Fix the deficit, just stay out of my backyard

A Bloomberg National Poll showed that while Americans conceded that federal budget deficits were a problem, they didn’t want to take responsibility for them.

Don’t touch Social Security or Medicare, they said, though the budget will never be balanced without cuts in those programs. Those polled opposed cuts in defense spending or an increase in the gasoline tax. They wanted to keep the tax deduction for mortgage interest and subsidies for farmers.

Nonprofit organizations have said that any cuts in charitable deductions for tax purposes would hurt them. While even a fiercely partisan Congress has agreed to stop earmarks, the Asbury Park Press reported that several groups in New Jersey are moaning about losing the projects they enjoyed from such spending in the past.