Comments on: Obama deficit commission is a path to crisis

By: Pete Murphy

Pete Murphy — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:37:14 +0000

Virtually all of America’s fiscal woes could be addressed quite simply: stop giving a huge chunk of our economy away tax-free to foreign exporters. Return to a sensible trade policy that employs tariffs to assure a balance of trade as was done for the first 171 years of our nation’s history, before the advocates of radical “free trade” economic theories hijacked our trade policy. There was a time when all federal revenue came from tariffs and there was no such thing as an income tax. The deficit would easily be cut in half and all of our manufacturing jobs would come back home. Economy fixed. Unemployment fixed. Health care affordability fixed.

By: Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:32:42 +0000

“But Americans need to decide if they want to close the long-term budget gap through lower spending or higher taxes.”
Enough with false dichotomies. What spending are we going to cut? Are you going to tell the American people that you’re going to quit paying entitlements? Are you going to quit paying for their security? No amount of spending cuts is going to affect the debt without in the absence of economic growth. You cut spending wherever you can, invest responsibly to spur growth and raise taxes when you absolutely have to. One of the biggest hindrances to getting us out of the ditch we’re in is politicians trying to shove one solution or the other down our throats.

By: Michelotto

Michelotto — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:49:29 +0000

Maybe it is not a bad idea for the American public to be aware of the levels of public debt we eventually will have to deal with. I can picture the pressure our representatives and senators would have to endure. I want to be optimistic amd believe that the pressure from their contituencies would force them to pay more attention to the public interest than the interests of corporate citizens and their lobbysts.

By: Regina Ingrid

Regina Ingrid — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:21:36 +0000

Unending anticapitalism propaganda is being done by the leftist media. Ironically, while they survive only because of capitalism.

My Latvian grandparents were small-time farmers but had to go live in kulaks so that everyone could be “equal.” Destroyed most of the Baltics.

By: ke lusk

ke lusk — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:58:43 +0000

The U.S. deficit spending is for the purpose of funding the CORPORATE AND WEALTHY WELFARE KINGS BY TRANSFERRING THE WEALTH of the working classes to the weathy It was Reagoon who started the huge Federal deficits for the purpose of transferring the wealth of the working classes to the WELFARE KINGS. This was/is the reason for the Federal deficits, to privatize profits and socialize coproate losses. First, corporate personhood needs to end and the illegal withholding tax on labor must end. When Reagoon took office their were 400 lobbyist in Wash., DC today 45,000, all funded by deficit spending. Without Fedral deficits their would be no need for lobbyists.

By: Fred Schwartz

Fred Schwartz — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:16:31 +0000

First: “…investors globally who have continued to buy trillions in Treasuries..” Wrong. The dirty secret is that the Federal Reserve is buying our debt. Probably 80% of it last year.

Second: “But Americans need to decide if they want to close the long-term budget gap through lower spending or higher taxes” It’s not an either/or proposition. It’ll be both spending cuts and tax increases.

By: Benny Acosta

Benny Acosta — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:34:22 +0000

The markets crashed because the drug addicts wanted to run the pharmacy. They were allowed to do so. The addicts then went to town inventing “products” designed to maximize profit while leaving someone else holding the bag.

Corporations are of course the addicts I’m talking about. They achieve their goals by using their rights as citizens to lobby congress to get the rules they have to follow relaxed enough to let them gain control. Human citizens get pushed out of government because individuals can’t compete financially with corporate constituents.

Our system is jacked because the corporate voice is louder than the voice of the citizenry. Corporate citizens are railroading our government down a destructive path. They need to be stripped of their citizenship. Strike down corporate citizenship and it will be easier to get our economy back on track.

By: Voomie

Voomie — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 04:02:03 +0000

I want the $3 trillion we spent in Iraq back. At least we should re-take ownership of Iraq’s oil. We need the money badly. Could the commission take care of that? Delta Flight 253 details from a flight attendant at http://storyburn.com

By: wwhitteker

wwhitteker — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:57:22 +0000

How about a program that pays for itself without dependence on taxpayer subsidies, insurance companies, or gambling??

How about a complete clean slate of national debt, trade deficit, health care, pharmacy, national defense, and much more??

Would anyone be interested??

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:15:19 +0000

That, James, is going to be the problem. Can the American people be alright with lower taxes, but then lower spending or are they okay with higher taxes and a continued high spending. The American people have loved the programs they get, but have been unwilling to pay for it.