Town Hall Anger Over Ryan Budget

LadyJazzer wrote: Oh, lessee...We could cut $4 BILLION a year on unnecessary tax subsidies to the oil companies... We could reduce the military budget by about 20%+, and for every unnecessary extra second jet-engine we DON'T build for a single-engine plane, we could probably take care of a few thousand people...

And let the Bush tax-cuts expire...FOR EVERYBODY...

Problem solved....

Those are concrete suggestions, instead of the usual babbling right-wing talking-points and generalizations.

I agree with you. In more ways than one, this is a "phony emergency". The Republicans are taking advantage of the economic crisis to try to shove down our throats an agenda of austerity that hardly anyone would have accepted if they hadn't been scared into it by being told we will go "bankrupt" if they don't give up Medicare. It's BS of a high order.

But i suspect they are taking a very big risk of it blowing up in their face.

Poor math skills showing again LJ. How do you propose Odumbo cuts 20% when he keeps getting us in new undeclared wars? Even if we can eliminate the oil company subsdies who will pick up the difference in revenues?
AV, it seems every year the age for getting Social Security benefits keeps getting to older ages. Unless we get to a balanced budget, then a plan to pay back the debt, the assurances you speak of are just false hopes (we already have many of those).

the usual babbling right-wing talking-points and generalizations.

That doesn't answer either question, just shows the usual deflection and denial.

HEARTLESS wrote: Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die.

I think the American people love to TALK about cutting spending but they don't want to lose their favorite programs.

HEARTLESS wrote: AV, it seems every year the age for getting Social Security benefits keeps getting to older ages. Unless we get to a balanced budget, then a plan to pay back the debt, the assurances you speak of are just false hopes (we already have many of those).

The Social Security system is not directly tied to the budget and funds from it can't be used to balance the budget. Most analysts think it is still in fairly sound condition although further adjustments are probably going to have to be made to keep it solvent into the middle of this century.

It really is an entirely separate issue from the deficit, and the fact that people have it confounded as part of the problem only goes to prove my point, that the Republicans are taking advantage of the fear and unease over the budget deficit to accomplish an agenda they have cherished for decades - the destruction of the social safety network including Social Security and Medicare.

The Social Security system has been the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the carpetbagging guvmint for years. It was also based on many poor and false assumptions. I'm not saying this is the best proposal, but something has to be done and soon.

HEARTLESS wrote: The Social Security system has been the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the carpetbagging guvmint for years. It was also based on many poor and false assumptions. I'm not saying this is the best proposal, but something has to be done and soon.

I'd argue that it has been the prize the Right has sought because they would just love to get the funds locked up in it into private hands, ie, to further inflate the stock market. I don't know about you, but I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people who depend on SS who are thanking their lucky stars that Bush didn't succeed with his "privatization" scheme. As many people have learned the hard way, having your pension locked into the stock market can be a very risky business. I know plenty of people my age who have seen their IRA/401k nest eggs shrink by 50% in the past few years and are damned glad the same thing hasn't happened (yet anyway) to Social Security.

Social Security and Medicare have the overwhelming support of the American people. What we need to do now is fix them and move on. Raise the cap, raise the retirement age apply means testing, root out the scammers ( LibertyMedical and The Scooter Store anyone?) and institute serious bipartisan oversight.

Military spending is next. It's a bloated behemoth full of pork and inefficiencies as well.

Taxes have got togo up for the short term. We caused this deficit, it's our job to fix it. Kwitcherbitchin and pay up.

Not gonna happen. Everyone wants to eat their cake and have it too. We have been too long spoiled and pampered.

If they removed the cap on the income subject to taxes, it would be solvent for the next 100 years...