can be blamed for its pending insolvency.