Government Funding vs. Economic Growth

We need a real bi-partisan solution to our economic problems. Currently most people view either the government or the private economy as the source of our problems, and the other as the answer. It's a relationship that encourages failure. As long as we allow this relationship to exist we won't see any type of economic stability, and we will never get a grasp on economic growth.

What is unarguable is that all government spending requires that we pull money from the private sector to fund it. Most people also agree that some, or many, of these government programs have practical purposes, and even if you don't agree with how they are ran or you believe they produce an undesired outcome, you wouldn't choose to get rid of them over modification. So, while the government programs are important, we need to figure out at what point does the government tax burden become so intrusive that economic growth is no longer likely. We then need to decide what amount of economic growth is desirable for the time, and what we can afford to spend on government programs.

Once we decide on the desired percentage of tax burden we then determine how much funding that will produce for the following year. From there all of our budgetary plans are determined. So instead of determining funding by the number of bright ideas Washington can come up with, we determine it by affordability to our country. The year's budget would be formed from that particular dollar amount and to add funding to one program would mean that you took it from another. This should also pose a practical compromise to the Democrat's Pay-Go bill, which works like that in theory but is determined by a budget that is not considerate to the private economy.

All of this can be done through a bi-partisan effort. If we didn't look at the other as our enemy, and instead learned how each side plays a valuable role in our country's prosperity, we could essentially control the economic growth of our country while still providing ideal services to it's citizens. Unfortunately, it takes an effort far more serious than Washington is currently willing to provide.