9-9-9 Is Definitely The Way to Go

Someone has to pay for that trillion dollar mistake in Iraq that you so passionately supported for 8 years, Bob. And thats your whole problem. You love your big government spending - you just cant stand the idea that it needs to be paid for.

58% of the federal budget goes toward entitlements
19% goes toward defense
6% goes toward interest
12% goes toward other

The next bomb set to go off is the super committee which is due to give it's recomendations in less than a month and is currently at an impasse.

Longer term bomb is Europe's debt situation as Greece will likely default as Germany will soon tire of bankrolling it. Right behind Greece, is Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain.

The European default is due to runaway entitlement programs which is where the US is headed if we don't rein them in.

Unlike many, I don't think the Constitution is stuck in time; when you think about it there is no way it could be. But for you to bring up founding intent--you've proven over and over here to be a loose constructionist--and then run from it ... dumbfounding. What was your point? If you truly think the FFs intented a tax structure as we presently have, and a federal bureaucracy as we've allowed to explode, then you are not the student of history you purport to be. So I ask again, since you raised the notion of the FFs, please explain to all of us how the FFs would rationalize our current tax structure and the bureaucracy. And, again, since you brought it up, what should we do about that "regressive" road toll on Sally Walmart?

As for the Haitification of America: Can we have some specifics? The Fed long ago quit building America. We are now fueling that enormous furnace for entitlement programs, debt service and, in a big jump under Dubya and Obama, a voracious Defense Department. Look around, my friend, for all the feel good signs of recovery-funded projects, your Federal Government ain't doing remotely what it once did so well in building this nation with brick and mortar. Specious argument. We aren't Haiti. We won't become Haiti. We aren't the America of the '50s and '60s, either.

What did I "conclude" about anyone on the socio-economic ladder? I invite you, using my words, to tell me what I concluded about those lower on the pay schedule and those on high? Where did I note that the top end has received a bum steer? QUESTIONING how much we levy and why would seem to me to be a good plan of action in a republic such as ours, unless of course if someone holds that he/she has all the answers and all other answers are pointless. I simply asked you if you look upon income tax as a type of needed sin tax. Personally, I think everyone needs a buy in of some type, and that no one should be exempt from paying into the system. If that buy-in is $500 bucks versus $500,000, so be it. But unlike you, I don't think the top end has some endless obligation to write checks to the IRS. Now I think Perry and Cain are pandering to their very limited and core constituencies, and both plans are flawed. That does not make the converse true, that a left-style tax tax tax philosophy is fair and proper.

America's in the shit because of partisan obstinacy. The formula is busted. Neither side wins. Neither side is correct. We need fundamentally new ways of going about our business, and those new ways can only be founded through reasoned discourse and discovery. Personally, I'm still in the wide-eyed, and sometimes bewildered, discovery mode.

OK..I'll call it quits here. Ken, I took your "earning as a sin tax" comment as the class warfare rhetoric coming from he right. If that is not true then I take it back.

You are quick to note the massive drag the entitlement programs have caused to our deficit and spending. OK, fine. You are not wrong that they cost alot of money. But we had the entitlement programs in the year 2000 and we had a balanced budget to go with them. Whats changed since then?
2 unfunded wars, 2 massive unreconciled tax cuts primarily to the top 2%, 1 massive prescription drug giveaway, and a giant recession.

And so now that its time to fill in that massive hole, all the people (I'm not saying you) who sponcered those unreconciled expenditures are now saying that its not their tax cuts that are the problem, its not their unfunded wars that are the problem, its not their corporate welfare programs that are the problem....No - its your overpaid municipal workers that are the problem, its the wasteful spending on education and infrastructure thats the problem, its healthcare for seniors thats the problem. And its ridiculous - and thats why you see people in the streets now.

Lets not forget the 27% increase in spending under owebama as well as 2 tax cuts.

I say let's raise taxes - but across the board for everyone. No employed people should pay zero federal income taxes

Let's cut spending and taxes.The government could easily save billions buy just cracking down on Medicare and Welfare fraud and benefits to illegal immigrants.

However, Fica deductions should not be capped at the present level,there should be no cap.That would keep social security solvent for many years, and of course, provide that much more money for the ingrates in Wasington to borrow against. Bob

If I loved big government spending, I would love what Obama, Reid and Pelosi have been doing over the last 5 years. I would love that the national debt has increased more than $4 trillion since Obama took office. ...and if military spending and wars are/were THE reasons this country is in such financial trouble, why are we still involved in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why has Obama bypassed Congress to expand US military intervention into other countries in the middle east?

See, there's a GREAT solution. Blame the current guy for running wild but conveniently overlook the transgressions of the previous guy.

Typical partisan lunacy.

This thread is exactly why this country is going to CRASH before it can hopefully recover.

I'm voting for hoops.

You seem to be missing the fact that there is indeed blame that can be absolutely placed, and accelerated actions taken by folks who are currently in control making the problems worse instead of solving them should be ignored due to your view that outcry against current policy can only be driven by partisanship. The reality of policies enacted is how we got to where we are today. Mistakes are and have been made throughout this nation's history by elected officials of every stripe. Learning from those mistakes, and not making them over and over again thinking there will be a different outcome, is not happening.

You may not like it, but a particular segment of this nation's elected officials have been actively creating what can only be considered to be a Declaration of Dependence for decades. Ignoring it, or inferring that people who can see it are only seeing it because they are partisan lunatics is walking through life wearing blinders. Of course, that's your choice. Just don't whine when more government thinks you deserve to keep less of what you earn.