America's debt

[Biggsly]

I still like this quote.

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

 

[shotty]

I pay plenty of taxes, congress as a whole have not been good stewards of our money. Coruption and waste have been the mainstay of this goverment. Special intrest groups, unions and the like getting handouts and special privilages for campaign contributions. Talk about the chickens comming home to roost. In the end the country will recover, some last minute deal will be struck with each party claiming victory. The Fed will do another Q3 and dump billions in to a stagent econmy, making the dollar even more worthless. I hope this current debacle will scare Washington, probably won't.

 

[pen25]

the rich get richer the poor get poorer big business and wallstreet are sitting on trillions of dollars. instead of hiring in the us they shipped jobs over sea's. all through 2000 to present jobs have been shippd over sea's like we import cargo from china and illegals coming from mexico. even though employment was low most who lost thier good paying job took lower paying jobs and had to fight for those low paying jobs whose pay was lowered via the h1b visa program. then we created tarp which loaned billions to banks who used those funds to buy treasury notes and or just buy out smaller banks. the problem today was caused by the banks. the 90's was caused by day traders.

now the problem i have is during the bush administration we raised the debt ceiling 3 times. no calls to cut spending. straight vote and passes.why is it now its a huge deal? the tax breaks didnt create jobs. as those jobs were shipped over sea's and if tax breaks would create more jobs then why is it even though they still have the breaks in place we arnt seeing jobs growth?

people fail to realize just how like obama is to bush and how obama has followed bush almost lock step on all his policies and even strengthened many.

i dont like taxes but to get a handle on it its like a credit card bill. if you have to you have to get a second job to catch up. well that second job that has been proposed is closing the loop holes like the huge one news corp has used to make 4.5billion dollors profits on federal tax refunds. that means they had not just a zero tax bill like ge but they had a -4.5 billion tax bill. closing that loop hole pays for half a months war bill's in afganistan.

so lets do this. lets close all those loop holes then tell big business. you create good paying jobs like you keep saying your going to if you get tax breaks put into place you ge your tax breaks. if you dont you pay.

now if everyone was serious about cutting deficit and ensuring stability it will include temporary tax hikes. and major cuts on the largest domestic spending programs not tied to other fee's IE fica/medicare. we have to cut defense spending. we have to close the tax loop holes. just as we do in our own lives after we pay things down and take care of somethings then we can start to lower the tax rates(quit the second job)

and before anyone posts about how the rich already pay the higher rates. well lets just say thier extra 10% doesnt make up for the 300% higher pay and income they have recived compared to the worker class.

 

[pen25]

oh and one more thing. before we take any pay from anyone congress should be lowering thier pay back to the median pay for everyone. then they need to do a office share. they all dont need individual staff. let them use a pool for each state. they need to have thier housing cut. if they stay in a shared home then cut the pay. or better yet. put them in dorms. when that happens then they can demand cuts to other parts of the gov.

 

[sumoj275]

Things that our politicians (Republicans and Democrats) could do:

Take a decrease in their pay. Take normal health and medical insurance. Not take a living allowance for housing in DC. Do not take a government provided vehicle. Remember our forefathers set up our government elected officials to be a non-paid position, thus make it NOT attractive to be a career politician.

If I pay taxes, so should everyone. Legal or illegal, stop the under the table payments.

Stop bailing other countries out. We did help rebuild after WWII. It is not like anyone who we have helped is helping back. I am sorry, but why do we send aid to foreign countries when we have plenty to deal with here. It is not like we are going to make anyone like us.

Military spending, that could be decreased too. Stop sending our soldiers all over the world to deal with other people's problems. Remember the walk quietly but carry a big stick--lets go back to that.

End entitlement programs. Why do we need them all. There is plenty of jobs that can be done. Wait, that would mean the illegal workers would have to give up their jobs. Work is work, some of it sucks but if a person is hungry they will do it.

If an entitlement program is in place there should be a repayment for the money and services received. CCC camps, clean-up crews, beautification programs, etc. Those who are in the programs get a skill too.

Close the exporting of jobs and factories to other countries. Provide some incentive to NOT be taking a handout.

End the War on Drugs, legalize it and tax it. Not meth, not cocaine, but marijuana is why we have the war we do.

Make it where moving jobs and factories off shore illegal. Yep, that is right, bring the jobs back to America.

Stop giving money to companies for research and design. If they are not making improvements or break throughs allot it to someone else.

Stop relying on foreign oil. We have plenty here, plus it provides jobs.

Medical, Medicare, Insurance and the like........everyone pays. Make it where doctors and providers are paid, make it where the insured can get what we pay for, and make it a "real" "punishable" crime for those who defraud the system.

There are a lot of things that can be done to keep the SS checks going out, the military pay flowing, the promise of what I have paid in for SS to be there when my time comes, and to make our country great once again nut I doubt that anyone at the Hill gives two damns about "We the People of the United States".

 

[RickN]

Before they raise taxes on ANYONE or cut help to people that really need it, start by getting rid of waste and fraud in government and making companies like the gold mining companies pay their fair share. Then we can talk about the rest.

EDIT: A good piece by economist John Lott on the 7 myths of raising the debt ceiling.

1) Not increasing the debt ceiling means the U.S. government will default on its debt. This is probably the biggest lie that almost all other claims arise from. Default occurs if the government stops paying interest on the money that it owes. Not increasing the debt ceiling only means that the government can't borrow more money and that spending is limited to the revenue the government brings in. And, with interest payments on the debt making up less than a ninth of revenue, there is no reason for any risk of insolvency.

Time after time, congress and the president have failed to agree on a debt ceiling increase and still there has been no default. Examples include: December 1973, March 1979, November 1983, December 1985, August 1987, November 1995, December 1995 to January 1996, and September 2007.

Indeed, this really shouldn't even be a point of debate. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution requires that the debt payments come first before any other spending.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011...-looming-debt-ceiling-disaster/#ixzz1SGJEco2g

 

[Vamoose]

Both sides use the issue, like every other hot issue, to make people fear and hate each other. It's disgusting.

 

[_CY_]

Down to the wire

Jul 18th 2011

Lawmakers in America are running out of time to raise the debt limit

WHILE Congressmen trade over concessions and budget cuts, the clock continues to tick on America's debt. Barack Obama has set a deadline of July 22nd for Congress to agree on a deal. On August 2nd, the $14.294 trillion threshold at which by law America can no longer borrow money, will be reached. If that happens, America will default on its debt, triggering "a huge financial calamity" according to Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. On June 30th, there remained just $25m left in the kitty. Congress has acted a total of 91 times since June 1940 to either raise, extend or alter the definition of the debt limit-36 times under Democratic presidents. And they have done so with some 300 days to spare on average.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/americas-public-debt

 

[Biggsly]

Anyone want to bet on if they need to raise it again, after they raise it this time. I bet .........yes

 

[Blinocac200sx]

My question in this whole thing has been, what the heck good is a debt ceiling if we keep raising it?