Third Topic: National Debt; Idea 1: Leave a Tip When You Check Out

We're about a third of the way (at most) into this depression/recession. Big houses, big banks, big carmakers all need our help. We get it. Those who don't get it are simply refusing to do so. Sanford, Jindal, McConnell, Boehner - they have jobs. They see life how they've tended to see it; take money, spread it around, the people will catch some. Why not? It worked for the Medici, it worked for the Hapsburgs, it worked for the Romanovs ....

OK, let that be as it is. If select governors choose to refuse funds for their states - despite the fact that those citizens will be made to contribute to the repayment - let them answer to their citizens.

One point all these opponents make is that we are mortgaging our futures, that it will be "our children and our children's children" who will be asked to repay the debts of today, with no guarantee of benefit. Tax breaks would get into the economy faster and that money will somehow make it back to the government.

I will not expand a rampant debate on the risks and benefits of tax cuts vs spending. The facts are that both happen in the stimulus package. Even before the stimulus package, even before the recession, we were running huge debts, debts that have benefited industry and the rich. Regardless of all other arguments that business has more strain, that there have been oversights, that there have been abuses by "prior administrations" (those that have been now disavowed), there is one irrefutable fact:

The rich are getting richer, and governmental policies have done nothing to prevent this.

Most economists will acknowledge that a widening gap between the rich and the poor is never a good thing. It causes strains politically, it causes a smaller tax pool (usually due to fancy tax planning), and, as we see now, it causes for instability as speculation falls apart.

Here's the point. We have to change the policies at present to, at the very least, increase revenues stably. Income taxes alone won't help - if fewer people are working, fewer people are paying income tax.

If the generation in charge is so worried about saddling us with debt, they should have asked about 30 years ago, when Reagan started running up the tab, or 8 years ago, when W. demonstrated how much better he was than Reagan at deficit spending. It's spent, do something to chip in.

Idea 1: Reinstate the mandatory estate tax to those at $1,000,000 or more.

Currently, the federal laws require estates worth more than $3.5 million to be charged the estate tax. These were amongst the fiscal policies that W. encouraged. If the Republicans are going to through him under the bus, through his policies out with him.

More legitimately, these taxes make sense. The people who have that money are no longer able to spend it. If their estates are that grand, they undoubtedly benefited from current policies. If their estates go to their heirs, we are encouraging a gentrified class. As Winston Churchill put it, estate taxes are "a certain corrective against the development of a race of idle rich." Bill Gates supports it. Warren Buffett supports it.

There are arguments that estate taxes are bad:

1) Estate taxes are too high. Fine, charge more people at a lower rate (say, 30% for those from $1 - 3.5 million). More people should contribute. Which leads me to point number 2:
2) If the family doesn't deserve the estate, neither does anyone else. Again, this is fair. However, the person who does deserve it can't use any longer. If their families don't deserve it, let society benefit. If they don't want to pay taxes on it, they should make the appropriate donations to charities (and this should be used as a credit against the tax).
3) It's socialism, it's collectivism, it's never proven to help. We're a society. If you don't want to help, don't take advantage of the resources of society - roads, police, fire departments, the military, etc.
4) It's a disincentive to business, to entrepeneurship. The tools to keep businesses safe from estate taxes exist - incorporation, holding companies and the like. Adjust the estate tax law to also eliminate risk otherwise; e.g., if the deceased owns a significant share of a company, let that share revert to the company directly to be redistributed without risk of "cashing out" the company. Alternatively, let those shares be exempted, but any profit from sales of those shares within 1 year of the death of the decedent should be taxed at full capital gains rates.
5) It costs more to collect the tax than the tax actually. Give the IRS teeth again (see the next couple of ideas). Simplify the estate tax laws as much as possible. The exemptions for estates going to spouses should also include estates to minor children. Hire more IRS investigators to work with estate lawyers to smooth the process.

If properly supported, this can help chip away at the debt that my generation faces. We don't mind spending now because we don't want to face a 2nd Great Depression. Just don't leave the whole bill at our feet.