Republican route - $1 increase in debt ceiling to $1 decrease in deficit
Democrat route - ~$2 trillion in spending cuts
Other - your suggestion
We need to slowly raise taxes and slowly cut spending. Doing only one or the other is being unrealistic.
Obama and Bush 43 are both horrible as far as spending goes. I put more blame on Bush (and I voted for him!) for getting sucked in to Bin Laden's snipe hunt and cutting taxes as sharply as he did. I put a lot of blame on the Republican party for allowing McCain to pick Palin. They damn near helped Obama unload the moving van into the White House.
Let's see, it goes down but it is soaring? It relatively maintains the same level until the mid-90's where it soars higher than ever... Oh, and doesn't the first two years count against the previous POTUS? So, who was POTUS before Reagan and what party was he in?
First it was extend the costly Bush tax cuts, now you want to do away with the rules that keep businesses from killing us. Anything else you'd like to add? Maybe make businesses immune to any and all laws? Seems that's where your party is headed. The simple fact is that your rich buddies just want to sit on their money which I what I was saying would happen all along. We gave the rich huge tax cuts and it went to their bank accounts, never to be heard from again. Of course if that money had gone to the middle class and poor, it would have spurred demand which begats production.
Business needs to hire people and expand. But, it must be done in an environment that promotes profit. Obama's policies do not give business much confidence. Business does not "kill us" as you state. Business sustains the country. What point are you trying to make? How do you think economics works? How do you think business works? How does profitable business "kill us"? Please explain.
Environmental laws are ones that businesses constantly complain about yet these laws aim to protect us from pollution and contaminants in our air and water. If there were no laws restraining businesses, they'd do it at will and you'd see a sicker and less healthy population just to allow rich cats to make a buck. NOT worth it.
I have been an environmental professional for over twenty years, much of it in industry. I have a very good understanding of the field. While some of the regs are based on "good science", many are not. The ones that are not are very costly and their effectiveness is unproven.
I learned very quickly the best way to have a good environment is to have a good economy. I know that you will be quick to point out the horror stories. As tragic as some may be, they are not the norm.
BTW, in my earlier post I was speaking of business environment.