Last-Ditch 14th Amendment Plan Gains Momentum As Debt Clock Ticks

As an Obama supporter, I do not think this is a good way to solve the debt problem. It sounds like a “nuclear” option. If he uses it, the Republicans will demand his head with an impeachment proceedings. The debt is unquestionable, but how to pay for it is the issue that both parties are feuding. How we wish we had politicians who are not tied to the apron strings of special interest groups and corporate crooks, but can set aside party ideology and do what is in the interest of the country

I would Hope Obamma would not be as Stupid to try and use the 14th Amendment for his own Political disires. Section 5 Clearly States that Only Congress has the Powers to Uphold the 14th amendment. If Obamma does do this he Will and Should Rightfully be Impeached! For to Vagrantly Disregaurd Section 5 would be an act of Treason towards the United States and the act of a Man wanting to become a Dictator! History should remind all of us what happens when a Government Ignores it’s own Laws and even Rewrites them to Appease any single Leader. Hitler and his Disregaurd for the German Parliment Comes Vividly to my mind! If we give an Inch to allow this For ANY Reason we will be Signing the start our own Demise as a Republic and allowing ourselves to someday be Ruled by a Dictatorship! I, personally, have Never Liked or Trusted Obamma. If he invokes the 14th when he has No Legal Power to do so would Not help my Opinion of him what so ever! My Question is this… Will Obamma Show his Socialist Ways and Commit this Treason or will he Finally Show Me and MANY; MANY others that he actually is an American. (Even if he won’t Solute the Flag!)

It’s his economy and his debt. Let him do as he wishes providing it is the fastest exit any one and done President has ever executed.

The King has avoided coming up with any solutions of his own, after having caused most of the problems, and now he wants to take the easy (and unlawful) way out. Hurry up and get here, 2012!!

All they can do is let it default and put a “kick me” sign on the TP’s backside.

It is utterly delusional for anyone to think the vast majority of the American people will not blame the TP after all the attempts at compromise from everyone in Congress, except THEM. THEY make everything way worse than it already is and America says ‘It’s Obama’s fault’?! Only in their teenage dreams and fantasies.

There is no logical way the 14th Amendment can be interpreted to supersede Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, which is what the proponents of this plan claim.

>(Even if he won’t Solute the Flag!)
I don’t do that either. Care to come over and talk about it?

Really? This is all Obama’s fault? It’s his economy and his debt? Really? I did not vote for Obama and I am certainly no fan of his now, but to place the blame on him for this mess is misguided at best. This nation has been in debt for far more years than Obama has been president and will likely be so years after he is gone. Congress has the purse strings and therein lies the blame. They spend our money like the American people are some kind of money tree that never runs dry and we never really hold them accountable. There needs to be a clean sweep in the House and the Senate and the White house to re-boot this nation and send all politicians the message that the American people will not stand for politics as usual any longer.
But it will never happen….

Maybe Harry Reid needs to be fired. The House passes a bill and Reid makes some claim that it is DOA, not for what’s in it but for who wrote it. That man is putting his petty politics ahead of this country. It’s all sour grapes with him. He is not upholding his oath.

All you people…..still don’t ‘get it” DO YOU? This topic is just another side show distraction that will never happen. BUT… at least we have people in Congress who are CONCERNED about what the MARKETS think versus pushing their stupid, ideological plans that don’t have a ‘snowball’s chance in ****’ of passing both sides of Congress. The GOP is being ‘outmaneuvered by a President who is FAR, FAR smarter than them. A deal will get done….and this ‘spectacle’ of what happened, this ‘manufactured crisis’ concerning the raising of the debt ceiling, that the idiot side of the GOP has created WILL BE turned into them…as it should be. The funny part is that ONLY THE SMARTER part iof the electorate will get that. But it is that part of the electorate the President needs to get reelected next year. And he will be reelected. He has been the ONLY adult in the room! I cannot believe that the GOP leadership thought they could outthink or outmaneuver him. Actually they probably didn’t. they just could not control the idiot ‘tea partiers’ of their caucus.

THIS IS OBAMA’S FAULT WITH ALL HIS POVERTY PAYMENTS, RIPOFF HEALTHCARE, he works for the lazy deadbeats in this country and its showing now isnt it.
OBAMAcare is the culpurt along with his irresponsible spending. Im not saying all the other presidents didnt do but not to the point he did. They had enough sense to know it isnt the bottomfeeders that pay the bills in this country. ITs the taxpayers. Now that he has left us with one third less money to spend the next decade is going to be miserable. Inflation is setting in and costs have literally skyrocketed.

“John Boehner was the adult in the room”…as the adult, all he had to say was no Mr. President, we’ll just stick with what we have. Instead he kicks the marbles and storms away. Not adult at all. No, the TP was twisting his ear and dragging him away from the table. Guaranteed. Otherwise, the way he carried out negotiations was irrational and I don’t think he is an irrational man.

The T-Baggers are insane, just ask John McCain. They are acting like the immature toddlers that they are. The Koch brothers must be loving this!

Due to the fact i am british and living there this story is making HUGE headlines over here!
What i cannot understand is that “IF” the debt limit is lifted “Then What”..for how long would it be before the American goverment are back in the very same situation? as an outsider i believe it is best to deal with the Bull by the horns so to speak and try to reduce the debt now rather than add trillions more Dollars? the intrest would ONLY go higher and putting America in a more Dire situation just months later..
The American government is a VERY complex and i belive there is SIMPLY too many people involved in it! here in the UK our goverment is reducing the size of the parties to save money and i am lost too know why the americans are not following suit.?? can you imagine just how many tens of millions of Dollars are been spent having all these lush conferences and governmental gatherings? its about saving money and IF the public have to bite the bullit so should the government…

I say go for it! I believe a rational debt reduction plan can be attached to it. If the Republicans want to try and undo it, they can. As for me I’d reduce federal base salaries over $150K by 20% including congress and the exec. branch. 125k – 150k down 15%. 100k to 125k down 10%, 75k to 100k down 5%. Active military under 100k exempted. Everyone else take the hit. This is better then laying off gov. employees and contributing to the unemployment problem as the Republicans want to do. Just sayin’.

In a report published last February, the Government Accountability Office, the oversight arm of Congress, described the U.S. system as fairly unusual, since the U.S. debt ceiling process moves independently of the general budgeting process.
“The U.S. statutory debt limit is an uncommon attribute not shared by most sovereign debt issuers in that it is not tied to the budgetary process. As a result, when the government adopts a budget, the financing of the expenditures authorized is not automatically assured. While lawmakers in April approved spending appropriations for fiscal year 2011 (after continuing resolutions had allowed the government to operate since the beginning of the fiscal year), about 40 percent of this spending must be funded by borrowing. Borrowing is subject to the debt limit, with the current limit having been approved in February 2010. There is, therefore, no direct connection between the spending levels authorized by Congress and the ability of the government to fund this spending.”

There needs to be a clean sweep in the House and the Senate and the White house to re-boot this nation and send all politicians the message that the American people will not stand for politics as usual any longer.
But it will never happen….
If SS payments are delayed and default raises interest and wrecks the global economy, let’s make it happen. EVERY INCUMBENT OUT!

This is a crisis because Republicans made it a crisis. It’s not a real crisis. We have many, many real crises. We have a job crisis. We have a growth crisis. We have a deficit crisis. We have a human capital crisis. We have an infrastructure crisis. We are not handling these crises now. We are handling a completely artificial crisis.”

WSCHILKE….you just don’t GET IT do you? Babyboomers have PAID into this ‘safety net system’ for thirty to forty years….and you have the AUDACITY to call that an entitlement? You are showing your vast inexperience with REALITY! And at the same time you are allowing the RICH who control the GOP and the Tea Party to turn you against fellow middle class people with that CRAP!

@ Searambler
The Tea Party is not evil. My father, a democrat, has gone to many rallies and he considers himself to be a Tea Party member now.
So let’s tone down the hateful words huh? My father is a very smart man and if there is something that causes him to abandon the democrat party, I’m going to listen to him long before I listen to someone who comes across as a little crazy on a blog calling him evil.

Obama faces re-election in January of 2012. He raises this mountain of red ink to please his Abu Dhabi oil cartel. Should the House of Representatives impeach Barack for collusion with a hostile, foreign oil trust?

I really wish that John Boehner had elaborated on his “Obama moved the goal posts” statement. I have no idea what he is talking about. What were the specifics? The President and Democrats are allowed to ask for ANYTHING is a negotiation, all he had to say was “no”, that’s negotiating 101.
But that’s not what happened, instead he shut down a 4.7 trillion dollar deal to lower the deficit. My take is that President Obama was ready to fix the deficit spending issue and they simply couldn’t allow it politically. As it stands already they will have a tough time beating him, and if he solves another crisis (even one created by the Republcans) it will be impossible to beat him. So the only thing to do was walk out, before President Obama could achieve something. Let’s face reality, the Republicans want him to fail. His Obama was Jello, John Boehner was smoke.

For those who keep listening to the ill informed, or, purposefully, misleading politicians saying that the President hasn’t introduced any new legislation: you HAVE to be a senator or representative to introduce legislation. The President may suggest to constituents, as he has, but may NOT introduce any legislation. Obviously, the news just pushes the propaganda or is just as uninformed as many of these political officials who are about to, completely, crash our economy.

So let me get this straight: After holding up everything, after all their walkouts, after all this ‘drama’ in their ranks the Republicans are going to present a terrible bill to the Democrats and President and then say take it or leave it and if you don’t it’s all your fault this crisis has happened.
This has all been scripted so their tea party jihadists in Congress and out here will scream at the Democrats this exact point and their messaging ploy to the rest of the country will be “See, we are the rational ones, we have ‘compromised’ and we presented a bill that will pass (their tea party jihadists) and the Democrats are the ones who set us on this default.
Please, people. Don’t be fooled by this Republican smokes and mirrors campaign. They have been, and still are, holding this country hostage.
Posted by: prohb
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You and the Democrats should actually be in approval of the bill that Boehner is proposing to the Senate. The Tea Party is AGAINST the bill which means it must actually lean the Democrats’ way. If the Senate rejects this bill there is only one reason. The DEMOCRATS are the ones who are not willing to compromise and will reject anything coming from a Republican BECAUSE he is a Republican.
Who are the “jihadists” here?

President Obama is not king or a dictator, even though he thinks he is, we are still a nation of laws and if he passed a debt ceiling increase on his own he should be impeached.

Someone at ABC needs to do fact checking or spell checking. Rep. James Clyborn is a Democrat (hint assistant minority leader)not a Republican. I gotta laugh at John Boehner, we are not giving him a blank check. Uhh, John, Congress has the power of the purse, not the executive branch. And I don’t think I heard a peep during the raising of the debt ceiling from the GOP since 1994.

The only sane answer is a combination of massive budget cuts and tax increases for the rich. Why can’t the Tea Party fanatics see that this compromise will work? They’re threatening world financial turmoil and will pay the price in 2012.

The people on the bottom of the economic pay scale will pay dearly. They’ll suffer and the top one’s on the pay scale may feel a tiny pinch but that will be it. They should get someone that makes $35,000 to $45,000 to see where the cuts should be made. They’d look at it differently than the pigs at the trough do. They want to cut social security and medicare that the poor would depend on yet their medical plans are costing millions to tax payers. Their pays and pensions cost us millions. They go right for the bottom peoples throats and it’s discusting. They’re not satisfied with their big pays, they want more and they won’t cut themselves. These are the god fearing people that run this country.

This entire issue goes to the total IGNORNANCE of the Tea Party Movement. IF any of these people understoond the Constitution – they would understand that it is the mandate of the U.S. Constitution (something they as the “ONLY” patriots) claim to uphold! Really? The Constitution requires the CONGRESS to pay all the “obligations and debts” of these United States. NOT the Executive Branch – it should legally require amending the U.S. Constitution for the President to pay the bills. Last time I checked this requires a national VOTE by all citizens to change the Constitution? Which leads me to the conclusion that YES – the GOP is trying to seriously nail the coffin shut on the administration by forcing the president to do THEIR job! Being a democrat I have to say – I think these people are total fools who have NO long term understanding of the real effects of what they are planning to do. I guess ALL tea party memebers are so rich – they can care for all of their families and friends who will suffer from having no SS, no medicare and no medicade. And Ms. Bachman – can continue to receive her “whites” only farm subsidies since she does not want black folk to get any have ANY gay people in your life. GOD forbid any evangelicals know a homosexual – this all reminds me of Germany in the 1930′s! Remember Hitler – with his PERFECT society! You people are frightening and are totally corrupting the meaning of FREEDOM for ALL people. Kinda like the Taliban!

Cut defense by at least $50 billion (a pittance for DOD)! Cut other programs! Do not extend the Bush tax breaks! AND then raise the debt ceiling only as needed to keep us afloat. Afterwhich, continue to look for ways to reduce our deficit.

Clyburn is dumb as a rock and I can only hope Obama listens to him so we can start impeachment proceedings against him to get him out of office.

S – you are sadly misinformed by the right-wing media

How is this the “Tea Party’s” fault? They have approximately 60 members. The House has 435 total members. Maybe if some Dems got on board, we wouldn’t have a problem. There are 193 Democrats. Then you have Reid, who wants to be a hero, shooting down anything coming out of the House. On top of that, BO threatens to veto anything that might come out of the House. Who’s the problem again?

How can people say ObamaCare caused this problem? It has not even started yet… How can people say that this is 100% Obamas fault? The housing crisis was his fault, the stock market falling was his fault, the wars and the deficits were he fault… that he supports the lazy with paying out benefits… Stop and think people. Disagree with his policies, but do not be dishonest to yourselves. If you actually believe that he caused all the problems in America then you are fooling yourself. The president lowered taxes in the stimulus plan… half of that stimulus were tax cuts. you can have your own opinions, but not your own facts.

No plan proposed yet addresses what really needs to happen and that is to forward lean decades out to ensure our childrens children don’t inherit debt caused by us and the empty suites we mistakenly thought had this nation’s best interest in mind. Reform and sacrifices need to be made and made by “everyone”. That includes the rich and poor who abuse and take advantage of a broken system. Obama uses the term “balanced approach”, but is as short-sighted as the rest of the proposals. A balanced approach would include a balanced budget ammendment, but that’s the last thing Obama and Reid want.

Republicans equals…Taliban. Not any different, our way or the highway. They in fact may be the world’s worst terrorists. They can do much more harm without a single weapon than AQ can. Economic terrorism at it’s best. The enemy is within and has a face and name…Republicans. I’m sure our great “Republican” President Abe Lincoln must be turning in his grave. Not what he ever envisioned.

There’s no question that the president should seriously consider an executive order raising the debt ceiling. What is taking place is craziness and political tomfoolery. Not only does the Constitution make clear that U.S. debt should be honored, Congress has already voted the expenditures which requires the debt ceiling to be raised. It’s a matter of national security and protecting the general welfare of the citizens of our country. Raising the debt ceiling need not be tied to anything, it simply must be done. The president should do it. Let the courts decide if it’s constitutional if they must.

BRYAN MACFARLANE – Please do tell us all about section 5, since you are a constitutional expert. I kid, I kid! You don’t know spit from shinola! Otherwise you wouldn’t Needlessly Capitalize Some words and not others and misspell nearly everything. Plus you do that ignorant tea party thing of “blah blah blah dictator blah blah blah Hitler socialist blah blah blah impeach”. And you think taxes are the most important thing in the world. Go get a job and a dictionary!

If Bush Jr. didn’t get impeached for lying us into the horrific and wasteful Iraqi invasion then Obama isn’t going to get impeached for ensuring that the U.S. will pay its bills. Get a grip.

Let’s see. Obama was elected with over 69 million popular votes (and won Boehner’s home state of Ohio). Boehner received 142,000 votes last election and is Speaker by default. And Boehner refuses to return the pres’s phone calls?

I recommend everyone on this post watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Juan Williams from the 7-26-2011 episode of The Daily Show. I’ve yet to hear anyone phrase the #1 problem that faces American right now, so perfectly: “there’s a total lack of honest debate….people align themselves with like minded people and avoid honest debate…..if you go to a website and don’t agree with the general tone of the conversation, you’re labeled a traitor and quickly dismissed.” So folks, with that said, until people can get away from pointing fingers at individuals, past and current politicians, the problems we face as a society will continue to distance themselves further and further from resolution. We need honest debate. Both sides MUST compromise to solve our problems. Neither side is 100% right on their own. Niether side is 100% wrong on their own. The thing that President Obama gets criticized the most for is his so called indecisiveness. If you step back and take an honest, unbiased look at his approach, you’ll see he’s trying to get two sides to talk, and discuss real compromise. Republicans are right, we need to take a look at our so called entitlement programs and come up with ways to make them sustainable not for 10 or 20 years, but for the next 5 generations. Democrats are right, we need to look at our Defense spending and we need to seriously discuss the Tax Policies and eliminate loop holes and yes, possibly raise taxes on people who have the means to afford it (not just rich people). For either side to say it’s my way or the highway does nothing to solve our problems. The Republican, Tea, Democrat, and Independent Parties cannot and do not represent the majority of this country alone. They represent us as a collective and need to start working as such. When you come to the table to discuss a plan, be prepared to present your idea, and have your idea modified and/or shot down. The most important word in the dictionary for the U.S. right now is compromise. Until every American, citizen or elected official realizes that, thinking about the present and the future is useless.

Obama smart??? lmao lmao lmao Obama and the Democrats have no plan and it shows.
Obama got to talk to his lawyers??? wtf.
All I hear from the Obama and the Democrats is Fear of Doom and Gloom. These losers along with a lot of Rebublicains have got to go!

A section in the 14th Amendment states that “the validity of the public debt … shall not be questioned.” This surely does not mean that “the public debt shall have no upper limit”.

@Briaanna…the tea party might not be ‘evil’ however it is VERY unrealistic and ignorant. And in this time and place in our history…it is a recipe for disaster and decline. And unfortuanely IGNORANCE mirrors IGNORANCE. AND THAT MEANS IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER IF IT IS EVIL OR IGNORANT THAT IS STOPPING PROGRESSIVE DEBATE AND COMPROMISE. It still has the same effect.

I hope that happen the we can kick out all of Congress next year

I cant wait until Obama tries to circumvent the Constitution because his party was unable to make a decision and stalled on purpose. Obama’s Plan Z will be the end of his administration and he knows it. He cant act as a monarch only the Congress can raise the debt ceiling or pass a budget. The President is accountable however for all the problems of his administration and congress including their lack of work, ethics and inability to govern.

ABC seems to have a bad habit of “ignoring” Obama’s failures..

Congress has trhe authority to come up with bills that can pass period. Remember this is the FIRST TIME that so much riders have been put onto raising the debt ceeling. So how is this the President’s fault. He asked to get the celling raised in April with no strings attached. This fight is in the wrong arena at the wrong time.

Obama shouldn’t do it now, but if after a week, the financial markets are collapsing, give the Congress 24 hours to pass a single statement bill raising the debt ceiling. If they don’t then invoke it.
The sad thing, Obama is trying to pander to the so-called center, and they are more destructive than the teabaggers. It is bad policy Obama is perusing, but the GOP and their teabagger puppet masters are pursing an even worse one.
Get ready for Great Depression 2.0, thanks to the “centrists” and the teabaggers.
BTW: Ron Paul is a traitor to the middle class. His policies are 19th century, which was a time of slavery, both literally and figuratively. (I know conservatives are unable to understand the word “figuratively”)
I fail to understand why anybody wants to return to such a society.

Again the government plays God with all our lives, savings, security and futures. Congressment and Senator only think of themselves and the political careers not those they are suppose to represent.

ABC, could you do a little investigation into the practicality that increasing the taxes on the rich can close the $0.40 on every dollar spending gap. How much would the tax rates on the rich and corporations need to be to close the gap, and what would the definition of “rich” need to be (>$250K taxable income?)? The Democrats proposal is to cut little but tax the rich more; will that work?

Balanced Fair Rights for All vs. Weber’s Bureaucracy “Cage” of DIVI$ION to Control and EXPLOIT, e.g., FEAR, GREED, Tax & Wage Flips, and pro-Technical / Org’l Systems Change, drive Human $ystem$ change –NOT, PEOPLE Drive and REJECT Change via ETHICS of CARE for fairness.

I have not heard congress say, lets cut foreign aid, and our saleries. Lets us remember that when Reagan was in office, he may not have raised taxes, but he elemated what we could claim on our income taxes, the same thing happened when daddy Bush was in office, there was a surplus when jr bush took office, and he got us into two wars, which is a drain on the budget, then he borrowed for the 600.00 that he gave back. Every time you turned around he was borrowing money to fund something. When Obama took office we were in debt. The speaker of the house is out to make this Obama’s fault that we are in this mess. To me all of the elected senators and congressmen have their own adgenda

It would be wonderful to see some UNBIASED reporting from ABC. Let’s hear both sides instead of just Mr Obama’s. Not my President, you will notice. They are so busy trying to get re-elected they can’t do what they were elected to do. I hate to leave Diane Sawyer, but if the reporting doesn’t start being UNBIASED, you can bet I will turn the channel and ask all of my friends to do the same.

The particular clause they are reffering to was there in order to prevent confederates from claiming a loss of property over their freed slaves and thus from receiving money from said losses, and to prevent any confederate soldiers from collecting a pension from the United States for fighting in the confederate army. That is the sole purpose of that clause, any other interpretation of it is taking it out of context and is invalid. It is a slippery way of trying to get around things, and not something that would ever hold up in any reasonable court of law. It would be illegal.

Trying to get rid of the unions… another thing, ummm what else?… ummm, trying to make it harder for people to register to vote,…. holding unemployment hostage a few months back to get their way….what else? I’ll get back to you on that one! LOL… Ughhh, I can’t believe I just sounded like Sarah Palin!! One more thing … trying to interfere with abortion rights instead of trying to create JOBS!!!

Reading Assistant Minority Leader Rep. James Clyburn’s biography it does not indicate that he is an attorney or even constitutional expert! What makes him any more qualified than Joe the Plumber with regards to his opinion?

i think we should have a recall of every member of the House. They clearly are not representing the interest of the average American. They represent the narrow minded, self-interested, ideologues.

I know Congress does not always agree but many years ago when the Continental Congress couldn’t agree Ben Franklin called on the members to fall on their knees and call on God.
He said, “We have been assured in the sacred writing, that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that built it.”
This might be the answer.

Article says: “Obama seems to agree. At his University of Maryland town hall July 22, the president said he does not believe he could use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling, even if there is no agreement by Aug. 3.”
Yet, an example of a comment is: “Section 5 Clearly States that Only Congress has the Powers to Uphold the 14th amendment. If Obamma does do this he Will and Should Rightfully be Impeached!”
OBAMA IS SAYING HE DOES NOT FEEL HE CAN USE THE 14TH AMENDMENT. So, why is he getting the negative comments for it? Save the trashtalk for the person that actually suggested it! If your neighbor suggests that you rob a store, that doesn’t make you a thief if you say NO!

In all the debates how much are the sentors and congressman going to give back of their wages. Are they going to cut their benefits. Please ask the question to them so it will go Nation Wide. Put them on the spot. Ask them out right if their going to cut any of their benefits. Please ask them. Someone step up and ask. They don’t mind asking you and I to make cuts. They don’t mind putting us in hardship. How much hardship are they going to go thru?

We need a balanced approach. The Republicans can’t go on protecting the wealthiest top 2% on the backs of the working American people. Let’s raise some revenue. I pay taxes…why can’t the billionaires!!
Obama inherited this outrageous debt from the brilliant President Bush. Obama is trying to clean up the mess. These guys need to learn the art of negotiation or we need to send them all to a basic negotiations class. This is sad. It will be painful for everyone, but we need to take our medicine.

We all strive for the perfect America. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as perfect. We can only try to reach it asymptotically, but can never really be achieved. This is why there is a need for a compromise. We all want lower taxes and unemployment, more services provided, infrastructures maintained and so on. We need to pick and choose our battles and prioritize. Why should Washington’s financial management be any different from the way we manage ours at home?
There are several American millionaires and billionaires that pay little or no taxes because of the Reagan tax breaks. The idea is dubbed the Reagan’s Trickle Down Economics, TDE. The gist of this idea is that the more breaks these corporations get, the more they will reinvest into this country, providing jobs and wealth. Sadly, instead of reinvesting here, they invest elsewhere, where the cost of production is cheaper thus increasing their profit. The TDE is like the war on drugs, neither is working. When something is not working, we must abort and get back to the drawing board to commence a new strategy. We cannot adamantly stay on a path that leads us all on a road to disaster.
So, today as we are facing a financial crisis, that some may deny, social security seems to be the first that goes on the bargaining table. I think that before we take away, cut or even consider the only source of income from some of the lame and the elderly, all government officials should first take pay cuts, benefits and healthcare that we, the American people are paying for. The lame and the elderly are our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and will soon be us in the near future. They served our country once. Many were hurt and/or injured serving. They were not dregs of the society. What would happen if we take away or reduce social security? They might just start a revolution in their wheelchairs, walkers, prosthesis and canes. They can stay with their struggling relatives or worst yet out in the streets. I feel that this country has an overwhelming fear of the rich and powerful. If they are not treated well, they can run somewhere else or they can even afford to start a militia against the government that the others cannot afford to do.
To solve our financial crisis, we must use all the options at hand. I don’t think that it is possible to solve all these without some tax increase unless proven otherwise. We need to increase taxes for all and cut spending with a chainsaw especially the pork projects. Often times, we think that we can avoid tax increase especially when it is such a taboo subject. Government officials have a lower chance for reelection after he/she says ‘tax increase’.
The problem is, how can we trust that Washington will cut spending and that the tax increase will be fair and/ or temporary? How can we guarantee that Washington will do the right thing for the country and its people? How can the American people agree to any tax increase when we see so much waste? Just remember, that we the American citizens are partly to blame when we elect government officials that promote pork projects. We should all realize that this is not only about individuals, cities or states but about the country as a whole. Waste should be the taboo. We should not agree to take on more than we can pay for.

“It is clear that John Boehner was the adult in the room and that he is the last, best hope for avoiding default.”
Seriously, almost fell out of my chair laughing at this! Boehner can’t even reign in the renegade fascists in his own party. Obama offered the Republicans the deal of their lives with cuts to SS and Medicare, and THEY walked away because it contained actual revenue. These folks are interested in nothing more than lining the pockets of those who already hold 99 percent of the assets.
If the folks with all the money are the “job creators” who we can’t tax, then I have a simple question: Where are all the jobs? They aren’t job creators, the are monopolistic slum lords wanting to keep the “peasant” class in it’s place. If you make less than $100,000 per year and vote for these folks, you get what you deserve: a bad country song. (lost my house, lost my car…)

I don’t know why people are so surprised that this epidemic happen? No one was complaining 08 when bush signed a 700 billion check or 09 when big corp.got the bailout money ,still no complaining there. How about in 2010 when they wanted to stop unemployment checks ,but people begged and pleaded not to stop them. Yet now when it comes time to pay we soon forget . Especially corporations who promised with the bail out they would hire more people . Unemployment. Is still at 9.2% ,but we want to blme just Obama? Yea, right ! You can’t even on a shopping without getting a bill a month later. So, this is now later…if senators would just put thw bribe money down for just second ….