http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... on_LEADTop

Boehner wrote: At one point several weeks ago, the president said to me, 'We don't have a spending problem.'

WTF?!?!

But then hell, maybe 'ol presbo is right. I mean, let's break it down. We have to decide to take one of two roads:

1. Retain the level of spending at which we currently sit, and jack taxes to pay for it. And I mean jack taxes, including forcing the 47% to pay as well, such that enough revenue is collected to cover the budget. This of course is a preposterous notion to anyone with common sense, as jacking taxes, especially to obscenely high levels, will cause a mass exodus of wealth producers from out ranks, in effect creating just a massive hippie state, a huge communal sitting duck for the new super powers of the world.

2. Trim, nah prune, NAH strip down hard our current spending levels to the point that our current taxation levels can support it, and learn to live within our current means. This of course is the prudent course of action to those of us with common sense, as it allows us to retain wealth producers in our ranks, and a very modest safety net can be maintained, one that actually has an exit door.

But then it seems that the democratic majority of the nation indeed comfortably chooses option 1. If option 1 is the choice, then presbo is right, we don't have a spending problem, just a massive shortage of revenue, one that in the world of reality can't be shored up, but hell, why limit ourselves to reality anymore right? Remember, Obama Sr himself pointed out, it's easy to get away with taxation as high as 100%, as long as you provide benefits commensurate to the confiscated wealth.

IMHO, the only way we'll be able to fix our budget is to raise taxes on everyone. If you make more than 20k/annual your income tax should go up 5%. Only then, when everyone has a horse in the race, will America wake up and realize that big Gov costs money. Only when everyone experiences the pinch will we have the will to take a long hard look at spending and waste.

Lets crank up capital gains taxes to 25% while we're at it. Lets get the filthy rich back in the game. We'll need their resources to make any serious changes.

WDRacing wrote:IMHO, the only way we'll be able to fix our budget is to raise taxes on everyone. If you make more than 20k/annual your income tax should go up 5%. Only then, when everyone has a horse in the race, will America wake up and realize that big Gov costs money. Only when everyone experiences the pinch will we have the will to take a long hard look at spending and waste.

Lets crank up capital gains taxes to 25% while we're at it. Lets get the filthy rich back in the game. We'll need their resources to make any serious changes.

Do that, and 20-25% more people will find it easier to lay home on unemployment / disability. CUT (or severely restrict) ENTITLEMENTS.

Capital gains taxes don't just hit the uber-wealthy. I've already been taxed (heavily) on my earnings, plus paid fees when I invested. You're talking about wiping out ANY advantage, even if I see 12-15% gains.

Well I can't think of any method that will educate the masses any better than taking some of their money to pay for their share of the budget.

I'm still not sure why we don't have time limits on unemployment.

I was just reading, 1 out of 4 children receives food stamps. That's an astounding number.

stebo0728 wrote:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... on_LEADTop

Boehner wrote: At one point several weeks ago, the president said to me, 'We don't have a spending problem.'

WTF?!?!

The problem with politics is the routine grabbing of isolated sentences and taking them taken out of context for potlitical gain, especially convenient in this case that the sentence came during a private meeting. If Obama did actually say that sentence, I'm wondering if the context was actually that Congress has no problem spending money wastefully. We don't know the truth, because it does not appear the WSJ writer asked the president to clarify.

As far as spending cuts, and who should be kicked out of office. I'd like to know who congressional/Senate numbskulls who slipped in the NASCAR aid package and $68 Billion worth of other pork into the fiscal cliff bill.

Here's the thing Joel, his (Obama) actions mirror the statement. We got tax increases and no spending cuts. We are and have been running a trillion+ deficit yearly for the entire time he's been POTUS. If it weren't true, we wouldn't be here.

I'm NOT laying this on his feet alone mind, I'm just placing an argument to your statement. His actions speak so loudly I can't hear him.

WDRacing wrote:Well I can't think of any method that will educate the masses any better than taking some of their money to pay for their share of the budget.

Oh, they're educated. They know exactly where the trough is and how long they can wallow in it.

We DID have time limits on unemployment... as well as a system of checks and balances to make sure it's not abused.

Then, BO needed votes. Doesn't take a bloodhound to follow that scent.

I guess what I mean isn't educate, but a share in the pain. Until we're all "in the game" there will never be a "fairness" in the rules. We shouldn't have half of the America paying for the other half.

The thing that gets me is this...the people that don't "have" are living on mere handouts. They are never going to improve. Things are NEVER going to get better for them. Their kids grow up living with nothing, which in turn becomes normal. The welfare state is nothing but a perpetuation of poverty. It's like watching one of my kids receive annual inoculations that will eventually kill them.

My earlier post, where I said we should tax everyone may have ended up with more people on the Gov tit, but it would also be a wake up call for the few remaining Americans that still care about the American Dream. We need to show people how bad off we are, they don't have the sense to "see it" for themselves. When that fails, sometimes you need to use a brick.

The "brick" should be elimination of subsidies, accountability for anyone on government assistance (welfare, food stamps, disability, even free/reduced school lunches), as well as aggressive and thorough oversight, auditing and monitoring of these programs to screen for systemic abuses.

The Left will throw out numbers and say that these programs "aren't the problem" ... That's like me looking at my budget and saying, "Those $7 lunches a day aren't the problem, it's my collection of old Datsuns." It's obfuscation and distraction.

Your ideals are my ideals buddy. But they are no longer America's ideals when you consider the majority. How do we get to that^^^ from here. You and I can talk about it all day. But that doesn't change anything.

Why do I feel like I need to drop off the grid in order to pursue happiness?

WDRacing wrote:Why do I feel like I need to drop off the grid in order to pursue happiness?

No kidding, I've been asking this. The US doesn't "feel" like the US anymore. It honestly feels like I left on deployment, and never really came back. I thought about it for a while, and it's because there's tension EVERYWHERE. Just like there was overseas. New Zealand anyone? They just got voted freest country in the world I think.

I'm not leaving. I will, however, make it such that I don't need anything from the Feds (other than roads). My goal is to be completely self-sustaining within the next 5 years. I'm no nutcase separatist, but I want nothing to do with the lunacy of Washington.

AZhitman wrote:I'm not leaving. I will, however, make it such that I don't need anything from the Feds (other than roads). My goal is to be completely self-sustaining within the next 5 years. I'm no nutcase separatist, but I want nothing to do with the lunacy of Washington.

Its not about what you will need from your country, its about what your country will need from you, and that's where the CYA game gets tougher

Indeed. Being off the grid doesn't stop the Gov from taking what you have.

Might be tough then. I don't have an issue paying my income taxes. Anything beyond that, they can collect in person.

I'm not inclined to come unlock the gate.