Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Only 25 People - And a Nation Held Hostage To Save Them Billions


Where Americans Live the Longest, and Why


When A Socialist Speaks For Most Republicans, Who Speaks For You?

Amplify’d from www.huffingtonpost.com
The Republicans insist on rejecting a majority of their own voters, as well as 74% of Independents and 83% of all Democrats, by pushing for a plan that would reduce government deficits exclusively through spending cuts - cuts that affect the middle class, poor people, and everyone who hopes to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits someday.

The "shared sacrifice" principle expressed by Sanders also included demands that there be no cuts to Medicare or Social Security. The 50/50 goal is a reasonable one, which makes it surprising that others haven't embraced it already. In fact, the only problem with a 50/50 split is that it may be too reasonable, now that the rich have become so much richer and the rest of the country has been forced to struggle so much.

Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com
 

Monday, June 27, 2011

No defense cuts or tax increases in debt deal

Link to full article described in previous post.



Reminds me of the joke of bringing a knife to a gunfight.



Further evidence of the strong antagonistic philosophy in current national politics.


The Republican mindset on taxes

If you want to understand where the Republican Party is on the debt-ceiling discussion, it’s worth reading this column by Marc Thiessen and, in particular, this graf:

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com
Let’s be clear: Compromise here isn’t spending cuts for a tax increase; compromise is spending cuts for a debt-limit increase. Republicans elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010 campaigned on a promise to reduce the national debt. They are now being asked to turn around a half a year later and vote to raise the national debt. The vast majority of Republican voters don’t want them to raise the debt limit at all. The only way these Republican legislators can vote for a debt-ceiling increase without getting thrown out of office is to show their constituents that they secured unprecedented cuts in current spending — and ironclad constraints on future spending — in exchange. Tax increases? They are not even part of the equation.
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com