President’s Goal: Halving the Deficit by 2013

His tax plan is being called “payback time”. Hollywood here he comes!

Blah Blah Blah… talk is VERY cheap when the press is having a love affair with BO………. lots of worthless blather in this story

Hey, let the new president in 2012 address the deficit. Only an experienced and smart person will be able to undo Obama’s mess. Obama is not doing his job and will not be re-elected.

On April 1st, the oil companies better not raise their prices and steal our rebates. Bush let that happen every time.

Well, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and geniuses like Michael Moore said they wanted to pay more taxes… but they probably won’t as the Obama administration will collect the money from people who earn their living through income and not sheltered investments and trusts.

Obama: Tax Cuts to Be Felt by April 1.
Is this an April Fool’s Day joke?

I see Obama will cut spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But I thought massive government spending was going to get us out of this mess.
So why is he cutting spending on any programs and calling for fiscal responsibility?
He can’t have it both ways.

it’s to counter the generous $13.00 a week we get a week in his stimulus package. He is creating a class war and the middle class is left out in the cold. IF Bush’s $1600.00 a family did absolutely nothing for the economy 8 months ago, how does the “messiah” think $600.00 dollars a year is going to help? People wake up and see that this inexperienced man is going to run this baby into a ditch even worse than GWB. here’s a great example I received from economist. He said what Obama is doing is like a golfer getting lessons from somebody who never has played golf. Every time he tries to help out, he only makes it worse

Some links on economic crisis:
__Vid: Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?
__Vid: Barack Obama & Friends Caused U.S. Economic Crisis
__Vid: Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis
__Article: NY Post: “O’s Dangerous Pals: Barack’s ‘Organizer’ Buds Pushed for Bad Mortgages” by Stanley Kurtz
__Article: Obama Sued Citibank Under CRA to Force Bad Loans”
__Article: “Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis”
__Article: “Sleeper Cell: ACORN, Obama, and the Housing Crisis” by Bud White
__Proof: McCain Letter Demanded 2006 Action on Fannie and Freddie
__Proof: Fact Check: Did McCain warn about Fannie, Freddie 2 years ago? CNN (True, McCain did give a warning.)

Obama signed an oath when he was a presidential candidate that he would run a transparent government. It was an actual oath and an actual piece of paper that can be viewed on the net.
Even today’s liberal San Francisco Chronicle says that the recovery.gov web site Obama had set up is not transparent at all.
But much worse than that the Obama administration has directed defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with individuals outside the federal government.
White House: DoD Officials Must Vow Secrecy on Budget
By JOHN T. BENNETT
So we have massive spending but no transparency.

I wish Obama would just shut up. Every time he announces something new, the market takes a dive. Last week was so bad. Even the people that voted for him are now worried about this clown. They keep seeing their 401k go lower and lower. Now this clown wants to increase taxes on businesses and capital gains. How does he think the market is going to react to his announcement next week. I wish he would just shut up already.

Obama doesn’t seem to like small business owners. More jobs will be lost and sales taxes will rise with this plan.

Absolutely makes no sense. Let’s assume Obama has a good faith belief in Keynesian economics, and believes his “stimulus” package will bring the country out of the current recession. even though Keynes himself admitted in 1939 that all of the Roosevelt administration’s spending in the New Deal did not work. In that case, you could disagree with Obama’s strategy, but at least his tactics would be consistant with the strategy.
Keynes, however, recognized that government spending merely “primes the pump” of the economy, and is not a solution in and of itself. Rather, the real economic growth occurs when the construction company that receives government money uses part of it to buy more equipment, the equipment manufacturer hires more employees to fill the increased demand, and the increase in employment increases the demand for goods – the so called multiplier factor.
Obama’a announcement of tax increases when the ink has not even dried on his stimulus package, in which much of the spending will not occur until two to five years out, is counterproductive as the construction company that was thinking about buying more equipment, and the employer who was thinking about hiring more employees, now have to plan for an increased tax burden and will decrease their spending (and the multiplier factor) accordingly. Thus, Obama has completely negated the psychological benefits of his stimulus spending before it has even had time to work.

Netenyahau is building his coaltion in the Knesset. He seems to be quite serious about dealing with Iran. Now may not be a good time to be making military cuts. I wish Obama would read the writing on the wall before he starts cutting the budget for our military.

Pay down the debt he Inherited. There were a surplus when Bushie took office. He raided the treasury and handed out money to corporate welfare receipents in the form of tax cuts. Hypocrites, as the vast majority in this country was losing their jobs from these corporations. How do one man rob the entire country without Anyone seeing him…..his party in control didn’t want to see it, didn’t care, as long as their cronies was living high on the hog with my taxes. To all of you that are/were disillusioned by the ex-president, keep drinking your Mountain Dew…. it raises your BP, rot your teeth and leads to irrational thinking.

millerj: I hadn’t heard about the moniter built into President Obama’s podium:
‘”It looked scripted beyond the scripted part, the speech,” says one former communications adviser, who has been feeding notes and suggestions to the White House team and worked with them on the inauguration. ‘Every president has gone into one of these things knowing that there were some pre-arranged questions or journalists to be called on, but this one was pretty ham-handed.’
“To that end, he says, the White House is looking to install a small video or computer screen into the podium used by the president for press conferences and events in the White House. ‘It would make it easier for the comms guys to pass along information without being obvious about it,’ says the adviser.”
I thought Obama was smart enough to think on his feet. Huh…

Wow! finally about 99% of the posts I see on here is against Obama’s direction. Thank God American has already waken up. Well where the hell were you guys during the presidential election? Shoulda, woulda, coulda,. I’m still mad as hell! Can someone answer mt question, I don’t understand why anybody still bashing how Bush is possibly responsible for the economy. All you have to do is go on yahoo and look at the Dow Jones stock graph and see that sense the deprssion of the 30s all it does is rising, Dow Jones rises to the highest in Bush’s years in office. Well I guest it’s too damm late to do that now you’ve already voted for the fool that is running this country now all you can do is bitch about it. Let me remind you short minded people when 2012 comes please do those important steps before voting and don’t think that “oh I’ll just vote and if it does not turn out right I’ll just bitch”.

Businesses don’t create jobs. They’d just as soon keep their payrolls as lean as they possibly can. It’s the demand of consumers who create the need for more jobs. Those who think Obama isn’t experienced enough to establish a plan to get out us of this and intelligent enough to make adjustments when and where necessary must be the same folks who thought Bush was a competent POTUS. As soon as Bush picked up a pen back in 2001 it looked like we were in for a rough ride. The results speak for themselves.

Netenyahau is building his coaltion in the Knesset. He seems to be quite serious about dealing with Iran. Now may not be a good time to be making military cuts. I wish Obama would read the writing on the wall before he starts cutting the budget for our military.
Posted by: Jane | Feb 22, 2009 10:14:07 AM
Where does it say he is making military cuts? It does state about drawing down in Iraq.(Why we are there is still a mystery). That saves us money and resources. They can focus on Afghanistan which should have been the focus all along. That also frees up troops in the event that we should need them elsewhere. Maybe some of them can get a long deserved rest.

“Most of the saving will come from windingdown the war….” – is correct
and justified but regarding publictax,
has to look further.

I do wish people would give Obama a fighting chance. There is nobody who would be doing a better job right now. Just give some time to see; the guy is brilliant and we’ll get out of this hole.

If he wanted to cut the defict…. why give out all the money in the first place. If we do not have money to spend, how can we spend it on a new car we can not afford, make the improvements on our house, etc. We need to start thinking before making our actions.

The Bush tax cuts have cost America more than the war. These so-called conservative sure weren’t watching out the American tax payers for the past eight years. What a bunch of MORONS!!!

Obama didn’t “inherit” the stimulus bill recently passed. He says he will cut the annual deficit in half in 4 years. Look closely at what is said. He is saying that by 2013 the annual deficit will be 6-700 billion “annually”, assuming everything occurs as he says. Even if he cuts this annual deficit in half the second year, that means the cumulative deficits will be 2009: $1.3Trillion, 2010: $600 billion, 2011: $600 billion, 2012: $600 billion.
That means the national debt will be $3.1 Trillion greater than it was at end of 2008. Of course, that’s assuming the best case with no more “stimulus” or extraordinary bailouts with taxpayer money, and we know how that can go.

The O man may not be getting as much money from the “rich” as he thinks. My working wife and I have a plan to avoid his tax increases and that is by getting divorced. My wife and I each make around 200k per year. As a married couple we are deemed “rich”, however, if we get divorced we are simply two individual middle class people. We are not alone in this situation nor are we the only ones contemplating divorce. If this seems ridiculous that is because it is. Obama will simply have to keep redefining the ‘”rich” downward until it engulfs half of the middle class.

“I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien.”………………..
LOL..Bravo!

Instead of increasing the taxes on those who have made this country great, I recommend they reduce the size of government! Mr. Obama must have been educated in USSR because this line of thinking seems socialist!

Obama is not going to halve the deficit. In talking to my Senator there is TARP 3 and TARP 4 at Congress right know. There is no way that he can do this. Taxes are going up for everyone, people that do not work do not have to worry about taxes.

Winding down the war in Iraq? Ok-but didn’t he just approve 17,000 more troops to Afghan?
Re. your comment on illegals–I agree, don’t know why I’m here in Los Angeles legally. We just had our Terminator liar of a governor go bow down to the One. US is turning into a joke..those who payed income tax cannot get their taxes back but we can find an endless support for deadbeats, druggies and illegals! Between LA mayor, SF mayor and our Governor, Ca is sinking..then comes BHO to take my life raft away.

Brian,
Why answering to an ignorance person? I am working and thank God I’m still employed and it is so obvious that I am working for a rich person. So the once that thinks rich do not create jobs are probably on wellfare.

Obama–fiscal responsibility?
What a joke.

Which one of Obama’s tax cheats thought of this idea?

ObamaCanDuit,
I don’t mean to interupt your conversation with Brian, but what are you talking about? Maybe you can educate me a little of liberal thinking. What jobs that is not base on consumer’s demand?

It’s AWESOME to see Obama making plans to do the right thing by our country. As the article states, our economy cannot grow under such a deficit mainly created by the crooked Bush/Cheney regime. It’s GRATIFYING to see Obama being resonsible and sticking to his guns on fixing this unholy mess we are in!!! CONTRARY to some of the rants i see on this site, Obama NEEDS TO KNOW that many of us support him whole heartedly!!!

“A White House official tells ABC News that the President on Monday will announce that he will try to put the nation on track to cut the deficit in half from that which he inherited by the end of his first term.”
His first term? Who said he”s gonna have a second? He”s gonna be like Jimmy Carter.Just one term, enough is enough.
Posted by: Fernando | Feb 22, 2009 10:58:15 AM
Do you think running Sarah Palin in 2012 is going to help…lol. Don’t count on a Republican comeback so soon. People are finally seeing who really cares about this country and it isn’t them.

..”our economy cannot grow under such a deficit”……….The projected deficit will be 3+ Trillion over the next few years. Best case 500+ billion/year – far higher than Bush deficits.
How will higher deficits grow our economy? By osmosis?

Instead of increasing the taxes on those who have made this country great, I recommend they reduce the size of government! Mr. Obama must have been educated in USSR because this line of thinking seems socialist!
Posted by: AGT-R—————And in your opinion who made this country great. The rich, crooked Wall Street, CEOs and banks. Republicans like to take care of their Rich. Problem is they forget about the regular worker and laborer. The men and women that have poored sweat, blood and even their lives building this country.

Taxes are going up for everyone, people that do not work do not have to worry about taxes.
Posted by: jewels
============================================
I like that Dutch proverb that says, “you can’t pull feathers from a plucked chicken”. These people WISHED they had the luxury of “worrying” about taxes.
BTW, everytime a “plucked chicken” is participating in economic activity like buying stuff, he or she pays taxes.

to CAW who said that all CEOs are republicans.. really? Madof a big democrat funder. Sanford-he helped funded the DNC and is on the run. BTW that big announcement that Obama gave where he said future CEOS who receive bailout money salary will be capped. that was all for public display, in reality CEOS can still find a loop hole around that cap and still earn millions of dollars, obama knew that and yet made that announcement. it’s one of his rush to announcement plan with no clear plan or reasoning (similar to the Gitmo thing).
oh and what a wonderful and caring president, he is oging to raise buisness taxes! wow, and what’s the unemployment rate? what agenda did he run on while running for president? promising tax cuts and promising help for buisness? where is it?

Oh, and that “approval rating,” ROFLMFAO! That “rating” is as nearly accurate as the amount of blow in his pockets. obama supporters functioned much better in their uncivilized countries.

“First, they apply only to companies that receive government bailout money in the future. For companies that don’t receive “exceptional financial recovery assistance” — such as the outsize bailouts that went to AIG and Citigroup — the restrictions on executive pay would be waived if the company discloses the compensation and allows a nonbinding shareholder vote.
Companies that don’t have the restrictions waived still could pay an unlimited amount in restricted stock and other incentives. The incentives can be cashed in after the company has paid the government back, but also if the government decides after an undetermined period that the company has shown it is meeting its repayment obligations. The Treasury website did not detail what constitutes ‘exceptional’ aid.
Also, while executive salaries are capped, there are no limits on the scores of mid-level Wall Streeters such as bond traders or investment bankers who typically pocket million-dollar bonuses.” [emphasis added]

He’s going to derail the train! President Hoover all over again… Is the president a nut job? Has he learned anything from history? The policies being enacted today by this administration are comparable, if not exactly like, those put in place by the Hoover administration. And people can find out what good they did then. Hoover’s policies led to the great depression. Folks, our dollar isn’t going to be worth peanuts. And for those that drank the cool aide and got this idiot elected, a great many thanks go to you all. Our country is about to go bankrupt. Welcome to the Himalayas!! (Welcome to no where!)

aol has a poll 1 for top 10 Heros (obama is third 1St being Jesus, 2nd being Reagan) Obama rating is 9 %. then there is 10 least favorite people and Obama is first wiht 41% and Bush is 2nd with 37% and 38k people voted so far…

250,000$
2 MBA’s paying off student loans and into their children’s college funds generate that income.
How are they rich?
Tax the rich. No tax the productive.
Shame!

Jaj, Obama is no hero. He is a fraud! Plain and simple, fraud!

Folks, when Zero talks about raising taxes on “the wealthy,” he’s not talking about his liberal elitist friends in Hollywood, Chicago, or in Washington. He’s talking about ordinary Americans who own businesses and made it on their own. Obama is a joke and 62 million people who voted for him are morons.

I know Mike….
the Emperor has no clothes or the clothes has no Emperor…..
i was surprised at the AOL poll cuz AOL tends to lean left.

Let me be bold like the President Obama, Peach. Call him unwise if you will, but I applaud his boldness to pursue his campaign agenda even while he tackles the extremely difficult but solvable problems that he inherited from President George W. Bush. I bet his prescriptions for healing the economy and stabilizing the U.S. deficit will work. Of course, I am an Obamiac and have always trusted his judgment about laissez faire economics: it must end. Government regulations and intervention can save capitalism. Doing nothing or only what Republicans have done for the past eight years is a sure way to destroy American capitalism. All the people advising President Obama are ardent capitalists like him. Indeed, fiscal conservatives (or socialists?) like Senator Lindsey Graham, Alan Greenspan, and Nouriel Roubini are calling for the nationalization of U.S. banks, but not the president. So, Peach, my man, bet on!

Inherited? Poor little Obama. Bought a presidency in a poke. Had no idea where the economy was headed or he never would have run, poor little thing.
Hillary was talking about the foreclosure problem in fall of 2007. McCain went back to the Senate to deal with the economic crisis in fall of 2008. Obama should have backed off and let one of those grown-ups take the presidency this term.

Biden always in the background looking like he’s pensively reflecting. I wonder if these two guys really like one another?

It is soooo nice to hear the whining of
the neocons who got us into this with
their unregulated, greed driven version
of free enterprise. Hope and expect to hear a lot more of it in the future.
I am one of those who was responsible in my decision making and am already
enjoying a better life under President
Obama. Looking forward to a great 8 years.

“There is not one business who is making their decisions based on expected taxes. All make their decisions on expected profits.”
And you don’t think businesses take into consideration the taxes they pay when they plan on profits???
Now….who were you calling stupid??????

Obama Is A Total Failure!!!!!!!

Look, this noise about bussiness laying off people to down size is a good thing, because then it present an opporturnity for competition. Which is always good for the country. Rich greedy big and some small bussinesses don’t want this to happen, because it helps the working people. For the last 8 years the Rich had avoided paying thier fair share of taxes, and now it time to pay. Go Obama!!

Cutting government spending like ACORN–aka Urban DEvelopment $4 Billion? Will he be cutting that? YES, I promise to get over it when my one Lincoln penny doesn’t go to these thugs & bullies! Lincoln, my Republican hero, must be rolling in his grave!

Question for anyone who knows: This tax “cut” we are supposed to be receiving starting in April…is this just a cut in the sense that the feds are going to withhold less from our paychecks only to be paid back at tax time, or is is an actual cut in the rate at which we are being taxed? I recall several years ago the same thing happened, we were all excited to receive a tax cut when actually we wound up paying more back at tax time which was actually more of a hardship. Any clarification would be appreciated; no one seems to know for sure, but I suspect the same thing is happening this time.

if i was making a quarter of a million dollars a year in PROFIT at my business i would GLADLY pay some more taxes… these rich people are such cry babies… the rich have gotten richer and the rest of us have moved closer towards poverty under the republican mentality… trickly down economics is a failure, voodoo economics is a failure… the tax breaks given to the rich over the past 8 years will be repealed and those who have more will finally start to pay their fair share! GO OBAMA – TAX THE RICH!!

DEBTMARKS – Where’s the hypocrisy on my part? I never made any personal claims based upon an emotional reaction. Therefore, I remain “unshattered”, as well as anyone else with even average intelligence reading these posts.

I’m sorry but you leftist Obama supporters have no room to blame what GWB did. The bottom line is that you voted for Obama for change and hope (I don’t realy know what that means). So therefor if I’m not mistaken you’ve voted for him to take on a dificult task to change USA. Well that means he knew what he is facing and should be able to know what he have to do to get us out of it. So my question to you is where is change and where is hope? I know, I know, give him a chance right? Ok how much more do you want Americans to give him? After all the Lobyist in his cabinet members and the tax czars followed by 1 tril deficit can we afford to give him more chance? Let me remind you what was his brand when you voted for him. It was Change, Hope, and Yes We Can or some crap like that. Now after his election you’re voting for Chance, Hope, and Maybe we can? It does not sound too hpefull to me.

Universal health care will explode health care costs, cap and trade of carbon and shutting down further oil exploration will explode the cost of energy, we just threw away $4 billion for ACORN and he’s going to halve the budget deficit?
Sure he is.
NOTE: Said halving would occur in 2013 so he won’thave to answer for anything at the end of his term.
Liberals are so gullible.

Posted by: ken | Feb 22, 2009 12:01:49 PM
I think I like your plan….ROTFLMAO

Oh and something else about Obama’s math. Let’s remember the ridiculous “save or create” meme.
Obama said that the average family would see about $65 per month in handouts. $13 per week comes to an average of $56.30 per month.
This will really be a shot in the arm for the auto or housing industries.
And those who might actually buy cars or houses?
They’ll get to pay more taxes!
Someone has to fund ACORN.

It’s amazing how many Americans just sat there and supported Bush and allowed him to bury our Country financially and so many of our American soldiers without question and now that we have an intelligent President who is putting plans and strategies together to fix and recover our Country these same Americans now want a voice and have nothing supportive to say ….but for us other Americans who are tired of this ignorance we have taken a stand and elected a strong man and one who is willing to work for us and our Country. Educate your selves people and quit letting others control your thoughts…. you have way to much free access to information to just believe what you’re told.

i woke up this morning and finally realized what a selfish peon of a human being i have been ,being a republican voter for years , and i now support president obama 110% , i am going to vote straight democratic ticket from now on as much as possible this country needs new strong leaders and as much as i hate to say it ,the democrats appear to be much better at leading and getting things done than the republicans ,who only got the usa in a money wasting lie of a war.

Posted by: nikki | Feb 22, 2009 12:14:51 PM
Do you ever think for yourself?
Ever?
Do you know how this mess was created?
Jimmy Carter and his CRA. (1976)
Clinton pushed GSE’s to make more bad loans. (1999)
Andrew Cuomo sued Accubanc for $2 billion because they weren’t making enough bad loans. (1998)
Penny Pritzker champions sub-prime mortgages. (1999)
Fannie and Freddie buy those loans up to maintain appearance of performance. Franklin Raines securitized those notes.
Greedy bankers made all sorts of liar loans for the fees it would generate, knowing that Fannie would buy them up.
It was the securitization of these lousy loans that brought us to this mess.
Who wanted reform of Fannie and Freddie?
George Bush. Chuck Hagel. John McCain.
Who shielded Fannie and Freddie and blocked reform?
Barney Skank, Chris Dodd, and Clay, Meeks, Waters.
What you see now is the culmination of Barney Frnak’s dream of universal housing.
This mess is ALL Democrat.
ALL OF IT.

The policies of Robin Hood economics continue from Mr. Obama…

Posted by: drjohn | Feb 22, 2009 12:25:34 PM
Tell me NO Rushpublican had a hand in any of it. You are so full of BS and you know it. This was not made just by Democrats, the Republicans are just as much at fault. The thing now is to do what we think is best to right the wrongs of the past.

Class warfare courtesy Mr. Obama anyone?

Obama should get rid of all the tax breaks available to the rich, which then enables them to game the system just as large corporations do. Since these breaks are not useable by middle class and poor its only fair. I wouldn’t increase the tax rates per se beyond the current top brackets as we want to incentivise people to work hard and be creative in earning more but at the same time maintain fairness in the write offs. They use to let us deduct all credit expenses on our taxes for car payments, and even credit card payements, then got rid of those. Those alone would boost the average income retained by workers significantly. Currently the largest corporations in the US pay no taxes believe it or not due to all the tax breaks. Private equity investors should also be charged income tax rates and not capital gains rates on thier first million dollars taken on a given year at least. A side benifit is it might cut down on all the stock market volatility as trading will become more costly in paying taxes. Currently its easy for traders to greatly increase their churning of the markets through volatility trades as the tax burden is low with the bush capital gain tax cuts.

No use to worry about any of this. Congress has to approve every tax cut or increase and he will get part of it. This will last till 2012 and even the people that are for Obama today will be voting for someone else in four years. Already hearing of people saying they already regret voting for Obama. He is a one term President and that is exactly what will happen. All you that laugh at this statement will be the ones that vote for someone else in four years.

Obama a one term President. Already see it happening.

I wonder how much the HOLLYWOOD ELITE WHO LOVE OBAMA will feel about TAXING THE RICH!!!
Obama can’t have it both ways all the time like he has been getting. Sooner or later, someone in his army of special interest groups will get upset.
Rich Hollywood Elite objecting to taxes by any chance?

The proposed raising of the capital gains tax gets right to the heart of the problem. Apparently, Bush’s large hedge-fund friends at Goldman Sachs are the biggest recipients of that reduced tax on capital gains. Google the list of the largest hedge fund managers. Goldman Sachs (Bush appointed Hank Paulson’s former employer) is number 5 on the list.
Bush’s cronies’ incomes are not taxed like ordinary citizens’ incomes are. Why? Because Bush and Paulson allowed them to claim their ordinary income as capital gains.
Also of note, hedge fund managers are exempt from the short-selling rules. That is the reason they create rumors to crash the sectors that hold your 401K and retirement account money. Bush cronies/hedge funds are exempted from what Bush-appointed former SEC chairman Chris Cox was supposed to protecting investors from — short selling!
Short-selling goes hand in hand with rumor-mongering and spreading fear. The republican administration’s tax-breaks for the billionaires that stole our money is over!
We’re taking back those windfall profits Goldman Sachs and the rest of the Bush cronies stole from us! That is what this hooplah over capital gains is all about. That, too, will help solve the deficit problem.
Fairness is returning under the Obama administration and I applaud it!

Spend like there is no tomorrow has returned with Obama Administration.
Now pay my mortgage loser liberal!

Wake up Sheeple! Obama is right. Before Reagan, the very rich paid 75 percent.
It will not hurt them to kick in a fair share.

Gotta Love Obama
TRANSPARENCY
5 days, 48 hours
no lobbyists in administration (HA HA)
5 days, 48 hours
Congressional Budget Office says STIMULUS WAS BAD PLAN
Obama looks more and more like a community organizer from Chicago every day. Where is Tony Rezko to set things straight.
Are you proud of America yet, Michelle?

I am another republican who is going to be voting non-republican next election. I can’t stand that the “new” republicans are only about tearing down ,not building up. I don’t mind paying a bit more taxes because I’m an AMERICAN CITIZEN WHO LOVES THIS COUNTRY AND I HAVE PROFITED FROM IT ,NOW I CAN AFFORD TO PAY BACK A LITTLE TO MAKE SURE IT STAYS STRONG AND GROWS!!!
I am concerned about this country’s future and I see no honest wholehearted effort whatsoever being made by the republican party to offer any real solutions ,only the same old same old that got us to where we are at present.
I am sorry ,the republican party just is not what it once was.

Joe Biden is realizing what kind of circus act he signed on with…

Obama Supporter …who are your people??

“The only way this president will cut the deficit in half is by redefining the word “deficit”. I expect that is happening as we speak.”
Actually, that is exactly what he is doing. Bush used gimmicky accounting to make the 10 year projected deficit appear far smaller than it actually is. Obama has gotten rid of those gimmicks to let the American people know exactly where we stand.

Jim Coners, I don’t think people mind paying more taxes. They just don’t want to pay them and certain people get all the benefits. Democrats have always been a give away party and it just want work that way. I don’t think you are a republican.

Posted by: Jim Coners | Feb 22, 2009 12:44:16 PM
You create not a single job, Jim.
Not one. You haven’t the first idea what it takes to create a job.
Good riddance.

Barefootboy,
WE are in CHARGE NOW and it will be FOREVER. OBAMA is too smart for y’all!

“Dr” John, I’ll ask you the same question: do YOU ever think for yourself. Your economic polemic was an utter joke. You may want to go back and learn a bit of Government 101: look up who is responsible for regulating the markets, the mortgage industry, the SEC, etc, etc, etc. That you are flacking Rush and Sean’s party line about this all being Barney Frank’s fault is an embarrassment to all those who have ever called themselves Dr’s of anything. There was ZERO regulation of anything financial-related in the past 8 years. NONE.

drjohn – while your doing what economics 101 said, look up Bush “Ownership Society” – he campaigned on it and his administration boasted often of its success….

I wonder if all the people who love or loved Obama in Jan, will still love him after they have to sacrifice.

Raising taxes on the rich sounds good and the proletariat usually falls for the line. Truth is that raising taxes on “the rich” will affect only a small group of people and never affect the truly wealthy. The elite hire lawyers to keep reportable income as low as possible then slap the politician on the back, happy that idiot voters fell for it again. The wealthiest Americans are Democrats, do you really think they are going to raise their own taxes without leaving themselves a way out?

Brilliant responses on here. Obama states a goal to reduce the deficit, a goal that most everyone would see as fiscally responsible and a good idea. And what happens is he gets lambasted and ridiculed by all those who if a Repub had said the same thing would probably be praising him. Brilliant. Obama is going to let the Bush tax cuts expire, raising taxes to the same level as under Clinton. As I remember businesses did just fine under those tax rules, and with those tax cuts they certainly did not do better. Besides the rich will just go evade taxes at the UBS Swiss bank anyways.

So many of the comments here are pretty ignorant. A progressive tax will stifle new business far less than the mess we’re in now, where a lack of regulation allowed unfettered speculation, fraud and idiotic practices by banks and mortgage companies.
Look at the states with the lowest taxes. Now look at their GDP. Give me a break. Progressive tax policies in blue states provide the necessary infrastructure in their states and the nation that fuel economic growth. I live in MN and we pay a whole lot more taxes than TN, but we enjoy a much better standard of living with better jobs and higher salaries.
The last 8 years showed us how faulty the conservative economic theories are. And you’re trying to act like we can’t all see, right in front of us, what conservative economics does to the economy?? Give me a break.

People are criticizing some of the Republicans for not backing Obama. Did they back Bush. No all they did was criticize the last four years. Also they say you are a racist if you do not vot for Obama and I say you are a racist if you voted for him because he is black. It’s not going to turn out like you think it will.

“The last 8 years showed us how faulty the conservative economic theories are. And you’re trying to act like we can’t all see, right in front of us, what conservative economics does to the economy?? Give me a break.”
Hey genius form the Islamic state of Minnesota:
Tell us how much Democrats reduced spending from Bush’s last two budgets.
I’ll wait.

People are criticizing some of the Republicans for not backing Obama. Did they back Bush. No all they did was criticize the last four years. Also they say you are a racist if you do not vot for Obama and I say you are a racist if you voted for him because he is black. It’s not going to turn out like you think it will.
Posted by: barefootboy
___________________________________
True….. Remember you are not allowed to notice the holes in the script. It’s calles a double standard. Get used to it. It looks like the New American Way.

Thought I’d chime in here with a positive statement, ‘coz I’ve been accused of automatically disagreeing with everything the president does and ‘coz I will certainly have a lot of negative things to say about his budget plan later on. For now, I want to note that I applaud his determination to state the deficit honestly rather than use accounting tricks to shade the numbers. That is a good development and it makes sense to do it now, at the start of his administration, when the deficit is going to balloon so high anyway because of the stimulus package. We’re prepared for a huge deficit number, so put the cards on the table now and let us all see them in their entirety. That’s a good move.
See, a Republican on the boards saying something positive about the Obama administration!

Clinton passed a 460 billion stimulus plan after taking office. Republicans said it would crash the economy, it was a horrible idea, we needed tax cuts instead. And all that followed was 8 years of a pretty good economy. FDR passes the New Deal and we the GDP of the US recovers back up to pre Great Depression levels after a few years. FDR cuts back funding to the New Deal and the US has a small recession. FDR refunds the New Deal and GDP shoots back up to new highs prior to WWII. During WWII there is massive government spending and the economy sees large growth after the war. Government spending can work, injecting capital into the market. I still have yet to hear one example of tax cuts doing the same, and the Bush tax cuts certainly did not.

Fernando an Barefootboy,
Did you ever once think that his approval ratings were in the 90′s his first month because Clinton left him a SURPLUS and the ECONOMY was in GOOD SHAPE? DO you people really lack the intelligence to figure that one out? Then 9-11 and everybody was preoccupied with that, they didn’t see what else was happening.

Ordermonger do you remember the tech bubble going bust during clintons adminstration?

Posted by: Ordermonger | Feb 22, 2009 1:05:09 PM
Ignorance is comforting, is it?
Manufacturing grew for more than 33 consecutive months under Bush. The economy was doing fine until Democrats took over Congress.

Did you ever once think that his approval ratings were in the 90′s his first month because Clinton left him a SURPLUS and the ECONOMY was in GOOD SHAPE? DO you people really lack the intelligence to figure that one out? Then 9-11 and everybody was preoccupied with that, they didn’t see what else was happening.
Posted by: Jwench
====================
I know why, people were proud of his stand on going after terrorist after 9/11 and he was real popular for a long time until things did not go our way then he lost his popularity. Bill Clinton was not as popular as you think and most people had no respect for him. I admit he done a good job as President in most cases but he was the one that started de regulation.

Ordermonger,
Right on! The only thing those tax breaks for the businesses stimulated was a tax break for sending our jobs overseas. This ain’t rocket-science, so I’m not sure what’s wrong with these republicans. I’m still trying to figure out how in Republican math sending more jobs overseas and importing H1B labor prevents Americans from foreclosing on the houses they used to own when they had a job.
Posted by: Common Sense
________________________________
Maybe the jobs were sent overseas because other countries despite spending less on eduation have higher literacy rates than we do and better skilled workers. Just a thought…..

“Right on! The only thing those tax breaks for the businesses stimulated was a tax break for sending our jobs overseas.”
Which tax break caused business to send jobs overseas?
Which one, Mr. Whiner?

Common Sense, who signed NAFTA? You know and all this really started back during LBJ term in office. Clinton done more to send jobs overseas than anyone ever has. You know this to be a fact but not smart enough to admit it. I remember watching the news on TV when Clinton was pushing NAFTA and my wife and I discussing it and knowing he was making a bad mistake. What was it I read yesterday about Hillary being in China and saying economics first and torture second.

barefootboy,
This is gonna really, really shock you, but… I didn’t vote for Clinton/NAFTA. Obama wasn’t a part of shipping jobs overseas and nor was he a part of the Bush H1B expansion for Bill Gates.

I work for a tech firm and my wife owns her own small business. She will see nothing. I will see a whopping 13$ a week if I’m lucky. Most of wife’s customers will see the same. So I see gas stations, liquor stores and deadbeats benefiting from this “plan”.

It’s time to be smart and practical once again:
1) Fix the economy.
2) End the wasteful war in Iraq.
3) Make government more efficient and less wasteful.
4) Fix our energy, health system, social security and medicare problems.
5) Increase taxes slightly on the wealthiest to drive down the defecit and bring us back to the surpluses of the Clinton years.
The smartest and wealthiest people in America support these ideas.
If Paul Kruger, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates approve of this, then it’s fine by me.
We tried to appease Rupert Murdoch and Steve Forbes, and look at where it put us.
Face it: Trickle Down economics doesn’t work. It’s a nice idea for the billionaires of the country, but Americans aren’t voting against their self interests any longer. We’re no longer praying and groveling before the gods of finance for some spare change. It’s about time we ended the days of corporate welfare.

I am trying to grasp the frenzy here by those on the far right.
1. The budget has not been released and you are acting like the world is coming to an end over an expectation. You’ve really mastered selling fear.
2. Everything in Tapper’s post is everthing Obama campaigned on and was overwhelmingly elected by the people. This is not a surprise!
3. Obama pledged to close Corporate tax loopholes for companies sending jobs overseas. How can you be irate about our paying for illegal immigrants when we continue pay/incentivize corporations for sending jobs to other countries? Isn’t that the same concept in reverse?
4. Some of you are harping back to the days of Clinton, but fail to recognize we had a Republican President and Republican controlled House and Senate for 6 years that could have undone any of those policies if they wanted to.
Quit cutting your nose off to spite your face!

Posted by: Common Sense | Feb 22, 2009 1:33:22 PM
Way to go! Substitute BS for facts!
Obama would be proud of you.

Lauren Jones, Read this – Billionaire Tells Congress the Tax Code Is Unfair to Lower-Income Americans
It’s been said there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.
Now one of those certainties is under attack from an unlikely source: Warren Buffett. Wednesday, the billionaire founder of the investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. went to Washington to ask Congress not to cut his taxes. Buffett says the super-rich should be taxed more, not less.
And by the way. I own four businesses and agree with Warren.

The FINIACIAL CRISIS IS HOAX
OK, first let’s look at what happen since 2002, (BUSH and [oil] comrades) made billions it has been estimated that 300 billion in profit was generated between 2002- 2008 and only 1% of the population reaped that profit. The people paid as in the times of Old English Tax System [England’s Payback]. So the question is what are you WORTH.
No word of the OIL COMPANIES LOOKING FOR A BAIL OUT, THEY HAVE ALREADY TAKEN IT.
NOW THE MYTH OF WEALTH
The idea that the amount of money one owns will establish is success is a JOKE.
Until America takes the role to change this B. S. idea mankind cannot and will not go forward as a Human Being.
The TRUE WORTH OF MAN:
IS HIS ABILITY TO ENRICH THE STANDARD OF LIFE FOR HIMSELF AND OTHER HUMAN BEINGS?
1. MANKIND NEEDS TO BE MORE FOCUSED ON EXPANDING THE INTELECT OF EACH HUMAN AND THEIR LIVING STANDARDS, WHICH IN TURN WILL PROVIDE A PROMISE TO THE FUTURE GENERATION OF AN EXISTANCE THAT WILL ABOLISH THE IGNORANCE OF GREED, SELF LOFT, AND PREJUDIST THAT NOW EXIT.
2. MANKIND HAS ONLY SCRATCH THE SURFACE OF LIFE AND EXPANSION INTO THIS GREAT GALAXY, AND WE THINK OF OUR SELVES AS UNIQUE, WHEN IF FACT WE HAVE NOT PUT ASIDE THE PETTY INDEFERENCES OF SOCIAL EXISTANCE.
3. A MUTUAL AGREEMENT OF WHAT A PERSON CAN DO FOR ANOTHER INDIVIUAL IS WHAT IS NEEDED FOR MANS WORTH TO BE MEASURED.
4. THINK OF IT, WHAT IF YOU ONLY GOT A VALUE (NOT MONEY BUT SERVICES RENDERED) BY WHAT YOU DID TO IMPROVE ANOTHERS LIFE.
5. EDUCATION, SOCIAL LIVING CONDITIONS, NEW GENERATION ENERGY, NEW TECHNICS TO SAVE LIVES (NOT TO MENTION CANCER) WOULD ALL IMPROVE (NO HUNDRED THOUSAND OF FEES).
This may just be a dream but one that could take mankind into the future of LIFE
JUST MY THOUGHTS

“Buffett says the super-rich should be taxed more, not less.
And by the way. I own four businesses and agree with Warren.
Posted by: Dave | Feb 22, 2009 1:39:52 PM”
Watch and learn.
Then, Dave, why don’t you?

This comment is related to the housing market. Why doesn’t congress reward all who pay their mortgage on time let us refinance @ 3.00% . Doing my math on my house this would save me $362.00 a month which I could spend in a small business in my community to stimulate the economy .Why borrow when we could lower the interest rate for all.

The FINIACIAL CRISIS IS HOAX
OK, first let’s look at what happen since 2002, (BUSH and [oil] comrades) made billions it has been estimated that 300 billion in profit was generated between 2002- 2008 and only 1% of the population reaped that profit. The people paid as in the times of Old English Tax System [England’s Payback]. So the question is what are you WORTH.
No word of the OIL COMPANIES LOOKING FOR A BAIL OUT, THEY HAVE ALREADY TAKEN IT.
NOW THE MYTH OF WEALTH
The idea that the amount of money one owns will establish is success is a JOKE.
Until America takes the role to change this B. S. idea mankind cannot and will not go forward as a Human Being.
The TRUE WORTH OF MAN:
IS HIS ABILITY TO ENRICH THE STANDARD OF LIFE FOR HIMSELF AND OTHER HUMAN BEINGS?
1. MANKIND NEEDS TO BE MORE FOCUSED ON EXPANDING THE INTELECT OF EACH HUMAN AND THEIR LIVING STANDARDS, WHICH IN TURN WILL PROVIDE A PROMISE TO THE FUTURE GENERATION OF AN EXISTANCE THAT WILL ABOLISH THE IGNORANCE OF GREED, SELF LOFT, AND PREJUDIST THAT NOW EXIT.
2. MANKIND HAS ONLY SCRATCH THE SURFACE OF LIFE AND EXPANSION INTO THIS GREAT GALAXY, AND WE THINK OF OUR SELVES AS UNIQUE, WHEN IF FACT WE HAVE NOT PUT ASIDE THE PETTY INDEFERENCES OF SOCIAL EXISTANCE.
3. A MUTUAL AGREEMENT OF WHAT A PERSON CAN DO FOR ANOTHER INDIVIUAL IS WHAT IS NEEDED FOR MANS WORTH TO BE MEASURED.
4. THINK OF IT, WHAT IF YOU ONLY GOT A VALUE (NOT MONEY BUT SERVICES RENDERED) BY WHAT YOU DID TO IMPROVE ANOTHERS LIFE.
5. EDUCATION, SOCIAL LIVING CONDITIONS, NEW GENERATION ENERGY, NEW TECHNICS TO SAVE LIVES (NOT TO MENTION CANCER) WOULD ALL IMPROVE (NO HUNDRED THOUSAND OF FEES).
This may just be a dream but one that could take mankind into the future of LIFE

Obama is rewarding Hollywood for electing him by putting tax cuts for Hollywood in the “stiimulus” bill.

Lisa: People who work hard and do the right thing don’t expect the government to reward them. We should expect to be punished by paying far more in taxes than what is fair and by subsidizing HUGE welfare programs (mortgage rescue and others) for people who don’t do what they’re supposed to do.

This comment is related to the housing market. Why doesn’t congress reward all who pay their mortgage on time let us refinance @ 3.00% . Doing my math on my house this would save me $362.00 a month which I could spend in a small business in my community to stimulate the economy .Why borrow when we could lower the interest rate for all.
Posted by: lisa
_____________________________________
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with Lisa.Why doesn’t Obama and congress reward those of us who have been fiscally responsible and paid our mortgags ON TIME by reducing our interest rate to 3%.Then we will have more money each month to stimulate the economy.My husband and I do not qualify in the wealthy category,have always paid our taxes,bills and mortgages on time and drive two cars over 12 years old.Why aren’t we being rewarded for being fiscally responsible instead of those who got in over their heads?

We all seem to be missing the fact that, even with these tax increases on the rich and such, we will STILL BE RUNNING ANNUAL DEFICITS OF $533 BILLION (ASSUMING IT’S HIGHER BETWEEN NOW AND THEN, SINCE HE PLANS TO GET IT “DOWN” TO THAT BY 2013). His economic advisor said that, even when the economy recovers, we will be running annual deficits of $750 billion increasing to $1 trillion by 2019 (end of the next decade).
We still have massive government spending, well above revenues, even with the assumed “increase” in tax revenues due to higher taxes on the “rich” and “corporations” because “they can afford it.”
We are losing sight of the forest due to the trees. Regardless of how you feel about “soaking the rich”, WHAT ABOUT THESE MASSIVE ANNUAL DEFICITS?????

Tim,
I’m not certain all the money has been allocated yet.
Contact your governor and representative and tell them to fight for you so that your community gets their fair share of the stimulus bill.
Of course, if your politicians were dead opposed to the bill, and you don’t pay as much in federal taxes as other states, then you can’t really complain about not getting much benefit. This is the case in much of the south. And to be honest it makes me a little annoyed that Senator Shelby from Alabama (for instance) could scream and holler against the bill on TV, but his state is still getting billions of dollars.

Jwench… My wife and I started on our own in a small cheap apartment. Saved up for a few years bought our first house. We have both lost our jobs on a couple of occassions through the past 25 years but we have managed to owe nothing on our credit cards. All of our cars are paid for. The house we built just a few years ago will be paid off in just a couple of more years. I think it sucks that people that live beyond their means and knew they bought a house that they couldnt afford are being bailed out.

Why is it that the people who get an education, work hard all their lives and are never a burden on the government get taxed the most – they get penalized for being good citizens. It’s just like the Democrates to reward those who drain on the economy and punish those that support the economy – socialism at its best. Sooner or later, the contributors will be gone and then what is he going to do?

I agree with Lisa.Why doesn’t Obama and congress reward those of us who have been fiscally responsible and paid our mortgags ON TIME by reducing our interest rate to 3%.Then we will have more money each month to stimulate the economy.My husband and I do not qualify in the wealthy category,have always paid our taxes,bills and mortgages on time and drive two cars over 12 years old.Why aren’t we being rewarded for being fiscally responsible instead of those who got in over their heads?
Posted by: kim
==========================
Kim I agree with you. If all the money was divided equal with everyone, in two years the same people that have it now would still have the most. The ones that cry and feel sorry for themselves would still be criticizing the ones that work hard, play by the rules and prosper. I have had some of those work for me and they are just lazy, want everything for free.

Obama wants to insure that he will get elected to another term by having his chief of staff,Rahm Emmanuel,be in charge of the 2010 census.he would definitely politicize the outcome to redraw boundaries that would influence voting districts and representation.Put pressure on your elected officials to keep the census in the commerce dept.and out of the White House!

Related again to the housing market . We just bought a new home 2 years ago ,can’t sell the old home & purchased a condo so mom could live somewhere (no stairs) safe .We have 3 mortgages ,using the mortgage calculator I would save $792.00 a month thats alot of money to spend each month.The banks won’t refinance my other two properties at a lower rate because its considered a rental? I am friggin paying the mortgages.

What madness.
A stimulation bill is passed that becomes law. This legislation if it works as is hoped will create 3.5 million jobs at a cost of 790 billion. That is about $300,000 per job that is created. This will be paid for by borrowing pushing our foreign debt burden toward the precipice. While it appears that most economists (including presidential adviser and former Fed Chairman Paul Volker), recognize the seriousness of the problem this of the problem cutting the deficit in half (too 500 billion), is not solution to the problem.
In the mean time the government will award over the next two years about 3.3 million visa taking jobs from Americans. And of course, illegal immigrants will flow in almost large numbers.
Americans are hurting the unemployment rate in Michigan is over 10% and layoff appear to be accelerating. All types of skilled workers can be found on the unemployment rolls. What madness to import more labor.

How many victims of this mortgage crisis live on your house?
Posted by: drjohn | Feb 22, 2009 2:00:43 PM
The answer to your question NONE. I take care of my 83 year old mother if you must know.
To the rest of the people bashing me for what I said. This bill is for people who have worked hard and lost their jobs. It is for repairing crumbling infrastructures that have been left go for far too long. It’s for better education and healthcare. It is to extend unemployment benefits to those out of work.If you have a problem with any of those, then so be it. I prefer to be part of the solution, not the problem. If I can pay a bit more to help somebody in need by a tax increase, then I am doing my part as an AMERICAN to help my fellow AMERICANS in a time of unprescedented need.
The housing bill is for those who have lost jobs that can’t afford their house payments. Yes, there are some that got in over their heads.
I don’t see any of this as welfare or a handout. Take a good look because it may be YOU next that is in this position.

“eliminating programs that do not work” for the nation as a whole is GOOD, but “eliminating programs that do not work” for the Democratic Party is BAD. We the Average American Tax Payers need in depth debates and be fully informed; please let the public know how much the rich people like Oprah will have to pay under the new tax law to share wealth.

This is a joke. They and the media had a full bore campaign to pass a massive debt bill, that the Congressional Budget Office tells us is no stimulus.
The bill is loaded with pork projects, democrat patronage dollars such as billions for election cheat team, ACORN, untold billions in renewed welfare, thereby locking up future votes of this crowd and now he will literally scr** the workers by asking us to pay for a deficit that was tripled by his democrat reelection fund plan. This along with his REZCO MORTGAGE BAILOUT PLAN, which is to subsidize the price of a home with some cold cash and then offer favorable rates for whatever mortgage exists, combined will continue to cause this economy, our national security and stability to spiral downward and out of control.
This is a nightmare of unimaginable proportions and will soon go to far to undo.

“The housing bill is for those who have lost jobs that can’t afford their house payments. Yes, there are some that got in over their heads.”
Not some. ALL.
I have lost 40% of my retirement portfolio.
Who is going to bail me out?
And why not?
I have been responsible. I have paid trememdous amounts of taxes.
Where’s my break?

Posted by: Marx My Words | Feb 22, 2009 2:16:03 PM
Great name!

I thought Obama said just a few days ago that ” we will be running trillion dollar deficits for several years”????

The problem with Obama is that he tells one lie after another… Now he’s getting caught!

My husband and I have 4 children and we both work full time jobs. House prices in our area have been severely over-inflated for years. In an effort to curb our debt, we have spent the past few years paying off credit cards and saved to buy our used vehicles free and clear. We chose not to buy a house for fear that we would not be able to pay the $2500 mortgage per month (median house price here is $300K)if either one of us lost our jobs. We could have chosen to get one of these mortgages and put ourselves in a financial bind, but didn’t.
We also feel frustrated and basically “screwed” just like those of you that have been paying your mortgage on time. Now we will be paying for someone else being irresponsible. Frankly, I can’t afford it.

Seems like Obama cant keep his stories straight….. He says one thing and does another within the same week????

It will all come out in the wash. Obama will also be washed up. You libs just want someone to blame for being lazy. You have had chances to improve but too lazy. Sad that you are letting people come over here from other countries,especially from China, Japan India and outsmart you because they will work and not lazy. The only ones you can blame is yourselves.

DrJohn, I think I could fall in love w/ u for being so intelligent, strong and principled..

“Put pressure on your elected officials to keep the census in the commerce dept.and out of the White House!”
The idea that there’s any meaningful “pressure” — other than $ — that works, short of pikes and cudgels and torches, is sweetly quaint … especially if one’s “elected officials” are members of the hijacked formerly-Democratic Party.
Besides, can’t we expect the “Obama” organization will now appoint a NON-Republican to the Commerce seat, doing away with the partisan necessity to hijack the census into the White House?

Seems like Obama is failing badly!!!

“The president will also deride accounting tricks of previous administrations. (Not counting the war costs in the budgets, for instance.)”
————————————
What a great idea!! Social Security will FINALLY be removed as available funds for budget writing.

The housing bill is for those who have lost jobs that can’t afford their house payments. Yes, there are some that got in over their heads.”
Not some. ALL.
I have lost 40% of my retirement portfolio.
Who is going to bail me out?
And why not?
I have been responsible. I have paid trememdous amounts of taxes.
Where’s my break?
Posted by: drjohn | Feb 22, 2009 2:23:43 PM
All people did not get in over their heads. Say somebody worked for a company for 10 years and had bought a house that they could afford. Then this past month they lose their job. How does that equate to welfare, as some of you put it or they were irresponsible.
ravenhair49. I commend you that you can replace your husband’s income. But who foresaw any of this coming? People losing their jobs by the thousands daily is not people abusing welfare.

“I thought Obama said just a few days ago that “we will be running trillion dollar deficits for several years”????”
Don’t get hung up in the stale old ideas of the middle of last week … THIS week, The Won is paying off the Blue Dog Caucus for voting for Porkulus.
The Blue Dogs are nominal “Democrats” who couldn’t be in Congress as Republicans, because they’re in “safe” Democratic districts, such as California’s CD1 (Rep. Mike Thompson, formerly said to be a contender for Interior), which even managed to redistrict away a small “urban” area of Vallejo which had marred its gentrified white-flight make-up.

Jwench – just common sense – this started a year and a half ago – when you see something like this coming – DO SOMETHING. We did – we protected our 401(k)s and took very little hit; we reviewed our financial holdings to make sure they were secure. We aren’t making as much on some of the holdings now, but we are loosing either. It’s just common sense – and don’t listen to a financial planner – take responsibility.

Kat it is only 8000 bucks for 1st homebuyers and ends in dec 1st

Dr John,
Please google ACORN and the 2009 stimulus bill. ACORN is not even mentioned in the bill!
Here is a tidbit of info for you:
In a January 27 Hill article, staff writer Jared Allen repeated the false Republican claim that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is, in Allen’s words, a “beneficiar[y] of the stimulus package” currently under consideration in Congress. Allen also uncritically reported National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) communications director Ken Spain’s false suggestion that the stimulus bill includes “a $4.2 billion bailout” for ACORN. As Media Matters for America has documented, the bill does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding and requires that the $4.19 billion it allocates for “neighborhood stabilization activities” be distributed through competitive processes. Additionally, the Drudge Report linked to a January 27 FoxNews.com article that had the misleading headline: “Republicans Object to Stimulus Dollars for ACORN.”
In the Hill article, Allen reported:
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) suggested Democrats are using the troubled economy as a way to advance their own social agenda, citing the liberal grassroots group ACORN and others as beneficiaries of the stimulus package.
“Spare us the phony press releases,” said NRCC communications director Ken Spain. “So far the Democrats’ idea of ‘protecting the middle class’ has consisted of taxpayer-funded contraceptives and billions of dollars in ACORN-stuffed pork.
“It’s hard to decipher which is the most fraudulent notion — the fact that ACORN is a law-abiding entity worthy of a $4.2 billion bailout or that $1.1 trillion in out-of-control government spending is going to defy the experts and have some sort of immediate effect on the economy,” Spain said.
The false claim that the stimulus bill provides ACORN with “a $4.2 billion bailout,” which Allen allowed Spain to make unchallenged, is based on a misrepresentation of a provision in the bill that would appropriate $4,190,000,000 “for neighborhood stabilization activities related to emergency assistance for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes as authorized under division B, title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.” The provision states that “not less than $3,440,000,000 shall be allocated by a competition” to “States, units of general local government, and nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities,” and provides that “up to $750,000,000 shall be awarded by competition to nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities to provide community stabilization assistance.” The $4.19 billion would be distributed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
As Media Matters noted, on January 26, House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) office released a memo that claimed “[t]he legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which has been accused of voter fraud, is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the housing meltdown.” A January 23 release to which the January 26 document links stated that “the Democrats’ bill makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for ‘neighborhood stabilization activities.’ ”
These attacks related to the stimulus bill recall the false smear propagated by several media figures in 2008 that Democrats tried to create a “slush fund” for ACORN in the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.
So what you have posted is another Republican talking poin that is a LIE!

So if the administration basically doesn’t allow wealthy people via caps on compensation, how do they define wealthy?

I am the so called rich, make a million or so a year. However, many small businessman like me make these profits on paper, and have to re-invest in inventories, plant and equipment, etc…What is the Gov’t going to do with this extra money? Urinate it away, and the Federal Gov’t has yet to cut overall programs yet, going back 60 years, stop lieing to us Obama.

Again, facts never seem to get in the way of the opinions of dems.
By the way, media matters is not a non-partisan group. They handed themselves a title to give that impression but make no mistake it is a democrat partisan machine.
Do yourself a favor before your head explodes ask Nancy Pelosi to promise not to send a single cent back to ACORN.
While you cite many sources of denials you must have noticed the democrat elected officials voting for this bill never denied the pork for ACORN.
Having said that ACORN is in the bill under the term you will all recognize “community organizations” thinly veiled at best.
After all the millions Obama personally has earmarked and millions more that have been earmarked in every bill including military funding bills it is laughable to believe they didn’t pay off their best vote getters yet. Who will find boxes of uncounted democrat favored ballots (ala washington state and ACORN.
Who will go from state to state and register over and over again with absentee ballots, again favoring the dems, if they stop paying off ACORN.
Most importantly, who will pay the legal bills for ACORN under investigation in at least 11 states with multiple indictments for voter fraud, always favoring the dems by the way, if they cut off their funding.
Get your head out of the sand. The community group in this bill is money for ACORN.

to ellsbells930:
First of all I am fine with my job. I am talking about others who have been laid off. I know people with college degrees that can’t get a job .They are not even asking for benefits just a decent wage. So pound your pavement that you walk on, unlike you I actually care about the unemployed , and wish to help. No one is hiring !!

I understand people need a hand up. Just like everyone on welfare is not lazy, every conservatives not greedy. I will fall into a higher tax bracket which means any x-tra money I had will not be gong to charities and yes, unlike Biden, I contribute substantially to humanitarian project–about $25k + a yr. Good bye to all the green projects asking for help. Sry to the 5-10 others who might come looking for a job because it is more beneficial to me to earn less and keep costs down. Where did these people take econ? As for Buffett and Gates s that Liberals talk about..ask them how manny tax shelters they have. Kennedy, Kerry? Can’t wait to see their names on USB’s list. BHO? Check his shelters. The lot of his members screaming tax hike? Tax cheats!There’s a way up..

Does anyone else feel like this is a very bad dream? like this really couldn’t be happening this severly this fast, and the Media is lying, and covering up, heck Yahoo is so in love with BO it will make you sick if you read any of their stuff.

Its a nightmare all I see are unhappy people . I would like to hear of the people who are helping others the kind and generous .I would not want the Presidents job for his $250,000 a year.

kat the real one | Feb 22, 2009 3:11:12 PM…Why would they even think of cutting help to something like that when the have 4 billion to Acorn, and 30 million to Pelosi’s mouse research to cut. Hmmm, maybe because they know that will really “p” off the rebublican haters and give them something ELSE to hate us for. They can certainly blame that on us because we wanted to reduce the amount.

Hongqi:”This is the type of financial mess you get when the democrats control congress.”
Please. Shall we pull up the deficits for the 6 years Republicans controlled both branches? Shall we point out that as soon as the Republicans lost control of the Senate, filibusters DOUBLED overnight as they protected the status quo they put in place? Not to mention vetoes.
The American public isn’t stupid enough to buy the lie of Republicans being fiscally conservative anymore. Their borrow and spend is far worse than tax and spend (also known as paying for it as you go).

Eric, you are full of it. The amount of money spent on the Iraq war does not account for all of the deficit spending since 2003. The government has been spending out of control. However, that is NOT what has created this economic crisis (if it was, then why do we think that we can get out of this crisis by doing the same thing)? The collapse of the housing industry, followed by the collapse of the financial industry, now rippling through all sectors in the economy, caused this. The reasons are being debated (CRA/Fannie/Freddie, deregulation, etc.). Spending on the Iraq war did NOT cause this mess. We would still have had massive government debts, even without the Iraq war.

govdependentsRus – I’m thrilled to see your post. I just got done writing to the National Black Republican Association, as a good friend of mine is a member. Even though I am white, they have graciously invited me to be a part of their organization (as Ms. Rice told me – “our organization is open to all races”). This organization has some of the most responsible, common sense people as members. They are a breath of fresh air.
As for Michael Steele – he is such an impressive leader of the Republican party. I’m anxious to see the progress he will make.

Posted by: John | Feb 22, 2009 3:27:59 PM…I do believe Bush had a approval rating of mid 90′s at this point in his time in office. BO’s ahs dropped very very quickly and is now under 60.

kat, the $15k was a Republican idea and what passed in the Senate. This was pared back to $8k in the conference committee.

dsa, BHO makes $400K + $50K pocket allowance.

Dear John, (sounds like a good start to a letter, doesn’t it?), Obama was voted in by a ever-so-slim margin. Yes, he is in power, however, more problematic is that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are ALSO in power. They have been for the past couple years of Bush’s presidency. If you want to handout money to those who don’t have it and steal from the successful individuals and businees you should just move to East (or West) Baltimore, or Detroit. 20% TAX PAYERS and 80% TAX CONSUMERS. It doesn’t work…they’ve been doing this for over 20 years in these solely Democrat run cities. It just doesn’t work. I’m an African American and had to move my business (and self) out of the city because of the onerous tax burden. How do you think we’re going to compete with India, China, etc if everyone is a government dependent? Ever had to wait in a line at a government-run business (post office, motor vehicles, etc). No incentive there other than to GROW the gov’t. This is a road heading to disaster and Pelosi/Reid/Obama must be stopped.

Posted by: jhw539 | Feb 22, 2009 3:33:21 PM. Yes, you know you MIGHT be correct, it was hear-say and I will work on finding proof. BUT BO is still dropping rapidly unless of course you look at polls from his cult followers MSNBC, CNN etc. They lie through their teeth for THE ONE.

“Payback time” – perfect!
America gets to pay back the debt created by the Bush/Republican disaster.
G.O.P. = R.I.P.

“I am just saying there are not many jobs out there.”
Meanwhile, every county in the bailed out state of California, for instance — I think there are 52 of them — has dozens of “department heads” and the like who make far in excess of $100k a year, PLUS full benefits of every conceivable kind, travel allowances, for … mostly over-seeing the pushing of paperwork to and fro the STATE government.
The argument for high salaries for “public” employees is usually that they could do sooo much better in the “private sector”. In fact, many of them would be unemployable in any system which doesn’t, as California’s, work on a covert system full of pay-offs and political patronage.
No wonder Schwarzenegger’s suddenly a “team player” for the “Obama” organization. Teasing out the salary info for Schwarzenegger’s army of aides and sub-secretaries would be a good job for someone with the means to do it.

My husband and I came from nothing. We educated ourselves, worked double shifts and more, paying off hundreds of thousands in student loans, gave up years of immediate gratification for long term success and we did indeed succeed.
My siblings finished college but wanted to find themselves instead of work, so they traveled, lived hand to mouth waiting tables and never ever saved any money.
Now we are expected to pay for their lack of planning and willingness to forego immediate gratification and just generally avoidance of hard work.
Guess who is a democrat and who is the republican. My democrat siblings look forward to an all expense paid life dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately our hard work will be expected to support that lifestyle via that Obamafication of the US.
You want to talk class warfare lets have at it.
We worked for ours and asked for nothing and paid very high taxes to boot. My siblings didn’t want to do the work, generally avoided real jobs and lived hand to mouth waiting tables, into their fifties and I don’t want to pay for their upkeep now.
Let them do the work they avoided earlier or live with the consequences of their poor choices.
My family is a classic example of the republican/democrat divide.

Posted by: MMover | Feb 22, 2009 3:52:07 PM YES! YES! YES!

AJ and R Mutt, you just don’t get it. There are other countries in the world who do not have the U.S. best interest at heart. They have agents here, blogging, they own huge parts of the main stream media, etc. They want us to fail, both Democrat and Repbublican. Republicans do not want to see Obama fail but they do understand that onerous tax burdens will kill our businesses ability to compete. Imagine the impact if Microsoft had a 70% tax burden (instead of 30%). The government must be SMALL and incentive to work hard must be HIGH. If you work hard you keep what you make. If those are not the incentives then this country will fail.

I am convinced that Obama has Evil on his mind!!!!!

Stop it…where exactly did you get the $30 million number? Upon what source do you justify alleging that only $30 million is “pork”?

Rockychance, thanks and I partly concur although I’m not so pessimistic/negative. Not that I’m right. I am very concerned about our country but STILL do believe it has huge advantages…Democracy, people of every race, religion, etc, etc and a pivotal place in world politics. I am an African American who is gravely concerned about where Obama/Pelosi/Reid are heading this country. It’s not just Obama. I am proud that a black man is the president but I would have not voted for him and many of my fellow African Americans voted for him just because he was black. This is wrong.

I just looked it up and Obama approval rating is dropping. Bush hit a high of 91% on Oct 3 2001. He stayed above 55% until after his second election in 2004. In 2006 he dropped sharply. He was in the area that Obama is in now at this time of presidency. People loved him for his stand until it went bad.

Interesting: this site is usually approximately dead as a doornail on weekends — suggesting that most regular posters sign on at “work” — but not today.
Wonder who’s deployed all the comment troops …

John from Canada, thanks for the post. I think we agree that gov’t incentives must be to encourage hard work, profits, investment (and re-investment) in capital, and that a country full of people dependent on government handouts will be a failure. They’ve already tried that in Eastern Europe, Shanghai (vs. Hong Kong), the old Soviet Union, etc. They’ve also tried it in the U.S. in cities like Baltimore, Detroit, etc. You apparently don’t have your business located there. Unless it’s an illegal (untaxed) business like heroin, you are going to move somewhere else. High crime, miserable schools, etc. Just doesn’t work.

Look people. I don’t care if your a Republican or Democrat. Right now your country is in trouble. Your financial system is going down the toilet faster than you can spell the word. Something has to be done and done fast. I see people who complain about giving hand out to this one and that one. Your all worried about paying for the other guy. If most people who are wealthy and can honestly say that have paid their fair share of taxes, let him stand up and be counted. Try and explain to me how we used every trick in the book with loopholes, and altering records. Made up fake books and business receipts. If you say you haven’t then you don’t own a business and your lying outright. Anyone who is successful have done it and keep doing it. so don’t sit there and try and tell people how righteous you are by being successful. You have cheated and lied to screw the government out of taxes, just like the rest of us. Its time we all pay out share to get this country back on its feet. Quite your belly-aching and griping and try doing something for the ones who aren’t so fortunate. Because if you don’t, your homes, businesses and everything you have will go down the toilet with it. That home next door to you and the one down the street that will be foreclosed one, will lower your property value and it will be a domino effect. You will end up losing in the long run more than you could ever imagine. So lets get to work fixing this country and the rest of the world, pleae before its too late. ANyway. have a good day all. Time for me to go. Dinner calls.

Posted by: tampabay | Feb 22, 2009 4:03:50 PM Thank-you Tampabay, I too found proof. BO is really dropping fast for someone that made chills run up Chris Mathew’s leg. You know, I really think he could care less though, he has an agenda. With all his ozzing kindness during his campaign, I think it was all an act, he wants to take this country down, and he wants to be the “Leader” no matter what state we will be in when he gets there.

Tampabay, check out AOL. they have a polling for top 10 hero and top 10 least hero.
Obama is third (9percent) on top hero behind Jesus and Reagan.
for top 10 least hero
1) Obama with 41%
2)bush with 37%
and at the time i did the poll about 38k people had already voted…

MMOVER, it’s you who is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. I understand you’re a disciple of Obama’s but you don’t understand where ACORN and government dependence will take this country. If you truly want the entire country to be run in a Democrat-regime like Baltimore and Detroit it is UNSUSTAINABLE. Baltimore has 20% tax payers and 80% tax consumers, high crime, miserable public schools, etc. It’s horrible. My people have been enslaved to government dependence for 20+ years in this city. It is criminal to continue this Democratic legacy of voter farms of government dependents.

hughsplan, so I guess that’s your opinion and you, like everyone else, has one?

“Suppose someone had said that to one of these Leftist(fool? speak for yourself)s while George Bush was president…”
YOU’RE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US.
‘MEMBER?

why don’t we split the country in half and all the debt will be wiped clean so we can start over. one half will be run with Republican ideas etc.. and the other half Democrats. after 4 years we will see which one actually works. i feel like there is too many finger pointing from both sides. that the actual truth has gotten lost in all the finger pointing..
another thing that needs to happen. all MSM will be split evenly MWF will be Liberal run T,TH, Sat republican run. Sunday will be co-chaired by both parties. the MSM tends to lean left and support the democrat agenda more so it is unfairly balanced. FOX tends to lean more right. but Fox is outnumbered 1 to 5. future newspapers are not allowed to endorse a president.

To MMover. Well, my family, too, is a classic example of the Republican/Democrat divide, but it’s in the wrong direction. I do not consider myself a Democrat, but I cannot and probably will not ever vote for a Republican. If the Libertarian party ever gets strong enough in this country, that’s where my votes would be 90+ percent of the time. But here’s the deal. I came from a very modest background and worked hard to put myself through college. I, too, paid my loans back and worked hard to get where I am now. I pay WAY too much of my income in taxes living in the Bay Area, and my taxes are about to go up because of the passed CA budget. My take home is probably 40% after all the taxes I pay. My brother and parents are hard core Republicans, and my brother lives on a solid diet of Rush Limbaugh, which drives me nuts. Now here’s the rub. He’s disabled, over-leveraged his house before and while he got sick, and his credit card debt is through the roof. I suspect he owes close to $50K in credit card debt, and he has a first AND second mortgage on his house because he just had to build a shop to work on cars that he can no longer do now that he is disabled. So guess who picks up the slack? You got it. The evil “liberal” democrat who worked his ass off and didn’t take the easy money/instant gratification route you mentioned. My brother made bad financial choices, and he and my parents made bad voting choices that have directly impacted MY way of life. Now that everyone is paying the consequences for an irresponsible government, I don’t feel like I should have to take up the slack because I never endorsed the individuals who got us into this mess, whether they be members of Congress or my family and neighbors. But here’s the deal. We’re all in it now. Selfishness got is here, and we don’t need selfishness to make things worse.
I would love to get my share, but I’m not EXPECTING it like a lot of people are. Neither I nor my wife got a stimulus check last spring, but my neighbor did, and this is a guy that owed the IRS almost $50K in unpaid taxes from previous years. That infuriated me. I play by the rules, and someone who doesn’t gets the benefit. Same thing now. People who overextended themselves and are in danger of losing their houses get a reprieve, but the other 93% of us that were responsible Americans get a pat on the back and a hearty “Keep up the good work!” from the government. Yeah, it stinks, but the alternative is unthinkable, meaning everyone will lose their house and job because our government will collapse, and our money will be worthless. No thanks. I’ll suck up my anger and allow people to be helped that don’t deserve it because I don’t want them to take me down with them.
Believe me, this issue transcends party and even school level. I’ve seen some pretty intelligent people in this area that got sucked into the whole real estate madness because it was GREED and the lure of easy and instant money that got people into these bad loans. The bottom line is no one really read the fine print because they assumed they could just sell their house after a year and pocket $100K before the piper came calling and their interest only loan converted into a real loan. I have to say I don’t feel sorry for these people at all, and if they lose their job and then lose their house, I don’t want to pay for it. Where I come from we have a saying, “You made your bed, now lie in it.” That certainly would not make me your stock liberal, and I prefer it to be that way. I have no problem giving tax money to people that truly need it, but I fear a lot of the details in the implementation of this stimulus bill will result in people getting aid that never should have deserved it. There will be abuse no matter what, and we have to live with that, but we have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Frankly, based on what economists have said the stimulus bill is too small. So although I’m not a big fan of government spending, in this case it looks like we’re not doing enough. However, I do think if we just looked at WHAT we’re spending money on, we probably didn’t even need to add 787 Billion of NEW spending. We could have just stopped spending 787 Billion on a bunch of unnecessary programs and -military or defense- spending to redirect money where it’s really needed. War in Iraq? Don’t need it. War on Drugs? Don’t need it. War on Terror? DON’T NEED IT!!! Many will disagree with me on this, but to pour billions into fighting an enemy with no face is just stupid. Look at Israel. They have terrorism threats – and real ones – daily. You don’t see them draining the government coffers to fight it. It’s just part of their lives, and people get on with it. You just become a little more vigilant, which is what Americans have needed for a long time. But you don’t go overboard like we’ve done and hand the keys to corporations that rape and pillage our tax dollars under the guise of keeping us “safe” with no accountability or oversight. Halliburton anyone?
I have great hopes for Obama, but ultimately it’s Congress that’s going to determine the direction this country takes, especially for the recovery process. In that regard I have very little hope that we’ll see a quick recovery, and after living in Japan during the beginning of their crisis, I see the same signs that we are going to repeat their mistakes. Get ready for a decade plus of recession unless our Congress finally pulls their heads out of their collective a**es and stop thinking of themselves for just a moment.

PA – not really necessary to do that. History has aleady given you the answer. The depression was caused by a recession that got worse due to government spending similar to the Obama spending plan. The only cure for a recession or depression, which history supports, is long-term tax relief or a war. Look it up if you don’t believe me.

John….wow. You accuse everyone of being tax cheats. Then you start throwing out “fair share” without defining what “fair share” is. Typical vague, class warfare comments. You can’t define what “fair share” is, and you just expect everyone to accept whatever the government (or whoever) determines what “fair share” is. What a load! I say your “fair share” is 80% of your AGI. Does my opinion as to what is “fair” count?

amber, it has nothing and EVERYTHING to do with this last election. I’m disgusted with my own people. If I express conservative or republican (and they’re not the same) ideals and don’t FIRST state my background I am called racist, and worst. My wife is called “Oreo”, etc. I used to never mention my race because I was raised to understand it was not important and that I could do anything. It frustrates me to see what government dependence has done in Baltimore city. That’s not where I grew up but I lived there for the past 5 years.

Shut bo down, by house and senate elections in 2010. By the way he is unraveling, the vast number of voters who put him in office, will shut him and polosi domn. Those of the US voters should start now in preperation for these elections. The Dems think 10 is already in the bag. Turn around is fair play – A republican ACORN? Let’s GO.

jschmidt-”Most of the stimulus is a waste.” You got that right. Almost half is Republican tax cuts, which most economists agree will have this much effect on STIMULATING the economy – ZERO. I agree with you that there are wasteful things in the bill, but as I said before that’s how our government works. We don’t just get bills that focus on one issue. If we did, nothing would ever get done in this country. The stuff that people call pork gets added because the legislative process is all about compromise. And isn’t it odd that the 360+ Billion in tax cuts that Republicans fought for and lusted over garnered NO VOTES from a single House Republican. What does that say?
As for your comment about the 4 billion to community organizations, I don’t know how this translates into buying up houses. It doesn’t, and maybe that’s your point. But if 4 billion goes to community organizations, that’s 4 billion that keeps people employed and possibly results in some people becoming employed. So I think it MAY lead to job creation in that regard. However, the devil is always in the details, and it’s up some level of oversight to ensure that the money is used for what it’s intended, not to line the pockets of those at the top of these organizations so they can benefit while others suffer. That’s the kind of nonsense that needs to stop in this country.
I will say this. I think this bill should have been the exception to the rule. It should have focused ONLY on economic stimulus, and all of the riders, including the field mouse and the community organization money should have been left out if it did not contribute to either rescuing the economy, creating jobs or resolving the credit problem. Anything else should have been tabled. That’s my opinion. I think tax cuts are appropriate as well, as long as the benefit is immediate and affects the largest segment of the population, and in particular the eroding middle class. My understanding is there are a lot of tax cuts that have more of a longer term effect and not an immediate one. Still I am happy that they extended the moratorium on AMT tax because that would have resulted in a huge section of the middle class being taxed unfairly and forced to pay more than their fair share as a result. I would have been one of those individuals, so I applaud Congress on that move in doing the right thing. Now if we could just get them to eliminate the cap on Social Security tax contributions, most of our fiscal problems would disappear, but that’s a rant for another day.

MMover – I’m really curious what you consider a “real job.” Having just stated that you worked double-shifts to educate yourself, do you not understand the amount of “real” work it takes to do something like wait tables? The kind of physical and emotional wear that begins to show on a person working a low paying job with no relief?
Not everyone who lives hand-to-mouth got there by traveling and spending money frivilously. Life throws us all curveballs and does not always allow for the luxury of futher education. It is a luxury.
I’m not saying you didn’t work hard for what you have, but maybe you should stop and consider for a moment how many people work very hard, sometimes at two jobs to provide for their families and still have nothing in the way of security for their futures. Then consider how many people at the top spend their time playing golf and dining out on expense accounts.
Incidentally, I am a democrat– a hard working democrat that does everything I can to save for my future so that I do not become a financial burden on my country or my family.
I am also for an across the board tax rate, so long as people who can afford to hire high-priced accountants not be offered any loopholes to avoid paying their due. Until that day comes I want to make sure that the lower-income and middle-class families aren’t shouldering more than their burden because those that have money to spare just don’t want to part with their precious money.

“Republicans don’t seem to need to be told what to do. ”
THAT is truly the funniest thing I have seen all day. You would not know what to do without Limbaugh or Hannity and their vitriolic talking points to copy.

amber, it has nothing and EVERYTHING to do with this last election.
**********************************************
Sorry, but I still don’t understand. Your wife being called an Oreo and the dependence in Baltimore don’t have anything to do with Obama being elected. He won by a very big majority of both white and black voters. A lot of white conservatives don’t think his win was entitlement or afirmative action. He worked hard and climbed the ladder to get where he did. Do you really think he’s president because he’s black?

The 5th column is alive and well. Many foreign countries do not have the U.S. best interest at heart. They fuel (fund) the media, they pay for bloggers, etc. Beware of the media. The U.S. is a superpower economically, militarily, and in many other ways. Just look at the diversity of our population. You won’t find it anywhere else in the globe. China…mostly Chinese, etc, etc. We are a melting pot and that is our strength. Beware of what you read in the media and who is stirring dissension within our own country. As Winston Churchill said “Democracy is the worst form of government except for those others that have been tried from time to time” and as Abraham Lincoln said “As a Nation of Free Men (and Women) we will live forever or die by suicide”. I have to hope that Obama succeeds despite the fact that I vehemently disagree with his policies. As Frederick Douglas said “agitate, agitate, agitate…”

After reading most these post I have seen that the Republicans for the most part carer about one major thing and thats the failure of Obama and all policies he puts into place. To think I voted and stood by the Rep party for 32 years. Now they care about their party and not what is good for the country. A president that has been in office a month isnt even given a chance by these people. They say Obama preaches fear vore support and this coming out of the same mouths that said he was a terrorist, didnt have a US BC and that the US would be attacked in three weeks if Obama was elected. I am ashamed at the once great party that put country first. Fine pick your Palin for 2012. Dont work on fixing your broken party. Spend the next four years slamming Obama and everything he says or does and see where that gets you. Maybe you should pick Hannidy has Palins running mate. Obama may or may not be making all the right choices but I will give him the chance because he stepped in to a heck of a mess and some if not a lot was handed down to him from Bush. Oh yea the Reps abandoned Bush too.

Dear amber, yes I do have an issue. The fact that over 95% of us voted for Obama grates me. I personally know that 95% of us DO NOT agree with his policies. So my only conclusion is that our voting is racist. I could believe 70% to 30% or even 80% to 20%. Again, I am proud that an African-American is our president but I would absolutely not have elected/voted for him based on his policies. This has caused me an enormous amount of trouble with my own and that should not be.

This proposal to cut the deficit in half is a sham.
1. what is the baseline? Is it to be measured before or after this massive expenditure of 550 billion for the bank bailout, 1.2 bllion for the non-stimulus stimulus (inclusive of interest), the 250 billion for mortage bailout.
2. does he intend to get there by doubling the money supply? If so, he may do it on paper but the purchasing power of the dollar will be cut in half. A massive transfer of wealth from private citizens to the central government and to the special interests of Poopsie.
3. Can Hillary negotiate some spreading of the cost to our allies with respect to these peacekeeping operations. At this point, countries like Japan for example are free riders. Germany could play a larger role. So could China and Russia, depending on the specific issue.
4. Does he intend to gut social security, terminate IRAs in favor of a government pool, or otherwise undermine the vested benefits and deferred compensation of working Americans now or in the future?
5. Is the primary motivation for this political and opposed to economic? Surely he knows that the misguided balilout and stimulus programs will exascerbate the deficit, and choke out private investment, and increase interest payment to the point that they could drag down the entire economy. Thus he wants to go through the motions of trying to reduce the deficit to take the issue away from the Republicans in 2010.

CAW. I’ve modified your note and put Bush’s/Republican name in place of Obama’s/Democrat and vice-versa. Consider foreign countries who want to fuel this divide. You need to work with Republicans and we need to work with you………………..After reading most these post I have seen that the Democrats for the most part carer about one major thing and thats the failure of Bush and all policies he puts into place. Now they care about their party and not what is good for the country. A president that has been in office a month isnt even given a chance by these people. They say Bush preaches fear vore support and this coming out of the same mouths that said he was a terrorist, didnt have a US BC and that the US would be attacked in three weeks if Bush was elected. I am ashamed at the once great party that put country first. Fine pick your Cheney for 2004. Dont work on fixing your broken party. Spend the next four years slamming Bush and everything he says or does and see where that gets you. Maybe you should pick Olbermann as Obama’s running mate. Bush may or may not be making all the right choices but I will give him the chance because he stepped in to a heck of a mess and some if not a lot was handed down to him from Clinton. Oh yea the Reps abandoned Bush too…..I will grant you that much…..the Republicans did abandon Bush though he kept us safe for 8 years. The financial collapse was also not his fault though that is the public “impression” based on news media coverage. Unfortunately public impression and even history as written by biased historians is not necessarily “truth”. That is indeed hard to come by.

Hidden in Obama’s budget proposal is more futile and wasteful spending to “stop global warming” which will hurt the economy by raising energy costs thus increase the deficit. The reality is the debate over this issue is ultimately irrelevant.
1) The actions proposed by the IPCC won’t do anything to stop “Global Warming” or “Climate Change”. Not now or in the future.
2) The world’s governments, thanks to the collapse of the global financial system, can’t afford to do anything about “Climate Change” anyway. “Fixing” Global warming comes with an estimated price tag of $7 trillion dollars. That’s 20% of the world’s GDP.
So there. Except in the loony world of Obama that is that will turn the US into a third world economy by raising taxes, energy costs therbylowering everyones standard of living .

yes time the rich pay there fair share…my brother-in-law makes about 5 million a year and i make 60,000 thousand a year i pay about the same amount of taxes he does after he deducts everything i cant includeing vacations and going out on weekends…the rich have ability to get thru a ton of loop holes…if we just erased there loop holes and off shore accounts and hidden money and funny deductions we wouldnt have to raise there taxes..they would just pay what they should.

giz, you are wrong in this. We ALL hope Obama succeeds. It is in all our best interest that he does. So those are not “wise” words by CAW, but just anti-Republican and anti-Bush words. Other countries desperately desire us to be a divided country and they love nothing better than to encourage / promote / pay for media coverage AND bloggers, etc who divide us. We are all on the same team. It is certainly NOT in our (Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents) best interest that Obama fail. He MUST succeed and we must act as a team. I do not agree with most of Obama’s policies so as the great Frederick Douglas said “agitate, agitate, agitate…”

sigh said: “THAT is truly the funniest thing I have seen all day. You would not know what to do without Limbaugh or Hannity and their vitriolic talking points to copy.”
Typical Democrat/liberal response. Rather than discuss the issue and present his/her argument for his/her side, just simply resort to ad hominem attacks, trying to attack and insult the person rather than present a reasoned discussion of his/her position. TRY PRESENTING SOMETHING OF SUBSTANCE.
To all Democrats/liberals that take offense to me stereotyping all of you based on one person’s comment, I am only doing it in this post to point out the idiocy of 1) ad hominem attacks, and 2) stereotyping an entire group of people based on the comments of one or a few.

T = class warfare and ad hominem attacks.

Dear Amber, you need to try moving to East (or West) Baltimore for a while and establish a business and pay taxes in that socialist, high tax, high crime area. I never tried to do “creative acoounting” or not pay my fair tax burden but it is indeeed onerous. That’s why I moved my business out of the city. When the truth hurts…got to get out of “Oz” just like you.

“On the other hand, He’s ALREADY distributed TRILLIONS of PUBLIC dollars to the very corporations whose funny-money machinations brought it all on.”
Really? When did that happen? The newspapers and the networks must have missed it.”
–> Nooo, the networks have described the bank bailouts. Some of the $$ went through the Congress — including the “Bush” bailout for which then-Senator Obama voted — some didn’t. It’s well in the TRILLIONS … and Obama’s boy Geithner was in it up to his eyeballs from the VERY beginning.

jimmy—you hear that on rush limburger or teh hannity insanity?? the dems could get a single thing passed those two years because bush vetoed everything…unless republicans backed it…check on true honest facts just dont spout the rush rant talking points.

The plan in the article is only to get the annual deficit down to $533 billion by 2013. That means it will be even higher than that between now and then. And he plans for even more. According to the AP article on this:
>>>
“Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, told lawmakers recently that even after the economy recovers, annual deficits could reach $750 billion or so and steadily exceed $1 trillion by the end of the next decade. And, Obama himself has said, without decisive action, ‘trillion-dollar deficits will be a reality for years to come.’”>>>deficits no less than $533 billino per year with a high-end annual deficit of $1 trillion by the end of the next decade. And that is AFTER the economy recovers. They got some SERIOUS spending planned!

jimmy—in my area of the country jobs started leaving about 2002..in 1999 we had 10 factories in my town by 2002 we had 8. now we have two…thanks to good old bush.

Amber-
Govdependentrus is right. while the vast majority of the african americans did vote for Obama, there were groups of AA who did not vote for Obama because they disagree with his policies.
Obama got where he is now not because he is the most exprienced, it is because the Media helped him win. i mean we were told if we didnt vote for him we were racist. Senator Clyburn (D) just said that not supporting this stimulus is racist.
people are truly excited to have a black man elected, it is historical, no doubt. it was exciting to see him on Jan 20th, even tho i ddint vote for him.

T and Jimmy, so you think the U.S. is so horribly bad off? Lived in Baltimore – unarguably one of the worst off cities in the U.S. – huge drug problems and massive slums for 10′s of miles. Government dependents, lots of police to bust drug dealers, lots of lawyers to bust them free, lots of doctors who’s expertise was treating drug dependent children and mothers, and – always – the need for more money. It’s a broken system. High crime, miserable public schools (though the highest per capita spending on students????). It’s ridiculous. You should try living there or in Detroit, Camden, Memphis, New Orleans, etc before you try to turn the country into a Democrat-run socialist regime (there are ZERO Republicans in Baltimore and haven’t been for over 20 years…it’s an URBAN disaster). All government dependents. Handouts sure sound nice but those strings to government dependence are DEADLY.

jimmy —find some facts please…bush vetoed everything the dems sent up unless the republicans agreed….and those tax cuts didnt work as bush cut taxes jobs kept leaving…because companies and teh rich had more money to shut down factories and move them to china or mexico or some other third world nation.

T….you throw around the word “fair” in your post, but don’t define “fair” (I guess hoping that each reader, based on their own interpretation of what “fair” means, will agree with you). Are you referring to “fair” as a percentage, “fair” as a maximum dollar amount they should be “allowed” to make in a given year? Also, when you compare CEO salary increases to “worker” (nice socialist-marxist use of the term…perhaps you should use proletariat) is total class warfare. Are you recommending that the government dictate who makes how much for which job? Where does it stop? Is it “fair” that someone get paid a over $10 million a year because he can shoot a basketball or can act like someone else (actors in Hollywood rake in the bucks, too). Where does your “fair” determination stop? If you don’t like it that CEOs make so much more than the bottom-rung employees in an organization, I recommend you start your own business (if you haven’t already) and make those decisions. I hope you sacrifice as a business owner and not expect to make a lavish profit so you can pay your employees a bunch. The free market allows the business owners to determine salaries (that includes boards of directors). Your alternative?

Dear governmentdependenceRus, It wasn’t the truth hurting, but the BS. How do you personally know that “95% of us disagree with his policies?” Do you work for Gallup or are you the John Edwards psychic of the African American psychey? I think your staking claims in the Emereld Forest. Theres no way youd personally know if 95% of the millions of AA people who voted for Obama disagreed with his policies. So excuse me I’m splitting from Oz to feel the ground beneath my feet.

No matter what this dumb jekk the people half way put into office ,he will FAIL.He has tyo remember we are still Americans not like him,he needs to go to Russia ,and places like that because here he will FAIL and I pray to God he does, We do njot need communism here

excuse my spelling in my last comment,as I was just pissed off reading about the GOD Obama

“Dear John, (sounds like a good start to a letter, doesn’t it?), Obama was voted in by a ever-so-slim margin.”
Wow, the liars are out in force today, eh? The only president to ever get a larger percentage of Americans to vote for him was incumbent Ronald Reagan in 1984. This is not a matter of opinion, it is fact. Obama won by an unusually large amount.

Mihann:”ALL you rich liberals who voted for socialist Obama, ENJOY paying your NEW TAXES! ”
Actually, thanks to the Republicans cramming the $70 billion AMT write down into the surplus bill, I have a couple thousand dollars more than I was expecting in 2009. (I am planning to be good and give it to charity rather than get dedicated snow tires for the Porsche.)

“The wealthy have (and already are) taking their money elsewhere. Other countries.”
That’s hilarious. Can you name these mythical other countries that have lower taxes on the rich than the US? All the rich are fleeing for socialist Germany, or perhaps drug-cartel infested Mexico, or maybe just retiring to Argentina?
The ignorance of Republicans in this country is astounding. They seem to honestly only know the sound bites and have not the vaguest clue about the realities of taxation in the other first world nations.

“T, 52% to 48%. Hmm…very WIDE margin indeed. ”
Wow, being completely ignorant of history must mean you live in bliss. Obama won by just over 9 million votes – the largest margin ever for a non-incumbent in our nation’s history.
That’s FACT. Another fact is the TRUE percentage margin was 7.00% (52.77% to 45.77%), not 4%.
Why should we believe your opinions when you can’t even tell the truth about simple, easily verified FACTS like the outcome of the election?

jhw539, hmmm 46% vs 48%. Sorry I was 2% off. Guess that means that everyone voted for Obama. Landslide. No contest. Got it.

The Blue Dogs are sooo dedicated to “fiscal discipline” as to back public subsidies at all levels to the California booze biz, in which both Speaker Pelosi and CD1 Rep. Thompson, who unlike Pelosi is an OFFICIAL Blue Dog, are involved.

sorry to beat up on T but the top 2% of wage earners pay 65% of the taxes. and the bottom 4% pay none, and you say that the rich should start paying their (fair) share. get a grip. soon you won’t have a rich to steal from. have you ever been employed by a poor man? i thought not. by the way, from what you said i make less than you.

Just read this on CNN.com: >>>>”I’m not sure that we can, over the long run, cope with the high unemployment compensation standard that this mandates for states,” Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, the head of the National Governor’s Association, told “Fox News Sunday. But I don’t care. My people are suffering,” he added. “They need that extra money. And right now that’s paramount in my mind.”>>>>Sounds like the same attitude that people who go to payday (aka “predatory”) lenders have. I don’t care about the long-term consequences; I need the money now. And the federal government, in this package, is taking a similar approach that the predatory lenders do, just not using an interest rate to do it (by the way, I do NOT recommend anyone go to one of the payday lenders or loan-for-car-title lenders…big rip-offs).

caw, i hate to point this out but this is exactly more of the same just on a much larger level. bush way over spent and was criticized to no end…. now obama spends much much more in a much shorter period of time and you call that change? bush stunk because of this and now obama will bankrupt us because of this. very scary.

CAW said: “Another change I have seen is a President that has hit the ground running.”>>>>>>>>>>>>Some think he’s running in the wrong direction. Just because he’s “doing something” doesn’t mean he’s doing the “right” thing or the “wise” thing. That’s what this debate is about. What if someone used your same argument about Bush going into Afghanistan and Iraq? I mean, after all, at least he “did something.”

As far as increasing the taxes of the rich. They can afford it right or wrong. Some were born in to money true. Some worked very hard for their money. Some made it by ripping off the little guy one way or another. I make 1.25K a year and I will pay higher taxes if needed with no problem if it will help the over all health of the country and help fix what is broken. What I do not want to do is support the unemployed that have choosen not to work and live off welfare. I dont want to help parents that have kid after kid just so they can get more from the gov. I have no sympathy for these people. I dont mind helping the homeless that Hannidy and Savage call loosers. Many if not the biggest majority have mental issues and even were left with no help after serving in the military. So I voted for Obama because I feel he is honest and wants what is best and I knew he would get running once elected.

So,apparently the war in Afghanistan will be fought without cost?

caw: that’s the fundamental difference between us…. i make less than you and i don’t want your money. i don’t want the government to tell me where my money should go. as far as the homeless are concerned i don’t think anyone would disagree with you. i didn’t buy a home because i couldn’t afford it, i certainly am going to be upset having to pay anything for those that did not make the same decision. this is a scam.

“Sounds like the same attitude that people who go to payday (aka “predatory”) lenders have.”
Get a grip: the “US” just bailed out predatory financial institutions to the tune of a few TRILLION dollars.
If people DON’T get unemployment payments and the like — or SSI or TANF or whatever for the HUGE number of people who CAN’T draw unemployment because they’ve worked as casual labor, or as contractors to collapsed enterprises, or are long-time unemployed, disabled or otherwise unemployable, etc. — what THEN?
Just live outside and beg? Some folks did do this during the hard times of the Great Depression, but a lot of land-use and other regulations have come into being since THEN.
In some cities, survival crime is ALREADY on the upswing. The “more police” option in the “stimulus” will only go so far: sooner or later, people will resist the police, or take to targeting them from ambush and so on, and before you know it the “US” will be rife with armed struggle and other icky third-world things.
Poisoning the old folks through Public Health projects might work, but I’d rather not imagine how the “Obama” organization, coerced by the Blue Dogs, envisions dealing with the REST …
SOME of the Blue Dogs would just as soon simply do away with the poor. This has been done in various places, of course, to various groups … but it generally leads to civil war, not to mention the generations-long hostilities after the RESOLUTION of the civil war.
Better the Obama machine should go to the “guaranteed income” option favored by … Richard Nixon. This, along with National Health, might make it possible to ride out the crisis of capitalism without dismantling the US government, of which the people in general are NONE too fond.

So let’s penalize being successful? What the heck. Well, the guy did say all through his 24 month campaign (which continues still) that he wanted to spread the wealth around, and that it’s no bother for those with money to give up more…..WHY is it that just because someone has a lot of something, it’s assumed they don’t need it or won’t miss a significant % of it if it’s taken from them?……….
…And the next time someone is in a mood to rake the “rich” over the coals, go to any hospital,art museum, public television,university, etc and see who donated to build wings, donate collections, provide financing for events. Same for scholarship awards, etc…..let’s keep this in balance and stop a wholesale “the rich are jerks” mentality that some folks have.

CAW…based on history, many feel that he is headed in the wrong direction and don’t feel the need to (and don’t believe we can afford to) wait and see if it works. I spent a career (some active, some reserve…not going to se any retirement pay for another 18 years…teach high school because it is my passion, even though the pay is low) in the military. We spent an enormous amount of time studying history so “those that fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it” (Churchill quote, I think). Many feel he is ignoring some significant lessons of history (although, unbelievably, some are actually saying that we can’t look at history to get ideas of what will and won’t work), and the consequences of his actions will be horrendous. As far as the outcome…I do believe that the economy ultimately will rebound. The question will be whether it did so because of President Obama’s plans, or in spite of it. Also, the question will be whether or not it could have rebounded quicker if this government intervention would have been done differently. We will also have to look at the ultimate cost and ask if we had to spend the extra trillions of borrowed dollars to do it? Some would say yes; others would say no. Sadly, I think the economists (both sides of the issue) will attribute any success to the policies they supported, and will attribute any problems to the policies they opposed.

stickman ———–I agree 90 percent of what you say about not paying for someones mortgage when they knew at the time they couldnt pay for it. I wish it was that black or white. I know a few people that a few years ago they could well aford a new home and even a vacation home. Then the economy fell, people quit buying and spending money and many were laid off. These home owners did nothing wrong and didnt make bad choices but have lost or are loosing their home. Thats why it just kills me when all the republicans and Dem’s keep blaming each other. It just isnt one way or another or one man or party to blame. As soon as we as Americans start understanding we are all in this together then maybe a solution might start to happen. Just not black or white.

When we bring our troops home , where are these young men & woman going to work? I understand they are entitled to their previous job, but what if the company has gone belly up? How will we take care of our veterans , its going to cost alot. When they come home more layoffs for the people that took there place.

lets get to the bottom line here. the fact is 2 years ago if someone were to say we are going to nationalize banks you would have laughed at them. (atleast i would have) now all these lazy never going to do anything government dependent people are making their voice heard far and wide. SOCIALISM. yes…. and the far left couldn’t be happier. in the name of “crisis” they are passing unheard of amounts of money in entitlements and the people here that are defending it want socialism. they think deep down that everyone should have a slice and thats just the nice and right and fair thing to do. very scary, they don’t even care about what it costs. even if its our solvency

A mortgage payment remains the same whether the value of the house goes down or up. If the person borrowing wasn’t qualified to make that payments required when given the mortgage, they were speculating and should not receive help.

MikeO———–I can understand your argument that history has shown some of these policies have not worked in the past. However it was the continuing policies and corruption from the past that put us in this situation. I think, and very well might be wrong, that we are looking at a country that has opened a new door and old proven policies may not work today to the future. Just like trickle down economics. I do not see a lot trickling down right now and the middle class and poor are just getting poorer. My point is what worked in the past was then and for those days and issues. It may not work now and on the other side what didnt work then may be exactlty what is needed now. Who knows. I certainly dont.

GOP supporters are in total denial and sound so UnAmerican. AS usual it’s party before country. The majority of Americans reject your deluded thinking. Go ahead why don’t you people start a charity for the very wealthy. People like Rush play you people like fiddles. You lost in 2008,and you will continue to lose until you put country OVER party.

by the way caw i do not mean to sound condescending. its tough to find people on these sites that make a real argument. you seem genuwine. i can’t help the way i feel, i work in municipal finance, tax free bonds, and other fixed income. it is hard not to see where these policies are taking us. its not pretty. and it did not start with obama. this has been in the works for a long time. its just that bush and obama switched the slow switch to hyper speed. not good. i hate to sound like an alarmest but this could get much worse.

Famous Lost Words ————–I agree and often wonder myself. My Wife and love of my life will be retiring with 30 yrs in the Navy. She will be retiring as a Master Chief. We are fortunate in that the military will help with a nice pension for the rest of our lives. Im counting I leave this world before she does. She is leaving next month for a 7 month deployment and then thats it. She holds a Masters in teaching and music but even with that we wonder about employment for he when she gets out. I work and she will want to work as she isnt a do nothing type person. I would recoomend anyone in the military to wait to get out until the economy improves or just make a carrer out of it. The military has been very good to us.

hey tender, your right what was i thinking this whole time? that 13 bucks a week i will get will fix everything. i can’t believe i was so dumb. and aj…. talk about party over country did you read your own post? we are having a good debate and you just basically said “shut up its our turn” maybe you should practice what you preach.

Some read for content, the rest just cant read.

“I work and she will want to work as she isnt a do nothing type person.”
There’s all kinds of WORK to be done … it’s just that some of the most important, especially with the system crashed, either doesn’t pay at all, or doesn’t pay enough even to live modestly on, let alone “save” for retirement.
It’s wonderful that you folks will have a military retirement. Hurray for both of you!

CAW…you make some good points. However, what I do see (as far as history) is the failure of the FDR spending and the failure of the Japanese spending plans. Both, when they ran out of money, resulted in additional recessions. Some argue that “they just didn’t spend enough” or “they stopped spending too soon.” I see it as an economy that was being propped up by the government (a “false” economy) that collapsed again when the government spending stopped. What I see is massive spending on programs that will not scale back. The only part of the stimulus that will likely go away is the tax cuts; all of the other programs being “created” will be hard to get rid of (see my previous comment). President Obama plans to have annual deficits exceeding $533 billion until 2013, and his budget director is predicting annual budget deficits starting at $750 billion and climbing to $1 trillion once the economy recovers all the way through the end of the next decade. Tell your wife congratulations on, and thank you for, her 30 years of service (I did 20 in the USMC myself). And thank you for the sacrifices you have had to make in support of her being in the service (deployments, reassignments, etc.). The retirement pay of 75% of her pay, plus the VA medical, will definitely provide a hedge against this current economic crisis. It’s one of the benefits of the years of sacrifice that your family has made over the years (one which too many in today’s society do not truly understand).

Obama will make the Guiness Book of World Records for deficit spending with $1.3 Trillion in 2009 ($1.3 Trillion so far). By his own and CBO estimates deficits will be “at least” $600 Billion a year additional each year of his term. At a minimum and by his estimates, the national debt will increase over $3 trillion dollars in 4 years. That’s 3 times the deficits in Bush’s first term.

Lynne,
“I keep reading how Bush destroyed this country. As I remember the economy was good in 2006 until those Democrats took over Congress.”
So you were asleep for 6 years from 2000 to 2006? The numbers were propped up and down by the Bush administrastion to make you think things were good. Glad you woke up. It is now 2009.

Sigmonde:
“Obama will make the Guiness Book of World Records for deficit spending with $1.3 Trillion in 2009 ($1.3 Trillion so far).”
Bush will make the Guiness Book of World Records for sending the most middle-class jobs out of the U.S. while simultaneously claiming to create jobs in the U.S. (never mentioning that the jobs were for illegals and H1Bs and not for Americans).

common sense. what exactly does this mean? (numbers were propped up and down by the Bush administrastion) how did they do that? its wild accusations like that make people not take you seriously.

top 2% of wage earners pay 65% of the taxes. and the bottom 4% pay none, and you say that the rich should start paying their (fair) share. get a grip. soon you won’t have a rich to steal from. Baltimore and Detroit have been doing this for years…20% tax PAYERS and 80% tax CONSUMERS. Government dependent drug-ridden system of lawyers, police, doctors (to treat drug dependency and gunshot wounds) all found on UNTAXED illegal drug money. And Obama wants to take the country that direction. Wake-up!

“Famous Lost Words- I think we can convince ourselves of whatever we want to believe. If you see a bunch of nothing out there thats what you get. Same in reverse.”
I believe this is the premise of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. :^)

“It is impossible for there NOT to be water in any well. If there is a well, you need to figure out how to extract the water. It’s definitely in there if it is a well!”
THAT sounds like the beginning of a shaggy-dog story …

Sigmonde,
Google “overstaying the H1B” or just ask Lou Dobbs.
where is the answer to my queston?

Obama is already breaking all his promises from the election and now were suppose to believe this one? Fool me once ….

MikeO,
“Common Sense…OK. You know the drill. Provide some evidence (preferably links to outside sources) to back your assertions. I call BS on your claims.”
hahahaha! the drill is, post a link and your post gets deleted. try some other trick. who cares what you call. this isn’t a poker game, dude.
microsoft solved their deficit, btw. they fired their american employees, shipped jobs overseas, and imported h1bs (hey, that rhymes!)
microsoft is now asking their fired employees to return their severance packages because microsoft made a mistake and overpaid them. oh the irony.
no link. google it!

I am getting very weary of pronouncments and threats each and every day of this administratation against this group or that industry or who knows what.
I have never seen such dictioral threats against virtually every segment of American society, business and the very foundation of our country by the guardian of our country.
With each negative input or threat, every 401K plan is damaged and every private, industrial, union and state pension suffers tremendous loss.
Does he not see the human connection to our life and the health of US business and our jobs? Are folks who have only worked in the government or as lawyers so blind? How could there be such a disconnect.

Obama is clearly on a destructive path. He has done more damage in 30 days than Bush did in 8 years. Adding more debt is the absolute wrong thing to do. Debt caused the current crisis so more is just stupid. Obama’s policies are just dangerous.

Brian, pray tell , what is it that you would suggest we do to forestall a greater debacle than the Great Depression? More tax cuts for the top 1%? What do you propose? Or are you in the camp that not only said John McCain was right back in September (the fundamentals of our economy are strong) but STILL thinks that all the economic talk is simply a scare-tactic (in other words, you’re in deep denial).

MikeO,
“Common Sense…come on. You made the claim. Back it up (more than just a “Google it”).”
Are you on welfare? Stop being the lazy-minded person that your party claims all people that need a leg up are. Google terms: “Bush and H1B”, “Bush outsource”, “Bush insource”, “Bush war on the middle-class”, “Bush globalism”, “Bush medical research paid for by taxpayers”.

MikeO,
“They don’t seem to match what the federal government reports.”
Good work! How many H1Bs are in this country and how many people have been laid off in this country?

Common Sense…Come on, come on. YOU made the claim. YOU back it up! Otherwise, you are full of it. As far as Google searches, you KNOW that there are ways that Google skews (or users of Google can skew) what sites get hit based on a search. The burden of proof is on YOU! In court, if you make a claim, you have to prove it; demanding the other side discover evidence to support your claim is ludicrous. Try this: find something, copy the link from the address bar, paste it into a comment so we can see it (go with a .edu, .gov, or possibly a .org…the .org will be questionable because the org might be biased, but they might at least cite their sources).

come on mikeo…. you have to know that when you present a fact or link you are just another bushie and your rightwingnutjob ideas are a thing of the past. get over it. get in line and take your $13 and like it. rainbows and flowers for all. i tell you one thing…. i HOPE this CHANGES.

MikeO:
“Common Sense…Come on, come on. YOU made the claim. YOU back it up! Otherwise, you are full of it. As far as Google searches, you KNOW that there are ways that Google skews (or users of Google can skew) what sites get hit based on a search.”
Hahahaha! You’re learning! If YOU want to know, then YOU will find your answers. I already know. Google doesn’t skew facts, btw. Using .gov, .org and .edu is what mislead Congress. Admittedly, it is better than using blogs for stats.
The H1B count is only about 65,000 per the gov and republican/right-wing news. The actual number is about 1-2% of the U.S. population.
The actual unemployment rate is currently at about 18% was about 16% from 2000-2008. DOL doesn’t count people that have given up on looking for jobs. The lay-offs you hear about now are for non-jobs (H1Bs getting sent home, part-time jobs classified as salaried positions, and other fake stats tallying the number of employees like those used at companies like Satyam).
In other words, if I have 40,000 employees, but claim I have 53,000 employees, I can lay off 13,000 employees that don’t exist or bill people for 13,000 employees that don’t exist. Adding and subtracting people don’t exist is an effective tool for scaring people.

Bush administration didn’t count military expenses in its budgets and PWC didn’t check for bank balance verification in its Satyam audits. Trust!

To Moderate:
What a thoughtful, well-written statement defending small business owners who believe its unwise to raise their taxes now. I agree with you, and so do most economists, but even if I didn’t, I appreciate you taking the time to prepare an adult response. Congratulations on your success and for your conscious effort to give back anonymously to your community. You’re entrepeneurs who pass your blessings along, unlike many who have made greed their mantra of choice.

Karen Bass Democrat State Assembly Speaker of California had conceded in an PBS interview with Jim Lehrer that of the 3.5 million residents of California, 144,000 paid over 50% of the state’s taxes and it is now time for ALL to share the burden if we are too pull out of our budget mess…Point: Those few who have held the majority of the tax burden in California, the 8th largest economy in the world, can no longer carry the responsibility alone. It has not worked under a Democrat majority in California and it will not work for the Country…GET A CLUE Obama just look toward the west coast…robbing Peter to pay Paul won’t work.

rob is right. very nice comment to moderate.

NJ and WDC are next. The H1Bs are infiltrating as we speak.

Too bad America didn’t elect McCain, because he wouldn’t be doing anything to help you losers. Like he said, “our economy is strong”. Don’t forget that!

tripleing the deficit will be easy when he comes back and asks for 2 or 3 more “stimulis packages” and nationalizes banks, autos, and airlnes.

MikeO,
Woopsie! I meant YOUR link got deleted not you link got deleted. See, we dems make mistakes, too.
Stickman (strawman), give it up already!

breaking news at marketwatch: (Citi reportedly is in talks with federal regulators for the U.S. government to increase its stake in Citi). i feel so relieved…. i mean look how well that worked the first time around.

sorry common , i will not give anything up until you folks officially drive us over the cliff. i got a google for you. tell me what you think. remember its these people you are putting so much confidence in. not just the chosen one.

what do you mean (do i UBS)

Raise taxes on the rich? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Raising taxes on the rich sounds great until you think about it. The elite hire lawyers to reduce their tax burden. Those with multi-million dollar income sometimes pay less tax than the rest of us. If the rich do pay more tax it creates other problems. Limiting disposable income keeps the rich from buying boats, expensive vacations, bigger houses and all the other things that keep the rest of us working. Would you rather see a rich person pay taxes to support welfare or see him spend that money to buy the products your company makes thus keeping you employed.

common what a hilarious joke on stickman…wow this little humor made my night!!!!!

The Communist Manifesto has 10 major planks, this will take care of #2 and they are already talking about #5. How long until the annoited one gets us to communism? Those of you who voted for him better watch out because we are rapidly approching his dream of turning the United States into a socialist (communist) country.
10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto:
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equal distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

ah, I can see the amateur economists are out in force again….
how short memories people have
President Obama is following the same approach that President Clinton and the Dem (and then GOP congress) from 1994 to 1999 – which was a stimulus in parallel, to deficit reduction plan – and guess what it worked – led to the biggest expansion in history (a little too big in the end )- the only difference to the plans is the scale (thanks GOP!) and that President Obama is taking a more supplyside approach and included massive tax cuts…..he is following a plan that worked. you all need to do your research.

I get a chuckle out of the Obama defenders who say we have to spend trillions of dollars between all these proposals.
But when Bush spent like a drunken sailor you all went nuts.
We are not in this mess because the government didn’t spend enough.
This entire so called stimulus is about bringing back the welfare state. On steroids.
And a little known fact is that when Clinton got rid of welfare as we knew it, fewer people including children lived in poverty.

Yep, America really deserved to have Bush as president. Lets just help the rich and waste money on war, that will help the economy, just like it helped it when Bush was in charge. Obama just started and everybody is blaming him for the big mess that idiot left! Too bad McCain wasn’t voted he would have done the same “fine” job as Bush did!!

we dont have to raise taxes on rich just cut out there loopholes and off shore money shelters….time the rich start helping repair america and keepamerica strong…us working class people cant rebuild why bush and his rich cronies keep ther mony off shore and dont invest in america…

If you are not a Republican how can you state what they do or don’t “worry” about? Republicans want a strong America just like Democrats and Independents. They want America working, they want a safe and sound infrastructure system and they are amongst the unemployed and struggling. They are small business owners and employees. They care about healthcare costs but don’t necessarily want it nationalized. The government does not need to be involved in everyone’s care. Republicans worry about how the massive deficits will affect our and your grandchildren, too. We can’t keep borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Stop demonizing your neighbors. This “we vs. they” rhetoric will tear the country apart.

Laughable!!! Hilarious
Most of the dissenters here were deaf mutes when Bush was doubling the national debt and lo and behold
A MIRACLE
The can speak they can hear
All the marble are not there, screws are still loose but hey it’s a MIRACLE.

I was employed as an International Flight Attendant until I recently took a voluntary buyout. I can attest to plane loads FULL of Bosnians who spoke NO ENGLISH, yet had US Passports, and each had a VISA card with a $25,000 credit limit. These were a brought into the US to provide cheap labor, and housing was provided. They could stay for up to 3 years and MUST pay income taxes and prove their worth. I thought this was a good deal for other’s but how about helping OUR MAIN STREET USA folks who are homeless and panhandling for more than Social Security or Unemployment could ever pay????

Obama will be out of office by 2013!
Maybe he can help his role model,
Jimmy Carter build houses after he
gets the boot!

to all democrats and Obama die hard fans,
please explain or cite a bill that was proposed to Bush by democrat congress in the last 2 years that 1)help regulate Fannie and Freddie 2)reduce the deficit.
No, AND,IF or BUTS- just cite any proposals that was made by the dems that could had actually helped our economy!

Should have just “Halved” the stimulus bill to begin with…