Kotlikoff says: “The IMF is saying that, to close this fiscal gap [by taxation], would require an immediate and permanent doubling of our personal income taxes, our corporate taxes and all other federal taxes.“America’s fiscal gap is enormous – so massive that closing it appears impossible without immediate and radical reforms to its health care, tax and Social Security systems – as well as military and other discretionary spending cuts.â€He cites earlier calculations by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that concluded that the United States would need to increase tax revenue by 12 percentage points of GDP to bring revenue into line with spending commitments.

Also makes me realize how much this country needs major reform of the tax code!!!

In 2012, the Health Care Reform Act rules kick in, and the 1099 will function as a tax form for ALL business to business transactions.

Stimulus money, Auto industry bailout, and even the financial reform regulations impact states in different ways.

I'm not sure if that's a joke or if that's serious...Just in case it's serious, the only "death panels" I currently know about are the panels of people that private insurance companies have who determine what treatments will be approved and which treatments will not be approved, independent (and often in contradiction) to what the doctors recommend.This is why health care reform is so important -- those who have a conflict of interest when it comes to life/death decisions shouldn't be involved in the decisions in the first place.

Sorry for the sidetrack.I would ask him/her "If given absolute authority to make one reform to the financial markets, what would you choose?"

Providing these solutions for my clients is what I enjoy doing.Living in the Detroit area I notice so much potential in real estate, education, sports, filming, public safety, and much more.. that would help "The D" reform, and grow.

The government passing the Tax Reform Act of 1986 is totally unpredictable.

The article is about reforming the tax system, but also helps us understand the current debt.http://assetbuilder.com/blogs/scott_burns/archive/2011/01/14/living-with-hauser-s-law.aspx

Aaron--the complete law can be found at the following link:http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/reforms-for-american-homeowners-and-consumers-president-obama-signs-the-helping-families-save-their-homes-act-and-the-fraud-enforcement-and-recovery-act/I found an article by AP that summarizes it pretty well here:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30891380/Hope that helps!