Neither is enough by itself, though I do think it noteworthy that we've been regularly cutting taxes for longer than you (or I) have been alive, except for a brief interval under Bush and the Clinton era hikes that began reducing the deficit and left us with a trillion dollar surplus on the books in 2001 (those were the days, eh? ) All that aside, you're a finance guy: Look at these numbers and tell me where we can cut enough spending to reduce the deficit WITHOUT raising taxes. If we subtract SS, Medicare, Medicaid, interest on current debt and everything else we HAD to spend in 2010 from all the tax revenue collected that year it leaves a wopping $44 billion to pay down roughly $14 trillion in principal. At that rate we'll have it all paid off in just three short centuries. Except we won't have that long because we'll have to shut down the Defence Dept. and every other part of the government.

I'm very open to spending cuts because they're a vital PART of the only possible solution, but as nothing more than an excuse to avoid hiking some of the lowest taxes in the industrialized world they're no more realistic or constructive than suggesting we tax everyone at 90% to avoid spending cuts.