The United States debt and deficit is a major problem in our society. One thing I would suggest to the president would be to tax the rich. Time. It's helpful to keep in mind how different the rich are. When you are poor, you are willing to trade your time to make money. When you are rich, you trade your money to buy more time. For example, rich people hire people to clean their houses and don't waste time looking for bargains. In business school, I learned that when people have different preferences, it's usually possible to find a way to reach an agreement. Gratitude. Imagine if the government managed to offer genuine personal gratitude to the wealthy in exchange for higher tax rates. Suppose (bad idea alert) that the government makes it a condition of anyone applying for social services to write a personal thank you note to a wealthy person nearby who, according to a central database, has not received one recently . Gratitude goes a long way (online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106164123424314.html). Rich Americans would even make more money if they helped rebuild the middle class. It has been a recognized rule in business since Henry Ford that businesses thrive when people can afford to buy the products the factories make. I think if people focus on the opportunity cost of what they buy, it could help reduce our country's debt. People should think about what they need to survive, not what they actually want. My mom has thousands of items of clothing in her basement that she doesn't wear anywhere and if we sold them all we could really use that money! The opportunity cost of (the loss or gain of what someone buys is really important in a country still trying to get out of a recession)....... middle of paper ..... . efficiency reduction options to balance the budget. Less than half want to cut military spending, less than a third would cut Medicaid, barely a fifth would cut Medicare. It appears that the rich are happy with Medicare at age 65, the poor need Medicaid, and people want to reduce military spending (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/ 04/12/hill-leaders-fire-warning). -shots_n_848392.html). Works cited (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/hill-leaders-fire-warning-shots_n_848392.htmlhttp://biggovernment.com/ecantor/2010/05/12/tired-of-big -government-sending-then-youcut-it/).https://questions.medicare.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/2038/~/what-is-the-difference-between -medicare-and-medicaid %3F). -economics-vs-keynesian-economics.html).