The Note: Duel Without End? Obama, Boehner Offer No Clear Path To Resolution

I wish that our system would work for our average citizens, but alas the 2% wealthy will be completely protected by the GOP and their base (to their detriment which is insane).

Just another tired campaign speech blaming everyone else by a failed president who is clueless about the economy. Freshman republicans in the house have exposed BO for the worthless political hack he is.

I suddenly realized that if Obama were not allowed to lie or blame someone else for his many failures he would not be able to make a speech. How sad for our country.

I JUST CAN SAY ,,,IF YOU HAVE TWO BROTHERS ,ONE IS RICH AND THE OTHER IS POOR,,HONESTLY! WHO HAS THE POWER TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM….WE ARE A NATION,WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF OUR BROTHERS BACK.WE CAN LET POVERTY ANG HUNGER TAKE OVER THE MASSES

If you removed the words Bush, Tea Party and Republicans from Obama’s teleprompter, all his speeches would be “er…um..I..aah..er..me…umm..”

Dear Mr. Boehner,
You should be embarrassed! That speech of yours last night really exposed your soul and the souls of your party. I was so happy that our President came on TV to explain to America what was really going on. Never has a President come to the American people and explained what it was all about. I did not realize that everyone (both parties) had settled on the cuts and that raising taxes on the rich was the ONLY reason the GOP will not make a deal. I wish that the GOP was just as protective of the other 98% of the population.
YOU ARE FIRED!!! Go ask one of your rich friends for job, the American People no longer require your services!
HIT THE ROAD, Dude.

The President is trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic while the ship is sinking! After running the ship of state into an iceburg he doesn’t get to cut in front of the women and children. Someone needs to tell him that the captain goes down with the ship!

jock59801 | Jul 26, 2011 10:04:55 AM posted: “There is a very clear path to avoidance of default: Congress increases the debt ceiling. It would take them about 2 hours. The budget deficit is a separate issue and does not have the same deadline.”
Right on jock. There’s a wide swath of Americans who second that.

What this has done is expose the freshman GOP representatives as Tea Party schills plain and simple and Erik, the president INHERITED an epic disaster from Dubya

To those of you who think the “rich” aren’t paying their “fair share” — what percentage would it take to satisfy you? Stop parroting idealistic phrases and get real. Put a number on it. A NY Times article cites CBO numbers as follows:
“The poorest fifth of the U.S. population, with average annual income of $15,400, pays only 4.5 percent of its income in federal taxes. The middle fifth, with income of $56,200, pays 13.9 percent. And the top fifth, with income of $207,200, pays 25.1 percent. At the very top of the income distribution, the richest 1 percent has average income of $1,259,700 and forks over 31.1 percent of its income to the federal government.”
How much more than 30% is enough?

Erik | Jul 26, 2011 10:08:50 AM posted: “This president is an epic disaster and now he wants the government to steal more money so he can spend it recklessly? I don’t think so… “
Can you site a source for the notion that the President wants the government to “steal more money”? Seriously, where does the “stealing” come into play – is funding government agencies “stealing”? Continuing Medicare and Medicaid is “stealing”?

Don, if the wealthiest were actually PAYING that amount, it would be different but with loopholes and their bought-and-paid-for cronies in the Republican party, they pay a smaller percentage; some pay a MUCH SMALLER PERCENTAGE

I dont know what some people are thinking.All you have to do is open your ears and listen.If we dont get those republicans out of there the average person isnt going to be nothing but a slave for the rich.You think obama is a bad president,he is trying to help but the republicans dont want him to,they want the rich to rule,they dont care if the average person ever gets a breath of air.Wake up america.

First all cut all free ins for them paid
by us and make them pay for thier own.
They want to cut programs that help the
poor, but they don’t even talk about
getting rid of the bendefits we pay for
them. Then if they can’t reach agreement
on this, vote them out and get some new
people in.

For your information Mr. “Prince of Fools” Bush has not been in office for three years. Bush did not send porkulus money out to buy union votes, Bush had nothing to do with Obamacare. Your incompetence has been brought to the for front by none other than yourself. You bald faced lied last night and the American people know it. The only reason you would not agree to the “Grand Deal” Set forth on Sunday was a feeble attempt at saving your relection. You failed miserably AGAIN!

President Obama does not want a raise-the-debt deal; what he wants is a scapegoat. BHO needs another “Bush.” The old one is oversold.
President Obama knows – because he lives and dies by polls – that the public does not want to hear “how bad it could have been without me,” any longer. The People want the President to resist his ideological impulses trying to prove the impossible – Keynes was right.
This time BHO attempts to raise the “Republican” up as demon. I am not a Republican, but Republicans are fighting to stop this money train – the crazy squandering of the treasury in another progressive attempt to create Utopia. “If only I could spend more” things would be better” will not cut it any more.
The People want BHO to take responsibility to reverse the big spender DC mentality that is ruining the economy. The coffers are being depleted, mortgaging our children’s future without their consent. It is immoral and must stop now.
The public is aware of, and has had it with focus group and poll tested euphemisms blaming capitalism for the “mess that we’re in.” If anything has failed it is the tax and spend, regulate, and redistribute schemes that are the anchor around prosperity’s neck.
The public wants the current hostility toward business to come to an end; it is the source of our despair, for business creates productive jobs not government. The People want BHO to stop using crisis and brinksmanship to get his way – Armageddon and disaster are becoming boring lexicon.
The People want the massive spending to stop, we want printing money to stop and we want the borrowing from hostile nations to stop. The People want bailouts of corporations banks and unions to come to an end.
But it will not happen as long as this true Utopia believer is in office. He will keep doing the same thing expecting different results. It is insane.
So to survive, what BHO needs is a scapegoat to blame for the coming degrading of US international credit ratings, the dollar, and international credibility. He desperately wants plausible deniability for insanity’s results by inventing a narrative that Republicans screwed up the economy, rather than his irresponsible spending, bureaucratic expansion, taxation and draconian regulation.

Don | Jul 26, 2011 10:24:27 AM:
“”The poorest fifth of the U.S. population, with average annual income of $15,400, pays only 4.5 percent of its income in federal taxes. The middle fifth, with income of $56,200, pays 13.9 percent. And the top fifth, with income of $207,200, pays 25.1 percent. At the very top of the income distribution, the richest 1 percent has average income of $1,259,700 and forks over 31.1 percent of its income to the federal government. How much more than 30% is enough?”
=======================================
LMAO!…another right-whiner that apparently missed the boat. You apparently missed the IRS report released in May of this year that reported that the top 400 income earners actually take most of their income in the form of captial gains, and therefore pay the lower, 15%, tax rate on capital gains…lower than you think.
The IRS data shows that the federal income tax rates paid by the highest-income Americans have dropped substantially since 2000, largely due to cuts in the tax rates on capital gains and dividends pushed through by the Bush Administration. The IRS report shows that in 2008 (the latest year for which the data’s available), the 400 richest income tax filers paid just 18.1 percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI) in federal income taxes.
LOL!

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population…
“Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child.
from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Sounds like the Republicans have beent taking notes

All of those blaming the Tea Party and Republicans are so very wrong. Who was responsible for passing the laws that FORCED banks to make bad mortgages leading to the housing and financial crises? Democrats! Who constantly blocked attempts to rein in Freddy and Fanny? Democrats! Who unilaterally passed 2,000 page unread bills in the middle of the night that added trillions to the deficit? Democrats! Obama’s speech last night was a lesson in demegogery and class warfare. As a person who makes much less than $100,000 per year, I am NOT for increasing the taxes on Obama’s so-called millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. They pay more than their fair share now. In fact, corporate taxes should be lowered. We need to unleash capitalism and get our economy moving and create jobs. The private sector is the answer. Sending more money to the black hole called Washington D.C. is not the answer. D.C. has proven over and over again that all they can do is waste money, weaken the economy, and kill job growth. Wake up and put the blame where it squarely belongs: the Democratic Party!

Why not rely on common sense and practicality? Have we not allowed ourself to rely on Government to ‘govern’ everything we do?
Large Corporations are running our Government. They pay Whom ‘they’ want to put in office. Why should it be about who has the most money, Shouldnt it be Whom is the best choice? The oil industry is a good example. The Technology is available (and has been for many years) to have cars run on hydro power, solar power, electricity, fuel cells, the list goes on, but yet….. We are still using gasoline.

I smell another bad deal coming up. The Cowardly and stupid Republicans will “compromise” with the evil Democrats again. The US credit rating will drop because the deal will be a bad one that will not support future debt obligations and the Dems will claim it is all the fault of the Repubs. Oh joy! Another crisis to demagogue and exploit. A “compromise” with evil is a deal with the devil that never, ever ends well.

It is the Republicans fault for all our woes, think about George Bush and the mess he created so now we are all arguing on and on and on the Republicans go. Maybe Boehner thinks he may break down and cry yet again! Look Boehner your crying jags dont cut it anymore you little girl. You ALLLLLLLL need to start thinking about the American people and settle your differences. If you dont I would suggest you resign and go see an psychiatrist for help. I am so sick to death of YOU ALL controlling mine and many others HARD earned money. Get a clue, lighten up and straighten it out you dum bunnies. Your acting like children, make it happen and quit beating around the bush with nonsense we dont care about. I will never vote Republican again EVER this is so ridiculous and one more think, have a little respect for each others opinions, by the way Harry Reed, retire, your too old to make decisions. – Wendy

Here here “voiceofreason” That is exactly what needs to be done. Just have a vote on “raise the debt ceiling” no ifs ands or buts about it! BE done with it and then fight the rest of Obama’s term on this other matters. Or, Let the President invoke the 14th Amendment and just do it himself!!!!

The problem is the American people wanted to go to war in 2001 and now don’t want to pay the bill.. They need to take a look at my grandparents generation and see that they thought it was their duty to pay down the debt. The rich then paid almost 90 cents on the dollar and when it was paid off they lowered it.. Its time America Pays for its war and the Wall St fiasco and the only people with the money to do it are the wealthy.. Raise the Tax bracket to over 50% and be done with it.. Pay it off and lower it again

The duel will finally end. There will not be a default. Boehner doesn’t have the votes to do anything. The Tea Party wants to force default. When the Tea Party holds up everything, President Obama will do as Bill Clinton suggested. Simply declare the whole idea of the debt ceiling unconstitutional and keep on paying the bills. The result of the Tea Party intransigence will be to strengthen the presidency and weaken the congress.

Obama will not be remembered as the first black President, but instead as the worst President by far.

JUST THE FACTS FOLKS!
Please do not complain to me. Complain to HIM! His prime time speech last evening was not too PRIME! ‘BUSH, BUSH, BUSH; BALANCED, BALANCED, BALANCED; SCARE, SCARE, SCARE; & DON’T KICK THE CAN!”
In the meantime, 800 + days and counting, and STILL NO BUDGET!
HILLARY, WHERE ARE YOU????

All of you wanting the “rich” to pay their fair share, how much do you pay in taxes? Do you get the earned income credit? I hate to tell you this, but those that earn over $250,000 are usually small businesses that would like to employ you but can’t because the mad dictator in office wants everyone to be beholden to “government” for their livelihood, so he can control them. The whole dem party thinks this way. The “rich” pay more than 50% of all taxes paid. $250,000 is not rich – it is productive. Lay off the producers or there won’t be anyone to get your checks from.

We are fed up, fed up with this President. A President should try and bring the country together (remember red state, blue state, etc.) He has done nothing in his three years but blame, blame, blame and me, me, me. It’s time the news media held him accountable. His speech last night was the same old blame others speech as usual. No ideas, no plans except get him out of the mess he got himself in so he can spend the rest of his term campaigning and fundraising. The country is much worse off than when he took office.

Given the intransigence of the Tea Party wing of the GOP it has become a no win situation for the country. The rating agencies are really just cover for the obvious. They may or may not change the rating, but everyone knows the problem is the political gridlock caused by the new GOP. A small ideological group has captured a national party and this is the problem. Can the country be run with this situation at hand? Nothing is going to get done, damage is going to be done until at least the next election. As the country falls apart, the voters will now have a choice.

Guys,
What was left to Obama was a huge MESS!! He did a superb job fixing it. I give him a lot of credit-the whole country should. We ALL knew that Republicans were going to blame him for eveything-including tornadoes!
He should have stopped both ridiculous wars-what a waste of money! So.. I hope we ,republicans and democrats will pay for those stupid wars now. God put Obama in the White House to save our country!

Exactly what has Obama “fixed”? Debt? Unemployment? War? World standing? National Unity? Race relations? Illegal immigration? Cost of health care? Cost of legal medication? Space program? Gitmo? Muslim angst? Energy cost? My God, folks! It even took a Republican House to get Pelosi’s Potty Parity problem fixed and install a women’s bathroom in the House.

Hello America, we need to give John Boehner, a vote of thanks for bringing the endless ceiling debt to an end, no more blank checks for the Liberals, finally a voice of reason in Washington D.C., Barrack Obamas argument was that Ronald Reagan raised the Debt Ceiling, several times, (as if all the wrong done by Ronald Regan justifies a continuance?) we encourage the House Conservatives to hold the line on any further incurred debt. and we would also encourage Congress to cease debt payments when failure occurs its inevitable, and no Nation that declares bankruptcy would continue any type of loan payments. sincerely Fezzy Bear

Don | Jul 26, 2011 10:24:27 AM
C’mon Don. Even Warren Buffett acknowledges that the tax breaks for the Wealthy allows him to pay lower taxes than a secretary that works for his company.

If President Obama was white, we would not even be having this discussion. This whole debate is not about doing what’s best for the American people, but all about trying to make sure that the President is not re-elected.

I wonder who on here made a little extra lasagna last night to give to the family where the auto worker father has been out of work for six months. Who baby sat for the single mom one night while she works three jobs to make ends meet to help her with her child care costs. What plumber, electrician, carpenter etc, helped out the 80 year old lady yesterday who’s sink was clogged or light wouldn’t come on. Did anybody go to the last city council meeting, or your representatives town hall meeting. What did you do when you saw the guy who was lost on the highway put his blinker on as he realized he was about to miss his exit. Did you let him in or did you speed up because you didn’t want him to get ahead of you. Anybody complaining about education go to a school board meeting. If we really want to take back this country we have to do it at home. How do we expect the guys in Washington to get along when we can’t even do it in our own neighborhoods.

Republicans and Boehner: what makes sense to the people of the U.S., makes no sense to them. They just want to keep giving tax breaks and leave gaping loop holes for the rich to hold on to all they’ve got. What about the disappearing middle class and the poor? Hmm…I guess,no one in their families are in those categories, and if they were, would they give a flying fig what happened to their families as well?

Drop taxes as much as possible for businesses with all employees in the USA. Offset it with increasing taxes on the rich. Businesses create jobs. The rich do not use their personal income to create jobs. The rich will still be rich and businesses will be more willing to expand.

Let me repeat again for you that have no concept of Debt, the United States is $15 Trillion dollars in debt, an unsurmountable figure, there is no cure except failure. the interest alone is a billion dollars a day, (chump change to Hillary Clintons spending sprey’s) if the Congress does the right thing and allows failure on all foreign debt, we can then move ahead with bankruptcy clearance. look at the positive side it will force the goverment to live on a budget from taxation with no further loans. and the Idea that the U.S. can maintain its credit rating is pure rubbish. we have already lost that.

As with so many past debt ceiling bills this could have been an easy procedural vote, but no, the Tea Party crowd wanted to use this issue to force their own extreme agenda on everyone else.

DO the math; taxing the rich does not help (i am not the rich). If you think it does you have not looked at the math. It is TRIVIAL in the scheme of what Washington is spending. The problem is the spending – it must stop or everybody will suffer greatly EXCEPT for the rich who will suffer modestly. Wake up America and do what is right. Our President and allies is leading us into the bankruptcy from which there is no short term return. Look at history to see what happens to nations that act as they are……

There will never be any fairness in the tax system until everyone is taxed the same with NO deductions. If you have the means to hire someone to give you ways out of paying taxes, you will. If you have loopholes in the tax code that give you a way out, you will. The “rich” can afford ways out, the poor don’t need them, and the tax codes are so complicated that only those who have money can figure out ways not to pay it.

Headline August 3 2011,
“The United States Goverment Defaults on Its Loans” or how about ” WhatIs The Fallout From The Debt Ceiling Failure?” or “The Whitehouse Has No Comments On The Debt Ceiling Failure, President Obama Looks Forward to 2012″ we might as well go ahead and start posting comments now. sincerely Fezzy Bear

Don…but they’ll just come back at you with…’well they have 40% of all the wealth in this country, they should pay’! I’m with you. We need to do whatever it takes to keep the “wealthy” happy. They’re carrying the freight for A LOT of people. Their share and then some. Doesn’t the tax code, written into law by the representatives we send to Congress, dictate how much everyone has to pay in taxes? Is everyone suggesting that they’re cheats (like Geithner) too?

A Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget would mean the end to the Democrat party. Think about it. What has been their platform? Government–good, self-determination–bad. Prolifically underfunded entitlement programs would cease to exist as we know them today. Imagine it if you can.

YEP, US AND ALL OUR FRIENDS SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA :)

I AGREE. PRESIDENT OBAMA DELIVERED A FINE AND SINCERE SPEECH.
INSTEAD, BOEHENER LIED AND LIED. HIS CLAIMS WERE FALSE. PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS ACCEPTING. INSTEAD BOEHENER WALKED AWAY BECAUSE HE DID NOT GET HIS DRUGGED TOYS: MORE TAX CUTS. HE FORGOT HIS FORMER CLAIM TO LAY EVERYTHING ON THE TABLE. INSTEAD HE CHICKENED OUT WHEN THE PRESIDENT LAYED TAX CUTS FOR THE RICHEST ON THE TABLE.

PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS POLICIES. INSTEAD BOEHENR’S BORING SPEECH WAS, AS USUAL, AGGRESSIVE AND IRRESPONSIBLE. ALL HE DID WAS THE SAME BORING ACT OF MOST REPUBLICANS: ATTACK PRESIDENT OBAMA. BY DOING THAT BOEHENER IS HURTING AMERICA AND OUR ECONOMIC RECOVERY. :(((((((

Bush spent $700 million over 8 years fighting a war in response to a direct attack on the USA. Obama spent that much in a single stimulus bill that obviously, by all available metrics, has been for nought. Bush deposed a tyrant, a dictator. Obama has “deposed” the American dream. Who made the best investment? Posted by: n’erdowell ***********No.1, Iraq never attacked America, look it up!No.2 Most world economists agreed, if not for the stimulus, the entire American Economy would have failed.PS- The Debt grew by $5T, under Bush, he made more than one bad buy, a lot more…

I watched most of the President’s speech last night and he makes perfect sense to me. The tax breaks enjoyed by oil companies, wall street and other well off people and companies contributed to this terrible deficit and it is time to put up or shut up. If the GOP is truly serious about tackling the deficit and not just mega focused on taking back the White House – they will get serious and agree to give up their luxurious tax breaks. Asking America’s poorest to ante up while they whine about taxes makes me want to puke. Anyone who has the capability to think logically knows that in order to pay down debt you have to cut back and increase your income. The wealthy know it too but they are going to guard their money even at the expense of all of us smaller investers losing ours when stocks tumble again. They know and they don’t give a damn. I am seeing many more people that now understand that the GOP caused this mess with their out of control spending (2 wars, unfunded medicare part D and their tax breaks) and they need to do their part.

The GOP is unamerican there more like commie’s

POSTED BY: SUCCAB | JUL 26, 2011 12:51:29 PM posted: “This country is nothing but slaves to the unemployed and welfare deadbeats.”
Do you SERIOUSLY believe social programs created the debt we are in? People on welfare and the unemployed are not taking the big bite out of YOUR pocket.
It’s really, really simple to google “How the Deficit Got this Big”. For those who refuse to read the article, at least take a look at the charts. Clearly, a decade of borrowing to pay for TWO pre-emptive wars and the unsustainable Bush era tax cuts are responsible.
Time to pay the piper by increasing tax rates and closing tax loopholes.

The stock market is going to crash if this keeps up much longer.

Republicans and Democrats are ruining our country-this “party affiliation” is nuts. They are all supposed to be working for the greater good of ALL Americans. I have yet to witness this happening. Our President shouldn’t have to act like a school recess monitor telling children to play nicely and to take turns at the merry-go-round. These people wanted public office, they have all the perks, power and position of public office-now is the time to earn your public service position. Compromise. You have no choice. We all expect you to sort this out so you have to compromise. No matter what you do we will all end up worse for it and paying more, losing more jobs-so just minimize the damage where you can and get on with it, please.

What would happen if we declared banckrupcy and started over??

You guys are idiotic. Repubs you dont want to pay any taxes then do what Bill Gates is doing and transfer all your money to a non profit pay no taxes and give what you want to those you feel are deserving say 10% hey its less than the 17% you are paying today and you get to control your money. Demos since you want to put everyone on welfare you do the same but instead of 10% you do 90% this way you can save the world from poverty and hunger. You both are silly playing to the game fighting each other while our leaders enjoy the good life with the best healthcare, doctors on call, an exclusive private health club, access to payoffs from wealthy corps and individuals, a retirement program that vests the first day on the job, access to great contracts in the private sector after they leave office. Its too bad none of you in this comment list could pass the scrutiny with all those skeletons in your closet.

commonsenseparty – I disagree with part of what you said. I think we should increase taxes, especially on the rich. The government revenue as a percent of GDP is the lowest since 1950. While I agree, that I don’t trust our government to spend it, I think it would improve faith in our economy for foreign governments that lend money to us. It would show that we are willing to take on some of the debt and not just expect foreign governments to give us more money to cover all our debt.

why is boehner their??? all i have seen is him 1) cry 2) talk in a deep tough voice saying NO.
Don’t know about you but I don’t let those types of people into/run/ruin my life. So please let’s all get rid of this boehner idiot. PLLLEEEASSEEE!!

Don, look deeper into the figures you provide: the top 1% pay the biggest percentage of taxes beCAUSE they have all the income! Another poster put it this way: nine people make $5 a year each. One person makes $5000 a year. They ALL pay 40 percent income tax. Does the rich guy pay about 99% of all the income tax liability? Yes, beCAUSE he made ten times more than the rest of them did!!! Your stats just fell right on their face.

MIKEMO1947 youSAID it EZACTLEE – ‘That should prove that taxes need to be increased and expenses need to be cut.’
please tell the boehner dipclod this:
taxes need to be increased …Giving the wealthy a free ride just makes them GREEDIER.

I applaud Rep. Kucinich for your honesty. Let’s be clear; any decision to stop paying Social Security checks would be completely at the discretion of the President, and not a necessity. Even if the debt ceiling is not raised, the government collects over $200B a month in revenue. SS and Medicare each distribute about $50B per month and service on the debt is $14B. So, there is plenty of money to meet our “obligatio¬ns”. It would be difficult to keep many parts of the government running, but there is no need to threaten the sick and elderly and those that depend on their Social Security checks. Americans have paid into Social Security their entire lives and yet the President will pay others before he would pay the very people that put their money in the system. Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements. Working class Americans have paid into these programs since FDR and JFK. Insurance is just that; insurance that is paid for by the buyer and entitlement by definition is a giveaway. Thank you Rep. Kucinich for your honesty, please move to Oregon and run for Rep. David Wu’s seat.

COMMONSENSEPARTY | JUL 26, 2011 5:12:01 PM posted : “Only mentally ill people would give this government more revenue before the government actually showed some fiscal responsibility.”
You keep posting that the government must “show fiscal responsibility.” What exactly does that MEAN to you? For me, fiscal responsibility means paying off the largest contributions to the national debt: a decade of borrowing TRILLIONS to pay for two unfunded wars + the unsustainable Bush era tax cuts.
And GREAT IDEA! Let’s simply raise the debt limit. It should take just a couple hours – as Republican Mitch Daniels, GW Bush’s Budget Director once said, “this is simply housekeeping that has nothing to do with future spending – this simply reflects decisions made in the past”. Done.
THEN Congress can move on to tackling the 2 two contributing debt factors: government spending + missing tax revenues.
And before you continue slinging around “mentally ill”, look up the term “projection” in the DSM. Poll after poll over the past several months shows the MAJORITY of Americans believe we should increase taxes.

RockAgain,
You say that if the “rich” were paying what the CBO says they are paying then it would be fine. Understand these are not the tax RATES these are tax COLLECTIONS. They ARE PAYING over 30% of their earnings in taxes. At least that is what the CBO is reporting.

Obama ‘is the only one who cares about the average American. Anyone who supports the Republicans on this issue is someone who stands to beneifit from the tax breaks for the top 2% of the country. If you’re not, then you need to get a grip! I want a president who cares about the average American, not just the rich ones. So Mr Boehner please take yout own adfvice and grow up. Listen to the people not to your own thoughts, you do not speak for me…….

The Voters are to blame for this mess. You have a President that is willing to work hard for the American People and you didn’t like the things he was doing so you sent a message by electing a majority Republican Senate. Well now you are the one’s getting the message, you cannot have a democratic president and a republican senate and expect to get things accomplished. You would have the same problems with a Republican President and a Democratic Senate Majority. They are like oil and water, they don’t mix. Republicans don’t want to raise taxes on the rich and Democrats don’t want to cut programs for the poor and the people that end up paying every time are the middle-working class.

Why did ABC break into regular programing for just another one of the President’s campaign speeches?

Mr. President and Members of Congess, The middle and lower classes helped elect you and you need to listen to us. Grow up. You and the wealthy members of society are the problem with your tax loop holes. If you paid your fair share of taxes, we wouldn’t be in so much debt. But you and the lobbyist continue to take things away from us and we pay the higher percentage of taxes. To tell the truth, I am angry and upset and will certainly vote in the next elections for the candidates that care about the middle and lower classes!

Throw all the bums out. This deficit is a disgrace for our country. I would,’t run my house like this!

speaker boehner should resign..his “counter speech” to the presidents last night was insulting to the average american, particularly the part about having been a small business owner himself..wealthy people are not the small business owners, and they do not promote job growth..they promote wealth for themselves..if taxes are an issue, then do a flat rate based tax without loopholes to even the burden..put into effect paycuts for congress and senators..eliminate false medicaire claims for services and goods in the thousands of dollars (this does occur),eliminate elected officials having several offices with paid staff members..there are lots of places to cut if someone had taken the time to make a list , compare and contrast services and benefits of each, and then put them on the table, rather than point fingers..a high school political science student or debater knows that!

RAY posted “I suddenly realized that if Obama were not allowed to lie or blame someone else for his many failures he would not be able to make a speech. How sad for our country.”
What’s really sad are HATERS like YOU who try to convince everyone that our country was 100% when Obama was sworn in.
The DOW was over 14,000 in 2007. When Obama was sworn in it was UNDER 8000.
The housing bubble had already burst. TARP happened before Obama was sworn in.
The economic bus when off the cliff BEFORE Obama took over. The only one lying is YOU.

MICHIGANDER_SANDUSKY posted “All of those blaming the Tea Party and Republicans are so very wrong. Who was responsible for passing the laws that FORCED banks to make bad mortgages leading to the housing and financial crises? Democrats! Who constantly blocked attempts to rein in Freddy and Fanny? Democrats! ”
Who doesn’t know how our economy really crashed? MICHIGANDER_SANDUSKY. Who doesn’t know how Fannie and Freddie operate? MICHIGANDER_SANDUSKY. Who doesn’t know that the PRIVATE sector is responsible for our economic problems? MICHIGANDER_SANDUSKY. Who doesn’t know about MBS’s and CDS’s? MICHIGANDER_SANDUSKY.

And regarding the sacred 5% of Americans with 90% of the wealth – If these people are such “job-creators” WHERE ARE THE JOBS? They got to keep the Bush era tax cuts – WHERE IS THE IMPROVEMENT? The worst financial crisis in a generation began in 2008. Why haven’t they stepped up? What are they waiting for? A Republican administration? Is THAT how we are to be treated? Like economic collateral damage in that our suffering is used as a stepping stone for a political advantage? It is despicable – and very transparent.

Families in the U.S. are living within a budget, so the Government should be able to do the same? Americans are now forced to pay what they can…. most can’t pay for their needs, much less wants. Companies are not giving raises because the are budgeting… ummm…and they say.. let’s send 100 of our jobs overseas so WE (the company) can cut their budget by 125 million! ummm…. got a few million to pass to the Americans that lost their jobs due to you wanting to cut your budget??? I thought not!

Very well said @ Micheal! I couldn’t agree with you more.

This is all so shameful! Imagine if we the common working man/woman in America would blow off our boss with lies and hot air in failing to get the job done that we are getting paid to do? We would get fired immediately and replaced. Why aren’t Americans furious over what is going on in Washington? Why do we continue to allow these type of politicians to run our country and our lives into the ground? We don’t live in a democratic society. We are allowed our simple little jobs so we can pay more and more taxes to fuel their wars and greedy agendas! I’m tired of the name calling and finger pointing from all sides. Bring home all of the troops from everywhere outside the US and quit giving other nations billions of our tax payer dollars. This will balance our damn budget and keep us from asking for more handouts from china and other countries buying up our debt… Vote for Dr. Ron Paul for president in 2012!!!! All of us Soldiers support Dr. Paul for president!! We are tired of senseless, endless war