Taxes!

[vt_maverick]

No offense Eb but that's exactly the kind of thinking that has gotten us where we're at. We've been sitting at the dinner table staring at our peas for decades - sooner or later we're going to have to eat them. Cutting spending and raising taxes will no doubt have significant and immediate negative effects, but in the long term that's what we have to do IMHO. Somewhere along the way our politicians lost their collective intestinal fortitude to make the right decision - they're primarily concerned about their ability to get re-elected, which is why you see all this "Oh no we can't even consider that, the consequences would be too great!" talk in the media. It's the consequences to their political career that are too great - we have weathered worse as a people in our past, and we can and should do it again to get to a better place.

[Marlin]

Maybe its just the conspiracy theorist in me, but I think all of these "episodes" are just smoke in mirrors. Take our free food, take our free money, and before you know it your hooked. You can do whatever you want, as long as its what we tell you to do.
I think the reps are way over paid and over pampered. The amounts of money involved are mind blowing. The amounts are so high, that its Eff you money. They can do whatever they want, and there is nothing, short of armed revolution, that will change it. Nothing. Do you really think your vote counts? How do you know? When the pres can buy his way in to the office, whose to say the same doesn't happen at the state level?

[Scott Harness]

No offense Eb but that's exactly the kind of thinking that has gotten us where we're at. We've been sitting at the dinner table staring at our peas for decades - sooner or later we're going to have to eat them. Cutting spending and raising taxes will no doubt have significant and immediate negative effects, but in the long term that's what we have to do IMHO. Somewhere along the way our politicians lost their collective intestinal fortitude to make the right decision - they're primarily concerned about their ability to get re-elected, which is why you see all this "Oh no we can't even consider that, the consequences would be too great!" talk in the media. It's the consequences to their political career that are too great - we have weathered worse as a people in our past, and we can and should do it again to get to a better place.

Here Here...nail on the head!!

[Ebenezr]

No offense Eb but that's exactly the kind of thinking that has gotten us where we're at. We've been sitting at the dinner table staring at our peas for decades - sooner or later we're going to have to eat them. Cutting spending and raising taxes will no doubt have significant and immediate negative effects, but in the long term that's what we have to do IMHO. Somewhere along the way our politicians lost their collective intestinal fortitude to make the right decision - they're primarily concerned about their ability to get re-elected, which is why you see all this "Oh no we can't even consider that, the consequences would be too great!" talk in the media. It's the consequences to their political career that are too great - we have weathered worse as a people in our past, and we can and should do it again to get to a better place.

Here Here...nail on the head!!

Cutting spending=instant move from recession to depression. The gov is too large a part of the economy. Raising taxes will kill the financing that upper class provides to create wealth. "It takes money to make money". But aside that it will not happen cause politicians are in a form of checkmate. They CANT make it happen because of the roadblocks in thier way.

[vt_maverick]

Cutting spending=instant move from recession to depression.

And this is a bad thing (relative to gradual complete insolvency / default) because? We can choose the difficult path while we actually have control, or we can wait until our creditors are ordering us what to do.