Well according to the Congresswoman from Texas, Shelia Jackson Lee, the Republican Party is making the debt debate complicated for the simple reason of race.
Now, I know there is still racism in this country, and I don't wish to minimize the gravity of that matter. However, the majority of Americans want what is best for their country, and the farthest issue from their minds in the debt ceiling debate is the color of the president's skin.
Unfortunately, there are still people who hold power in this country who use racism as an excuse for doing wrong. Yes, they are not the only reason for the debt being so high, but they are a major cause of our problems. Here is a bold solution: Stop blaming every thing on race and start responsibly doing your job! Stop screwing the American people for every dime they have left in their pockets.
Leaders in Congress and President Obama are currently in the process of "fixing" the mess of our national debt. However, the President is claiming that 80% of Americans want to pay higher taxes and is using this to push through his compromise on the debt ceiling.
President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats' demand for tax increases.
"The American people are sold," Obama said. "The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically."
The President must be conducting a poll of the District of Columbia to pull those numbers out of a hat. It can be guranteed that such a huge percentage of the American people do not support a tax increase to fix the economy or the national debt.
How about we conduct a poll of Americans and see how many support cutting spending at a national level? Then we might actually get 80% support.
Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike
Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
We are $14 trillion in debt, the Republicans in Congress have proposed considerable (though inadequate) cuts, but the president seems to have other plans. From Fox News:
President Obama will call for new government spending on infrastructure, education and research in his State of the Union address Tuesday, sharpening his response to Republicans in Congress who are demanding deep budget cuts, people familiar with the speech said.
When most people think that $12 trillion is a lot of money, we get this story:
President Obama's proposed budget would add more than $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, congressional budget analysts said Friday. Proposed tax cuts for the middle class account for nearly a third of that shortfall.
The 10-year outlook released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is somewhat gloomier than White House projections, which found that Obama's budget request would produce deficits that would add about $8.5 trillion to the national debt by 2020.
When is it enough? When do our officials in Washington have to wake up before they realize they are destroying the country through debt?
It has been said that the greatest danger we face in this country is our fiscal irresponsibility.
With his agenda stalled in Congress, it looks like President Obama and his administration will use rule by authoritarian decree to get the job done.
Here is a quote from his Chief of Staff:
“With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities,” reports The New York Times. “We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” said Rahm Emanuel
How is this type of governing acceptable in the United States of America? How have we become a country in which we have a dictator ruling the people?
The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has - at least numerically - exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill.
The ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the National Debt at nearly $12.135 trillion.
A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some "extraordinary accounting tools" it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling.
It's hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public.
The event Monday for federal employees is a fitting symbol of President Barack Obama's uneven record so far on the Freedom of Information Act, a big part of keeping his campaign promise to make his administration the most transparent ever. As Obama's first year in office ends, the government's actions when the public and press seek information are not yet matching up with the president's words.
"The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails," Obama told government offices on his first full day as president. "The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears."
The President announced last night that he would be increasing the troop levels in Afghanistan by 30,000. This is an attempt to push back against the insurgents that have popped back up and are now causing troubles for U.S. troops.
But here is my question: Wasn't Afghanistan won years ago? Why are we still there?
First, I am not a neo-conservative that believes we should be policing the world and taking "the fight to the enemy" while wasting trillions of dollars. I am a traditional conservative that thinks logically and doesn't buy into the crap that we are fed by the two major parties and the mainstream media.
With that we have made a mistake in Afghanistan. And I want you to think back...
The Politico did a great piece today on Ron Paul and how his ideas are becoming more mainstream as time goes along.
Is libertarian rock star and Texas Republican Ron Paul going mainstream?
He’s got everyone from South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint to Minnesota moderate Democrat Collin Peterson to California liberal Barbara Boxer on his side in his audit-the-Fed crusade. He’s drawing liberal support in his push to rein in the cost of the war in Afghanistan. Senate candidates like Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes of New Hampshire are finding Dr. No’s populist economic anger to be useful in the campaign, echoing Paul’s criticism of the Federal Reserve.
Social Networks for YAL