Manifesto 2.0

1. The government ought to be involved in the lives of tax payers to the extent of placing a steady or fixed tax rate that allows the economy to grow and prosper yet allows tax payers to live comfortably and be content with how much they are having to pay and the fairness of the tax system. "Without the power to raise taxes, governments would likely be weak, mostly symbolic institutions" (Flat Tax Packet). They need to have the power to do these things but shouldn't overdo it to the point that the people are angry with the government.

2. A majority of the revenue that the federal government collects comes from individual income(46% comes from this category alone). Another huge portion of the money is coming from what we pay for social security and social insurance. The last 20% or so comes from three other categories but they are obviously a lot smaller in what they contribute. I think that the way it is set up now is probably more beneficial for the government but it seems unfair that so much is coming from the income of individuals. I think that it should be more evenly dispersed.

3.It seems like the federal government spends a lot of money on Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, and the Defense Department. I think that those are all important categories that the government needs to spend more money on though. I think defense spending and social security could possibly be balanced more equally because it is important for our country to have necessary supplies and defense available in case something were to happen. However, they are already pretty close and only trailing Medicare and Medicaid by a few percent so I think it is okay how it is.

4.One of the choices that I made regarding the Federal Budget was to spend $30 billion dollars in order to repair and modernize the nation's public schools. I think this is an important thing for our country to do because there are many public schools that lack the resources that they need in order to supply their children with a proper education and prepare them for universities and colleges in the future. Children need to have access to newer technology that will prepare them for changes that will come about in our society and in future jobs that they find themselves in. Also, I chose to cut $852 B by adjusting defense spending levels and deficit projections based on the anticipated outcome in the current defense plans. I don't feel like we need to increase the debt even more for defense because war isn't really something that I support or agree with. Another cut I chose to make was gradually changing the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. I don't think many people would be happy with this but it would cut $125 B and it isn't as drastic as some of the other changes.

5.

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/should-we-spend-more-money-on-bombs-or-books/question-1126435/

I chose this image of protesters fighting the spending of money on war when that money should be used for making the US education system better. I think that by educating the younger generations in America and making sure that they have the resources that they need in order to get the best education possible, we are helping out our nation and turning it into a more educated and self-sufficient place. Also, since this is about lowering the national debt, I believe more money towards education will make younger generations smarter towards economic problems and since they will be the ones leading the nation in the future, educating them is a smart thing for us to do. If they know more, they are also more capable of putting in their input on how to lower the debt and make the government more efficient once they are at an age that they can do that.