Please tell me how kicking the can down the road/increasing the debt ceiling is good in the long term?

In life people often need to make short term sacrifices in order to realize long term gains. What I see the POTUS/left doing is giving short term gains at the price of long term sacrifice. The right needs to come off this we won't tax the rich more stupidity and the left needs to wake up and understand they are fukking the youth and all of us with debt. Yes the right increased the debt but that's water under the bridge and they are not in power so don't bother to bring that up.

I'm of the opinion that they should reel in spending before they increase taxes. In addition redo the tax code to have a flat tax. Tax stuff at point of sale and let that be it. Get rid of all deductions, including the mortgage write off.

Personally, I don't see how we can maintain the status quo with the way medicare/medicaid is currently set up. I am of the opinion that the native American Indians had it right. You become unhealthly or are no longer able to hunt/fish then you die naturally. No resources wasted keeping someone going that is going to suck up resources that are not there. I realize this is kinda heavy hearted but what is the point of someone 80+ years old having a heart bypass or mulitple other surgerys when all they do is get out of bed every morning and lay down on the couch all day because they are not healthy enough to get around.

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Jim

I'm in the same camp as Jim, but not very many people would go along with me on how MUCH spending should be cut.

In all this, NIETHER party is innocent. The most insane part of it all is how much BORROWED money is being handed out, with very few questions asked. In fact, I saw where as of today, Obama has borrowed MORE money than all the previous administrations COMBINED. We're borrowing at a rate of $3.3B per day, 365 days per year.

Scary stuff.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

I am developing a completely new line of thinking (for me-the fiscal conservative). Give the administration and congress all they want. Really. Let them tax anybody and everybody at what ever rate they want. Let them spend all they want. Give away all they want. Buy all the votes they want. Only requirement: they must have a balanced budget (no tricks, no off budget, no additional borrowing) PLUS they must pay all that year's interest on the debt plus 2% of the principle each year. And then watch them pray that the other party stops them.

Sounds like a GREAT plan to me Bob! Too bad that the very people that would have to put it in place, are the ones that would have to abide by it. That means that it could NEVER happen.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

No. LET's bring it up, not just "poo poo" it as you said.

Let's bring up military waste and fraud and how come the chest beating far right has dragged us into unwinnable wars for decades. Please explain the mission, goal and strategy for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Mr. MTU Power....

And a lot of iot is BLOOD (not just water as you so cavalierly and dismissively put it) under the bridge... all the death and permanent injury of our troops, and those country's civilians.

The knee jerk "partisanship above patriotism" of the far right has been repudiated by the American electorate. What *IS* it about that concept that so eludes you???!!

Younger people and the remaining middle class see no good reason for the tax breaks given to multimillionaires and want to see some meaningful reform here.

The flimsy fig leaf of "job creation" has been shown to be a sham, and ripped away. Most of those "jobs" go to places like China and Bangladesh, where labor is cheaper; and tax breaks should be tied directly to corporate investment and jobs and new infrastructure created only WITHIN the United States and not outside it.

It's time to see REAL reform.

"Tax cuts for the rich" are unsustainable morally until they are truly earned.

Not given away to Congressional represetatives through slick bribery by lobbyists.

Both sides are guilty of it, but it is far far more pervasive on the right, far right and the Republican party, in terms of both scope and actual dollars.

The entire system has been perverted into a plutocracy, and does not resemble the Democracy of our founding fathers.

Goes back over a hundred years, to the robber barons and railroad scandals at the beginning of the last century. And before. It is about limitless greed.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Jim- what can we do about the past? Can we change it? Can we bring those that did bad deeds to court and make them pay? Will that "solve" the issue before us? Will playing the blame game do any good?

The answer to all of those is no; which is why there is no use in bringing that up. It only muddles the solution. Yes the right sucks and so does the left. So what? If we tax the rich as much as the left would like it will still not pay for 10% of the spending they have proposed. We still have the same problem before us - so your observation of the right being greedy does nothing to solve the problem.

The left is in power- they won the election. Blaming the loser for the past does not help the future.

Now- back to the question- do you have a better idea than short term gain with a long term sacrifice ?

Get rid of corporate and multimillionaire political bribery

Get rid of deficit spending and balance the budget, live within your means.

Reduce fraud & waste in the military, cut the SIZE of the military and stop useless unwinnable foreign capers ander trying to be the policeman of the whole world

A fair taxation for all, same rate across the board, eliminate corporate tax dodges, off shore havens, accounting tricks.

Make welfare and food stamps for the poor realistically contingent and tied to, in some meaningful way --- with self improvement, education and population control and unfettered access to birth control and no crime and drug abuse, somehow in a way that gives self reliance, hope, direction and purpose.

Stop rewarding and making worthwhile illegal immigration

Repeal citizens United at the Supreme Court which in effect says corporate money = votes.

Death penalty for parking tickets (not really --- just making sure you are paying attention here)

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Jim,

I would tell you just how much of what you write that I agree with except I'm afraid it would scare you into a heart attack. Except for your last one, I GENERALLY agree with what you wrote.

I think that if we were sitting down getting specific on some of them or the approach we would use to accomplish it, we might be at odds, but I totally agree all of it except ONE minor point as it's written.

On the first one, I would agree under any circumstances, but I believe that the politicians BUYING votes in the form of handouts of our tax money has more influence on elections than the influenced of the wealthy. Of course, there's no way to confirm exactly how much effect either of them have, so what I bring up is a philosophical argument anyway.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

The idea about "kicking the can down the road" is part of the plan.

In my opinion, this is how it will play out....

-kicking the can basically buys time
-they will flood the economy with funny money (funny US money)
-inflation will skyrocket again (think early 70's and early 80's) because we are long due
-they will pay back the debt with inflated dollars

obviously, the biggest hurt will be felt by people on a fixed income and workers who are employees (not owners of the business).

so my advice to you is this...stay away from bonds (inflation will kill them) and invest in stocks that provide basic staples (they have the capability to raise prices when raw material prices rise).

Keeping money in cash is also a bad idea for obvious reasons.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

In the end, I would be heavily into mountains of South African kruggerands, Gold Bars, guns and ammunition. Nothing else.

This to me is the proper Currency for the post apocalypse world..

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

How about a show trial ( for the publicity value) of all government workers who avoid paying taxes.
How about prosecuting government officials for bribery for selling their votes? They have managed to make it legal they way they do it, but it would be illegal for any of us. Make it illegal for politicians to profit from insider information--and make jail time mandatory.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

they tried something like that in the corporate world (Sarbanes-Oxley) where the CFO has to sign off on the financials of the corporation.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

I agree with most of this. The problem directly in front of us is that what you have written is not what the right or left proposes now or has proposed in the past save moving towards a smaller military which the left seems to espouse.
I also think you are over confident that the right's political pull by big business changes voters habits at the ballot box- if it did we would have a different POTUS.
The left refuses to put more reasonable limits on welfare programs.
The left refuses to stop rewarding illegal immigrants.
The right refuses to close business loop holes which at one time were called incentives (when business figured out a way to make more money from these incentives ((which is exactly the reason they were put in place)) then they are called loop holes)
Neither side wants to live within it's means because it'll mean pain on the short term- and no politician wants to tell it's people the bad news.

I'd rather have the bad news up front and in detail so I can go about solving the issue- but voters then vote someone it who tells them it'll be great if you vote for me.... sound familiar?

I believe you to be level headed for the most part- but "post apocalypse"? I also believe that soon the USA will no longer be the shining city on the hill but the slum in the shadows if we continue to act first/think second as a nation.