Deficit: Which way out?

Definitions:

- Public programs: health care, social security, police departments, national security, border patrol, national parks, etc. More spending on public programs the more in debt we get. Money out.

- Taxes: Income, sales, state, property, etc. In business speak, this is actually the governments "revenue." Taxes pays for the spending (see above). Money in.

Republicans (Center Right): Decrease public programs (decrease money out), decrease taxes (decrease money in). This policy basically comes up as a wash.
[That’s not even including the propensity to increase the National "Defense" budget (increase money out).]

Democrats (Center Left): Increase public programs (increase money out), increase taxes (increase money in). Another mainstream policy, another wash.
[Now no Democrat will openly admit to increasing YOUR taxes, but they are willing to let Bush's tax cuts expire, thus allowing the tax rate to increase.]

In our political space no one is stepping up to offer a viable solution that will actually have a meaningful effect on our deficit.

Enter the United Kingdom. Thanks NPR for reporting on this.

The Austerity Plan: Decrease public programs (decrease money out), increase taxes (increase money in). This plan is the "tighten their belts and deal with the negative consequences" in my I'm Good For The Money post.

It will not be popular. It will not be easy. It will suck for a few years. GDP will go down. This is the tried and true way of paying off debt - increasing your revenue, and decreasing your spending.
[It is also the method the International Monetary Fund (IMF) uses when they help a country on the brink of bankruptcy.]

I'm sure some of you will say "Why not just decrease spending?" That is an option, the only issue is that its not fast enough - debt this size is not going to be fixed overnight. And yes, it MUST hurt!