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Originally Posted by camaropete
Well, that is yet to be seen. Most of the money is coming from the government taking on debt by selling bonds to other countries. At some point, someone (us) is going to have to make up those interest payments. Up to now, people (other countries) have been willing and able to give the US money. If that willingness goes away before we get things back on track, we are going to see inflation on the rise very quickly. I doubt you will see any tax hikes (at least for the lower and middle class) in the near future. However, you might see the top 10% of taxpayers getting hit with either no tax break or tax increases. Doesn't make sense to me since they have lots of money to spend and I would think that you would want to give them all good reasons to go and spend it (e.g. tax breaks). Once things start to turn around, that's when you will see taxes increased in order to pay back the money we owe.
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The logic is there, but the guys who would be raising the tax have to get reelected, creating a fundamental problem with electoral politics. Such politics are irresponsible because the debt problem never gets resolved. Every president from Reagan forward has seen increased deficit spending. Clinton was the closest of recent presidents to reaching $0 deficit spending. Bush has more than doubled any president's deficit spending, and Obama is now spending to keep the economic situation from getting worse.
Tax breaks don't work as intended in political science. They just get people reelected. That way, we can have the same creeps in office because they did one thing we liked.
One way to resolved the deficit spending is to stop contracting military operations. Using a slightly reduced military budget will free up money for the debt. The US military, while necessary, now gets more money annually than the world's combined forces. This is excessive spending for a country not at war with the entire world—just a thought.