The Budget Debate Is a Joke

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"The community of nations may see more and more of the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." -- Bill Clinton in 1998
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security." -- Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002
More on link...
http://www.rightwingnews.com/quotes/demsonwmds.php
"Remarks of Senator Obama: The War We Need to Win"
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/01/the_war_we_need_to_win.php

Bill Hedges of MO 12:55AM February 13, 2011

With the money we wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan we could have built high speed trains from coast to coast.

Isn't it A pity of CO 8:23PM February 12, 2011

Clinton had no SURPLUS and stole from S/S piggy bank as others have.
"So why do they say he had a surplus?"
'As is usually the case in claims such as this, it has to do with Washington doublespeak and political smoke and mirrors."
"Understanding what happened requires understanding two concepts of what makes up the national debt. The national debt is made up of public debt and intragovernmental holdings. The public debt is debt held by the public, normally including things such as treasury bills, savings bonds, and other instruments the public can purchase from the government. Intragovernmental holdings, on the other hand, is when the government borrows money from itself--mostly borrowing money from social security."
"Looking at the makeup of the national debt and the claimed surpluses for the last 4 Clinton fiscal years, we have the following table:"
"Notice that while the public debt went down in each of those four years, the intragovernmental holdings went up each year by a far greater amount--and, in turn, the total national debt (which is public debt + intragovernmental holdings) went up. Therein lies the discrepancy."
"When it is claimed that Clinton paid down the national debt, that is patently false--as can be seen, the national debt went up every single year. What Clinton did do was pay down the public debt--notice that the claimed surplus is relatively close to the decrease in the public debt for those years. But he paid down the public debt by borrowing far more money in the form of intragovernmental holdings (mostly Social Security)."
http://www.craigsteiner.us/articles/16

Bill Hedges of MO 5:41PM February 11, 2011

@ Dee Too
The defense budget for 2010 is about 660 billion. Cutting it in half will not save $400 billion. Everything I read says eliminating the Bush tax cuts will bring in $300 billion per year, not $500 billion.
Raising the income limit on SS "insurance" payments will bring in more revenue but also cause future payments to be higher since payments are based on wages that were taxed. So you don't get as much long term help as one would think.
The income limit for medicare "insurance" payments was raised several years ago. One year I had income of slightly over $175000 and paid medicare taxes on the entire amount. I'm not sure what the limit is, but it is much higher than you think.
The proposals you make would cut the deficit, but it would still be in the hundreds of billions per year. Remember that the current deficit is 1500 billion.

Bob of TX 5:31PM February 11, 2011

The writer likes to lump all things together. Lets make this easy to understand.
We have two categories of deductions form our paychecks - TAXES, and then Social Security and Medicare INSURANCE deductions.
Paid for by INSURANCE DEDUCTIONS: Social Security has paid for itself until this year with our deductions. No deficits from past years are due to Social Security. Period. Medicare is similar. Both programs need to be adjusted to pay for our longer life expectancies - so Congress does need to act on this - raise the ceiling on income used to derive contributions, and problem solved. Raise it to $175,000, and these two programs are solvent until 2065. Problem here solved.
Now - let's discuss what is paid for with TAXES. ONE HALF of our tax dollars are used to pay for DEFENSE. That is 50 cents of every dollar! Cut defense in half, and you save $400 BILLION/year. Homeland Security is a department started by GW Bush. It costs $75 BILLION/year. It duplicates what we already do in other departments Cut this, that's $475 BILLON saved.
Now - the final touch - when we last had a balanced budget (Clinton), we had tax rates that were 2% higher than now. That is all! If you make $50,000/yr, that is $1,000. If taxes went back to the rates we had in the 1990's, that would be another $500 BILLION against the deficit. This might help pay for the wars we never funded. Yes, the USA went to war in Iraq without ever paying for it. ....Add that to the above, and the total is almost $$1 TRILLION cut from the deficit. Yes - $$1 TRILLION.
Carving on Social Security and Medicare so our seniors can sleep under bridges in cardboard boxes is pretty cold hearted. Especially when the GOP refuses to cut DEFENSE - which uses HALF our taxes paid. So Haliburton gets bonuses, and seniors can't afford to see a doctor.
No way is thie article's analysis correct. Not even close! America - don't let these twisted lies cover the truth - defense spending and two wars is killing our economy. Period.

DeeToo of SC 5:07PM February 11, 2011