Taxes, government waste, and a balanced budget.

Originally posted by whodey
So any answers for bbarr or could you not be any more happier with the fiscal direction the US is headed?

There is no "fiscal direction" in which the U.S., overall, is headed. Working folk are getting the shaft. Rich folk are doing quite well. Labor is consistently undermined, corporations are not. I don't see much difference between Democrats and Republicans on these matters.

Originally posted by bbarr
There is no "fiscal direction" in which the U.S., overall, is headed. Working folk are getting the shaft. Rich folk are doing quite well. Labor is consistently undermined, corporations are not. I don't see much difference between Democrats and Republicans on these matters.

So you are not worried about the deficit and overall percent of debt to GDP?

Originally posted by whodey
So you are not worried about the deficit and overall percent of debt to GDP?

Look, I don't like government waste any more than I like government graft and pork-barrel politics. All of it should be done away with, to the extent that is possible. But I think the economic seriousness of government waste is often overstated. Even if it does run to the billions of dollars, it is a drop in the bucket of our total budget. I understand that a rapidly escalating debt could undermine the dollar and cause interest rates to skyrocket. But what about the effects on employment and consumer confidence (not to mention the effects on the poor or sick) if we slash spending? If you're really concerned about the deficit, cut deeply into military spending. Tax corporate profits and the rich more vigorously, give tax breaks to the middle class and raise the minimum wage. Repeal restrictions on organized labor, and seize the holdings and assets of corporations that attempt to outsource work overseas. Adopt a single-payer universal health care system, which is both cheaper and more efficient than our current gerrymandered system. But these aren't politically viable options, since we have two parties that appear to compete but, in fact, serve the same corporate interests, and anybody who advocates any of these views is dismissed as a statist, socialist, or whatever the ignorant and arrogant talking heads at Fox News come up with.

Originally posted by bbarr
Look, I don't like government waste any more than I like government graft and pork-barrel politics. All of it should be done away with, to the extent that is possible. But I think the economic seriousness of government waste is often overstated. Even if it does run to the billions of dollars, it is a drop in the bucket of our total budget. I understand tha ...[text shortened]... ist, socialist, or whatever the ignorant and arrogant talking heads at Fox News come up with.

This is an exquiste blend of caressing whodey's ideological thighs and yet kicking sand in whodey's ideological face.

Originally posted by whodey
How about starting with a proposition made by Harry Rieds opponent? Why not do away with with the department of Education? Of course, this is seen as absurd and radical, but is it? If memory serves, it has only been around since the Carter administration. Since that time what "good" has it done, or do you think that "W"'s no child left behind was such a g ...[text shortened]... So being from the left, what do you suggest, without being labeled a right winged radical?

How about starting with a proposition made by Harry Rieds opponent? Why not do away with with the department of Education?

But has she at any time ever proposed to abolish any of the programs within the Dept of Education? Perhaps the plan is merely to move all of the Dept of Education's programs into the Dept of Health and Human Services and recreate the old HEW?