A Nation in Crises...
Rational Nation USA
Birthplace of Independent Conservatism
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
The Constitution of the United States of America. Important to many, ignored and or misinterpreted by many as well. There are those who are strict constructionist who believe in following the letter of the document. And there are those who believe it is a living document and must change to conform to the changing times.
There is validity in both positions. Although as an independent conservative, and one who places great stock in history and what it can teach us, I tend to side with the strict constructionists more often than not.
It is becoming increasingly clear that our nation has become so polarized that ideology takes precedent over reason and common sense. It is clear that the fringe element of the the liberal democratic party and the fringe element of the conservative republican party are controlling the debate.
It is any wonder that our governmemnt, as bad as it has become, is unable to draw logical and reasoned conclusions from valid data and make appropriate decisions that will resolve our national crises?
Call this a rant of a drunk old senior citizen like TAO of Democracy Central recently did in a comment stream at Truth 101 if you like. But the reality is we are a nation in trouble. Both fiscally and ethically. No matter how much we equivocate, or attempt to avoid the truth, it remains that both liberals, democrats, conservatives, republicans, and every shade in between has a shared responsibility for our current situation.
Therefore, does it not stand to reason we have a shared responsibility to find reasonable and workable solutions to our shared problems?
The deficit problem will not go away by ignoring it. It is the result of many things, but the bottom line is we have spent more than we have. We have been doing so for a very long time.
The national obligations, both to our people and our foreign creditors will not go away by themselves. Not raising the debt limit and defaulting on our "past obligations", IE: money previously borrowed and already spent, will not resolve our crises.
The answer seems fairly simple. We must significantly cut spending, sacred cows {such a the MIC} must to be on the chopping block, we must reform and simplify the tax code {including lowering the marginal tax rates, reducing the number and closing loopholes}, we must eliminate regulations that make us non competitive, we must encourage and give business incentives to stay in the USA, and we must reform entitlements.
We must also be willing to accept that even given three or four trillion in cuts over ten years we may need to accept that a revenue increase is necessary and inevitable.
Or we could continue on as we have. And we can join the likes of Greece, Portugal, and other nations that find themselves in very unenviable circumstances.
The choices are ours.
Via: Memeorandum here, here, here, here, here, and here
We would not need to cut nearly that much if we significantly reduced borrowing - and the only way to do that is to actually, and really pay the bills - and ONLY WAY TO DO THAT is to RAISE TAXES.
ReplyDeleteYou lower marginal rates??? What??? Really??? You're going to fall for all that "waste, fraud, and abuse" BS? You going to fall for all that "redundancy and overlap" BS? We've heard all this endlessly for 41 years now and NOTHING has come of it!!! When do we learn???
We saw in the 90's that we can raise taxes, grow, and even get back in the black. Taxes can go up. It can happen.
Taxing the working and middleclass more? Okay. But then it's necessary - and for Christ's sake, only fair - that marginal rates rise. The wealthy are not creating enough jobs in America today and they could, but they want more power and people like you are naive enough to want them to have it. They have enough. Stop being such a sucker for the idle rich.
Now, this "close the loopholes" BS was a gimme to gullible swing-voters and "moderate" Republicans, and there are aren't enough of either these days to make a deal.
We have to raise all rates and significantly reduce borrowing (I wish some conservative would come up with a constitutional amendment for that!).
It's time to pay the bills.
JMJ
"ONLY WAY TO DO THAT is to RAISE TAXES."
ReplyDeleteNo. This greedy and destructive solution should never be done. Why? There's simply no need.
IF the goal of this is to get more revenue for the Federal government, the government already has enough. It's the spending that is outstripping everything.
"When do we learn???"
Cutting the waste fraud and abuse is always a great idea. An excellent one. Try this first. There's no need to steal more from the American people.
"Taxing the working and middleclass more?"
That's the Democrats idea. They want to further overtax a very hard working segment of working people.
"We have to raise all rates"
Actually, we need to reduce rates. We are badly overtaxed, and this situation stifles investment and forces companies to move overseas. Sorry, your appeal to more greed by the ruling elites is falling flat.
"It's time to pay the bills"
It's time for Uncle Sam to stop ordering lobster every time he is at the restaurant. There's plenty of money for him to pay for a decent meal.
-----------
Seriously, it is time for Obama to give serious consideration to this problem, and propose a budget for next year that has $0 deficit. Then they can work out surplus budgets to start reducing the debt.
dmarks, there is a time to raise taxes and a time to reduce them. Read your Bible. It makes the basic point. We need to raise taxes to pay our bills right now. Grow up and take it like a man.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
The 111th Congress spent more money than all other Congresses before it. President Obama is easy to blame Bush, yet it is his Congress that has swung this deathblow against America.
ReplyDeleteThat 800 billion dollar stimulus? Um...where's the fruit? Where's the results?
I call you a hypocrite, Mr. Obama. Your 111th Congress and Reid and Pelosi and Frank and Dodd and all the others are culpable, sir, so very culpable.
Be a man. Be accountable. 2012 is going to hurt you. Make amends now, while you still can.