The U.S. does not have a spending problem
Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) tweeted at 5:02 PM on Wed, Jan 02, 2013:
At 15.7%, revenue as a percentage of GDP is at or near the lowest level in 60 years. #budget #fiscalcliff
Which is to say, the way to solve the budget/debt problem is with higher tax rates on those who can afford it (with a threshold well below 400K), along with sensible, progressive tax reform.
It is not by cutting spending, which only hurts those who need help the most -- whether it's discretionary or entitlement spending.
Unless we're talking about the bloated military, which could certainly afford a cut or two.
This is all so obvious.
If only the Democrats weren't so fucking spineless and the Republicans weren't so fucking insane -- and President Obama weren't so desperate to make deals with domestic terrorists.
Labels: Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, government spending, taxes, U.S. federal government
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
5:19 PM
3 Comments:
Maybe Obama considers helping the nation more important than sticking it to the Republicans.
Bill Krueger
By
Anonymous, at 7:13 PM
Yes, I take the point, and I get what the White House was thinking, though I don't quite accept that this deal really helps the country in the long run.
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 11:15 PM
re:
>>If only the Democrats weren't so
>>fucking spineless
Yes, this has long driven me crazy. The Dems win a clear mandate and they turn around and cave into the GOP.
I recall back in 2000, Bush lost the popular vote by 539,000 votes. But when he entered the White House, instead of trying to accomodate the Dems, he simply acted as though he had an overwhelming mandate and completely ignored the Dems in Congress. He rammed through his extremist agenda with no hesitation and no effort to reach out to the Dems.
By
Marc McDonald, at 11:58 PM
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