Will said tony tyler-1522631

LMAO @ wasci! You blame republicans at wanting this for America, while saying that welfare (a democrat give away) is the biggest downfall of the U.S.? Isn't that kind of like blaming crime on police? Now if you had started your rant by blaming all politicians like you did at the end of your rant then I would have taken you seriously. Alas, you appear just to be another political hack.

Wascigarman you really should consider getting your facts straight before you speak. Last time I checked, and most of my adult life, it has been the _DEMOCRATS— that are giving away the house. Oh yes, and the food, eyeglass, dental, prescription, medical, clothing, cell phone, cell phone minutes, fuel oil, electricity, baby food, lightbulbs, automobiles, and last I heard cable and internet ! And I am not a registered Republican as I say this. NOW the DEMOCRATS have increased my payroll taxes amounting to a twenty cent net loss per hour in pay. While the Governor wants to increase my gasoline tax and the Democratically run DEP says that my gutters are harming their river (the same one that has been around for 125 years since the house has been here) and I should pay $10,000 dollars to reroute. OF course lets not forget the additional appraisal that is "Not a tax increase" but is so far out of range that it will cost thousands of dollars for the attorney to correct !!! Multiplied by an illegal school tax increase and another illegal drink tax cause a guy shouldn't be allowed to have a drink in public and discuss this kind of stuff with his buddies.

I must admit, I totally agree with the rest of your statement. So either you are a mindless Democrat who cant see beyond his face...or you simply have your facts mixed up.

I hope it is the latter !

Rosie: It is your type of philosophy that got us into this mess.

BOTH parties are responsible for this mess. Politicians have one job "to buy votes". And they do this by giving stuff away. Tax credits. Social Security. Food Stamps. Prescription drug plans. Special interest groups. But they can't get it approved IF they had to raise taxes each time to pay for it. So they borrow it. From Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. Bush borrowed about $4 trillion from 2000 to 2008. Obama even called that "unpatriotic" (and was right). But then HE borrows in only FOUR YEARS over $6 Trillion.

End result is the "buy the votes" campaign has come to an end. We can't afford to borrow anymore. We wouldn't BE in this mess if George Bush and Barack Obama combined didn't borrow over $10 Trillion.

But now we are here. How we got here no longer matters. How to FIX now matters. We are out of money. We are bankrupt. We have no money. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None. There is no Social Security trust fund - that has been "borrowed" too. Other countries and investors no longer interested in lending us money anymore.

We are STILL borrowing about $1 Trillion annually and the CBO just came out with a report yesterday that our deficits will INCREASE over the next 10 years. That's right. Not only are we not REDUCING our spending we are increasing it.

This $1 Trillion a year we borrow do you want to guess where we are getting that money? China? No. Saudi Arabia? No. Dubai? No. We are printing it. Let me say that again: WE ARE PRINTING IT!! The Fed is printing $85 Billion a month then using it to buy Treasury Bonds. In other words, we are printing money then lending it to ourselves.

Now I won't waste your time explaining in "economics" lingo what is happening and what ultimately occurs but history is clear: whenever a country resorts to printing money as the only remaining means to cover its bills then an economic collapse is not too far away. This picture is NOT what will happen to this country with austerity it is actually a picture of our economy when our currency collapses and nobody is willing to sell to the U.S. because the currency is worthless. THAT is why this picture is representative to what could happen. Food can't make it "to market" because there is no currency of which to exchange it for.

Rosie, you are "sucked" into this phenomenon that government can "fix everything". You will quickly find when our currency collapses, and ultimately our economy collapsed, you will have wished you had a better understanding of economics and what you could have done to better prepare yourself.

BTW, I have nearly 6 months worth of emergency food I have been stocking up over the last 4 or 5 years because I could see the writing on the wall and is much closer than you think. The Obama policies are simply accelerating the ultimate collapse of our economy much faster.

Two things the nut cases don't like, the bailout of the banks and not doing austerity is the reason it is not us. The fight over the debt ceiling can put us there though. The Senators and Representives responsible for that debt fight and the lowering of the govt. credit rating should be put up against the wall and shot. We are the world's reserve currency and that that is a tremendous advantage and congress by their stupidity and inaction threaten that and also to further damage the credit rating. When the economy was good we should have been paying the debt off and building surpluses not cutting taxes. Most of the Bush Republicans are the immoral trash that we imagine. We take a war off the books, cut taxes and tell people to go shopping. We send young people to risk their lives and then say, you can also pay for it later. What immoral gutless wonders. Any war should require a war tax. Yes welfare, food stamps all of that has to be cut back and also defense spending now higher than during the cold war, agriculture subsidies and all other corporate welfare. I am a CPA making 6 figures I see some of this. Speaking of accounting, not a defined pension plan in govt, 401Ks like the rest of us and then for health care, shoot 50% of the lawyers.

DM57: Just as you advocate a "war" tax for any war the country may be involved in, you should be advocating for increasing the tax to actually pay for the actual cost of medicare. Almost the entire discretionary budget is from borrowed money. Our outlays for medicare and social security are not covered by current FICA revenues. Since these are suppose to be self sufficient programs, something needs to be fixed. Medicare tax has been 2.9% (employee and employer contribution total) since 1986. It doesn't take a CPA to figure out that it isn't enough to pay the costs.

But Dave, there is not enough money to PAY for the entitlement programs we have. Let me put it this way: Take what you paid in taxes last year - now double it. Now EVERYBODY in the country that paid taxes last year - now double it. And you STILL don't have enough money to pay for all of our spending.

Our spending levels are not just a "little" more than they should be - they are double what they should be. We start programs without any plan to pay for them.

If we were to DOUBLE our taxes this year, versus last year, for everybody (and not just the "rich" but EVERYBODY!!) we STILL would not cover our spending for the year.

So there is only one solution. We must cut spending and not "just a little". We need MASSIVE cuts to save this country.

Now it won't be easy - and is the reason it has not been done. But we have put off year after year after year after year so NOW we need MASSIVE cuts to save the country rather than just MINOR cuts that could have been done over the last 15 or 20 years. We wouldn't have even noticed it. A slight increase of retirement age for Social Security. A slight deductible added to Medicare. A slight reduction in Food Stamps allowed or slight reduction in income required to qualify. All of these we could have done just a little over the last 15 or 20 years and nobody would have noticed.

But now the SHTF. We can't do "minor" changes now and save the country. We need, literally, close to 30% and 40% cuts. Now since we waited it requires an "axe" and not a "scalpel".

This is like a family making $50,000 a year and spending $52,000 a year. Small changes can be done to reduce consumption and start paying back the small amount owed. At that time it could be simply a cheaper vacation, eating out twice a month instead of once a week, etc. Small minor changes that are fairly easy to absorb.

But now this SAME family owes $300,000 and is spending $70,000 a year and still making $50,000 a year. They are screwed. No "minor" cuts will do it. This family (as is our country) bankrupt. There is NO WAY to make up that difference now with "minor" cuts. To save this family they need MASSIVE cuts. Selling cars and walking to work. NO eating out for the next 5 years. And so on.

THAT is where this country is. Adding 1% to a "tax" does nothing. We are screwed and BOTH parties are to blame. But we can't continue sweeping under the rug. It is now in the open. And there is no denying it: THIS COUNTRY IS BROKE!! THIS COUNTRY IS BANKRUPT!!

And the faster we ALL recognize that the faster we can do the painful steps to fix. This is a massive bandage on a massive wound and as much as it is going to hurt we need to rip the bandage off so we can actually start healing. Playing around the edges of the "bandage" simply delays the inevitable.

We MUST rip off the bandage. And it will hurt. It will hurt badly. It will hurt this economy - in the short run. We will have a couple bad years while our "wound" recovers. But THEN we can recover. And in 10 years we will look back and say "that REALLY hurt but now we are so much better!!". The alternative? I REALLY don't want to think about how bad the alternative will be is we are seeing right now.

Pro, I'm with you on the cuts. My point is that people like to argue that since they paid their 1.45% for medicare, they deserve to be covered. They believe that it is owed to them. The reality is that even with the matching 1.45% from their employer, it is not enough to fund medicare. Therefore, it is an unfunded entitlement that needs to be addressed.

I understand that we do not have enough money in the treasury to cover all of the spending, hence an annual deficit. But, most Americans do not accept the reality that the social programs provided by the federal government have increased in expenses without an increase in revenues. Thus, non discretionary spending takes up almost every dollar received by the treasury annually. The reality is that both discretionary and non discretionary spending has to be addressed.

My point is that people are stupid to think that 2.9% of all payroll in America is enough to provide benefits for medicare recipients now and into the future. Something has to give...reduced benefits or significantly higher payroll taxes.

Dave: I'm with you on that too. I am also with you on the idea they are "owed". Many believe "I have paid into so I deserve it" but if there is no money there is no money.

Yes, too many don't understand we are spending money faster than it is coming in and, as you say, "something has to give". Unfortunately we are seeing what "has to give" at the moment.

Bringing in about $2.5 Trillion but spending $3.8 Trillion. About $125 Trillion in "unfunded liabilities". And yet we still have the vast majority of people saying "but I am entitled". We'll see how all THAT works out in the upcoming months and years:(