Fix the tax code so that the rich pay taxes commensurate with the rest of us, so that corporations cant shift earnings offshore, so that resource extraction companies dont get depletion allowance, so that excessive earnings get put to productive use, on and on. Then we will have money to pay down our debt and to move forward.
How do you define "excessive earnings" or windfalls or other such garbage? Many businesses are cyclical, like venture capital and energy. If you tax away the profitable part of the cycle, they will shut down and tax revenue actually falls.
I had better stop talking or I will end up waving my cane and shouting about the Laffer curve.
The primary observation now is large corporations channeling their reserves and holding them in various locations that is friendly to capital - i.e. no taxes or other costs in simply holding large amounts of cash in reserve.
I think at this stage of global economic development, it is an issue the world has to face. How in the world are you going to incentivise these entities holding all these vast amounts of capital to put this capital to real wealth generating activities instead of sitting on it or leaving it to the financial sector to push it around?