The Glade 4.0

People already send in millions of dollars a year for the purpose of paying off the debt, and as some predicted it goes right into the "General Fund".

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Why would we want to continue to pay our existing taxes plus giving an extra 1% to a system which is obviously incapable of acting responsibly with money?

We pay our taxes expecting some of the money to pay for public services, and for portion of it to go towards keeping the national debt down... if the government is incapable of doing what it is supposed to in the first place...

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Your assumption doesn't even address anything about expansion of debt to displace the tax this tax purports to pay for.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Hell no I won't go...into that hole any further!!

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

The only way I'd consider doing such an idiotic thing is if it were accompanied by a law that made increasing the national debt an act of treason, punishable by death.

Or something like that....

You're right, it doesn't. That wasn't the question.

Aizle:

Except, the question specifies nothing else changes in the system. This means any answer except no simply empowers the government to take more money without actually effecting any change.

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I'm aware of that Khross.

Suffice it to say that I believe that once the US has recovered economically, deficit reduction will become a more central policy item and improve.

Does the serial debtor recover without a change in behavior?

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Your premise assumes that the government is a single entity with one mind that never changes. That is incorrect.

Hey I own this bridge you would be interested in. 2500 and it's yours.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

It was an illustrative point, not a formal, literal argument. But in any case, you seem to be arguing that organized systems don't exhibit consistent patterns of behavior or that those patterns can't be analyzed.

I'm curious, though, as to what in the last 60 years of U.S. federal government history (or even its present behavior) makes you believe that there's any real chance of it lowering the federal deficit in the near future at all, let alone substantially.

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

I'm going to regret saying this I'm sure, but the Clinton presidency Stathol.

Oy.

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

Aizle:

Since that's already been widely discredited and proven factually incorrect, would you care to substantiate the claim with anything other than an out of context graph?

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the only thing I can say about that graph....

Look Carter had the lowest debt... probably because he was too stupid to figure out how to open a wallet.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

We both know that would be a complete waste of time.

The question asks only if someone would voluntarily assist in paying down the national debt above and beyond what's required. Any additional baggage is brought along by the person who answers the question.

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In time, this too shall pass.

From the original post, as a qualifier to the question, Taskiss.

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My bad... can I take back my vote?

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In time, this too shall pass.

Shorting Social Security to pay down the debt is still paying down the debt. The government is obligated to pay the national debt, it is not obligated to pay out Social Security checks, unless you'd like to argue that the government is obligated to pay out to every entitlement program that currently exists.

Xequecal:

He didn't borrow from Social Security to pay down the debt. He borrowed from Social Security to make in year budgets. And since those reserve funds are now exhausted, well ...

There you have it. So, not only did Clinton not actually reduce debt relative to GDP, he accelerated the rate at which the government could no longer collect enough revenue to keep things, as they current exist, operating.

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Except it does when the primary method of funding revolves around a deficit budget empowered by centralized banking used to inflate a fiat currency.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Since the government is taking the money above and beyond normal taxes on the premise that it will pay out the Social Security upon retirement age.. they most certainly are obligated to pay SS to those who have contributed to it. If you do not contribute... F-Ya!

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

That is only true as long as the law remains the same. Congress can change the law obligating them to pay out SS checks. Politically, this would be extremely difficult but there is no obligation outside regular federal law for SS benefits to be paid out.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."