Aunty,

Of course I agree with you that you can solve the problem with ONLY spending cuts. But you're sort of making my point by being black/white about this and insisting that ONLY spending cuts should be considered. This is EXACTLY the sort of inflexible thinking that has us in our current mess IMO. These are complex issues, and they require multi-dimensional solutions, not sound bites.

Tax revenues, as a fraction of our GNP, are at the lowest they've been in 50 years (see my earlier link). While I ABSOLUTELY believe spending cuts are warranted/needed/essential and I've posted that many times previously.

However, I also believe that we've made our current situation much worse by creating and extending massive, unfunded, ongoing stimulus (tax breaks). In our current situation, I'd return tax rates to the median they have been over the last 50 years, and cut spending aggressively to close the remaining gap.