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 Quote by turbo This thread needs to get back on-topic, regardless how how poorly it was presented in the first place. Nobody in the government says that we can erase the national debt by taking money from the top 1%. That would be impossible. We do need credible tax-reform, including taxing all income as income, including capital gains, and we need to eliminate loopholes and deductions that allow wealthy people and corporations to shield so much of their income. On the spending side, we ought to rapidly reduce and eliminate subsidies to already-profitable corporations like agribusinesses and energy companies. We also ought to remove costly mandates like the requirement that all our gasoline contains ethanol, and stop subsidizing the production of ethanol. There are many more things that need to be done, but I doubt that today's polarized Congress has the willingness to work for the greater good instead of the special interests that shovel money at them.
Regardless of your personal opinion "regardless how how poorly it was presented in the first place" we do need to get back on topic. Unfortunately, your post is also off-topic. Accordingly, I'll repost the OP:

"As the national debt in the US approaches $16,400,000,000,000 - we approach the 2012 election season - with the talk of fairness and 1% vs 99% in the air - I realized a solution is at hand when combining all of these ingredients. The national debt of$16.4 Trillion divided by (approx) 35,000 people (the top 1%) approximates $469 million per person. Accordingly, why not extend a one time offer to these people to "pay their fair share"? Specifically, with a one time payment of$500 million (from personal funds) they would no longer be responsible for any future tax obligations.

The Government in turn would commit to a balanced budget moving forward. Does this sound fair?"