Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave this speech on the Senate floor.
That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is our Senate Majority Leader, the man who insists that we must raise taxes (so we can pay for his pomegranate trees back home in Nevada).
Of course we have to raise taxes. We are in debt. The way we pay our debt is with tax revenue. We were in surplus, just enough to make modest payments on our debt, before we cut taxes. Families have to pay their mortgages, We The People of the United States have to pay the debts backed by the Full Faith and Credit of the United States.
ReplyDeleteThe notion that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for government profligacy is one part Santa Claus, one part Easter Bunny, one part "I'm going to hit the Powerball, and one part five year old wailing to mommy "why can't I have this."
Hopefully, when we get the debt paid down, or maybe paid off, we can not only lower taxes, but apply the money that was paid as interest to the needs of the people of the United States. Its hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
Siarlys,
ReplyDeleteWe have to stop the insane spending is what we need to do.
Gary, the phrase "insane spending" is a weasel phrase, and as a competent instructor of English, you know it.
ReplyDeleteNo accountant would accept that as an audit.
Since nobody expects you to post a commentary on each line item in the federal budget in a blog post, post a list of the first three LINE ITEMS (not general characterizations) in the budget you propose to cut. Then list how much money we save by cutting them.
Next, provide a quotient: the amount you just proposed cutting divided by the amount of the national debt. You will find a considerable ways to go before we even reduce the interest we are currently paying.
You will also find that EVERY line in the budget has its advocates, who say "we need to cut spending, but not ____." For example, the Republicans who wanted guarantees the military would NOT be cut, before voting for spending cuts in the bill to increase the debt ceiling.
As you have lamely but accurately insinuated, the USA simply cannot AFFORD the cost of maintaining a world wide military establishment.
If we balance the budget tomorrow, we still need ADDITIONAL TAX REVENUE, over and above the revenue to pay current bills, in order to pay down the debt. Bill Clinton, whatever his other predilictions, understood this well, and delivered.
I don't need to be a psychiatrist to recognize insane when I see it.
ReplyDeleteYou need to perform some simple arithmetic before you try to make a case that a given quantity of spending is insane. This isn't psychiatry, its accounting. If you can't tell the difference, that might be why you aren't making any sense.
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