Budget Solution

Time for everyone to give a little.  This seems to be another one of those unpopular balanced approaches:

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/everything-table-david-walker-plan-restore-fiscal-sanity-181615173.html

Summary:

Impose tough restraints on government spending, including PAYGO rules, to balance the budget by 2014.

Reform entitlement programs to make Social Security "solvent, sustainable and secure."

Address health-care inflation by raising the eligibility age for Medicare to 67 and moving toward universal coverage by 2020.

Changing the federal government's budget process to help eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse."

Cap military spending at 3% of GDP by reducing U.S. forces overseas, cutting overhead by at least 25% and reforming the DOD's procurement process.

Comprehensive tax reform both to broaden the tax base and make it more progressive. Walker notes 51% of Americans pay no income tax while the median average rate paid by the wealthiest 1% is under 19%, meaning the burden has increasing fallen on the middle class. Walker would eliminate the difference between capital gains and ordinary income, and the double taxation of dividends, while capping the top marginal rate for both corporations and individuals at 25%.