Outside of Congress (Washington D.C.) taking money from people who've invested all their working lives is called "theft" and "fraud"! Hold on a minute and I'll see if Bernie and Jeffery concur......

So you telling me that having 2 stimulus wars for almost a decade is not free? What ever happened to place it on credit and forget about it?

I guess it makes more sense just send 13 billion a month to foreign countries called Iraq and Afghanistan than to actually use it here.

I would like to see the GOP get our trillion dollars back from Iraq. Did DICK Cheney claim that Iraqi oil money will pay for his little wet dream war? Again, if you want to place blame on where our money went, you need look no further than the GOP's rampant outpouring of cash and jobs to other countries from 2000-2006. Unfortunately, teabaggers have seriously limited memories, along with intelligence.

The fact of the matter is that Social Security, Medicare, et al are not entitlement programs! The politicians posture about reducing the federal debt from a program to which they already owe IOU's; specifically, Social Security that was funded by tax dollars.

Politicians stole the money with IOU's and have the gall to refer to our program as an "entitlement!" Rather than delaying our access and reducing our benefits, they all need to stand up and do what is right. If not, return our taxes and we'll darn well take care of ourselves!

'Throwing Americans from the train' is not an option!

LOL - entitlement means you paid into the system and are entitled to get the benefits.

This just shows me how uneducated the public has become nowadays.

Welfare is not an entitlement program because they never paid for the welfare.

Wall Street bankers who make $250,000,000 a year are not entitled to that money and they should be taxed at 110 percent of their income.

TAX the super rich to solve all our problems they are the ones who stole the money from us.

Here's how genius. The average person pays almost $3500 per year into Social Security. At retirement, that person receives roughly $2000 per month from that contribution. So they pay in $3500 per year and collect $24000 per year. After just under 6 years, they have exhausted all of the money they have put into the system. So unless we start death panels to terminate lives after the ripe old age of 71, it's an entitlement program. Good thing we have the new health care plan!

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with BS!

Shhh… The teleprompter will speak.

An entitelment is something you have EARNED! You are entitled to the paycheck that you WORKED for. Those jerks in Washington have changed the meaning of a perfectly good word into something stupid....those who NEVER worked are ENTITLED to dip into the wage earners monies for their benefit, as proscribed by the 0'bammy admin. WRONG, WRONG WRONG!!

Y'all do yourself a favor and look up the definition of "ENTITLED".

not to talk about the stimulus that went to all those "shovel ready jobs", then out imposter in charge states that there is no such thing as a shovel ready job - talk about having no memory

HOW DO YOU NOT HAVE MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT? I'll tell you how, you voted for democrats your entire life, they placed Social Security into the general budget under the Johnson Administration to "Pay for the War"(and everything else) and it was never placed in that "lock box" that Gore talked about. It was spent a long time ago. You should have complained a LONG TIME AGO.

Does that answer your question.

"Obama called his new budget one of "tough choices and sacrifices," but most of those cuts would be held off until after the end of his first term."

Sounds more like he's more interested in his re-election than he is about the Financial Health of the Nation. If these cuts are so great and important, why not do them right away and let the political chips fall where they may.....

The Transparency of his intentions are quite clear....

His Budget is a joke anyway.....

If someone pays into a system for 40 years how in God's name is that an entitlement program....

Granted.. Even Libertarians like Ron Paul and Rand Paul do not advocate taking away Social Security for those who paid into it their entire lives.

What you do is raise the age for those 5 years out by 2-3 years and raise the age for those over 5 years away by about 5-7 years. for everyone else you give them a chance to opt out if they desire, most probably will not.

Either way, Senator Rand Paul's budget proposal shaves away $500 BILLION from the CURRENT year WITHOUT touching entitlements. His proposal on entitlements is due out soon.

If we don't start taking these cuts seriously, AMERICA is DONE.. FINISHED...

Now even FRANCE is joining China, Russia, and several other countries in calling for the IMF to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

How much do you think food and oil will cost when we trade in SDR instead of dollars?

Wake up America.

Please. Spare me the "entitlement is something you earned" BS because armchair politicos have for decades lamented the "sense of entitlement" of the welfare class. This isn't about Meriam-Webster definitions, and everyone with any political sense knows the true pejorative definition of "entitlement program."

Exactly.

I believe the first step should be a new tax code, everyone pays a percentage of total earnings and eliminate all the loop holes. Barak Obama to John Beohner can not classify themselves as a corporation. Corporations who can take jobs overseas because they make more profits from slave labor, should pay a percentage of gross profit to the US.

Politicians who are paid for the job they do should be paid an hourly wage and clock in everyday. They are given performance evaluations annually by the people of this country. Each state will evaluate the representative from their own state to determine who is meeting their obligations. Under no circumstances will any member of Congress or Senate will decide to give themselves a pay increase.

All representatives in Washington will take a 10% pay reduction. If anyone is dissatisfied, they can go to work on Wall St or the banking industry and would be allowed to steal from the Citizens until our government is brave enough to put a stop to the practices.

Just like in the real world, they get paid based on performance. If they are not able to perform they get canned. If they don't show up for work, they are given 3 warnings. If no improvement is met, they get canned.

Once again the Republicans trash and criticize the Presidents suggestions to work on the deficit. Yet, they don't come back with any thoughts or suggestions of their own.

Please, Republicans, take that first step to screw around with Social Security. Justify how a person who pays into the BENEFIT suddenly is accused of sucking from an Entitlement program. Justify to Americans how the government can ransack our Benefit Fund and declare it insolvent when the government steals the peoples money.

Kudos to Egypt. They brought down a corrupt government. We should take a page from their book. If we allow our lawmakers to beat us down while stealing our money, I guess we can't expect anything different.

TAX the super rich to solve all our problems they are the ones who stole the money from us.

Tax no.. I don't agree with raising taxes.. but I DO agree that we should conduct FULL SCALE INVESTIGATIONS on the THEFT of American People's money by the Federal Reserve and Wall Street and that potentially certain assets could be seized as a result to pay down our deficit.

But that still won't fix the problem. We need to get away from this broken system of Central economic planning and strip away all of the CORPORATIST regulations that RIGG our not so free market to the benefit of Mega Corporations and government pals.

Then we set regulations and rules that allow a TRUE free market and that supports COMETITION and SMALL BUSINESS while discouraging mega corporations and anti-trust situations.

Finally, we must reduce the size of Federal government and give more power to the states for things like education and health care to allow the states to compete. DC is too susceptible to the interest of the powerful few... power needs to be closer to the people where they live and in their communities to offset this problem.

Mr. Rogers: I wouldn't be against cutting it back certin provisions of the Social Security Act gradually. The point is you can't just "slash" a program that many people will rely on at least to some degree after they've spent their entire adult lives paying into it.

Wow.. someone on an MSNBC board that actually gets it..

"How much do you think food and oil will cost when we trade in SDR instead of dollars?"

It's comical that these people do not realize that we are poised to accept a 35%-50% reduction in personal wealth within the next 1-2 years when the IMF has to step in to bail out the world. Today, $1USD is worth 0.65SDR. After we default, I'd expect that number to plunge even lower with commodities prices skyrocketing. The $1000 in your bank account will be lucky to equal 500SDR and gas will cost $7-10 bucks a gallon...and that's optimistic! Perhaps that is why the banks and well connected are hoarding as much cash as they possibly can. 10-15 billion is still a lot when cut in half. 50-100k..not so much.

The point is you can't just "slash" a program that many people will rely on at least to some degree after they've spent their entire adult lives paying into it.

I completely Agree.. is is IMMORAL to take away something that people have planned on for decades.

But let's be clear, SS is not TRULY paid for by those who paid into it.. it is a ponzi scheme never intended to be FULL RETIREMENT even when it was created. It was meant to be more as an insurance program.

Also, do not pretend the government stashes away SS.. it has not for the past 20 years. SS is spent the moment it comes in.

The systems has been abused, is being used as retirement which was never intended, AND has never been cared for properly by the lazy cowards in Washington DC.

Anyhow, that being said, I repeat, we CANNOT take away SS for those within 10 years as they have been planning their lives around it.

There have been good plans from Republicans to help a bit, but I am looking forward to Senator Rand Paul's proposal which will keep SS for those using it and close to using it, while fixing it long term for the rest.

The $1000 in your bank account will be lucky to equal 500SDR and gas will cost $7-10 bucks a gallon...and that's optimistic! Perhaps that is why the banks and well connected are hoarding as much cash as they possibly can. 10-15 billion is still a lot when cut in half. 50-100k..not so much.

The sad thing is American's just don't understand. Worse still the US media WILL NOT COVER this.

You can only read about it in foreign news.

But I can't help but wonder, since the US has the largest share of control in the IMF, and pays the most into it, how can this happen and certainly our leaders and the FED are aware.... yet they seem to be allowing it.

You have to ask why? The answers are a bit frightening.

Agreed - SS was never meant to be full retirement and it is fundamentally mismanaged as it stands now. It's not enough to live on anyway. I just can't stand it when people lump SS and Medicare into the pile with welfare and food stamps, as if those who paid their taxes for the past few decades are suddenly stealing from the public by collecting their dues in their golden years.

Agreed....If we kept the same ratio of Life Expectancy to Social Security Retirement Age....When S.S. first became Law :

Life Expectancy for men was 58.....and S.S. retirement age was 65....clearly a safety net for those that outlived their personal retirement funds.( especially widows)

Now Life Expectancy for men is about 77, so that would put S.S. Retirement age at about 84 !!!!

mhaynes - Here's how genius. The average person pays almost $3500 per year into Social Security. At retirement, that person receives roughly $2000 per month from that contribution. So they pay in $3500 per year and collect $24000 per year. After just under 6 years, they have exhausted all of the money they have put into the system.

Well genius, figure the math for this since you are so smart: 3500 per year invested with only a minimum 5% return compounded yearly = how much after forty years? Got a clue? Didn't think so.

Oh yea, just one problem here. Take the person putting that money into a government fund all these years and multiply him times 250-300 million people. That was just way too much money for Washington thieves to leave alone. They just had to pilfer it and leave iou's behind.

How much do you think iou's compounded yearly for 40 years are worth? Bet you don't know the answer to that either... your statements are validation that you have no idea what you are talking about and are too stupid to realize that you have been stolen from.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah.........(The new "He said, We all heard" version of the President's news conference.) How about coming up with something defensible, (and logical) to report at the conference?

And never in their most wild frightening nightmares did the creators of Social Security ever imagine people would live into their 80's, 90's and beyond.

And there really is a Social Security Trust Fund....nothing but Trillions of dollars worth of IOU's in it.

Social Security should be abolished. The money each of us paid in through the years should be returned to us with interest. The problem is, our money is no longer there. They didn't save it as promised to help us financially in our senior years... they squandered it. Now when it is time to pay it back they say" Sorry it's no longer there". I wonder how this would work with my loans.

It's not an entitlement....it's called an insurance policy. The Republicans would like us to think they are giving us something we don't deserve. Remember if you say a lie enough times people believe it to be the truth.

Um What? If it's an insurance policy why can't I opt out?

S.S. first had 45 people paying into it with only 1 taking out, now we are at 3 paying in and 1 taking out and soon it will be only 2 paying in for every 1 taking it, which means it is UNSUSTAINABLE. No, I wouldn't cut off those who have paid in all there life but changes need to come and come quickly. How fair is it that I have to pay into a system that is projected to go broke before I can use it? Or how fair is it that I have to pay in more then my parents and some of you have had to pay in, and I will get much less out at a much later time.

S.S. is a horrible program, it is a racist and sexist program that needs to be phased out. Sexist because women live on average 5 years longer then men, so they get the benefits of a program they on average put less into. Racist because blacks, especially black men live on average 11 years less then white women and 5 years less then white men.

• Black male: 69.8 years
• White male: 75.7 years
• Black female: 76.5 years
• White female: 80.8 years

One thing I think a large number of you are missing, is in the graph there was a very dark blue box that had a pretty good size to it, that is the interest on our debt. That box (Treasury) will grow larger and larger and as it gets bigger the other boxes will have to get smaller. This is why getting the budget under control now is so important, you can have cuts now that will hurt a little, or put off the inevitable and have large gut wrenching cuts later. You can start paying off the massive amount of debt you have now, or wait until it consumes this countries wealth. Stick your head in the sand if you want, that box is growing and you will not be able to ignore much longer.

Logic...look at the size of it now! Also, for all you that keep screaming about the 2 wars being our biggest debt....notice that Health and Human Services is up $55 billion this year. Nice to see all that savings Obamacare promised...

This budget is actually worse than the 3.73 Trillion dollar budget is crediting itself with $62 million savings...now get this....by NOT lowering medicare negotiated rates.

As far as this upcoming campaign speech goes (and that's all this is)...why even bother listening to more of this "everything is great, I'm the best and the republicans are enemies" crap?

Obama considers priorities, such as education, clean energy and high-speed rail.

"Can ya guess which thing, is not like the other"

"Can ya guess which thing just doesn't belong"

"If ya guessed THIS thing (HIGH SPEED RAIL????) is not like the other"

"Then you're absolutely right!"

How on earth are we going to survive without high-speed rail?

This headline is beautiful:

Obama: Budget forces government to live within means

Are you kidding me? Does he understand the "means" is the income? What part of this ridiculous budget is within means?

and I thought Bush was dumb

The President's proposals in fact do cut a number of areas that will hurt. His emphasis on education, green energy and high-speed rail are good for the country, build for the future, and create jobs.

The GOP/TP really doesn't offer anything positive - and does attack jobs and economic recovery with its proposals.

November's elections weren't about the defecit, nor about abortion and women's rights, or any of the other points of ideological twaddle the House majority has wasted a month and a half pursuing. It was about JOBS.

The President's proposals are foward looking as well as protective of employment and economic growth. The GOP/TP ideas are simply ideological - and illogical.

In a serious economic downturn why do we need to weaken the social safety net that protects poor and unemployed families from disaster but we don't need to get rid of tax cuts for the very rich?

mhaynes- people pay an average of 3500 and their employer also pays 3500 for them. So I guess, based on your math, we get 12 years worth of payment. I think that will work for me (based on my family's historical life expectancy), assuming I start drawing it at 62. If I wait until 65, I won't get the full amount invested (by me and my employer, lately me covering both sides of it). I guess you can have the part I don't get to use. I don't know where you got the 2000 per month from, I've maxed contributions a few years and they're only projecting 1656 per month for me.

Social Security was designed (poorly - really a pyramid scheme) as a SAFETY NET - not a retirement program. Anybody going through life making a good living and expecting a full ride living off of social security at retirement has not been planning AT ALL. Any folks with a job and under 40 planning to get anything out of Social Security are not investigating their finances.

Anybody that sends $1 to the Federal Governent and expects that $1 BACK as services or cash is either naive or blind.

It's not about wall-street. That's one vehicle we have in this country to GET money - but you have to earn it first.

It's not about "greedy" corporations. Those are our employers and profit earnings - but you have to work first.

It's about a Federal Government that penalizes success and rewards failure!

Ok folks, here's one for you to think on....your congressional reps will get , the ones retired...possibly, right now, this year will receive over 22million in pension...and we have 455 I believe drawing those funds today..and they can draw that pension after 5 years...and then, work for lobbyist...PLease tell me where anyone other than a politicans can retire after 5 years and draw that kind of money.? THey also can draw social security..however, I do not see any of that on their cutting boards. For all the talk by republicans and democrates alike..I see nothing in new job creation, nor even talked about...I do not see anything that will effect the wealthy in any way...just the folks who made the wealthy their money are getting all the cuts.

High speed rail? Let's invest billions that we don't have into a boondoggle that will make billions for Obama's campaign contributors. This is Chicago politics at its finest, look to the housing project in Chicago and a woman named Jarrett and check for similarities. As to his budget cuts, the man should just sit down and shut up since its congress that makes budgets, not the president. Oh, I fogot, this is no ordinary president, this is the master campaigner who would be king.

How about stopping the payment of SS and Medicare to those that never paid into the system?

Social Security is NOT an entitlement: it is a social insurance policy. It was originally meant to ensure that elderly people would have at least some income when they could no longer work. Additionally, the SS Trust Fund is not full of "IOUs": it holds about 2.5 Trillion dollars worth of Treasury bonds. These are the same bonds that are sold every day to major investors, such as hedge funds, money markets, and our nemesis, China. All of these investors expect to be paid back their principal plus interest, and AFAIK, they will be! So why should we allow the crooks in government to insinuate that the very same bonds held in the SS Trust Fund are worthless? If they are worthless, then so are the bonds held by investment groups and China.

We have every right to expect these bonds to be repaid, and that is the only connection that SS has to the general budget: the "surplus" that has been "loaned" to the government, with T-bonds issued to replace them. All other aspects of SS are strictly pay-as-you-go. Even if nothing is done about SS right now, SS will be able to pay full benefits for another 25 years; after that, it should be able to pay about 75-78% of full benefits out of the payroll tax. SS is not a problem for now, unlike Medicare. The two are NOT connected however. SS is not a part of the budget except when the Republicans want to confuse and frighten people to get their own way.

It is a bald-faced LIE that SS is draining the budget: SS is separately funded. Its only connection to the budget is that the government STEALS the so-called surplus and has for decades now. The T-bonds left in place of that money are valid financial instruments that we sell to other nations. Are we really willing to accept the notion that we should honor the bonds to the Wall Street crooks and China and default on the bonds held by SS, i.e., our own people? I am not! If you can pay China or the crooks on Wall Street, you can damned well pay ME too! Stop lying about SS!

I just find it sickening that the US is now considering SSI of all things an entitlement program, never mind the fact that people and employers have been paying into it for the better part of 50years! It's an investment fund!

The only reason why Uncle Sam is scared is because they've borrowed so heavily from the fund that they cringe at the thought of having to repay all of their IOU's! That's what this is about, they know they've left the fund on a collision course with insolvency because Congress and the Fed have borrowed from the unobligated gains for over 30 years!

Almost nothing out of the gains has been reinvested into the fund! The only growth has come from the sheer increase in the number of payers into it!

Every politician on Capitol Hill is responsible for this mess...they've all utilized this insidious tax of borrowing from OUR nest-egg!

Well, time to pay the piper you lunatics!

Want to fix SSI without cutting the benefits...do 3 simple things

1. Turn the fund into a lockbox! No more borrowing by the Fed or Congress! All budget planning regarding SSI should now go towards paying down the IOU's already in the fund!
2. Remove the "wage base" metric that keeps people from paying in more than 12% on a maximum cap of 106.8K
3. Raise the age that benefits can be applied for to parhaps 67 or even 70.

With everyone paying in an equal proportional share of their incomes into the fund, and Congress and the Fed unable to pull from the gains, the fund should quickly become solvent again and actually stop taking a dent out of the US' GDP.

Remember people, ITS A FUND! The government is only losing money to it because they are paying the interest on all of the IOU's! The only group that actually pays anything into the fund itself are the American people and participating businesses!

No offense boys and girls, we paid for social security. If they want to stop giving away money, the first step is to cut all foriegn aid until our national debt is paid. If another country needs money, they can borrow it same as we do. If the politicians are giving away one dollar then it needs to stop immediately. A balanced budget amendment needs to be passed. No new taxes and no spending above what comes in. Any politician that approves spending above the limits goes to jail. The only taxes that should be able to be adjusted are taxes on foriegn goods to eliminate trade imbalances. Foriegn countries need to start paying for their citizens that are here illegally. ie: A tax needs to be imposed on Mexico to cover the cost of services provided to it's citizens that are here illegally. Yup they are great workers - here's the unpaid bills. Take it out of the funds they are sending home.

If the government wants to cancel social security - it's ok by me - just pay me what I have paid in over the last 35 years and plus the interest and we'll call it even.

No - the President's budget didn't go deep enough, however if he announced that he was cutting the budget in half - the teabumlicans would of been all over him - because it would affect all those private companies that suck off the government contracts - er I mean provide a well built product at an affordable price.

If Obama said tomorrow it's going to be sunny - the teabumlicans would complain because it would the stock futures of the business's that sell raincoats.

To pay off the debt - need to raise taxes - ON EVERYONE AND CORPORATIONS TOO.

If you bank "off shore" 50% fine for just ripping off the American people.

If you make one million dollars a year and complain about paying 25% tax ($250,000) I will gladly trade with you - try making 75,000 a year and paying 25% tax ($18,750) who is going to feel it more....... but it seems like the rich are the ones that need all the "welfare" breaks and tax loopholes or they can't survive.

You Social Security jokers are not addressing the fact that Social Security will soon have only 2 people paying into it for every 1 taking out of it. Does that seem like a program that is going to work? What is your big idea on that little problem / fact?

Karen, maybe you should educate yourself first.

Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights or by agreement through law. It also refers, in a more casual sense, to someone's belief that one is deserving of some particular reward or benefit.

Entitlement doesn't have anything to do with paying or not paying into the system. Welfare is an entitlement program.

1) Treasury bonds are IOUS

2) Foreign aid amounts to very little of our budget, its minuscule, cutting it would do virtually to reduce the debt. The big three, (ss, medicare, and defense amount to over $ 2 trillion dollars. Cuts will have to come from those three programs.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

3) There is no way to fix social security without cutting benefits. This idea of increasing taxes has the unfortunate side effect of lower economic growth, even Keynesians don't argue this fact. This is even more apparent when you consider that government revenue as a percentage of GDP is right at its historic average of 15%. Any higher for longer periods of time and you get a tax revolt. The government simply cannot, and should not raise taxes, it is infeasible and economically stupid.

The government needs to

1) Audit the Federal reserve if not outright end it an establish fiscal sanity.

2) Establish cuts that will result at a minimum a 20% reduction in the big three over 4 to 8 years. This could be done by closing needless military bases, ended foreign military funds being given to authoritarian nations, drawing down from Iraq and Afghanistan, reducing roll in NATO or out right leave. Raising the retirement age of social security and gradually reducing the benefits over a set number of years.

3) Repeal national healthcare, frankly it is unconstitutional, and even if it wasn't it simply cannot and will not work. The Federal government has a terrible track record, predicting its failure is like snowfall on top of a mountain in the middle of winter in Alaska.

4) Simplify the tax code, remove all tax deductions, as they simply hide the fact that the tax rate is too high and unsustainable for the average American. At the same time lover the tax rates for all Americans. Preferably institutional a national sales tax in lieu of an income tax, with rebates being given every month for the necessities of life. Lower the Corporate tax rate, while at the same time removing all corporate subsidies and welfare.

5) Return the to the free market constitutional principles that had propelled this country on a economic expansion never before seen on this earth the previous two centuries. i.e end many of the unconstitutional and damaging agencies that only add bureaucracy and waste money, you think its any secret that only 26% of every dollar we spend on education actually makes it to the classroom? If people want a healthcare system, get their state to vote for it, because the federal government has no business in it.

justoneguy, social safety net programs are not about rewarding people for not working. It's really about recognizing that there are millions of people out there that work in low paying jobs or that can't find work. It's about recognizing that there are elderly persons out there that HAVE worked for decades and that shouldn't be left in poverty when they become too old to work.

There are millions of Americans out there that want to earn a living wage but can't. In a civilized society, if a person WANTS to work and contribute, he or she should, at a minimum, have a reasonably safe place to live, access to medical care, the ability to consistently put healthy food on the table, and the chance to better their lives through hard work. At every turn, republicans want to remove or weaken the social protections that are necessary to ensure that. They seek to lower the minimum wage, weaken unemployment benefits, weaken the power of unions, defund programs that offer financial assistance to poor kids that want to go to college, and weaken all other forms of government assistance for the poor.

As a democrat, I firmly support the idea that some people have earned the right to be very rich through their own talents and hard work. Where I differ from republicans is in my belief that a civilized society does not allow the hardworking poor to suffer in poverty without enough assistance to grant them the basic necessities of life. I've seen too many Americans that work **HARD** at blue collar jobs and yet can barely afford to feed their families and can't afford adequate health care for their families.

I will never understand the view that we should allow this to continue while giving Bill Gates a huge tax cut.

The sad reality is that the vast majority of people get FAR more from social Security than they ever paid in. Social Security has been a giant Ponzi Scheme from day 1 based upon the premise that there would always be alot more young people working and paying new money into the system than old people needing benefits. Social Security began as an old age and widows pension fund for people who lived to the RIPE OLD age of 65 when most people were long dead by then, capped at 1% of a certain portion of salary. Even though this tax grew to FAR more than 1% of salary and a far higher maximum salary today, people are just living too long.

The reality is that the retirement age needs a MAJOR adjustment... to perhaps 75 for anyone under the current age of 50, and maybe to 70 for all those from 50-60. PLUS, Social Security was also NOT ever supposed to be the only source of income for old people... but far too many people spent their retirement $ in vacation homes, jet skis, and vacations in Florida/Mexico when they were young. Sorry, but this is just the reality for a lot of very dumb people!!!

It also makes ZERO sense that a person making $110,000 per year pays the same $ into and gets the same $ out of the system as Bill Gates. EITHER the uber rich should pay more OR recipients should be means-tested so a billionnaire does not get Social Security benefits. (Sorry my fellow GOP-ers, but this is just where this mess is today. LOL)

Thank you, CounselorTroi! It blows my mind to see the "IOU" thing still floating around since the late 90's!

Also, LogicRequired, the argument about SS being racist always makes me giggle. You may or may not realize you're quoting a disproven study by the right-wing thinktank Heritage Foundation.

What is hilarious about it is that it completely (and intentionally) ignores the fact that SS doesn't simply pay out for retirement. It also pays disability and survivor benefits!

Now here's why that's important... of all african americans recieving SS of ANY kind fully 47% recieve disability or surivivor benefits, and NOT because they're over retirment age. The same numbers for whites? 28%.

Your statement is also disingenous because SS benefits are progressive by income, which has a much lower average for blacks, which raises their benefit-to-income ratio.

So much so that in 2003 (the same year as the Heritage study) the GAO said "in aggregate, black and hispanics have a higher disability rate and lower lifetime earnings and thus recieve greater benefits relative to taxes than whites."

You don't have to believe me... Here's the report!

"SS is racist!" What's really funny is that if a democrat tried the same argument the conservatives would call it "liberal affirmative-action BS".

Everytime I come back, this article has a new title, that doesn't relate to the last one. Wow! Bottom line, the Congress needs to do better than the President's plan.

Let's see if the link works this time... Here's the report! www.gao.gov/new.items/d03387.pdf

counselortroi2

Additionally, the SS Trust Fund is not full of "IOUs": it holds about 2.5 Trillion dollars worth of Treasury bonds. These are the same bonds that are sold every day to major investors, such as hedge funds, money markets, and our nemesis, China. All of these investors expect to be paid back their principal plus interest, and AFAIK, they will be! So why should we allow the crooks in government to insinuate that the very same bonds held in the SS Trust Fund are worthless? If they are worthless, then so are the bonds held by investment groups and China.

You're starting to get it! Do you know why gold and all the other precious metals and commoditiesare rising in price day after day? Because that is where people put their money when they think the Dollar and Bonds are worthless. People are putting their money into these things because they don't think the bonds and the dollars are worth the paper they have been printed on, and I tend to agree. Tax the rich 100%, it doesn't matter, the debt is to high and the cost to much to sustain. Social Security only has 2 or 3 people paying into it for every 1 person taking out, that IS a drain on the budget especially since the government STOLE all the real dollars and left bonds, which are nothing more then promises to pay for something. You continue to believethe government can meet those promises, I like many others know the truth, and have been preparing for it..

I find it humerous that anyone commenting here, unless they hold PH.D. degress in economics, really has no idea how a government budget works.

And...what is vastly humorous are the Republicans, who after thirty years of trickle down economics obviously NOT working, wish to turn back the clock and start trickle down all over again.

Furthermore, those who cannot have a long term vision for this country, should note that without long term visions such as high speed rail, etc., will with out a doubt leave this country behind all the others who have already invested in their long term future.

JustCurt

So much so that in 2003 (the same year as the Heritage study) the GAO said "in aggregate, black and hispanics have a higher disability rate and lower lifetime earnings and thus recieve greater benefits relative to taxes than whites."

Fine, so it's racist towards whites instead of the other way around, and that is a good thing? The point is that social security is only a good deal for a small number of people, for most people it is a complete rip off. Are you telling me that if I was able to take all that money I put towards social security, and instead put it into a savings account, I and the majority of working people wouldn't be better off? If it was such a great program why don't you let people decide if they want to opt into it or opt out of it? I really don't actually care if it stays or goes, it is broke and will be worthless down the road no matter what happens. I just imagine when I retire I will get a $700 check every month from S.S., add inflation into that number and I will probably use that money to buy milk and bread, every other expense will have to be covered be my own savings.

Cuts entitlements.....Medicare and Medicaid are entitlements. The Feds call them that, then they are.

Quit raising taxes on me.......my kids gotta eat you know..........

Raising taxes on rich won't work. They'll move to another country. And your stupid if you don't think they would.

Cut spending PERIOD.

Social Security was the largest Ponzi scheme ever created and this was by our own government, we they became aware that the system would fail they still forced us all to keep paying into the fund fully knowing that people would lose their money, if that is not criminal then what is .....

Not IOU's? HAHAHHAHA! Call them what you will, Treasuries, IOU's, etc.

Congress and the Fed are allowed to pull all unobligated gains from the fund and give them Treasuries in exchange! Unlike in the open market, where US Treasuries compete with other countries' debt securities, the SSI fund must always accept the US Treasuries on whatever terms those treasuries are at, at that moment in time.

Not only that, but the next big scam is that the yield on the treasuries given to the fund is dictated in large part by the Fed Rate at that time.

Imagine if you could borrow huge amounts and name your own interest rate on the loan! Well that's what the Fed and Congress are doing!

Again, the only reason why the government is cringing over SSI is because SSI gets to liquidate its Treasuries whenever it begins running a deficit. Well, guess what, there's a deficit! And rather than prevent the government from continuing to borrow from the fund, they instead want to make it harder for the people paying into it for decades to be able to get the benefits they've paid for.

This is fraud if it were done in the private sector.

The Fed needs to be thoroughly audited for corruption and conflicts of interest. SSI needs to be a lockbox and Congress needs to get it's spending under control!

The U.S. debt of 14 trillion dollars, is not counting what the U.S. owes in UNFUNDED LIABILITIES. If you go to usdebtclock.org, you will see at the very bottom what Americas hole is. Social Security, Trains, Taxes, it is all useless rehotric at this point, the U.S. can not pay back what it owes no matter what you think.

The unfunded liabilities facing taxpayers in the coming years, according to the debt clock, are not just staggering, they are beyond the imagination. Social Security’s liability is $14.8 trillion. The prescription drug liability, a brainchild of “compassionate conservative” George W. Bush, is $19.5 trillion. Medicare’s unfunded liability is $77.7 trillion. Grand total: $112 trillion in unfunded liabilities, or $1,012,640 per taxpayer.

Neither the national debt, nor national debt plus unfunded liabilities, can be paid off.

As The Economic Collapse website observes:

It is now mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off the U.S. national debt. You see, the truth is that the U.S. government now owes more dollars than actually exist. If the U.S. government went out today and took every single penny from every single American bank, business and taxpayer, they still would not be able to pay off the national debt. And if they did that, obviously American society would stop functioning because nobody would have any money to buy or sell anything.

It breaks my heart to say this. But after being a loyal Democrat all of my adult life and an avid Obama supporter, I will officially be off the ranch if he and they go through with any type of compromise on Social Security. That program has absolutely nothing to do with the budget deficit. The Bush/Obama tax cuts for the rich and wealthy plus 2 massive and intractable unfunded wars have everything to do with it! If Democrats as much as hedge on breaking their oath to the public on Social Security, I'm done with them forevermore. You don't get any more democratic than Social Security. It is the cornerstone historic achievement of the Party! It's something we have all paid for. So unless you go totally honest with the public President Obama and actually say what happened here. LEAVE SOCIAL SECURITY ALONE!

And what happened? The likely culprits are, who else, THE GOP! They most likely bundled Social Security pension funds into a hedge fund swap with China for outsourced funding of the 2 mideast wars. While giving massive tax breaks to the rich and powerful to buttress their support and gamble on a "privatized pension" aftermath! If the hypothesis is true, this would go down as the biggest public swindle in US history. It would mean China holds the cards on Social Security. We would be affectively FLAT BROKE! And the government in both houses (REPUGS & DEMS) are trying to figure out a way and lying common language to tell the public the sordid truth without creating a stampede on the swindling banks and insurers. There really is no other reason for even touching SS.

This is a watershed moment for America and the Democrats. They and we will either rise to the occasion and fight off this GOP and Corporate Heist of US pension funds. Or we will let the theft stand under the language of "compromise". If so, the future will be bleak indeed until all of the "Baby Boomers" are as dead as dinosaurs. At the least, the public should demand a full, honest and open accounting of every single aspect of the program for the past 30 years! That will flush out all of the crooks and thieves. And the IRS should head up the investigation on a strictly non partisan basis, or have H...ll to pay with the public.

Logic,

It's not racist towards anyone. There will always be inequalities in ANY program if you look for them. Especially based on irrelevant data. I'm sure you could probably find a way to say the Post Office is racist toward someone.

I'm not saying SS doesn't have flaws and I'm certainly not saying it should be held as sacrosanct.... but if we're going to make changes let's have it be based on facts, and not vitriol.

You've hit the nail on the head by saying you'll buy milk and bread with your SS payment, and pay for everything else with your own savings. To my understanding Social Security was never meant to be your sole income... it was meant to supplement.

"We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age. " ~Roosevelt

As to your post about mathematical impossibility... I find that straight out terrifying.

@Chandler W.; Touche, sir.

Because some (not all) get out more than they put in. Most people retiring today will get ot more than they put in. Most people retiring since its inception will get out more than they put in. This is only true for the next decade or so. It is the past generations taking from the future.Even now, those who contribute the least get out a lot more than they put in. Those contributing the most get out a lot less than the put in. Just because you contribute something does not make it fair.

Concerned,

It was never meant to be a retirement account for all. It was meant to be a protection for those fellow Americans that need it. By design some people will get out more than they put in. The idea is that everyone shares just a little bit of the burden.

If it is being abused then it needs to be reformed, but don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

If you go out to the social security site, it's called a trust fund! We're all going to be trust fund babies if we aren't now. I'm SOOOOOOO excited.

Raising taxes on rich won't work. They'll move to another country. And your stupid if you don't think they would.

Then perhaps they arent Americans after all. Besides what is a few less rich around going to matter anyways, they just keep the money for themselves and outsource the Jobs. Good riddance!

"If someone pays into a system for 40 years how in God's name is that an entitlement program...." - theonlypersonintheworldwhomakessense-1156198

You're right, it's not an entitlement...it's a government mandated Ponzi scheme.

Ida Fuller was the first person to draw a monthly Social Security benefits check. On January 31,1940, she received her first check in the amount of $22.54.

Ida Fuller only paid a grand total of $24.75 into Social Security but went on to collect $22,888.92 from Social Security by the time she passed in 1975 at age 100.

Just like every other Ponzi scheme, the people who get in at the beginning are the big winners, and the late-comers get screwed.

It is now mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off the U.S. national debt. You see, the truth is that the U.S. government now owes more dollars than actually exist. If the U.S. government went out today and took every single penny from every single American bank, business and taxpayer, they still would not be able to pay off the national debt. And if they did that, obviously American society would stop functioning because nobody would have any money to buy or sell anything.

This should be printed at the top of the front page of every newspaper and every news site. Our federal government is literally bankrupt, and there is no fixing it short of doing a Chapter 7. In other words, we have to liquidate all of the federal government's assets and pay pennies on the dollar to all of the government's creditors.

Fortunately, the federal government has a lot of assets, so we don't have to totally stiff our creditors. The federal government claims to own 90% of the land in the American West and in Alaska. It claims to own everything off our coasts to a distance of 200 miles. It owns millions of acres of timberland. It owns dams and large reservoirs. It owns prime real estate in most of our nation's cities. Etc. We need to sell it all. Liquidate. Hold a going out of business sale. Use the proceeds to pay off at least a percentage of what we owe to all of our creditors, including what the federal government owes the American people.

A side benefit of such a sale of federal property is that all of that property, trillions and trillions of dollars worth of it, would suddenly appear on the property tax rolls of States and localities, resolving many of their financial problems. Right now the feds don't pay property taxes to States and localities, but the new private owners would have to pay property taxes.

Another side benefit, private sector ownership means all of that previously sequestered property would be turned into productive income generating property, because the private sector doesn't let its capital stand idle. That means dramatic economic growth for our country, with consequential increases in jobs and general prosperity.

Having a going out of business sale for the federal government is the best thing we can do for the economic health of our nation. It is bitter medicine, everyone loses something, but it is the only way to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Next time we form a federal government, the first order of business must be to prohibit it from spending more than it has in hand, no debt ever. Cash and carry only. In God we Trust, all others pay CASH. (And that cash had better be backed by something other than the " faith and credit" of the United States. It had better be backed by gold, silver, or uranium.)

RN - it has been the goal of the rebumlican party to do away with Social Security.

http://www.irregulartimes.com/socialsecuritygopt.html

IT IS????...then i 'll have to re-join them

MGinRochester (post 1.47)

...(BTW thanks for a civil post).... you write.....

access to medical care, the ability to consistently put healthy food on the table, and the chance to better their lives through hard work. At every turn, republicans want to remove or weaken the social protections

.... these things listed above envelope all that is life for every human since history began. Yes for you, as a Democrat, it's definition that you want the Federal Government to supply all of this to every single person in the country that needs it (why we're broke in the first place). If they DON'T need it - you want those that have it, to pay for everybody else's with their own hard work... ..... sorry, but go peddle all this somewhere else....

....while giving Bill Gates a huge tax cut.

... what business is it of ours what Bill Gates...or anybody gets or has unless we're trying to par them down to whatever level we think is 'appropriate'!!??...only because they have more toys than we do???!! People are allowed to be successful WITHOUT the Federal Government too aren't they?? (or are they?)

I do not consider it the job of the Federal Government to feed, clothe, house, and employ people. We have taken that path and there are MORE people than ever with their hand out now more than ever - since they know that they don't have to work for these things.

Heck....I'll even go out on a limb and say one reason this High Speed Rail thing is important to Obama is so that we can start subsidizing cross-country travel for those that can't afford an airplane any more....that's how ridiculous this entitlement/giveaway thing can get with the Federal Governments generousity using OUR money (if you don't work, then MY money).

LOCAL CONTROL OF THESE ISSUES IS THE ANSWER! Arizona is just beginning to evolve this way. You cannot send $1 to Washington and expect that $1 to come back to you in cash or services....no way.

STOP THE GIVEAWAYS....CUT THE BUDGET

Yeah, Obama and the Democrats are really into "compromise" as in asking their base to bend over and grab their ankles. Now the democrats have meekly gone a long with Republicans in attacking and demonizing public sector workers.

Teachers who work all their lives for squat are some how responsible for the financial ruin of the country because they get a better retirement than the stingy 401K's that private sector workers get (and while millionaire bankers get bailed out by the government)

And Democrats of course love to stab their base in the back and so meekly go along with it.

Here's an article I found on line with some very interesting information and a different point of view:

US House committee hearing takes aim at public sector pensions

By John Marion
15 February 2011

A subcommittee of the US House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform held a hearing February 9 to prepare the way for attacks on the pension benefits of millions of state and municipal workers across the United States.

The hearing, titled "State and Municipal Debt: the Coming Crisis?" was held the same day as the introduction of a bill by Rep. Devin Nunes, Republican of California, to prohibit bailouts of states by the federal government.

The House's Subcommittee on TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), Financial Services & Bailouts of Public and Private Programs questioned a panel of four experts about the potential effects on bond markets of state bankruptcies. But during the first hour of testimony the committee focused its attention on unfunded liabilities in the pension plans of millions of teachers, firefighters, transportation workers and other public employees.

The problem of state budget deficits—estimated to total between $125 billion and $140 billion and exacerbated by the ongoing economic crisis—is very real (See "US state budget deficits could top $140 billion"). However, in his opening remarks to the subcommittee, Chairman Patrick McHenry (Republican, North Carolina) ruled out any new revenues for states and blamed the problem on a "fiscal straitjacket caused primarily by … lucrative public sector union pension and health care benefits."

These benefits, according to McHenry, will cause people to realize "in the end … that their government has actively hurt them." This statement ignores the obvious: public sector workers and their hard-won benefits are being been demonized while Wall Street has received untold billions in bailouts from the federal government.

Testimony before the subcommittee established that, depending on the rate of return of invested pension assets, the average percentage of state and municipal budgets devoted to pensions is between 3.8 and 5 percent. To McHenry, this allocation of resources to a basic social right constitutes "reckless spending."

Some Republicans have suggested that laws prohibiting states from declaring bankruptcy be altered to make it easier for state governments to rip up workers' contracts and attack pensions.

Democrats at the hearing prefaced their questions with ritualistic promises of bipartisanship and working together. In his opening remarks, ranking Democrat Mike Quigley of Illinois was servile before both McHenry and the bond rating agencies, which, he noted, have rated his home state's bonds only slightly above those of Iraq....

....In a statement introducing his Public Employee Pension Transparency bill the same day, Nunes said, "Unfortunately, this debt is masked by accounting practices that would never be tolerated in the private sector." Even putting aside all of the swindles from Enron to collateralized debt obligations, Statement 87 of the Financial Accounting Standards Board—which addresses accounting practices for private sector pensions—allows companies to underfund workers' pensions if they show a corresponding liability on their balance sheets.

McHenry claimed in his opening statement Wednesday that "government has outgrown our capacity to pay for it." In fact, the opposite is true: plenty of wealth exists for the provision of benefits and health care, but state and municipal governments have spent decades giving tax breaks to companies that threaten to move elsewhere or to lay off workers.

In 1995, for example, military contractor Raytheon threatened to move 16,000 jobs out of Massachusetts if the state did not give in to its demands for tax cuts. Within two years of receiving the cuts, the company had nonetheless reduced its headcount by 4,100 jobs while paying bigger salaries to executives. General Electric, which is equally reliant on military contracts, threatened this past November to lay off 150 workers at its jet engine factory in Lynn, Massachusetts if the state did not give it $25 million in tax cuts. In reporting that story, the Boston Globe noted that GE paid no federal income tax in 2009 because it "reported losses on its US operations."

Such bullying is a standard practice across the country. In July 2010, for example, the web site Stateline reported that Missouri Governor Jay Nixon had proposed $150 million in tax "incentives" for Ford if the company agreed not to close a Kansas City plant with 3,700 employees.

On Friday, the Seattle Times reported that the Washington state Senate had passed a $300 million tax cut for businesses, prompting state Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a Democrat, to comment: "It's a really good day for businesses because we're going to be providing a permanent rate reduction to 90 percent of businesses in this state."

While bonds have traditionally only been used by state and municipal governments for capital projects (construction, roads, etc.), states like Illinois are now borrowing just to pay their operating expenses. One of those testifying before the subcommittee noted that debt service represents on average 4-5 percent of state expenditures...

...On January 25, the National Association of Governors issued a statement opposing changes to federal law that would allow states to declare bankruptcy. The association expressed its fear that "the mere existence" of such a law would drive up the cost of borrowing "and create more volatility in [the] financial markets" from which state governments need to borrow, hat in hand.

The governors' statement expressed no principled opposition to the use of bankruptcy to abrogate existing contracts or attack the pensions of people who have been working—many for decades—with the promise of this benefit. McHenry made no bones during the hearing about asking the panel whether the word "default" could be broadened, legally, to include not paying pensions.

In a "recap" video posted on YouTube afterward, McHenry signaled that the February 9 questioning of "academics" was only an opening salvo, and that the subcommittee's next hearing will involve representatives of the bond markets and credit rating agencies.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/stat-f15.shtml

"RN - it has been the goal of the rebumlican party to do away with Social Security." - Al-1735815

Al, so your evidence of the "grand plan" of the GOP is a near 10 year old blog post which uses a picture of a guy in a t-shirt as the sole source of its evidence. Really???

Exactly. bozObama constantly pi$$es away TRILLIONS of dollars on his socialist agenda with absolutely NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER.

But the seniors, trying to live on a meager social security benefit that they have paid into more than they could ever collect unless they live to be about 200 years old have not had a COLA increase in the past three years, uhhhhhhhhh, that's the Obama years btw.

Please let me hear from some of you seniors out there who are watching food prices going up 30%, 50%, some as much as 100% increases over one or two years ago. Are YOU happy that Obama has ditched you in favor of billionaire bailouts, magical money disappearing acts called "stimulus", high speed rail to nowhere (like his bridge to nowhere)?

C'mon. Lets hear from you seniors, especially you yellow-dog, liberal seniors that are being slapped aside while Obama continues his nymphomaniacal-spending agenda to make as much of the US economy disappear as possible. Are YOU happy with no increases in the past 3 Obama years?

Basically, any senior US citizen who would vote for Obama absolutely has to be suffering from severe brain damage.

IndependentThinker-796986

Basically, any senior US citizen who would vote for Obama absolutely has to be suffering from severe brain damage.

Um, how about the Republicans stop propping up corrupt sellouts, mindless/hypocritical religious zealots and complete idiots and I'll be more inclined to vote for them

Btw, I voted for McCain/Palin, and I was so happy that they didn't win!

/Still dislikes Obama

/Ron Paul has 3 good ideas, 100 crazy ones, and 100,000 insane cult-followers

/Still thinks the zero-sum game that Left and Right play to screw the American people needs to stop!

The problem isn't that we don't have any money ("we're broke") the problem is that most of the wealth the whole society produces is now in a relatively few people's hands. And the tax breaks for the rich and corporations being pushed and supported by both Republicans and Democrats played a large role in causing our present economic situation and are also making it worse.

Unite workers and youth to defeat Wisconsin budget cuts

by WSWS website

....The governor's demand for sweeping wage and benefit cuts and the outlawing of strikes is not only an assault on the state's 175,000 public sector workers. It is an assault on the entire working class and is the first step in the financial aristocracy's campaign to destroy public education, health care and other services that millions depend on.

Demonstrating his contempt for public sentiment, the governor has threatened to dispatch the National Guard to ram through his demands.

Walker's attacks on democratic rights and social spending are not unique to Wisconsin or to the Republican Party.

Instead, they are part and parcel of an orchestrated attack on working class living standards being carried out by both big business parties, led above all by the Obama administration. While handing over trillions to bail out Wall Street, provide tax breaks for the rich and finance its criminal wars, the White House has refused to help the states, which have a combined deficit of $126 billion. The budget shortfall is being seized upon as a pretext to lay waste to any form of government spending that does not boost the fortunes of the rich, the banks, and the corporations...

....Walker's attacks on democratic rights and social spending are not unique to Wisconsin or to the Republican Party.

Instead, they are part and parcel of an orchestrated attack on working class living standards being carried out by both big business parties, led above all by the Obama administration. While handing over trillions to bail out Wall Street, provide tax breaks for the rich and finance its criminal wars, the White House has refused to help the states, which have a combined deficit of $126 billion. The budget shortfall is being seized upon as a pretext to lay waste to any form of government spending that does not boost the fortunes of the rich, the banks, and the corporations.

Across the border in Illinois, the Democratic-controlled state legislature is moving toward banning the right of public school teachers to strike in order to carry forward a massive assault on public education. In Ohio, a Republican governor is working hand-in-hand with Democratic mayors to bar public employee strikes. Democratic governors in New York and California are ordering unprecedented budget cuts, just like their Republican counterparts in states such as Florida and Arizona.

At the national level, Obama has imposed a de facto pay cut on federal workers and a five-year spending freeze on all non-military items. The budget-cutter-in-chief on Monday proposed savage cuts to virtually every form of social spending, including a 50 percent cut to the already miniscule aid given to the poor and elderly so they can heat their homes in the winter.

While doing everything to boost corporate profits and the stock market, the administration has done nothing to alleviate any aspect of the social crisis—mass unemployment, the foreclosure crisis, homelessness, hunger, spiraling tuition costs....

... The claim that "tough choices" are necessary because there is not enough money is a shameless lie. The main problem facing American workers is the obscene levels of wealth monopolized by the financial aristocracy, abetted by the entire political establishment....

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/wist-f16.shtml

The wealth you speak of is not produced "by our society" it is produced and is owned by Americans (your neighbors and fellow countrymen, to quote our President) who are already overtaxed. Your fear mongering, class warfare mentality does not change this fact. Unions are standing squarely in the way of economic recovery until they get what they want, and to heck with everybody else.

Already overtaxed?

Federal taxes are 13% lower than 2008! Only 4 OECD nations have lower taxes than the US! They're going to increase in the next few years (because government isn't free), but tax receipts are currently less than 15% GDP! (And you don't have to take my word for it. Here: www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/02/federal_income_taxes_lowest_si.html

If you want to blast overspending or unions, that's fine, but let's keep things honest and not drift into crazytown.

So what's your point JustCurt....

we're supposed to be at the TOP of the list paying THE MOST taxes???!!! Oh....you probably don't pay any so no big deal huh?

I also need to point out that those "other countries" you speak of don't have an open border. Bet you don't go there with immigration now do you? And yes, the two issues are related. We just plain don't NEED to pay more taxes. Our money is being pissed off by assistance programs... The military?? At least those men and women WORK for their money AND PAY TAXES!!

Quit with the "let's give em' more taxes" BS - they have enough!

You're putting words in my mouth because you have nothing else.

I never said we should be at the top, did I? I said we're near the bottom, so how can you claim to be overtaxed?

And if the only 4 beneath us have closed borders then you've only proven my point... that would mean we're the ONLY one with open borders and taxes this low!

I notice you conveniently ignored my ACTUAL point, and the fact that our taxes are lower than they've been in years.

Go ahead and read my post again.

If you want to blast overspending that's great, if you want to blast misspending, you've got my support.... but claiming we're overtaxed is ridiculous.

And for the record, I pay my taxes on time and in full.

Nevermind that our GDP sucks right now (one way to manipulate figures). We pay (after ALL taxes) OVER 45% of the money WE EARN.... WE'RE overtaxed. If you're in one of those "too poor to pay much taxes" brackets, then we're supporting YOU. If you're not....then you are mistaken. We are overtaxed.....We're paying enough>>>>PERIOD.

It doesn't matter if our GDP sucks... it's by percentage, if anything a lower GDP should make a higher percentage, right?

I mean you can follow that 10% of 90 is still a smaller number than 15% of 100, right?

And our taxes are still less than they were when everyone started screaming recession. They're 13% lower than 2008!

I assure you that you're not supporting me, but if you're paying 45% in taxes (and you're not including state, which is a different story altogether) then you need to hire a better accountant ;)

Add in fees for utilities (phone - electric etc.).... tires, gas, fees at scenic stops, snow-park fees, (we even have a 'special' county fee for the schools that are corrupt with waste...(oh ya, only for those making over 125K) YOU NAME IT...and I DO include state....what? That's not taxes???!!! Taxes is taxes. If you're on some sort of quest to see just how much taxes you can pay before the government has had it's fill, you'd better buy a good tent, they'll take it all.

Dude...we're payin over 40%. You've been had.

The conversation was about Federal taxes, that's why I'm not including State. If you want to complain about state taxes, move to Florida... we have no state income tax.

I'm not on a quest to see how much I can pay. I understand that a tax return isn't a bonus, it's a mandatory interest-free loan I was forced to give the government. But this is how I look at it...

When my fiancee and I hit a rough patch we had to cut way back on our spending. We went out less, and had Ramen noodles more, we used dollar store soap (okay it wasn't THAT bad). But it wasn't enough just to cut spending, we also had to increase our revenue.

Now government budgets are just a wee bit more complicated, but when it comes down to it... government is a service. You have to pay for it to work.

Where I think you and I find some common ground is where you mentioned being corrupt with waste. All the tax cuts or all the tax increases in the world wont make a lick of difference until you tackle that.

THE CONVERSATION IS ABOUT TAXES.... We pay too much. Over 40% is too much...do you get it??!! I don't care a knit about whether it goes to the Feds, State, County, or City....

How many times have I heard local/state agencies spend a portion of yet another project touting the fact that MOST of the funding is coming from the Federal Government???!!! What a boondoggle. They've got you convinced that these entities are separate...hee hee. Really, you have to evaluate exactly what kind of shell game they're pulling. Not fooling anybody around here.

It's too much and nobody needs more until they know how to spend the money they have NOW.

Sorry Justcurt, I appreciate your demeanor - but enough is enough.

Maybe you folks that think we need to give them more money should get a Nationwide web-site that you can put your money into. Meantime, we'll continue to give money to tax-deductable causes IN OUR AREA, where we KNOW that the $$ are being spent to do something for people instead of supporting ever expanding government bureaucracies!

I'm glad you appreciate my demeanor, I try to be as civil as possible; I wish it was returned.

It should matter to you where your taxes go, since you stated earlier that you want more control given to state government (another point we agree on).

Notice, though, that few people complain about being overtaxed when we're in a strong economy. When the economy is weak people complain (obviously) about being overtaxed even if they are the lowest since Johnson.

You obviously recognize that any form of government needs revenue to work, and again, we agree that fixing mispending and corruption are absolutely necessary before anything WILL work... but how could starving them possibly make them work better? You can't get Cadillac performance at Honda prices.

Nobody likes paying taxes, and everyone is angry about how they're being used, I get it... but how does screaming about being overtaxed help?
It doesn't, and that's my original point.
Now your plan about giving to tax-deductible causes? THAT is an actionable and effective plan.

I have an affection for the caps key....can't help it.

The BEST tax I ever payed was a 'temporary tax' to the county in the first round of Bush tax cuts. The amount credited from the Feds. was almost exactly the same amount paid to the county. I enjoyed putting money in locally. That being said, you're talking to someone that's historically been critical of Federal Aid to locals. I resented their interference no matter the economy. It's a waste, and until ANY politician in Wash. decides to begin to cut the strings my eye is on my wallet. I sit here (we live next to Ch.8 housing) watching NO LESS than 9-11 busses per day come in and out picking up kids holding electronic phone devises that I can't afford!! Back to the busses and the money - no matter how it's cut I'm watching waste in the form of Federal Tax Dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY.

We give to Public Radio (local), churches, homeless shelters, and food banks. We resent having it taken from us and spent mindlessly/carelessly with HUGE overhead. God knows how much of my $1 sent there comes back (I'll est. maybe .40 - rest in overhead) The only thing the Feds need to do with us is maintain National Security - their only real Constitutional assignment and one that is, ironically, the one everybody always seems to have their eye on.

I've NEVER seen Cadillac performance from the Federal Government - the older I get, the more obvious it is (I'm 54). As they've taken over schools, they've rotted away to the core. It takes a village to raise a child - not a nation.

Post Office - same/ S.S. - robbed/ NASA (only successful endeavor) - CUT??!!

They reward failure and punish success - I want no part of them in helping any more - we've had enough....seriously

I agree completely with your last post.

Perhaps Cadillac was the wrong choice. I should've said Yugo maybe.

I just don't understand either extreme. Take our atrocious public school system. I was there not terribly long ago (I'm 26, which may explain some of my previous idealism) and I can tell you from the inside it's garbage. They cater to the lowest common denominator.

I don't understand the people who want to throw MORE money at a broken system. A well funded dump is still a dump.

On the other hand I don't understand the people who think that cutting funds for education could possibly help.

And that's metaphoric for all of government right now, it seems.

JustCurt

...Take our atrocious public school system. I was there not terribly long ago (I'm 26, which may explain some of my previous idealism) and I can tell you from the inside it's garbage. They cater to the lowest common denominator.

I don't understand the people who want to throw MORE money at a broken system. A well funded dump is still a dump.

On the other hand I don't understand the people who think that cutting funds for education could possibly help.

And that's metaphoric for all of government right now, it seems.

I too went to public school. In California's dreaded LA Unified up until 5th grade.

After that, I was in private schools all the way through highschool.

With that said, having lived through it, and knowing many who are a complete product of it; my theory for improving public schools is not to give them more money, that's like adding more sugar to the diet of a cancer sufferer. It will make them fat, but it won't cure them of anything.

We need to systematically dismantle the administrative bodies and bust apart chunks of the unions.

Here's a multi-step process that I think would fix things:

1. Make it illegal for union organizations to fund candidates for state/local political positions. Individual union-members can always contribute, but union organizations themselves should be barred from it (I think corporations should be too, but that's a different story).
2. Make it mandatory that all votes in all US-unions are anonymous. It should be a felony to both influence a vote as well as make a policy that union members must disclose their votes.
3. Make it illegal for any CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) to provide tenure and any policies whose intent it is to protect seniority over performance with regard to promotion, dismissals and censuring.
4. Teachers should be paid/employed based on student performance and marginal improvement not just in their grade, but in subsequent grades on a sliding scale. This way student progression is a team effort among teachers, not just a relay-race.
5. School principals and VPs will be paid/employed based on aggregate teacher performance, student graduation rates, and how many non-sport extra curriculars like shop, home-ec, mechanics, AP-courses, etc. are provided to the student body. To protect lesser funded schools from losing out on higher payscale capabilities, schools that have excess capacity in their extra-curriculars can take in students from other schools and both administrators share the income 50/50.
6. Schools will be funded based on all performance criteria used to grade/pay/employ teachers and administrators. Poorer performing schools will be audited to find a cause and solution for underperformance
7. Student that are underperforming in a subject will be required to attend after-school tutoring on the subject until grades improve. Students that show routine failure/underperformance will be held back if grades are not satisfactory by end of term, regardless of parent demands.
8. Parents of routinely failing students will be required to attend a mini-tutoring course (offered at a community college or at the school) on the subject(s) their child is underperforming in. Failure to attend will result in a $500 fine.
9. Teacher underperformance will first result in dropping bonus pay (based on progressive aggregate student performance). Two consecutive underperforming terms will require the teacher take supplemental courses; a third will result in termination. An appeal can be made subsequent of termination, but only under careful review and testing both knowledge and psycological status of the subject.
10. Frequent and similar complaints from parents regarding a teacher/principal should require investigation and possible termination/censure.

Having gone to private school, I can say that the private sector is capable of doing it better than the public sector with regard to education. But rather than doing away with the public sector, we should adopt what makes the private sector work so well in this fashion. Accountability, flexibility and performance based pay.

I like it. I have a few questions though and they come from a point of curiousity, not disagreement.

1. Would you apply the same merit-based-pay to special needs teachers? What would you use as the measure since many don't use traditional letter grades?

2. Sharing students for extra-curriculars would require additional bussing in a time when bussing is already being slashed. Where would that expense come from?

3. Would you treat magnet programs separately or linked to their host schools? My high-school hosted a magnet program; the school itself was routinely a grade F school, the magnet by itself was usually B or A, so combined we were D grade. Because we received funding as a D school the quality of the magnet program declined visibly during my 4 years.

Are you in any position to pitch this idea? I truly think that in the next few years we're going to have an education crisis if things stay the way they are now.

@ JustCurt

1. I think special needs teachers make up such a small proportion of the overall teaching population, that they should just be subject to the standard vesting processes. I'm unaware of a lot of problems in the special needs categories of teachers aside from the stories of abuse/neglect.
2. Funding is indeed an issue, that's one of the reasons why I attacked the CBA's, seniority and tenure contractual agreements. Doing so would allow schools to clean house of bad faculty which both underserve and over-price. New teachers would obviously be far less expensive, and given the bonus structure, successful ones will make more while less successful ones make less, similar to car salespeople (terrible comparison, but similar pay-structure).
3. The magnet programs are bandaids over bulletwounds. Having a few family members that are familiar with our unified school system's admin policies, the Magnet Program's incentive is designed to boost a failing school's aggregate student performance by establishing a separate, exclusive track for students that qualify for the program. That's primarily one of the reasons the programs are always present at some of the worst schools (at least from what I've observed in SoCal). The magnet program may not be necessary if the teacher's unions were weakened substantially. There are tons of university professors that could double as teachers in public schools for extra pay, but the Teacher's Union fights bitterly to keep hiring at a minimum.

Look at how much the average teacher in CA is compensated (it's public info), it's one of the highest in the nation, yet we have a shortage of teachers in a climate of 13% state unemployment! Why do you think we don't have enough teachers? It's manipulation. The union bars LAUSD from hiring non-union teachers, and the Teacher's Union will only accept teachers that start at a very high dues-rate.

Sadly, I don't think ANYONE is in a position to pitch this kind of thing. It's going to take an act of Congress to break the union contracts and allow us to get back to brass-tacks.

JustCurt: Federal taxes are 13% lower than 2008!

Nope. The top tax bracket is still 35% percent. It is lower for people not in the top bracket...but since they're not "rich," really, why should they pay any taxes at all...right?

How much do you pay, percentage-wise, JustCurt?

http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm

@Skohl,

That didn't come from me, it came from the AP.
"Income tax payments this year will be nearly 13 percent lower than they were in 2008, the last full year of the Bush presidency."(www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRTwz1tzSQFqc06bHyjpLjKd6sjQ?docId=a65fe0577eb8481cb48a5b59351d3a12&index=0)

This year it's looking like I'll be in the 15% bracket due to an unpaid internship during the summer. Thus the aforementioned "rough patch" if you bothered to read anything after that comment.

And you?

Well my information came from the IRS. :)

Seriously though, I am guessing the AP had to be saying revenues are down 13%, not that people are getting 13% worth of new tax breaks. That drop is most likely because incomes are down and so people are dropping into lower tax brackets.

Some of the past revenues taken in by the government were taxes on "fake money" that was fabricated from thin air from stock market and real estate gambling, so the government should have never gotten that money as it was not representing ANY real value (the role of money). If everyone had been honest in the financial industry, that is.

We pay top tax bracket. That's how I know how much it is. And there is no way I know of for a private individual without any scams (someone who just earns the money in other words) not to pay it.

Only if it's held on the sunny beaches of Hawwaii or the golf course......Naaaaah! He wouldn't interrupt this vacation for his work.

EDIT: wrong post.

So BO pledges a $1.1T budget deficit reduction over 10 years but project a $1.6T deficit in the first year of the budget? Where do I sign up?

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/02/13/1543533/obama-official-says-new-budget.html

I think the President is holding a conference the day after he submitted the budget because the publics reception was not as warm as he wanted it. If the public is howling about it, it is very likely that the Congress will not pass anything similar to it - Representatives and Senators want to be re-elected you know. So now the President has to come out, after the fact, and try to boost public support for his budget. In short, it didn't go the way he wanted it to and now he has to try and fix it.

No...this is not a news conference.

This is a campaign speech.

A news conference wouldn't have democratic press members asking softball questions that were prescreened. This will all be about Obama blaming republicans for trying to take grandma's pills away, or some little kids lunch or some other BS he concocted. He'll probably point to how our economy is wonderful and jobs are abundent. He speaks well and his blind followers buy it.

I don't think he'll mention that he's mortgaging the future prosperity of 2 generations to get his agenda passed. But at least there will be a high speed train that amtrak charges a fortune to ride...

Some thing that i have paid into for 40 yrs not an entitlement, it is mine and i want it.... If our government wants to cut some thing how about tax breaks for the super wealthy or their own pay and benefits.. take away my ss and be prepared for civilunrest !! How about welfare, medicaid the stuff people dont pay into.

maint: That stuff is sacrosanct, his future voters depend on that for living money. How could they survive without Obama's stash?

"...getting in that boat at the same time so it doesn't tip over."

Not only will the GOP not help the country, they will throw you out of the boat, hit you in the head with a paddle, try to drown you then call it freedom and liberty (for them).

Let me break down this proposed Presidential budget in terms all the simple minded out there will understand. President Obama's budget cuts primarily focus on our Domestic Economy; no cuts were made on International out of control spending and nothing was cut affecting Corporate America (better known to all, as the wealthy). However, with President Obama eyeing the beginning of a re-election campaign, can any of you really expect him to honor his original campaign promise of making the wealthy carry their tax weight. NO, NO, NO, my friends, he needs these high dollar individuals, companies and foreign investors to fund his next presidential bid.

The Domestic Budget Cuts directly adversely affect Middle America, (You know: the middle class, the backbone of this country that keeps it solvent).

Some of the Domestic Budget Cuts Proposed are:

a) Higher Taxes on the Middle Class.

b) Limited Reduction for the Wealthy.

c) Billions cut in Defense Spending. (Some is necessary, but, not to the extent the President is proposing. We still have a nation to protect, border crime issues, and live in an unstable world.)

d) Deep Cuts to Social Security and Medicare (the average senior get about $656.00 per month to live on and pay Medicare out of pocket co-pays, proposed cuts could reduce this monthly allotment as much as $100.00 per month. Could you totally support yourself on $556.00 per month? (Let me remind each of you, that Social Security and Medicare are Trust Accounts primarily funded via your paycheck deductions paid by you and matched by your employer weekly or bi-weekly. These Trust Funds have been “borrowed against” or allocated to other government agencies and programs for decades via the annual Presidential Budget; and replaced with “I.O.U.s”; necessary because these are Trust Accounts and NOT FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT. Now, that these “I.O.U.s” are due, it’s easier to convince Americans these funds have been depleted through individual use; rather than pay back decades old hundreds of billions in borrowed dollars. That sucker punch that your feeling is the government asking you to bend over and take one for “Uncle Sam.”)

e) Cutting Domestic Infrastructure funding, such as: funding to clean our highways; funding to protect our National Forests; Funding for Water Treatment Plants (Aren't you going to love the taste of all those chemicals, bacteria and waste left in your water supply!)

f) Cutting Funding for "Green" and/or Environmental Programs. (Who cares if the ozone is failing or we live in a concrete country. Let the fish in our waterways die, our forests die off and burn; and nothing spared for future generations. After all, our President says this is unnecessary, so why should you care?)

g) Let's not forget another big one, The Department of Education. I hope all those starry eyed naïve college students that wouldn’t listen to reason, while working on Obama’s Presidential Campaign in 2008; enjoy “pulling that double cross knife out of their backs.” Exactly how are our underprivileged students are supposed to pay for their own college tuition; much less cuts to state education programs that will happen as a result of this. President Obama is no fool, an undereducated populace is easier to manipulate! (Exactly, how are Americans suppose to compete in an international trade and business market, if they are undereducated?)

However, what our President has accomplished is increasing the national debt since taking office another 5+ Trillion Dollars, to the current 14+ Trillion. (Original 5+ Trillion was created by Bill Clinton's Administration and 4+ Trillion mostly created by military spending after 9/11 during the Bush Administration). Former, President Bush Administration was spending on average 450 Billion in deficit in national spending, during his final term in office, with a Democratic Controlled Congress passing an additional budget of 4+ Trillion for Military War Spending.

The president's 2012 budget projects that the deficits will total $7.21 trillion over the next decade, bringing our national debt to well over 22+ Trillion Dollars. Additionally, with the imbalances never falling lower below $607 billion, a figure that would still exceed the previous deficit record before Obama took office of $458.6 billion in 2008, President George W. Bush's last year in office.

In a Nutshell, President Obama has created more national debt than ANY PRESIDENT in the history of this nation.

When one considers: all the domestic hardship this budget will create on the Middle Class and Senior America; all the Constitutional changes pending by this administration regarding internet and media control; all the lack of Federal assistance in securing our borders against crime and influx of illegal residents (including this President's open intention of creating open borders between Mexico and Canada. Doesn't this strike anyone else as similar to the European Union, instead of America, we will in fact, have a North American Union, with all countries answering to a Union Party. Plus, where is the Homeland Security in that, with anyone with any agenda crossing over.)

The final question, regardless of Political Party Affiliation, one must ask oneself is: Exactly where does President Obama's political loyalties lay, it certainly doesn't appear to be with Working Class Middle American's, Senior America or the truly needy; and can we as Americans, really afford another four years of the financial and political devastation created by President Obama?

President Obama may be an inspirational Speechmaker; however, as President, a lovely speech doesn’t invalidate the fact, this President is hurting this country more than helping it.

Just some food for thought on what type of country and its future you want to pass down to your children and grandchildren.....

Maint I just want to say this I am sure many of the superwealthy feel that they also worked hard for their money and should not have to give additional amounts to our government either. The problem with our government is they are screwing all of us from the poorest to the richest that are not involved with them. They screw the poor luring them into a welfare system that forces them to be puppets, they screw the middle class 7 ways from sunday and they screw the rich because if you do not play their games you do not keep your wealth. Wake up america it is not poor VS middle Vs Rich it is all of us Vs. the Dirty politicians.

First - the teabumlicans don't believe in a "middle class" they believe in the "Feudal Economics" them and everyone else that serves them.

Need to cut defense - we out spend more than the next 20 nations combined (Russia, China, India, North Korea, France, England, Germany ). And if their still a threat - their getting a hell of a lot more for their money than we are. - Time for some serious investigation of defense contractors.

As to the Debt increased - Bush has that one beat hands down.

The dumbest thing they did in December - reduce taxes for Social Security and extend the Bush tax cuts. Cutting government spending is not going to pay off the debt.

Therese #2.09

In a Nutshell, President Obama has created more national debt than ANY PRESIDENT in the history of this nation.

You need to provide a link for that claim - here's mine

http://combatblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/nationaldebt_42d6b.jpg

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

http://www.lafn.org/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html

We need to cut spending, investigate fraud and increase taxes as well as fix and simplify the tax codes.

Doing these in combination will fix this huge deficit. Anything less is just lip service and capaigning.

Want to fix Social Security?

1. Stop allowing immigrants AND citizens to collect it for life after only 40 quarters of work (five years). Require at least 20 years of paying into the system to collect.

2. Stop allowing everyone with a good lawyer to collect SS for a disability. Currently there are 13.3 million Americans under 65 collecting SS for a claimed disability, including those who claim a disability for drug/alcohol issues, severe obesity, depression, etc.

3. Raise the age to 69 for those more than 10 years out.

Those three things INSTANTLY put SS into the black for decades with no tax increases. Don't believe me? check it out for your self at the GOV SSI site.

The entitlement comes from taking out of the system more than you put in. You may be all of your SS income back eventually, but when you take advantage of the health benefits etc. that are yours then you are getting more than you put in. Simple as that.

Nevada.....points well made and Still the Tea Party faction is not satisfied with that and wants MORE CUTS!!

In fact the President's Budget is nothing more than a collection of expenditures and cuts that have been argued and argued.........he has employed the BUSINESS APPROACH!

Ask for more than you really want and hope to get close to the numbers you need..........he knows that no matter what the primary proposal is it will be shot at just out of defiance!!

I'm 48 and I've known since the early '80s that I would not be able to retire until at least 70. If you're roughly my age and didn't know that, then you weren't paying the least bit of attention. So we work a whole 53 years instead of 50, big deal, get over it, and quit crying.

Honestly, I think they should peg the benefits age to 'X' years from average life expectancy. If it's 8 years before and average life expectancy is 78, then benefits start at 70. If it's 7 years before and life expectancy is 80, then benefits start at 73. When SS first started benefits didn't begin (age 65) until after the average person died (average life expectancy then was ~64.5) . Now we expect the program to fund our retirement for more than a decade.

You non-thinking, yellow-dog liberals are paying for the Nymphomaniacal-Spender-in-Chief's nymphomaniacal spending too. Please tell me why you support such deranged socialism?

Ah, yes. Kinda like "Weapons of Mass Destruction". The GOP never fibs, ask Sen. Craig, if you can get him to exit his stall.

But wait didnt the D-baggers all agree on the WMD's, lets why they approved the the Iraq war, just another dimwit dem re-writing history so it suits them

Absolutely true, the Democrats also fell in line with Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney. The representatives from both parties, Republican, Democrat, and the American people fell for the WMD lie.

If this country had been as hateful towards Bush and company as it shows rabid destine for our President in office now,we wouldn't have been have been suckered into the 2 wars that are sucking this country dry.

Now all parties involved with this massive lie are writing their books trying to rewrite history. They still haven't learned that lying will never change the truth.

yes they did agree there were WMD in Iraq ~ and the VP was tainting the evidence. Powell with his UN speech, Ice cream trucks from satellite pictures. The run up to the war was very well manufactured.

I hear a lot of whining about obama discussing this budget. I prefer this to the last administration who just shoved it down our throats.

ACTUALLY, many WMDs were found in Iraq, including artillery shells for holding chemical weapons, yellow cake uranium found in a riverbed outside Baghdad and old chemical weapons like mustard gas.

Also, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry themselves said in 2002 and 2003 that we need to invade Iraq to stop a threat to Western democracy...

Don't forget that it was CLINTON who first started bombing Iraq!

Folks need to stop comparing the two parties as if they were any differant. News flash y'all...they arn't! They are the same! Both sides lie, steal cheat at our expense. When will the voting public realize this? When will the voting public realize they are keeping us at each others throats so we don't notice what they ALL are doing? Until we unite, together against these types of policies and politicians we will gain nothing. It makes no difference the "why", the facts are we "are" in this situation and we need to really think about some form of respect to each other, not a "party". This nation was built on the art of compromise...we desperatly need to get back to that form of dialoge even with eachother. Please! my 2 cents

Our Representatives and Senators were dispatched to Washington to represent. The President was sent to lead. Where is your leadership Mr. President?

Expecting Congress to take point on entitlement cuts is not leading. Hopefully the House picks up the ball and does your job for you.

But he wont come up with a budget that will save the country, so please stop worrying about the gop response.. No one on either side of the aisle has the guts to do what it will really take to save this country from financial ruin.Too much self interest on both sides.If it really was an honest effort to straighten things out both sides would have agreed to tort reform,limited access by pacs,real transparancy,true healthcare reform without special interest deals,etc etc

Yea, its the fault of the big bad GOP, lets not mention all the good pelosi and reid have done and how they alone have brought down the deficit into a surplus,...wait.. my alarm clock just went off - I must have been dreaming..

Well, Mike, we'll never know what, or if any, legislation will help our country as long as 50% of the Congressional politicians spend 100% of their time complaining, obstructing, and offering nothing.

Hey NY, suffering memory loss? Didn't seem to be a problem when a trillion went into Iraq on a whim, all borrowed from the Chinese.

Kpreston......even if he proposed the BEST budget in the world, I would not believe him......he speaks with a forked tongue.

JK it took almost 8 years to spend a trillion in Iraq, Obummer and the demwits managed 1.5 in about a year. So shut up, Bush has been out of office for over 2 years, the dems HAD control of the congress and still the Senate for over 4 years. Yes, that's right for two years before Bush's last day, the dems have worked their evil on this country, and we are now paying for it.

settle down living, bush and obama ran up the deficit, you don't have to cry about it.

JK is absolutely right, we will never know what is going to work until we do it. Let's help the country by pushing up good ideas not pulling them down before they can even take off. We can all unite for good causes!

If GOP wrote the budget and Obama signed it, they would withdraw support for their own bill i.e. dole's single payer option

jk If 50% of the country were not looking for a free ride ,and actually pulled their own weight and werent looking at the federal government as a gigantic teat we would not have a government that is about to collapse under its own weight

The biggest problem I see with the budget is that debt/new programs, etc. expand to eat any money that comes in rather than paying down debt. None of the programs, czars, tsa's, etc. ever go away, they just grow. My husband and I look at our budget yearly and cut. Any raises we received over the years- half went to savings and half to our income. Needless to say, our standard of living didn't raise over the years. We're looking forward to retirement and hopefully a bit of travel before we settle in.

bahhumbug: The Income tax was supposed to be a temporary 'fix'. No tax that gets through is ever repealed, Our federal government is like a heroin junkie when it comes to taxation, there is never enough. Johnson was the first to really dip into Social security and much of what we're stuck with today is a result of the 'Great Society' plan and FDR's New Deal.

good call!!! I know I slept allot during my government class, but don't we have a congress? What exactly do they do, if the president has to propose everything and all they do is poke holes in it. Has the congress come up with one proposal fix the budget?

Tank you for overstating the obvious. Everyone KNOWS this already !!! Quit letting them control you by making you mad !!! They are immature, selfish, underware salesmen who only see their bottom line. RISE ABOVE THEM AND KEEP THE FAITH IN CHANGE !!!

The Republican Party is in tatters, divided and blind.........while blind they will swing at anything and in every direction from fear...........fixing and uniting the Republican Party would take the Party admitting that the course they took from 2001-09 was seriously veered from the Base Party Format it was founded upon.

That does not seem to be how they will do it......admit they were out of line? Never! Instead now the Tea Party [which has had the audacity to pretend to be Republican] has entered the scene to further "FRACTURE" any unity that this country needs to repair itself.

Amazing the greed and corruption the banking industry has cast amoung us...and as long as our politicians can keep us all at each others throats we the American Public will blindly attack each other and they can go about business as usual!

If I say I am a Democrat and you are Republican you will insult me....

If I say I am Republican and you are a Democrat you will insult me....

When in all reality you have no clue who I am or what my values are.....we are all guilty of Stereo Typing Each other by some Political Party Identification pure and simple!

Maybe it is time for us to be Fellow Americans for a change and disreguard Political Affiliation???? Our politicians may understand that!!

actually this its cut taxs and cut spending, but you'll have to wait a long time before fox will tell you the truth

byl it has tax increases also.....

Byl if you can logically explain how we are going to freeze domestic spending and "invest" $37billion or whatever the figure was in the high speed train fiasco without increasing spending, I'll be glad to consider your point. Last I checked we don't have a spare $37b sitting around so where is that coming from?

From the Federal Reserve Board...they are sitting on Tens of Trillions of Tax Payer Dollars made from Regan buying out the Russian Ruble in the mid 80's [he wanted to bankrupt Russia and did] after he succeeded the Ruble rebounded and the 400 Billion Dollars in US Tax Money he used to buy it with made a COOL 17 TRILLION DOLLARS.......since 87' when the proffit was made the Federal Reserve Board has made enormous amounts to interest on that Little Bitty 17 Trillion Dollars!

In fact they lend money to our Federal Government when the budget is not balanced and charge "US" interest on it!! Hence the Big Ol' Deficit!!

Who does the US owe its debt too? WE OWE IT BACK TO OURSELVES!

That would save about 1/100th of 1% of the budget.

true could you prove that stat please?

Doubtful he/she can. Just blowin smoke.

I don't care what percentage it is. In 2008 alone the U.S. paid out $28 billion dollars in foreign aid which most certainly would have had better use here at home. Not to mention that many of those countries have used that money in anti-American dealings.

http://masbury.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/what-percent-of-us-budget-goes-to-foreign-aid/

1% of the federal budget is foreign aid ( a lot of that is military). The lion's share goes to Israel (not a dictatorship).

true.... I have suggested we get folks off the welfare roll....put them to work with all this infrastructure construction Obama want to do. Someone responded that welfare is only 2% of budget....may or may not be....don't know, but, 2% here, 1% there...it adds up and is worth looking into.

true- it's a start.

Brian, the reason we can't outright leave Social Security alone is because it's about to hit insolvency. I agree that we need to leave it alone for current retirees and those reaching retirement age in the next 10 (possibly even 15) years because those folks don't really have the lead time necessary to prepare their own nest egg. The rest of us have heard the doomsday warnings for years to prepare for your own retirement because Social Security won't be there. We need to take corrective measures NOW (we needed to take corrective measures 20 years ago but since we can't change what's already past, we need to stop stalling and do it NOW). Increase the social security retirement age to coincide with life expectancy as originally outlined. I'd like to see limited partial privatization for younger workers- the full employer contribution and a portion of the employee contribution should go to the general fund but a percentage could go to private, carefully managed low risk investment accounts (NOT the stock market) so that we have at least some safety net. It would require general funds being used to fully fund current retirees but that would be a short term situation- by the time the last baby boomer dies the trust fund should be fully solvent again provided congress is never again allowed to touch it for any purpose other than its stated purpose- benefits to retirees. Examine SSD requirements to make sure that only those truly incapable of supporting themselves are receiving benefits. This can all be done with out hurting those already on the system or about to enter it but the longer we wait to start the process the smaller that cushion is going to become.

"RATS"....I'll bet you stayed up all night thinking that one up. You should be proud! Now go outside and play in the traffic....the adults need to talk. ;o)

just another D-bagger off his meds, nothing to see here

"Death by a thousand cuts and 0'bammy will be hacking away at OUR pocketbooks!" - sat212

O'bammy?!!? Yeah, the ADULTS need to talk. But good to see that you can't refute yet ANOTHER example of republicon hypocritics. Except, of course, to call me a D-bagger, whatever that is.

Yeah, that 5.83Billion High Speed Rail system that goes 39 miles per hour....what a joke!

But not as big of joke as the Budget Obama revealed yesterday. It's not worth the paper it's printed on - ha, ha, ha... his cuts meaningless and minscule!

And before you start bashing me, I'm an independant who voted for Obama and who now has come to see what a HUGE mistake that was..

We voted in Wisconsin for a Gov. that told the federal government to keep the money and apply it to the debt. So what did they do? They gave it to another state. We DO NOT NEED LIGHT RAIL, it is a boondoggle and will cost much more than they are estimating, government programs always do.

If you want light rail, BUILD IT WITH YOUR OWN MONEY, leave mine alone.

It's 58.3 Billion.

Thank you Shawn! :)

That's amazing...All of you managed to do something the whole Congress did not do. Where did you find the time to read the entire budget? WOW

Lynn are you sure about the speed of the rail?? I would say you are not as here in Florida since 1986 there has been a push to connect Orlando to Cape Canaveral, Tampa and Miami......and that High Speed Train is designed to exceed 100 MPH.......in fact several of the trains in Germany and France travel close to 180 MPH.......

Don't bet on it, the havoc was instituted by Regan, Bush and Bush. Clinton had to fix the first mess and it took the greater part of his full two terms now Obama is stuck with the greater delights of the right wing treasury raid of the past administration because Republicans thought and continue to think that a Mexican style Oligarchy is a swell form of government. I'd like to tell Boehner and the rest of the party of 'no' where to stuff their ideas of government but this is a family page and I'm not allowed.

WJE.......you are wasting your time recanting True Facts......their minds are closed and or not capable of sifting through the sands of time for the Real Truth, there must be a Scape Goat and McCain threw the election once he saw just how bad it was going to be!!

Obama has no point.

the points are at the top of his ears

Can't spell, can't make any point. Typical Obummer

supporter. He is destroying our dollar. Soros told

him to print it into oblivion.

JBLCVA-2790640

Can't spell, can't make any point. Typical Obummer

supporter. He is destroying our dollar. Soros told

him to print it into oblivion.

Well, it would destroy our capital markets, wipe out whatever savings we as American have, and suddenly make our deficit eerily easy to pay off.

On the other hand, it would make US products and services more competitive than other countries who've been manipulating their currencies to beggar the market for other countries' outsourcing...however, you'd need a wheelbarrow full of Deutsch Marks...errr...I mean US Dollars to buy a loaf of bread...hrm, why does this seem so familiar?

I would rather we just raise the Fed Rate to match real-inflation and right this ship...but God forbid that large banks and multinational corporations be competitive ;P Wall Street isn't finished placing bets with taxpayer money and BofA and JPMorgan aren't ready to give of the gravy train of using a Social Security-Subsidized low Fed Rate to offer 0.5% APY on savings accounts as they make 12-15% in the open markets with FDIC-backed accounts.

Ahh, the scamming, gotta love it...Keep paying their bills citizen, they deserve it more than you!

"0'bammy"

Do you realize that makes you sound like a little kid?

Yeah - true-realist sounds so much more adult.

I like the way true just repeats the same post time and time again - my 6 yr. old does that -

I know what you are, but what am I?

AMIDOINGTHISRIGHT?

Thanks for the morning giggle!

Thanks Jim you save us a lot of time but you forgot to include "let me be clear".

And " a downpayment on the future"

Guess you just proved how ignorant you are. The only ignorant and lazy citizens are members the party of "do nothing" and "no". Your business first attitude made this mess, but you don't have a fix. Quit whining and get off your wide Texas ass and do something for your country and fgellow citizens.

How can you call it budget cuts when it's the biggest budget in the history of the world ?????.....and when Obama can't get legislation passed in Congress...he just circumvents to his regulators....Can't get Cap & Trade passed ???....fine just regulate through the EPA, FDA, TGIF and the SPQR.....no problem. He still has the TARP billions to dole out as he sees fit....it was supposed to be returned to the Treasury....whooops.....

His "cuts" go like this...take away billions from Heat Assistance......to fund his High-Speed Trains to nowhere....it's shifting money, not cutting money.

great point...structures have been put in place to keep the spending perpetual

Hey FloridaDem, are all you dems that up tight you don't understand the concept of humor? How the he11 do you go thru life with your panties in a wad all day long. Do you see the irony of calling me dumb and then accusing me of being like an ill mannered kid who calls people names? When my girlfriend's kid gets all cranky and pouty it's usually becuase she has a full diaper, could it be the same reason you're cranky...are you just full of sh*t? Seriously, you might want to check yourself...it's not healthy..and with this new health care plan your divine leader crammed down our throats, you better remain healthy...

Jim In Dallas - thanks, you have descried George W. Bush to a tee.

Your posts reminds us that it was "W's" policies that gave us an illegal war in Iraq, 126% increase in medicare, tax breaks for the richest 2%, unemployment at 9% and rising, negative job creation for 8 years, etc.

He left President Obama with an economy that was on the very edge of bankrupting our country. Thanks again for the reminder.

Michael2424, What's the weather like there in Fantasyland? Do your toilets flush clockwise or counterclockwise? Here the sun rises in the east and sets in the west...how about in Fantasyland? Please let us know more of what life is like where your mind resides. Signed, your friend on Plant Earth.

Jim in Dallas, its not worth the time to discuss polictics with Right Wing Nazi Loving Republicans who at there best can only defer and quote to "Name Calling and Trash Talking".

They are clueless as to how to have a civil discussion on politics and can only quote what they've heard from Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Palin, Savage. So sad, ROLFMAO.

Jim in Dallas, by the way, "The Truth Really Hurts".

"The Truth Really Hurts".....good comeback Potsy. Seriously, that's it? You rant about name calling and do nothing but name calling. A little pot/kettle thing there don-cha-think Mikey. OK, now you better concentrate on your school work otherwise you'll be going to summer school in June and no 4th grader wants to spend their summer with all the stupid kids...so concentrate...that's it, raise your hand, ask questions...act like your interested....that's it, you can do it...

Jim in Dallas

Obviously you're in your place as all you can do is "Name Calling and Trash Talking". This is as I said you'd do in an earlier post.

Is it possible for you to posts something that requires you to have an original thought, as opposed to "Name Calling and Trash Talking"?

You know, we could really care less so don't even bother - LMAO.

Michael, Ok, it's time now for your ESL class...don't be late. Study those english phrases and read those ESL books and maybe with a tutor you'll soon be able to master english and post something intelligent here. You can do it Mikey...there are plenty of foreigners before you that have accomplished learning english to the point where they can construct whole sentences...don't give up.

you know there ARE alot of places cuts can be made other than schools ,welfare,or medicare, that wont effect the middle,low and poor familys, retired people AS MUCH. maybe people should remember the poor and middle class helped build this country not just the top 2% DRS., lawyers and the such are not doing a large amount of the jobs in this country its the small biss. but dont give them a break. and fixing the roads and bridges in the states will give jobs I HAVE SEEN THAT ALREADY AND THEN THERE ARE SOME WHO DONT REALLY WANT TO WORK JUST GET A HAND OUT but the Republican party does not want to hear that. THERE is EARMARKS, WAIST IN THE MILITARY, TAXES CUTS FOR THE TOP2%OF THE PEOPLE should not be there at all they have more than enough tax breaks. They pay less in taxes than the middle class in most cases

Fascinating, $1.1T in deficit reduction proposed and you still do not hear it. Some just want to bash this President in spite of everything.

Would you cheer or jeer McConnell or Boehner if they propose Deficit reduction of $1.1T? Bet I know why.

To Jim in Dallas and Florida Dem: Considering the President increased spending by $1.5 Trillion in one year it would be nice to see at least the garbage that was added be removed from the budget as opposed to saving us $1.1 Trillion over 10 years. That would be a start.

Major cuts will be needed in all areas of government, programs covering duplicate duties should be looked at and consolidated or eliminated, the tax code should be blown up and a flat tax or a complete elimination of the tax code with a national sales tax so all of the people not reporting income would now have to pay at least a little of the tax burden. Congress should not be able to appropriate spending if there are not sufficient funds in the coffers to cover the bills. I could go on and on but no body out there is listening anyway so we are stuck with these politicians (both parties) who just care about being re-elected and power than what is best for the country.

We need to enact term limits first and then maybe our representatives will represent us rather than the almighty parties. Life is not black and white Republicians and Deomcrats aren't always right the answer is somewhere in the middle.

Dems or Rebubs doesn't matter.... What matters is that at the very least Obama is cutting wasteful spending. Structuring a budget of the magnitude that our country has is stressful and fraught with liabilities. He is doing his best to not cut too deep and hurt everyone. You need to listen better to what he is saying and not leap to conclusions before you get the entire explanation. I would worry more over what the two parties are going to do to not only next years budget but this years. Republicans want deeper, more extreme cuts. Just where and to whom do you think those cuts are?

RN in Philly, and Jim in Dallas, the Republicans should put up there what they are willing to CUT to show everyone where their mouth is or shut up. And if they are willing to cut those welfare moms in Philly, and Social Security (what people have paid into since day one), Medicade (including Aid to Children), when will they come after the rest of us. Oh, right now I guess: Food prices going up (big business and Wall Street) oil and gas prices going up (huge oil companies and Wall Street) mortgages going up (big banking) all these entities the Republicans are protecting. Instead of lowering prices, all the big corporations are raising their prices. Why is that? Because Republicans along with the rich corporations want to bleed the middle class until they bend to their wishes. And we will end up like Egypt, where the rich rule everything. And the poor live on $2 a day. Don't be brainwashed into believing what your Republican politicians are saying. They are rich already from the rich corporations and don't care about anyone but their survival. They aren't middle class. They believe is survival of the fittest, or no, I mean survival of the richest.

Vote one way or the other, you will still elect the same sort of sellout and useless puppet.

The only thing that changes is which lobbyist money is currently directly funding US policy and which is rearming for the coming campaign trail.

W. was a terrible president, his fiscal, foreign and social policies sucked and he let the corrupt appointments in his cabinet and VP do most of the management.

Obama is a useless and ineffectual president with far too much hubris and very little ability to get anything accomplished.

The Lefty-idiots in Congress and the Senate just do their same old schtick, knowing that their jerry-mandered districts will re-elect them for another term while the Right-wing lunatics are aching for another turn up at the plate to shunt more taxpayer money off to defense contractor pockets and maybe even another war! At bat, they all swing like a windmill and will throw the game for the right price.

Sadly, neither party will run a legitimately strong and effective candidate! They each just try to run someone that is just infinitessimally better than their opponent so as not to risk someone that could garner votes and funding outside of the control of their party's constituency.

Campbell didn't get the GOP-funding in CA...Fiorina was much more of a sellout and extreme Righty.

As awful as Bush II was in his first term, Democrats ran behind Kerry, who couldn't keep a concrete stance even if you sunk his feet into it!

A strong wind could have defeated Obama, but the GOP decided that McCain (Bush Jr. Jr.) and the insane hypocrite Sarah Palin were the right ticket!

The real beneficial changes is not going to come from Left or Right.

All the criticism only goes to show how childish and pointless it is. Rhetoric changes nothing.

For the past 2 years we have heard obnoxious comments and criticisms about Obama. One thing we have not heard, an totally more important, is what the Obama haters propose in place of what the President offers. Hasn't failed yet.

The second he says anything, he gets cut to shreds. I admire his resolve. He's not afraid to put his ideas out for all to hear. Unfortunately, the ranters and rhetoric screamers are making so much noise they can't hear a thing.

If they are such cowards and fear not being re-elected and sit on the sidelines, they are not meeting even the basic expectations of the American people. If you haters can't offer anything of substance, you should really tone down the nonsense.

(I guess the President's aids didn't like the what they were hearing on the morning shows today so they must have came up with a new spin to try on the American people and press in hopes of diverting the criticism)

Sounds like what they do on FOX News EVERY Day!

$100 billion is a start, a very small start. But there's a $1.6 trillion deficit. That $100 billion is only 0.6% of this year's deficit, 0.026% of the total budget. Much too little to make a significant impact. Little nibbling cuts like that won't do the job. We need a meat axe to get the budget down equal to revenues, $2.1 trillion.

Lets see, we can start by cutting $146 billion from the Dept of Ag, terminating that department. Then we can cut $84 billion from DOT, leaving untouched the Federal Highway Trust Fund money reserved for highway improvement. Save $47.2 billion by eliminating HUD, $18.7 billion by eliminating NASA (Constellation was killed anyway), $68 billion by eliminating the federal Dept of Education (that's a state and local function anyway), $11.8 billion from Interior (should be privatized anyway), $8.8 billion by eliminating the EPA, cut $283 billion by closing overseas bases in 130 countries and bringing our troops home to be assigned along our southern border, save $1.1 Trillion over 10 years by repealing Obamacare.

That's $375.7 billion in hard cuts this year, $3.757 trillion over 10 years, and $1.383 trillion in projected further cuts over 10 years, for a grand total of $5.4 trillion saved over 10 years. Without these cuts, the out year deficit would be $16 trillion over 10 years.

Even with these cuts, we still have $10.6 trillion in deficit spending over the next 10 years. That means we also have to make drastic cuts in Social Security and Medicare to even approach a balanced budget, much less start to pay down the debt. In fact we can't do it. There isn't enough money in the entire economy to pay off what we owe. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is our only choice.

Would you actually hear his answers? I doubt you would. I suspect you would just cut up his comments and pull 'murdoch' on his answers to lie about what he said.

Grow up you silly little partisan.

No, Soros already has that market cornered

You got THAT right, NY Jim!

I never heard George Soros say he would cut Social Security and I truly doubt changing SS to accommodate the Repubicans would help this country. The Republicans have a script and have one track minds. They no longer have to think. The script is written. Written by the huge corporations who control the political process, written by conservative supreme court justices, written by big banking and Wall Street. And as a kicker, they lie to their constituents. They are going to bring this country down down down.

He feels our pain......lol

Your rhetoric is so Trotskite. It might be a good idea if you looked at the situation at hand and try to formulate an opinion based on current events. The debt, which is largely driven by entitlements has managed to swallow our economy.

Housing is at the worst level since the Great Depression, the real unemployment rate is closer to 20%, the real inflation rate is closer to 15%, a fact that is not being advertised by a compliant media, and you squeal like a 19th Century Anarchist against the rich.

Get a new schtick

D-baggers only care for the working class when they belong to a union. No union, no soup for you

george, george.....Obama is the rich....do you really think he would spit on you if you were on fire....hell NO.

Nobody talks about the tremendous gains over the last six months. Many Corporations showing record profits, auto industry back on top and re-paying loans with interest. 100% exemption for capital gains taxes. Job creation on the rise. We have been down before and willo be down again....we ALWAYS bounce back. Truth be told....Republicans cost me a couple thousand per year, Democrats save me a couple thousand....NO BIG DEAL

All of your rising metaphors are a fallacy. The stock market is worth about 20% in real value at 12,000 that it was before at 12,000. The dollar has lost value, commodities have sky rocked and inflation has set in The market is all backroom trading that benefits the corporations that have laid down for the administration.

Where you have to look is at the small savers and investors. Life savings and the equity in their houses were wiped out in 2009 and 2010. The "new stock" price increases are only benefiting big institutional buyers and friends of Obama. The guy on the street was wiped out and for the most part, they are either unemployed or under employed.

I defy you to give me a sector, other than big Union and government where there is a recovery.

Your rhetoric is full of bumper sticker, boiler plate Democrat party garbage. What should be scary to you is that you will be the one that is most affected, you obviously have swallowed the party line hook, line and sinker.

you sound a little Neo-con.... Small businesses are experiencing huge up-turn with "new" tax incentives i.e. exemption on CG taxes, credits for equipment purchases and hiring incentives. I believe you are the one swallowing the party line with a shot of beckbaughs finest to wash it down.

Just waited for him to submit his budget to prove that his make believe move to the center talk was just that....Make Believe.....he's still the left wing progressive he's always been.

And besides that ....how is it possible for him to repeatedly say that he will cut the deficit in half by the end of 2012 when he keeps increasing it ???.....must be more of that Obamanomics....

Given the events to date, I think the Republicans are only able, or maybe allowed, to criticize the opposing party. They are not allowed to offer alternatives. To do that, they would be exposing the fact they truly have nothing to offer except criticism. It is so much easier to lie and distort reality than be a productive participant in governing this country.

they represent the lying, uneducated, misinformed, cowards in this country. The universe shouldn't accommodate or encourage misleading information.

Mike in delray..... did you have earplugs in when Obama was telling us that the interest alone is what is making it look terrible? Or do you not know about finance and interest? No wonder you can't understand... take a finance cource and LEARN!

Another campaign promise he can't keep and you're making excuses for him...it's not the interest...it's his spending that makes it look bad.....because it is bad....and you believe what he says ???

The President is going to hold a news conference. There has got to be something about this for the wing-nuts to whine about.

I posted that a while back. Thanks for proving me right.

true realist

Hey that is what we do here...YOU too

YourTruth4U -

In November 2012 the headlines of your home town newspaper will read:

"Obama Wins Re-Election By A Landslide Victory".

And the sub-headline will read:

"Democrats Regain House, Now Have Filibuster Proof Congress, Again"

You and your croanies need to know that less than 33% of the electorate voted in the 2010 election. The remaining 66% will all vote Democratic in 2012, as the Republicans have already and will continue to prove that they are clueless on "How To Govern".

tell it Michael... as long as no solutions are offered and no reasonable candidates produced...it will be a landslide. Because at least Obama offers something.....

Michael2424

AGREED!

I want to hear someone talk about cutting the cash we send to those here illegally. They get welfare, food stamps housing credits you name it they get it. Let's use a little common sense and stop the insanity!! Why do we pay illegal immigrants for breaking our law?

I realize that it is because of the children. They came here had a child and apply for services. Pretty good scam. Let's stop pouring our tax dollars into Mexico's and Mexican pockets and start taking care of our own elderly and those who are Americans that need help.

I want to hear about ALL of the ENTITLEMENTS not just M&M.

Obama is a sneaky b a s t a r d, he's praying the republicans will make the cuts in entitlements so he can use that against them next year to get reelected

He is having a conference on TV because like he has said all along he will keep us informed.

and Obamagoneinone..... you must have real problems.... He is trying to get the repubs and Dems to work together, and not pulling against each other... those idiots need to work together to get a balance that will work for all. We all need to start working together and stop this bickering that is non-productive.

didn't you post this already on page 1

43 years I have been paying in, now the contract changes? Can I sue the Fed for breach? Maybe it's time for us to do the Egyptian!

jed i don't think the Egyptians will find the change to be all that good.

i was...i saw another Nanny State buckle under its own weight...while others just saw the end of a despot

NANNY STATE what the hell were you watching......Egypt is in N. Africa

Please explain how despot that robs treasury and puts it in HIS pocket is a nanny state

Anxiously awaiting your answer

LOL... "State" also means an autonomous nation

@Yourtruth4u:
Why don't you/we give the man a fighting chance? Godd**MN, how did you feel when Bush was in office? Did you criticize his every news conference. I like that Obama is putting it out there and we just have to bite the bullet.
Like Boehmer said, "we're broke."

lol @ Chicago .... Bush wasn't on TV EVERY week like Mr. Obama. We're broke!!! WHO doesn't know that? IF you ARE truly from Chicago then you already know your personal and corporate taxes are rising dramatically. And you WILL lose more people and businesses because of it. But that is NOT the politicians fault as much as it is ALL Americans. Look in your driveway or your neighbors to see part of the problem. We have lost our steel, textile, electronics, and soon our automobile industry. Most of our manufacturing base, and the companies as well, are alomost gone. Were will we employ our people? And those FEW plants the foreign companies put here to appease us does NOT nearly make up for the loss of OUR maufacturing plants. Plus they are lower paying jobs compared to the design and managerial jobs. I would let the manufacturing go before the higher paying jobs. That only makes sense. As long as Americans foolishly continue to buy foreign over domestic instead of supporting what their country and they produce the collapse of this ONCE great country will continue unabated. Want jobs? Want a better economy? Want a brighter and more prosperous future? BUY AMERICAN!!! It is the ONLY way out of this mess. LEARN IT!!!

If you didn't have a "safetyNet" (or entitlement) then you would have people littered in the streets: no home, no food, sick and diseased. Talk about 3rd world country? That would be us. Thank God we have "something" as compared to Haiti or some of the Central American countries.