A handy survival kit for voters

Public Agenda, a nonpartisan, nonprofit (somewhat left-leaning) organization with offices in New York and Washington, has put out an earnest, cleverly packaged "Voter’s Survival Kit" for the U.S. elections in November, which you can download in zipped format and view as a PDF. Whoever put this guide together does a nice job of simplifying complex ...

Public Agenda, a nonpartisan, nonprofit (somewhat left-leaning) organization with offices in New York and Washington, has put out an earnest, cleverly packaged "Voter's Survival Kit" for the U.S. elections in November, which you can download in zipped format and view as a PDF.

Public Agenda, a nonpartisan, nonprofit (somewhat left-leaning) organization with offices in New York and Washington, has put out an earnest, cleverly packaged "Voter’s Survival Kit" for the U.S. elections in November, which you can download in zipped format and view as a PDF.

Whoever put this guide together does a nice job of simplifying complex issues without dumbing them down. Regarding the federal budget, they argue that the next administration and Congress have only three responsible options (their words here):

  • Balance the budget as quickly as possible and make sure it’s balanced from here on out, including raising taxes to cover what we spend.
  • Immediately focus on Social Security and Medicare, including raising taxes and fees to recipients and trimming benefits for recipients down the road.
  • Keep taxes as low as possible, but reduce the size of government by making major cuts in popular areas such as defense, healthcare, education and higher education.

Here’s what I think the next president and Congress will actually do:

  • Lower income taxes, quietly raise other taxes while hoping nobody notices, spend billions cleaning up the mortgage mess, increase current discretionary spending levels, kick the can down the road about Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and continue to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars from Asia.

Anyone want to make a bet?

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.