I will try and get more details on this for you, but Rand Paul seems to have the right idea about what it is going to take in order to get this country back on track .. if that's even possible at this point.  His plan would achieve a balanced budget within five years.  All it does is reduce government spending as a share of the economy.  This is compared to Obama's budget where total spending would increase 49% over the next 10 years.  Under Rand Paul's plan, all areas of federal spending, including discretionary, defense, and mandatory would be cut.  Obama simply wants to cut discretionary spending by 5%, and even these "cuts" are nothing but budget gimmickry.  Paul's plan also would not raise taxes, while Barack Obama has already signaled that he will raise taxes on the evil rich in 2012 when the tax cuts expire.