Cut taxes for the rich! Cut benefits for the poor!

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

the paper here has a section on votes from congress.
the other day they increased the defense budget, already incredibly bloated, and cut benefits to poor, food stamps, etc.
made no sense than, doesn't now. the buffett rule certainly won't be enough to truly help.

again, defense, entitlements (ss, medicare, medicaid) are the two huge drains. been saying for who knows how long, those are what's sapping the fed, and us. and it will continue to be a drag, and grow to be a bigger problem. eventually there will be no money left for anything but those two areas of the federal budget and interest. all other depts would be completely non-funded because there would be no money left in the budget.
we spend on defense what the entire rest of the world combined spends. outrageous, unsustainable.

The earned benefit (you pay in over your lifetime of work, it's not a gift) of Social Security has no effect on the deficit. Social Security used to be financed at 90% of national income taxed, but now as the wealthy own so much of the money and income inequality is so marked, we only tax 84% of national income for Social Security. All we have to do is raise the cap back to taxing 90% of total national income, as the program was designed to, and it's fixed. Piece of cake.

The other earned benefit (you pay in over your lifetime of work, it's not a gift) is Medicare health costs, our other big drain. A national health care (single payer, not government-run medicine) would markedly help that as costs will be negotiated. Obamacare is a small start at healthcare price reforms focused on the consumer.

Yes, defense spending: the military says, "don't buy the jet, we hate it" but Congress insists the military use it, as Congresses friends are the one that have the big government contracts manufacturing those unwanted jets. That we can fix with our votes.

It's really great your paper has the votes congress takes - wish all papers had to do that!