Pic Of The Moment: Why Congressional Republicans Are Screwed, In One Chart

"The American people want" and then spew all their RW BULLSHIT. As if starting every sentence with that fucking meme gives them some cred. I loathe these cretins.

to give a damn what the American People want. They only worry about their corporate masters, who bought and paid for them, want.

That is, if they raise the rate only on the rich, and make no cuts, they are not really making a serious attempt at addressing the budget problem. The top marginal rate could be raised to 100% and it would barely cover 1/3 of the current annual deficit.

If we're going to approach a balanced budget, taxes need to go up on the rich (a lot), and probably on everyone else (but to a lesser extent). We'll also need some serious reductions in government spending, not just decreases to the rate of spending growth (which is what the politicians typically do, and spin it as cuts).

This is the inconvenient truth.

Long time reader...was about time I joined the conversation.

For example, there are weapons programs that the military says it doesn't need but exist solely to provide pork for a congressman's district or senator's state.

There are airplanes on the design drawing board which will never be used (there is no mission), but just must be built because of the above reasons.

We have several hundred overseas bases of varying sizes that aren't necessary.

Any argument that leaves military expenses out of the equation isn't about balancing the budget -- it's about destroying Social Security and Medicare.

BTW, Social Security shouldn't even be in the discussion -- it isn't included in the budget, but has its separate account.

The federal budget last year was $3.8 trillion. Defense spending made up 18.4% of that, or about $700 billion. If you cut the defense budget to $0, and raised the top marginal tax rate to 100%, you could come up with just about enough to cover last year's annual deficit.

Clearly neither of those are realistic solutions, and neither will be adopted, but it provides some perspective on the size of the budget problem. It will take more than raising taxes on the rich and cutting from the defense budget.

But...if we agree that some (or a lot) of defense can be cut...do you have any figures on the line items from the defense budget that you'd cut, and how much of the budget goes to each?

Who is more to blame if no deal is reached?

GOP in Congress 47%
President Obama 36%
Both 11%





http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/12/10/176975/voters-want-soft-fiscal-cliff.html

and yet it's probably going to happen.

out.

You've GOT to add that to the subhead, Earl!


rocktivity

or at least they call themselves Dems.

Medicare has a budget problem, according to every expert I've heard or read. Even Klugman says so.

Semantics are important, though. The "cuts" that Obama has already done (the $750M already cut, but which he doesn't call a cut), are not called cuts by some. They are called something else.

Any "reform" will in essence be a cut, since the purpose is to lessen the cost of Medicare.

So it's not fair to call people like Krugman not Democrats because they differ with your opinion.

No one is in favor of cuts. But recognizing a necessity is different from wanting a cut. Something must be, and will be, done. The only question is what will be done, and how much money is needed to make Medicare solvent.

the only reform Medicare needs is to add younger, healthier people to it. Expansion, not cuts. Anyone who says "we must cut" is either a politician who lives on Big Insurance money, or a dupe such as yourself who is pre-apologizing for one of the slimy politicians

Someone has pulled the wool over your eyes. Yes, they will be healthier than someone a few years older in a lot of cases (but not always)....but it is free or cheap health care, adding to the COST of Medicare.

Medicare has a financial problem. Something has to be done about it. It's really very simple. The only question is what should be done. Everyone but a few people who don't understand Medicare or fiscal issues agrees on that point. Obama, Biden, Krugman, Dean, Pelosi, Reid....you name the political leader or economic expert. You will be hard pressed to find one. You might find ONE - Bernie Sanders, for example. But even Sanders admits that something must be done to make Medicare financially sound.

I agree with one thing that Sanders says, which is an obvious fix: REMOVE THE PROVISION THAT PREVENTS MEDICARE FROM NEGOTIATING WITH BIG PHARMA FOR DRUG PRICES.

That, BTW, is Medicare "reform," which as I said, EVERYONE in the know admits is needed.

That means that argument is winning. Ihope that is a red flag for those going on media shows, to address why that's a horrible idea and cruel.

number is kind of scary 20% of the country doesn't think a middle ground can be achieved? now we wonder why our congress is dysfunctional the country is dysfunctional