Are our 300 million so daft that they dont recognize our debt crisis? I would think that watching riots in the streets of Greece and Italians bracing for severe austerity measures would command our people’s attention. What is the #1 issue in Obama goes toe to toe with Gingrich or Romney? We are fortunate as a nation to have fear mongering and wars in our rear view mirror. Of course the big focus will be on how to stimulate the economy. The conventional wisdom is that Obama wins if the economy continues to grow as it is at this very moment – he loses if our sluggish recovery falters. That is a remarkable short term prism for looking at our nation’s fundamental and systemic problems. Yes – economic growth is very important. But economies are cyclical. Always have been – always will be. While certain components of our national income statement are tied to where the economy sits across any calendar year – the vast majority of our balancing act is fixed. A huge part of that equation is out mounting national debt and the associated interest obligations. We cannot just keep raising the ceiling – that is lunacy and any one who is paying attention knows it. Heres hoping we get some fiery moderators who frame the right questions in the upcoming Presidential debates. We need real strategies to material reduce our federal debt. Now.

I have heard some proposals that would actually stem the tide.

For example – making Americans recognize the health insurance benefits provided by their employers as income would raise Billions. Running my own company – I am effectively already paying that tax. Fortunately – my 3 FTEs enjoy health coverage through their spouse’s employer. This proposal is just another tax and should not be one of our tactics.

Another proposal is to eliminate the write off for the interest portion of homeowner’s mortgage payments. Wow. One of the biggest current problems with our economy is the hangover from our residential housing boom. New home construction must recover to help create jobs and sustain our economic growth. Killing incentives for home ownership would be a big mistake.

None of the new taxes or austerity measures are pretty – but something must be done. Ignoring the problem only exacerbates it.

I realize this is an over simplification – but the root solution needs to be extending the retirement age. Productive workers need to quit daydreaming about 62 or even 70. Go to work as long as you have the mental and physical ability to do so – and stop using the word ‘entitlement’. Nobody in the world is entitled to anything anymore