[Percocetti]

Got any references to support your assertions?

The facts are that most (81%) American want to see a millionaires tax.

Do I qualify as a reference, I do not want my tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood.

[eropiereetuekm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us...l.html?_r=1&hp

A deal to fund the gov't until next Thursday was reached, in which time both the House and Senate will pass and President Obama will sign next week the single-largest dollar cut in US history at an estimated $38 billion for the remainder of this fiscal year.

Throw in the other $10 billion in cuts from the already-passed House extensions from recent weeks and it adds up to nearly 80% of the pro-rated figure that House Republicans had sought at the beginning of their two-year term three months ago.

You know what I find remarkable....the Obama touts the "biggest spending cut in history" as a positive thing...and it is...to some extent...but if you really want t put things in perspective you also need to look at what happened a couple of years ago with the "stimulus"....at $787 Billion!!!

This spending cut is less than 5% of what was spent on the "stimulus". We'd need to make 20 cuts like this just to recover from the stimulus and another 20 to recover from TARP and even at that we haven't come close to addressing the really difficult problems of dealing with SS and MED.

[Percocetti]

America is a sinking ship and the dems and reps are trying to steal as much as they can before bailing out. That's why we didn't see any real cuts.

Get rid of the Democrats and we might have a chance. We did a pretty good job during the last midterms, now we have to finish the job in 2012.

[WaydayTew]

The fact of the matter is the govt had 41 billion cash on hand friday. That would have been plenty to pay for all the critical functions of govt including military pay until they balanced the budget. And they take in another 60bn a month without borrowing.

[Broker15015]

Get rid of the Democrats and we might have a chance. We did a pretty good job during the last midterms, now we have to finish the job in 2012.

Do you really think the Republicans would do any better?
History tells us that one party rule does not work.
The Reps were in complete control and got us in two money pit wars and the snowball started down hill. The Dems got complete control and all they did was to kick the snowball down hill faster. Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming the Reps for the mess the country is in, but they didn't do anything to try to stop it when they had the chance and neither did the Dems.

No, the best thing that can happen this next election is to split Congress and the Senate as close to 50/50 as we can get them. They would either have to stop whining and work together or nothing will get done, either way it's a win/win for the country.

We need the check & balance a 50/50 split will provide.

[phpfoxmods]

Get rid of the Democrats and we might have a chance. We did a pretty good job during the last midterms, now we have to finish the job in 2012.

By "we" you mean the republicans that will cut small shit like Planned Parenthood while ignoring the behemoth that is the military?

[Wckcvhsg]

The simple lesson is this, there isn't that much more that can be cut, and tax rates are extremely low.
So taxes have to be raised, because even with the Ryan Budget, we add another 14 trillion in debt before the budget is balanced, and that requires getting to 2% unemployment in a couple of years, while laying people off who work in the public sector. It requires Clintonian job growth in the private sector, while pursuing policies that have stunted growth everywhere else they have been tried.

[Vapepreab]

Lower taxes to zero to generate revenue to pay down the debt. that is the next plan.

[Cd9JfGHR]

By "we" you mean the republicans that will cut small shit like Planned Parenthood while ignoring the behemoth that is the military?

I agree that the military budget is probably excessive; However, the defense of the country is one of the major responsibilities of the government. But defense budget excess can not be totally laid at the feet of the military. There has been too many times that the military wants to close bases, doesn't want certain weapon systems, etc but politicians refuse to accommodate the request because it is in their district or state. In the case of Planned Parenthood and other like programs, those are nice to have but not essential. Additionally we have many government offices that are redundant and many that are not necessary at the federal level. Dept of Education, Dept of Labor for a start.

[emexiagog]

We need the check & balance a 50/50 split will provide.

So long as the government holds this much power over the governed, a 50/50 split will only result in half measures, as we saw last night.

I don't blame Boehner, he did what he could with the power he had.

[phpfoxmods]

I agree that the military budget is probably excessive; However, the defense of the country is one of the major responsibilities of the government. But defense budget excess can not be totally laid at the feet of the military. There has been too many times that the military wants to close bases, doesn't want certain weapon systems, etc but politicians refuse to accommodate the request because it is in their district or state. In the case of Planned Parenthood and other like programs, those are nice to have but not essential. Additionally we have many government offices that are redundant and many that are not necessary at the federal level. Dept of Education, Dept of Labor for a start.

Probably excessive? Thanks for making my point for me.

[Percocetti]

Do you really think the Republicans would do any better?History tells us that one party rule does not work.
The Reps were in complete control and got us in two money pit wars and the snowball started down hill. The Dems got complete control and all they did was to kick the snowball down hill faster. Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming the Reps for the mess the country is in, but they didn't do anything to try to stop it when they had the chance and neither did the Dems.

No, the best thing that can happen this next election is to split Congress and the Senate as close to 50/50 as we can get them. They would either have to stop whining and work together or nothing will get done, either way it's a win/win for the country.

We need the check & balance a 50/50 split will provide.

I understand what your saying but this is not the same country we were years ago, and the TP brought attention to that. We did not have the debt problem as we do now with 14.5 trillion in debt and will sore to 16 trillion by 2012.

We have a debt problem and thus far it is only the Republicans that want to cut the debt. The Democrats only want to continue to borrow and spend. Further Obama threw in the trash his debt commissions report. Obama, Pelosi and Reid have no intention of cutting anything. They have to go, as we need real cuts as Ryan has submitted. The Democrats will fight like hell to keep their borrow and spend entitlements with absolutely no concern of our rising debt.

[Wckcvhsg]

So long as the government holds this much power over the governed, a 50/50 split will only result in half measures, as we saw last night.

I don't blame Boehner, he did what he could with the power he had.

The simple fact is, that even without any Democrats involved, the GOP wouldn't cut enough to balance the budget.
And if they actually did, after the next election cycle, the congress would be almost exclusively Democrats.
Despite the rhetoric, these characters still want people to vote for them in 2012, which is why they only try to "cut" Medicare and Social Security for people who are at least ten years away from seeing a dime from either program, because those people.

What's true about Social Security, Medicare and a Ponzi Scheme is that the people who get fucked are the last people in the system, the ones who pay, but never collect.
With a Ponzi scheme it's inevitable that those people will be aware of their losses within a relatively short time.
With Social Security and Medicare, unless the government is overthrown or falls to a foreign invader, the victims will be self selected, they have to vote to be the ones who will pay but never collect.
Because if you want the over 65 crowd to give the Democratic Party the kind of numbers Obama gets from the black community, cut Medicare and Social Security.

[VemyhemiHef]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us...l.html?_r=1&hp

A deal to fund the gov't until next Thursday was reached, in which time both the House and Senate will pass and President Obama will sign next week the single-largest dollar cut in US history at an estimated $38 billion for the remainder of this fiscal year.

Throw in the other $10 billion in cuts from the already-passed House extensions from recent weeks and it adds up to nearly 80% of the pro-rated figure that House Republicans had sought at the beginning of their two-year term three months ago.

Yep--a little disapointing--but let's face it Obama and Harry didn't want to cut anything from this budget. Obama wanted 6 billion and Reid proposed 3 billion. So 38 billion is a lot higher that what democrats would have cut.

Obviously---there is much more work to do. I really don't know how we're going to get rid of a 14.3 trillion dollar deficit. It's going to have to come down on social security--medicare--medicade and military spending.

What was interesting--was what was forced on democrats.

1. Obama will not be able to hire more IRS agents to enforce his Obamacare.
2. The senate will have to vote on Obamacare by itself to see if there are any nervous moderate democrats out there--who may have a change of heart.
3. What democrats took out of the bill regarding taxpayer funded abortions regarding Planned parenthood in 2009 will now be put back insuring that taxpayer dollars are NOT used for abortions. At any rate the FIGHT has just begun.

[jerzeygymwolf]

this post is nothing but bs no facts.
all it does is repeat the talking points of reid and pelosi but they are not factual.
facts are that most americans want to see things like npr and planned parenthood done away with.
most americans know that the teachers unions are leaches and should be done away with or at lest radicaly changed.. the only people that disagree are liberals and the union members and the reason they disagree is they belive that union members are special and should get everything for nothing.
liberals love npr becuse it s a gov subsizided liberal mouthpiece where they fire you if you are not a radical liberal.

Facts are that cultural warriors on the right want to do away with PP, which Richard Nixon and the Republicans in 1970 friggin' instituted and was never a controversy until this bunch of teabaggin' morons got a hold of it and claimed all they do is give fast-food abortions at the drive-thru window.

The abortion rate has fallen over the last few decades because of outfits like PP.

Leave it to Republicans to now stand for Unplanned Parenthood.

[jerzeygymwolf]

I don't know how accurate this analogy is, but I heard someone say that cutting $38 billion is like:

A family makes $44,000 a year.
They spend $70,000 a year.
They just decided not to spend $900.

That's exactly it.

Meanwhile, Republicans think they can right the ship by cutting essential services to people who need them.

Phasing out Medicare will only add to the debt over time because it will cost Americans at least 10 times as much to insure their seniors since the Paul Ryan voucher idea is moronic.

Gotta start by cutting the overseas empire, but no one's got the guts to put anything forward.

Then the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy have got to go, but no one's got the guts to do it.

Then Social Security and Medicare should see some cuts, but only to those who don't need SS checks. Maybe raise the retirement age a couple years.

There is a way to do it that hurts the average person the least, but Republicans aren't interested in that and Democrats have no spine.

[jerzeygymwolf]

Yep--a little disapointing--but let's face it Obama and Harry didn't want to cut anything from this budget. Obama wanted 6 billion and Reid proposed 3 billion. So 38 billion is a lot higher that what democrats would have cut.

Obviously---there is much more work to do. I really don't know how we're going to get rid of a 14.3 trillion dollar deficit. It's going to have to come down on social security--medicare--medicade and military spending.

What was interesting--was what was forced on democrats.



At any rate the FIGHT has just begun.

It's too bad because the hiring of more IRS to actually recoup money that rich people aren't paying would bring in billions every year. Every chart I've seen shows it, but of course Republicans don't actually want fiscal sanity, it's all culture war crap they're into.

Just because they say they care about the debt doesn't mean they actually do. Wake up, Republicans, you've been had.

If Obama had his way, the IRS would make the country billions every year in taxes that people aren't paying, he'd cut the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, and he'd cut corporate subsidies. I just don't know how any rational person could be against those things, since it would make it so that the country doesn't put the weight of all the pain on the working class, who only laid down their future in order to save the banking system a couple years ago.

[VemyhemiHef]

The simple fact is, that even without any Democrats involved, the GOP wouldn't cut enough to balance the budget.
And if they actually did, after the next election cycle, the congress would be almost exclusively Democrats.
Despite the rhetoric, these characters still want people to vote for them in 2012, which is why they only try to "cut" Medicare and Social Security for people who are at least ten years away from seeing a dime from either program, because those people.

What's true about Social Security, Medicare and a Ponzi Scheme is that the people who get fucked are the last people in the system, the ones who pay, but never collect.
With a Ponzi scheme it's inevitable that those people will be aware of their losses within a relatively short time.
With Social Security and Medicare, unless the government is overthrown or falls to a foreign invader, the victims will be self selected, they have to vote to be the ones who will pay but never collect.
Because if you want the over 65 crowd to give the Democratic Party the kind of numbers Obama gets from the black community, cut Medicare and Social Security.

Well--how do you cut 1.7 TRILLION in one single year--(which is this years deficit) It's a great thought--but it couldn't possibly happen.

As far as social security you're right it is a bigger ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever thought of. They take 12.4% (employee/employer contribution) for all of your working years--and if you're lucky enough to live that long--they give you back diddly sqwat in a monthly check. If you die and you're not married they just confiscate it.

But don't worry about your's---they'll just screw the generation behind you to fund your check.

Social Security and Medicare should have been privatized many years ago-- to where the Federal Government couldn't get their hands on it. They spend it on foreign aid--wars--and about anything and everything except what it was intended for--your old age.

[Cd9JfGHR]

It's too bad because the hiring of more IRS to actually recoup money that rich people aren't paying would bring in billions every year. Every chart I've seen shows it, but of course Republicans don't actually want fiscal sanity, it's all culture war crap they're into.

Would you please explain your faulty logic that hiring more IRS agents would result in more taxes being collected. Also would you post a link to these charts that you say you have seen.

If Obama had his way, the IRS would make the country billions every year in taxes that people aren't paying, he'd cut the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, and he'd cut corporate subsidies. I just don't know how any rational person could be against those things, since it would make it so that the country doesn't put the weight of all the pain on the working class, who only laid down their future in order to save the banking system a couple years ago.

I really don't see your convoluted logic. Do you realize that there is something called the "tax code" that determines how much taxes are paid by private citizens and companies. Look, why don't you admit it....Obama sold the country a bill of goods and has no idea what he is doing. All I hear from the Democrats is the yapping of a bunch of "kicking dogs".

[Vapepreab]

Well--how do you cut 1.7 TRILLION in one single year--(which is this years deficit) It's a great thought--but it couldn't possibly happen.

As far as social security you're right it is a bigger ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever thought of. They take 12.4% (employee/employer contribution) for all of your working years--and if you're lucky enough to live that long--they give you back diddly sqwat in a monthly check. If you die and you're not married they just confiscate it.

But don't worry about your's---they'll just screw the generation behind you to fund your check.

Social Security and Medicare should have been privatized many years ago-- to where the Federal Government couldn't get their hands on it. They spend it on foreign aid--wars--and about anything and everything except what it was intended for--your old age.

Yep, we should have privatised SS and had it invested in sub prime loans..which was showing good return rates, so much so other financial entities just could not stay out of it. Let folks invest in Wall St, and then don't bail em out this next time!