White House Expects Deficit to Spike to $1.65 Trillion

Gotta spend money to make money.

Simply raising taxes on the uber-wealthy while cutting the myriad of subsidies to their businesses is a simple way to balance the budget.

Taxes today on the rich are nearly non-existent compared to pre-Reagan America.

Alzheimer Ron cut the top rate from 70% to 50%, creating the largest deficit in history. But more importantly, he cancelled the common man's medical deductions and destroyed the unions, setting back wages several decades. The minimum wage would be $40+ hr now if it had kept pace with inflation. A strong middle-class is required for a strong economy.

To post blame on anyone now for the damage done back then demonstrates an lack of understanding of cause and effect, and accomplishes nothing. Restoring the tax code to pre-Ronnie levels would have this country back on it's feet in no time at all.

 

I am so looking forward to this budget fight. I'm in the camp that cutting $100B from discretionary spending, even for the remainder of FY 2011, is an insult for those who wish to constrain the budget. I hope the House does move forward with passing appropriations in sections, first with entitlements and the military, and then with the discretionary parts of the budget. Make the Democratic Senate vote for massively increasing deficits to continue wasteful discretionary government programs.

 

Continuing to raise taxes on the "wealthy", however one defines that, certainly isn't going to solve a budget issue. That's how we got in this mess- rising taxes for social spending. Maybe rather than making the same old mistake (tax & spend), perhaps we should look at trimming a bloated budget, reassess where our money is being wasted (both within social programs and elsewhere), and then lower taxes to support growth.

 

No it isn't.

We got into this mess by transferring onto the backs of the middle-class the debt accumulated by the government to further enrich the rich.

We had a record surplus that Bush blew completely in his first term. In 8 years he literally spent more money than any man in the history of the world, none of it his own.

He should have been impeached for violating his fiduciary duty to his country.

 

And now Obama is making Bush look very fiscally conservative. Should Obama be impeached?

 

The Pentagon wants the largest spending budget since WWII.

We're planning on spending $750 billion on the military budget. Every household in the US would have to pony up $7,000 just this year to pay for it, if we weren't borrowing for it. That's just insane.

 

Obama wants to spend more on the military than does the GOP. There's plenty of waste to be cut from the Pentagon, the question is does Washington have the will to face it? It seems the GOP is just addressing discretionary spending for the rest of FY2011 but will address everything come FY2012.

 

I'm not arguing, but your post actually made me consider an interesting question. If the $7,000 per household is too much, how much would you be willing to spend on the military for an attempt to keep this country and your family safe? Tough to put a number on that one.

 

You all just don't get it do you? Nobody is going to do a thing to end the debt. Deal with it.

 

Care to come to a Tea Party meeting?

 

I'd think about $500 per person per year should be more than adequate to defend our country from attack. 90% or more of the military budget is spent defending other countries and overthrowing other countries. Graft has been rampant in defense spending since the late fifties. Maybe 1/3rd of the total military budget is lost through criminal overcharges by defense contractors. It's not like Ike didn't warn us

 

I think $3,000 per household is enough. If we go by the US 2010 census there are about 115 million households which would put the defense budget at $345 billion. That's more than the rest of the entire world's military expenditure and over three times the military spending of China. (I got all these numbers from wikipedia)

What do you think is adequate?

 

I don't know what is adequate, but your numbers seem reasonable. I think it is important to stay far ahead of the rest of the world with our military, and that is one of the most important things the government is actually supposed to do.

 

Somebodies gotta pay for those flying saucers we have stowed away in Area 51.