So President Obama has volunteered his work force -- 2 million federal employees -- to live with a pay freeze for two years as a contribution to reducing the $1 trillion-plus federal debt.Now I really like the idea of volunteering others' income to cut the national deficit. I personally would like to volunteer that everyone pays FICA on all their income, not just the first ~100K. I'd like to volunteer 50% of long-term capital gains to be taxed as income, not just 15%, or 20% as it was before the Bush tax cuts. I'll also volunteer all members of the financial sector to pay a flat 50% rate on all bonuses and stock options above and beyond their declared salary. The freeze on federal employees' salaries is estimated to save 2/3 of 1% of the next decade's deficit. I'd be happy to bet a very substantial sum that my generous volunteering of other people's incomes would save a hell of a lot more than that.
wallpaper That's Mighty White of You, Mr. President
In fairness, these aren't Obama's words, but those of the editorial board for The Achorage Daily News:
