>>Bottom line - feds are taking in an all time high, at a point where wages have not improved, manufacturing productivity measures are not impressive, inventories do not reflect growth patterns....and yet the government wants more. That is a fair assessment.

Kevin, really it's up to you how old you want your daughter to be when her generation has to revolt against generational theft. All the rationalizations in the world don't help if you insist on considering "balancing the books" with such disparagement. Today's 7-year-olds are going to be hit with compounding debts from decades of people who fiercely minimize their own tax with various pretexts that all end up dumping the responsibility on somebody else. In particular, ask why the very large numbers of citizen kids of immigrants should fund programs for you that their own parents were denied.