Debt ceiling- intelligent discussion plz

What we need to discuss is serious ways to get our economy back on track. Face reality, we ae not going to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA or any of the entitlement programs. Americans like them. We have to find ways to cut waste, increase efficiency and re-energize our manufacturing system. To do this we will also have to restructure our tax system. As long as both sides are posturing and blustering, that just isn't going to happen. What depresses me is that if we can't do that ourselves, how can we possibly expect our politicians to?

chickaree wrote: What we need to discuss is serious ways to get our economy back on track. Face reality, we ae not going to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA or any of the entitlement programs. Americans like them. We have to find ways to cut waste, increase efficiency and re-energize our manufacturing system. To do this we will also have to restructure our tax system. As long as both sides are posturing and blustering, that just isn't going to happen. What depresses me is that if we can't do that ourselves, how can we possibly expect our politicians to?

I haven't got the time to put into a good analysis of the budget. I can fire from the hip and say "Blast this program, and that one over there looks like pork to me...", but I'm not in a position of knowledge. I do know that I'll vote for either party if the representative promises (or better yet has shown a track record of) decreased federal spending.

Rick wrote:

Raees wrote: This is not the first time that our economy hasn't been growing, but the debt ceiling was raised before nevertheless. What's the alternative? To let the nation default?

Do you think if Romney were president the Republicans would scoff at raising the debt ceiling?

We would not default if the debt ceiling isn't raised... there is more than enough revenue to service our debt.

And to pay our bills? And to keep us from another downgrade,,,,which surely does affect our ability to service our debt.

archer wrote:

Rick wrote:

Raees wrote: This is not the first time that our economy hasn't been growing, but the debt ceiling was raised before nevertheless. What's the alternative? To let the nation default?

Do you think if Romney were president the Republicans would scoff at raising the debt ceiling?

We would not default if the debt ceiling isn't raised... there is more than enough revenue to service our debt.

And to pay our bills? And to keep us from another downgrade,,,,which surely does affect our ability to service our debt.

We won't default on our bills and what do you think will happen to our credit rating when we start borrowing $.50 of every dollar we spend instead of $.40? It's not that far away. At some point our spending must be addressed because taxes will not come close to fixing this.

When it's time to raise the debt ceiling is not the time to address our spending, IMO. That's should be done, not at a deadline, but during the time Congress is in session, listening to all sides and coming up with a compromise.

I getting really tired of Congress running the government by crisis.

Then all you have to do is demand that they meet a budget. Those that accept a govt that has no real concern for the next generation but pretend constantly that they do.

All we have to do is demand that all govt programs are cut by 75%-99% and keep it that way till we have a balanced budget.

People need to stop asking for stuff and those that did, the older folks now need to pay for all the stuff and programs....that by the way DID NOT WORK. But don't worry, we will keep all those programs in place and make even more. Performance and future are not variables in running a govt apparently. Paying your own way of that of your family is also NOT the american way. So you get what you get Raees. Like so many of your posts, you asked for this, not me. You have the bleeding heart, you have spend all our money and that of future generations on your concerns, the concerns of the future be damned, we already spent resources they would have had.

Most of the same people are running the country that have been for decades, they are just there to bleed us dry, no consequence, all the stupid republicans and democrats that keep electing these fools are to blame, the lesser of evil folks are very much to blame and those that ever spend other people's money are to blame, the only trick is to get the absolute dumbest of the population to join the Democrat or Repub party, luckily most here are not just dumb, they are very dumb. It's all just a little bit of history repeating.

I am getting tired of people making demands on the govt so that it constantly has to run in crisis and massive debt. Please stop or send them some money if you want more crap from them, for yourself or for others. If you expect more from the govt, send them funds and shut up.

And we don't need a dumb ass credit rating if we figure out how to pay our own way. We only need a great credit rating to keep screwing our kids. Does not sound like a good goal.

As long as they keep hands off Social Security, which is NOT an entitlement program, I'd be happy to see big cuts in bloated government programs and agencies, such as the defense department, eliminate pork projects tacked onto must-pass bills and eliminate lobbying to buy off elected officials.

I ran across a medical company today that spent $10 MILLION last year on lobbying. What if that had used that money to bring down the cost of their drug instead?

Raees wrote: As long as they keep hands off Social Security, which is NOT an entitlement program, I'd be happy to see big cuts in bloated government programs and agencies, such as the defense department, eliminate pork projects tacked onto must-pass bills and eliminate lobbying to buy off elected officials.

I ran across a medical company today that spent $10 MILLION last year on lobbying. What if that had used that money to bring down the cost of their drug instead?

I ran across a company that defrauded the Government, i.e., Medicare, out of about $1 billion, and ended up paying $2 Billion to settle... Oh, wait... That guy is the Governor of Florida now...


Rick Scott, Gov. of Florida:

In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the U.S. government $631 million, plus interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition to $250 million paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare expense claims.[24] In all, civil law suits cost HCA more than $2 billion to settle, by far the largest fraud settlement in US history.[25]

Just think of what $2-Billion could have done to bring down the cost of health care?

archer wrote: And to pay our bills? And to keep us from another downgrade,,,,which surely does affect our ability to service our debt.

They are all seriously playing with fire here and being arrogant. Risking more downgrades and the gift of historically low interest rates and a stable bond market is just insane.

If there is a relatively small uptick in interest rates it will immediately cancel out any minor budget cuts or new revenues from the tax increase.