I Solved the Deficit - Can You?

And I did it without touching Social Security or Medicare.

Beat that.

The NYT's Budget Puzzle is fun, but limited.

Its primary flaw is that it includes Social Security cuts in the mix, although Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. The option of eliminating the cap on income subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes is included in the tax section, which is confusing.

The puzzle lacks many liberal policy solutions that could close the deficit quicker and easier while also creating jobs and solving long-term problems like health-care costs:

• Create five new tax brackets at the top of the income scale, graduating taxes on income above $500,000 from 40 percent on millionaires to 80 percent on income above $500 million.
  
  
• Transfer all fossil-fuel subsidies to renewable energy production.
  
  
• Invest $1 trillion in a massive jobs program building infrastructure for transportation, water treatment, education and a new electrical grid to handle renewable energy production.
  
  
• Institute single-payer healthcare through Medicare For All, which is the only way to significantly and permanently reduce ludicrous health-care costs.
  
  
• Legalize marijuana and other Schedule One drugs under a strict regulatory regime that levies heavy taxes on both manufacture and purchase.
  
  
• Eliminate the tax exemption for churches and other religious institutions. Just documenting the total amount of money this wastes will be an educational eye-opener.

Add those to your puzzle, NYT, and then we'll see how real liberal solutions stack up against your teabaggy assumptions.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....