Looking ahead with (a little) hope

And I am all for finding places to trim the fat from the size of all government agencies. After our house is in order, then look at tax cuts again but stop the talking and fix our debt issues and create jobs.

The deficit commission just let out their report. It's going to hurt. None of it may get enacted because it involves tax increases but how else are we going to get our finaces back in order?

They are asking to cut defense. Raise ss age to 68 and increase the tax. Cut farm subsidies. Raise the gas tax. Freeze fed employee pay for three years and cut it by 10%.

We also need to rework our tax structure. There are way too many loopholes. When Warren Buffets maid pays more in taxes than he does, something is wrong. Tax everyone the same rate regardless of income. No caps on anything.

Ditch the Bush tax cuts. The money coming in does not match the rhetoric. Since Bush's tax cuts, do we have more or less jobs in this country? The reason for tax cuts was to spur investment. It never happened. Asia invested in themselves and they have the jobs. We never invested in ourselves. We sent money to Iraq to build schools and infrastructure while here, bridges collapsed and schools and

GM cheryl: No disrespect, but you sound as though you jumped on the R band wagon. 1st, many did read the hcr bill including Mr. Carney. It became rumor that noone or someone didn't and the conservative media spread it like manure.

Under conservative policies, middle class and lower class, after adjusting for inflation make less than when Carter was president, we lost 8 million jobs, we are tangled in 2 wars while east Asia spent their money on their infrastructure, we ran up our debt since the 80's. "Whoever controls the debt controls the nation, controls the people."

Wow, thanks for all the comments. I must say I think this is the most I have ever received for one of my blogs! Anyway, to respond. I used to be a Democrat, believe it or not... Back in the days before Jimmy Carter totally disappointed me ( and so many other Americans) I was as blue as they get. However, as the Good Book says, when I was a child I behaved as a child, and now that I am grown, I put childish things behind. I have learned a lot in my half century of living since the days of our last true Democrat president, JFK. I am not naive enough to believe that any president is perfect. After all, we are all only human, and Obama is a likable enough fellow. It's just that he is going in the wrong direction with this forced health care system, among other things, which no one in Congress even bothered to read before they ram-rodded it down our throats. He is a bit immature to be running the country like he knows everyhing as well. His advisors are fruitcakes, and I fear for the futur

Good Morning Cosmo: Mrs. Clarke spoke of a mess. I would like just like them to be specific. I agree with you, we have prolems. Unlike you though, I think the way to fix SS is, as you say, stop robbing from it, but also remove the cap. The government must also do what it has to do to preserve medicare. I believe the policy of borrow and spend for the last 30 yrs caused the recession, not Fannie and Freddie. Big question for you, where do you shrink it if you keep defense, SS, and medicare?

As usual the people who responded show there political bias. What if it was a republican president that was the president under these conditions. There comments would be completely the opposite. These people drink the cool aid and there is nothing you can say to change that. I do hope that they stop blaming Bush, it gets a little old. If you look at the real cause of why we are hear you would see both parties at fault. Fanie and Freddie, backing loans to people who could't pay for them and the big banks taking advantage of that. Medicare part D not sustainable. SS being robbed for other programs and benefits. Medicare and the new healthcare bill. You think the other party is bad at everything, guess what, the other party is in power when your party is not. Shrink government,lower taxes, give the government as little power as possible and it wouldn't matter who's in power.

I fully agree with many of the above. Two years into office is unrealistic to expect someone to turn around a world-wide financial crisis. Did you expect the president to do nothing? Maybe you should be his financial advisor and turn this "mess" around. Our country's finances were in the black under Clinton. We were not involved in any extended "conflicts", let alone the two longest we've ever been involved in. I don't think your immature & highly partisan attitude would ever be placated with anyone in office but Republicans. You can not turn around an aircraft carrier on a dime and with a captain who has a mutinous crew wwhich is*****bent on throwing him overboard without giving him a chance to comprimise, much like the new speaker of the house. If you wanted conflict, you got it!

I guess the 1000 word limit is for people like me.

I asked at the end of the last post for your ideas on how to fix the mess you speak of.

Talk to you later.

Jim

Ooops. Got cut off. To conclude, Obama inherited the mess.

Just last month, on the news today, 150K jobs were created while under Bush we lost millios. In fact, what is ironic, is ever since the 80's when the policy of outsourcing became vogue, we have lost over 10 Million manufacturing jobs. Those jobs won't come back because American corporations invested in infrastructure in eastern Asia. Policies by administrations since Reagan have allowed corporations to receive tax cuts. Even our newly elect Senator Toomey voted to give tax cuts to companies outsourcing jobs over the last six years.

Heck, even IBM created a software program showing companies how to hire the maximum amount of outsourced labor and still get the maximum amount of tax cuts. What is wrong with this picture?

I believe the only way to get this country back on its feet economically is to invest in our infrastructure and stop investing in it overseas. When people are working, the country is in good shape

Hi Cheryl: I hope all is well.

No disrespect, but in what direction do you want the country to go? And what mess would you undo?

If you are talking about bailouts and our deficit; there have been 15 bailouts by various presidents since President Nixon. The R's are responsible for $1.87 Trillion while D's are responsible for only $146 Billion. That's a huge difference. Most were under HW Bush and W Bush.

R's now control the House. Instead of talking about jobs and the economy, they are talking about removing Obama from office in 2012, preserving tax cuts for those earning over $250K, and killing Social Security.

I still don't see how R's can blame the "mess" on one president when these policies were initiated 30 yrs ago. R's decided to start borrowing and spending like a drunk sailor. We had a surplus when Clinton left. Bush started two wars and cut taxes. So irresponsible and his policies resulted in the Great Recession. That's the "mess" and Obama has