The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg The Devil's in the Deficit
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Jan 25, 2024 Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and resident debts and deficits wonk, joins Jonah to discuss raising taxes on the middle class, balancing the budget with weed, the extinction of fiscally conservative Republicans, and the impact of abolishing the IRS.
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Growing Deficit
- The US deficit doubled in one year to $2 trillion, the largest ever outside of war and recession.
- This will worsen to $3-4 trillion in a decade due to retiring baby boomers and rising interest rates.
Taxing the Rich
- Taxing the rich alone cannot solve the deficit problem.
- Even seizing all billionaire assets would only fund the government for nine months.
Weed and the Deficit
- Many college students propose legalizing and taxing weed to solve the deficit.
- Riedl calculated this would require every person to smoke 200 pounds annually.