This was my proposal in 2008.  The proposals are still valid in 2010 but it will take several years to balance the budget after the disasters at the end of the Bush Administration:

We can produce a Budget Surplus within a Year

And Start a Spiral of Economic Benefit

Here is the Plan (with many pages of backup reached via the links):

• Roll back the Reagan and Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich - $475 Billion Yearly Increased Revenue
• Rescind Tax Cuts for Oil Companies - $10 Billion per year Increased Revenue
• *Negotiate Medicare Drug Prices  - $25 - $75 Billion per year Savings
• Eliminate Special Interest Loopholes - $150 Billion per year Increased Revenue
• Retain Large Estate Inheritance Taxes
• Fix Social Security by Raising the Wage Cap to $200,000 and Reduce Pensions of those who have Other Substantial Income - $115 Billion Yearly Increase in Revenue

* In 2007, Democrats in the House passed a bill to allow negotiation of Medicare Drug prices.   Hobson voted against it.  Bush threatened to veto it.  Senate Republicans stopped it  under the 60 vote requirement to cut off debate.

All of this will add up to over $750 Billion in increased revenue each year.  In the process, the tax code will be simplified.  These changes will not hurt the economy; they will help.  

With this additional revenue we can restore funds which the Republicans have cut from education and  homeland defense, have single payer universal healthcare, and start paying down the national debt.

In addition to being fair and humane, universal healthcare will benefit the economy.  It will lighten the load of businesses both large and small.  This will give American businesses a more even playing field with foreign companies which do not pay the health care costs of their employees.  As American companies become more competitive and employ more American workers.  that will provide another boost to the economy.  We can get a spiral working to our benefit.  Doing the right thing tends to be win, win, ...

The "Pay as you go"  slogan currently touted in Congress is not a solution.  On its face, it is a plan to keep the current deficit.  If it worked as designed, we could have tax breaks for the rich balanced by cuts in entitlements - the Republican plan.   But, "Pay as you go" is only cited as a partisan argument on a hit or miss basis.   And, when it is applied in this piecemeal manner, estimates of projected expenditure and revenue changes are contrived to support partisan goals.  There is never any attempt at accountability.