Deficit Reduction Commission Draft Proposal

[Elderberry]

I like this proposal; would be hard as hell to get passed through congress though.

http://documents.nytimes.com/draft-prop ... litics#p=1

Anybody like this better than the last one I posted?

JK

[Trishntek]

JK, the shit stirrer strikes again! Just being my cynical self, I must point out that in order to have a reformation in deficit spending, you probably should have a budget in the first place. Something which Madam Nancy failed to accomplish this year.

[Elderberry]

I believe that they "deemed" the budget to have passed.

But anyway, I'm really not trying to stir shit. This is the first-draft proposal that came out from the President's bi-partisan budget commission and I was hoping some people might take some time to read it and comment.

My inbox has been bombarded with emails asking me to sign petitions to "defend social security", "defend this, defend that". All because of this draft proposal.

So, usually when these special interest groups (of which I am a member and usually support) start sending things like this out this quickly without mentioning anything else that might be positive in the proposal; I decided to read it.

Lots in it, some I like, some I don't. But I'm resigned to the fact that reducing the budget, let alone the already existing debt, will not be easy and everybody will have to pay some price or another.

Just wanted other opinions/comments.

JK

[Trishntek]

When the gub,,,,, that is errrrrr,,,,, our fearless leaders are spending $5HundredBillion per year on interest alone, maybe the FED and the IMF should be the first to "suffer".

Don't get me wrong! I'm all for getting some fiscal responsibility going in DC and the sooner the better!

The very nature of our money is what needs to be dealt with before taxing and spending are addressed. Future earnings have already been spent! How can you have any kind of budget whatsoever when virtually ALL of the budget is either borrowed money or paying interest on money already borrowed? Add that to private debt under water and you have a shit load of pretty paper worth NOTHING,,,,, except the interest the banking industry accumulates.

The referenced draft is just a starting point. It does have merit,,,,, and there is little to take issue with as it appears on paper.

Why would we want to freeze Federal gub,,, errrrment wages now? They've already increased much higher than private sector salaries. They need to be reduced before being frozen!

What do they mean by "distribute the burden fairly" on page 9?

On page 17, the transportation funding controls have TOLL ROADS written all over them.

It looks like they want to dick around with mortgage interest deductions and cap health care expense deductions while also encroaching on tax deductions for charity.

gotta go to bed,,,,, g'nite