With a 9 trillion dollar national debt, how come none of the candidates are talking about cutting programs?

It is funny to hear people say that there was no debt when Clinton left office. If you look at the facts during his time in office he increased the debt by $1trillion. There was no surplus!!!

But to answer your question....If we were able to cut spending somewhere I think that what would happen is that people would demand that we spend in another area. For example lets say that we could cut $150 Billion a year out of the prison system and another $150Billion a year out of defense and another $150Billion out of welfare. What do you think that people would do? I think that it would be Jobs, education, environment, transportation..... Everyone would come with a hand out. No matter if you are right wing or left wing everyone spends and will never cut. Their main job is to get re-elected. If things do not change for both sides things will eventually collapse.

None of the candidates are talking about cutting programs because they are banking on people's ignorance of our true financial situation.

The US takes in more than $2 TRILLION a year, in taxes, and even that enormous amount isn't enough to run the country on. Last year, the Federal Government had to borrow an additional $620 billion, just to make ends meet.

I took on a task, to balance the Federal budget. No point in being upset that politicians won't do the job, if you don't show them how it's done. What I found out is that, unless we're willing to cut the spending in Iraq or chop benefits for Social Security and Medicare, we're going to have to SHUT DOWN most of the Executive Branch, just to balance the nation's books. And even that drastic action won't help us pay down the debt; it will only stop us from borrowing more.

There is no hope that politicians will EVER balance the budget, until the day we run out of money. The cuts that are required are just too big. We are on the verge of bankruptcy, in this country, and nobody is willing to talk about the situation except the head of the General Accountability Office. Nobody believes that the situation is as dire as it is. Everyone thinks that, somehow, we'll be okay.

Because politicians are cowards. They don't want to talk about things that matter; they might have to be held accountable for doing something about it!

The head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), David Walker, has warned about the very real possibility that the U.S. is nearing the brink of financial disaster. "This is about the future of our country, our kids and grandkids," he has stated publicly. But politicians continue to bury their heads in the sand, pretending as if everything is hunky-dory.

But Republicrats bombard us with mud-slinging campaigns and talk about non-issues that grab at people's emotions. And life goes on without concern about the most important issues of the day: a looming financial crisis in the U.S. (that will make the Depression of 1929 look like an ice cream social); global warming (which will destroy many of our coastal cities); corrupt politicians (who will continue to contribute to the excesses and immorality of an already-morally bankrupt nation); and war (that only serves to beget more war, making the giant U.S. military-industrial complex more prevalent and profitable while virtually destroying the rest of the world).

Clinton left office with a budget surplus, yet the Republicans spent millions of taxpayers' dollars 'investigating' a consensual sexual relationship between him and a White House intern. But now that the Republicans find a pedophile in their midst, such 'sins' don't seem so bad now.

We need to exterminate all the pedophiles, wife beaters, liars, white collar criminals, cheats, alcoholics, gambling addicts, prescription-drug abusers, bad check writers, adulterers, petty thieves, conservatives, liberals, lawyers, rapists, and murderers from Congress - but, if we did that, there would be no one left!!!

This is by far the most incompetent, contemptible, arrogant, evil, selfish, greedy, corrupt Congress in U.S. history. They, along with all members of the Bush administration, need to be tried in an international tribunal for crimes against humanity. If convicted, they all deserve to face a public firing squad. -RKO-

Everyone talks about giving goodies before an election. Advertising that you're going to take something away doesn't bring in many votes. The taking away comes after the election.

Actually the rate of increase to our GNP is higher than the rate of increase to our deficit. The actual net effect is an improvement to our deficit.

Ex. Year 1- you make $50,000 and have $5000 in debt.

Year 2- you make $100,000 and have $7500 in debt.

You're debt ratio actually dropped as you had a less percent of debt to income in year 2, despite increasing the actual debt by $2500.

Because neither major political party has the backbone to really cut spending and eliminate the national debt.

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well Alexander Hamilton said a national debt was good. I agree, but we need to get it down. The debt motivates people and the government to work harder and to not have the country go bankrupt

You should ask the republication leadership. There was no debt when Clinton left office.

Then again, they probably won't get back to you. They are too concerned about sex scandals and a war that should have ended a long time time ago...

Coz democrats will just raise taxes to pay the debt and republicans don't care how big the debt is