Leslie Marshall

What The Public Doesn't Understand About The Debt Ceiling

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July 13, 2011 RSS Feed Print
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When a CBS reporter asked President Obama why a recent poll shows that 69% of Americans don't want the debt ceiling lifted, he responded by stating that "professional politicians understand the debt crisis better than the general public." As I heard the words come from his lips, I knew there would be outrage on the right, and the left and certainly the right again!

The problem is, the president was right; ahem, correct.

When posed with the question, "If you have a credit limit and have maxed out your credit card, should you raise your credit limit so you can spend more?" Americans respond with a resounding "NO!" as would I if that were the question.

But here is the real question:

As an American, did you know if we do not raise the debt ceiling and go into default, that thousands of Americans will lose their jobs? And a 9% unemployment rate will be something you'll hope for? Or that programs like Homeland Security will be cut which I'm sure will make any terrorist organization smile.

[See a collection of political cartoons about the budget and deficit]

How about home owners and small business owners longing for the days of 2008? And that double dip recession the Republicans were trying to scare you about? Well, it certainly would happen. Speaking of money, our bonds will be worthless; and if you think that TARP and the bailout were bad, that's just an appetizer for the domino effect not raising the debt ceiling would have on Wall Street, perhaps worldwide; just look at what happened with Greece.

I mentioned that the president was right when he said Americans don't know as much about the debt ceiling crisis as a professional politician; and I do believe that. When some of the nation was outraged or offended by his remark, I could hear Jack Nicholson saying, "The truth, you can't handle the truth!!"

[See a collection of political cartoons about President Obama]

We need only look at our own television viewing habits to see evidence to support the president's rhetoric. Let's take a little quiz shall we?

  1. Were the Bush tax credits meant to last forever? Answer: No, just ask the authors of the legislation.
  2. When is the president planning on removing those temporary credits? Answer: 2013 and beyond, not a massive tax cut taking place in August.
  3. How many times did President George W. Bush raise the debt ceiling? Answer: 7 times.

And where was the Republican outrage then? Answer: they didn't have a Democrat in the White House up for re-election!

OK...now a few more…

  1. What former governor's daughter was on "Dancing With The Stars?" Answer: Sarah Palin.
  2. What was the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial? Answer: Not guilty.
  3. Who was voted off (pick one) American Idol, The Biggest Loser or The Bachelorette? Answer: I don't know, I was too busy paying attention to the debt crisis.

The point is, most Americans would've been able to easily answer the latter three questions. We were glued to our T.V. sets during the Casey Anthony trial; not to CSPAN and the ratings prove it. So don't be offended, the president's not saying you're dumb. He is simply saying you don't have the time to spend 40-60 hours a week to do a job you elected him and Congress to do. Oh, and by the way, the latest poll shows 47% of Americans (Rasmussen) don't want the debt ceiling lifted; see even the CBS reporter proved the president right with his question. Love that!

 

Tags:
Bristol Palin,
Barack Obama,
George W. Bush,
Sarah Palin

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I read the story about the drunkards in the bar and how their math was a little messed up, most likely it was the booze talking. The individual seemed to confuse income tax with sales tax, shrug...

With a flat [income] tax, an actual flat tax, the percentage that each pays would be the same and so the filed would be level. If you removed all the deductions and just taxed the GROSS income by percentage then the field would be even. For businesses you would have to remove expenses such as cost of goods, employee salaries and other sundry costs.

Houses, cars and so for individuals should not be tax deductions. For businesses, research and things of this nature that are not required to conduct business should also not be deductible.

Under the current tax code, a married couple, without children that makes $17K pay mores than a married couple with 1 child that makes $60K.

The reason(s) for this is couple A that makes $17K cannot afford to purchase a house and so has only married 2 as deductions while couple B making $60K has a mortgage and many other deductions and couple A pays about $2,500.00 in federal and state tax, couple B pays about $1,800.00 in taxes.

So Couple A pays 14.7 percent and Couple B pays 3 percent in taxes.

This is simply the way it is. Those that have less, pay more. Now if you take into consideration the write-offs for corporations and special interest corporations and tax subsidies these corporation pay little in taxes.

Everybody should pay the same percentage.

Hay Tony Oberkirch of AL., would you like to try another scenario?

Nobody Important

Nobody Important of WA 5:56PM July 26, 2011

How do I put this politely and/or delicately... I can't so I will just blurt it out. Anybody and everybody that thinks our founding father were such noble beings, or that our country is a democracy, or that our Republic is functional is not only delusional but a bit myopic in their view of the world and this country.

Most of the founding fathers were, well, men. To vote you had to be a free male over 25 and a land owner. If you did not meet all of these criteria you were not allowed to vote. Why doesn't an enterprising individual look up the omissions from either the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence. I believe they were drafted by Franklin or Jefferson. These omission were about slaves.

By the way, most of our founding fathers were slave owners, drunkards and real pieces of work. They didn't actually do much fighting in any of the battles with some exceptions like the original G'Dub, George Washington. There were a few others but not many.

The facts are something most ignore out of their discomfort for them. There were also less valuable white slaves [Scots after the Jacobite rebellion] that were brought to this country. Dare we forget the number of American Indians our ancestors killed....

History can only teach if you actually read and learn from it. John Boehner, George Dubya, Ronny boy are responsible for the mess this country is in. Obama has not had time to screw it up. Between the election of Ronny "Boy" Reagan and our current president, the Republican President racked up 9.5 Trillion in National Debt.

The last thing for those that don't know. The United States is not a Democracy. Ancient Greece was a Democracy. Of course they also had the 25 year old male land owner rule. I wonder were the imaginative founding father came up with their rules from....

The difference is that in Greece the individual did actually cast a vote instead of a vote by proxy from an elected official that does not answer to any individual.

We have the technology here in the US to actually have a Democracy where the individual cast a vote and can create and put forth legislation they want passed. Our founding fathers did not have the technology to do so and ripped off the Romans and the senate.

Learn your history and the facts folks.

Nobody Important

Nobody Important of WA 5:36PM July 26, 2011

Suppose that every day; ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten

comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it

would go like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they did . The ten men drank in the bar every

day and seemed happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner

threw them a curve. He said, "Since you are all good customers, I'm

going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten

now cost just $80."

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the

first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But

what about the other six men -- the paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his

"fair share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if

they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the

sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So the bar

owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by

the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each

should pay!

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four

continued to drink for free. But the men began

to compared their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He

pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar,

too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when

I got only $2 ? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men. "We didn't get

anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up, When it came time to pay the bill,

they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money

between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being

wealthy, and they may not show up any more. In fact, they might

start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Author unknown

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Tony Oberkirch of AL 10:22AM July 25, 2011

Leslie Marshall

Leslie Marshall

Leslie Marshall is a nationally syndicated radio host heard nationwide weekdays from 7-10pm Eastern time on radio and streamed live at www.lesliemarshallshow.com. Leslie is also a Fox News contributor seen weekly on The O'Reilly Factor, America Live, monthly on Hannity and she sits in for Bob Beckel as one of the co hosts on The Five. She lives in Los Angeles.

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