Former Reagan, Obama Budget Directors: U.S. Spends Too Much On Defense

Former Reagan, Obama Budget Directors: U.S. Spends Too Much On Defense:

click link

snip

* Stockman, former chief for Reagan, says deficit requires harsh action

* Orszag, former chief for Obama, says gradual fiscal fix limits harm

* Both endorse lower retirement payouts and end to Bush-era tax cuts

NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Two former U.S. budget chiefs who worked for presidents from opposing political parties said on Monday that the government should reduce military spending, scale back Social Security payments and end decade-old income tax cuts to reduce the federal deficit.

David Stockman, who was Republican Ronald Reagan's budget director from 1981 to 1985 and a key architect of tax-cutting policies, and Peter Orszag, budget director for Democratic President Barack Obama from January 2009 until July 2010, agreed the United States spends more on defense than is needed.

Both also said the country would be well-served if better-off citizens paid more taxes and took smaller benefits from the government in their old age.

But the two men, who appeared together at a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event, were at odds over how quickly and forcefully the government should act to reduce the deficit. Stockman contends the government should dramatically cut spending and raise taxes to pay down the national debt.

Orszag says governments are right to use spending to stretch out the economic adjustments to keep large segments of population from losing their jobs, which itself can cause long-lasting problems.

----------
stockman is a jerk, but he is correct on this one.  stockman was the fellow who wanted to include ketchup as a veggy in school lunches