D'Oh!bama: reelect me and we'll enact massive job killing taxes

facts would disagree with you

1944, 1945, 2000, the highest percentages of tax revenue to GDP

 

I really would not put Obama in with Pelosi and Reid. I think Obama is kind of putting his neck on the line here and alienating a significant percentage of his own constituents. There's another thread here started by a liberal about Obama being a coward and sell-out.

Any cuts and tax hikes will hurt GDP in the short term. But a default would hurt the economy a lot more. With the weakness of the Euro and the mess over there, now would be a good time for our elected officials to compromise and pass that 4 trillion reduction plan and put our bonds back at solid AAA footing. To me, that would show some real courage.

 

I'm in favor of spending cuts that won't affect the economy that much, and won't cause working-class Americans to suffer too much.

Namely (and this is the second time or so I've trotted out this list)---

Cut USDA subsidies
Cut oil subsidies
Cut ethanol subsidies
Cut military aid to Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Israel
End the war on drugs
End minimum mandatory sentencing for non-violent crimes
Reduce the nuclear arsenal
Reduce military presence in Europe and Asia
Reduce military spending on F-35s

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70

Incidentally, basso, if you're still with me on drugs---

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-end-the-war-on-drugs

 

I am always tempted to block Basso but man, he really is on a whole other level of troll. There is no way any logical or half-sane person could side with GOP/Tea Party policy...and much more to harp about how "bad" Obama is doing yet forgets the terrible presidency of any Bush or how Supply Side Economics is a myth, joke, and a failure.

 

Engaging with basso never results in anything. He'll keep asking you questions until he sees one minor detail that he can use to dismiss your entire argument. Also, it won't be a straightforward dismissal ... it'll be something like: "non-violent crimes? so you want to release all of the Black Panthers who only stole cars?"

basso is now, and will always be, an unreflective partisan. He doesn't debate. All he does is cheer for his team and boo the other team (and he can only see two teams).

 

It's conceivable you could do that by raising the SS age to 67, cutting SS benefits for people with higher incomes (setting them to rise below inflation)...obviously, it sucks, but we live in a reality of an expanded lifestyle now, and pensions are always government fodder for big spending. I'm not on the boat where people are like "we can't cut ANYTHING on social welfare". MC/MA can be tweaked (you can even throw a bone here to conservatives by instituting medical malpractice reform). You'd also have to raise taxes too, to some degree, but there are workable solutions that don't involve drastically cutting food aid, education budgets, pensions, health care, infrastructure budgets or research budgets (notice I didn't even cut space/military research funding and there was still a bunch of fat to be trimmed). Cutting those things are just shooting yourself in the foot really.

Now, remember how I said I wasn't in the boat where social programs could not be touched? I also can't imagine why there would be a boat where taxes could not be touched. The deficit is a beast that has taken years to accumulate due to fiscal irresponsibility, and it will take difficult measures to reverse it. To take any option "off the table" is sheer madness. You have to realize that spending cuts or increasing taxes will affect the economy adversely...both are "job killing". However, we are choosing the lesser of two evils between a ballooning deficit and economic constriction. Increasing taxes and decreasing government spending both have specific measures where the cost of doing so would be outweighed by the benefit...for example, closing corporate tax loopholes and penalizing tax evaders more heavily and cutting oil subsidies are both measures that will cause some amount of economic pain...but will be more than overrun by their economic benefit in balancing the budget/removing adverse economic conditions.

The deficit will take a lot of perspectives and solutions to solve, you need to pick and choose between all sides.

 

El Uno de Punto y el terminado.

 

Then you could start a national jobs program to rebuild infrastructure, rebuild the electrical grid, expand wind and solar power, build mass transit systems, fund education etc. , things that actually build stability and sustainability for the long term and keep a nation strong and free, with a middle class.