The big news this past week was President Obama's speech on the budget. It was an important, smart speech - with one major failing, which I will get to.
But for those of you wondering what Obama stands for - what his core beliefs are - I would suggest that you read or watch the speech. It was an intelligent, passionate defense of his view of America and of the role of government.
It is left of center, but not that far from the center.
He starts, after all, by taking the problem of the long-term debt seriously, proposes major spending reductions in all areas and crucially proposes a fail-safe mechanism that would kick in if the deficit did not shrink.
It sounds like a technicality, but it is crucial and it is a sign of Obama's seriousness because most budget deficit plans, including his own, make generous assumptions about growth, revenue, efficiencies and cost savings so that on paper the plan always shows the deficit going down.
The fail-safe mechanism works thus: If the actual deficit does not go down - something that always happens, in fact - Congress is then forced to choose more spending cuts and tax increases to balance the books.
In addition to this, Obama presented a vision of an activist government that would make crucial investments in education, infrastructure and research. These investments, in my view, have been as much a part of U.S. history as a vibrant market economy. Without such government support, there would be no American semiconductor industry, no early adoption of computers, no Internet and no Global Positioning System.
On taxes, the president's position is correct and inevitable. For a generation, America has kept taxes low as spending crept up ever higher. We have made up the difference by borrowing. The real debate is simply: What manner of tax reform do we want. Closing loopholes and deductions is clearly the best approach.
Then there are the entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. Here, Obama was at his most eloquent but least pragmatic.
He made a powerful case for maintaining a basic social safety net for all, particularly the elderly and the poor. I think it will resonate with most Americans.
But he lost his courage in proposing sensible reforms to these programs. The number of people eligible for Social Security and Medicare is going to double by 2030. At that point, those two programs plus Medicaid will take up 60 percent of the federal budget.
So we need radical thinking to make them affordable, if only to be able to spend on all the other key investments that will fuel growth for future generations.
I praise Republican Paul Ryan's plan for its courage in presenting a budget that takes risk and proposes pain. It also had the effect of spurring Barack Obama to present his own serious proposal.
I prefer Obama's approach - which is also closer to that of the Simpson-Bowles Commission - which contains a mix of spending cuts and some tax increases, but it needs much larger cuts to entitlement programs to make it work.
But let's step back: What is critical here is that finally, after years of kicking the can down the road, America is having that long-delayed debate about its future.
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Some people have it all and Indra certainly does. I saw an article talking about Fareed and Mrs Nooyi maybe working for the Feds someday. I hope I'm living, if that happens. Fareed and GPS are like listening to NPR. He tries to remain objective and polite and does a great job tackling current events. Mrs Nooyi is so easy on the eyes. Can she be a weekly guest on GPS???? Thank You.
Depot the muzzie!
Don't know about you but I plan on voting for this guy who will not publicly display his birth certificate on the internet so that he can continue driving our country into bankruptcy by taxing the rich and giving to the poor, class equalization is what it is all about, sitting at home getting free health care, free food stamps, free welfare while those who believe america from yesteryear keep working to the bone taking care of me,..
Deport the muzzie!
laugh at the guy that can't even get an ignorant insult right the first time!
Good work, Barry. You spelled all three words correctly this time.
It has one major flaw. Its a plan forged by failboat lying democrats who lie and have a record of failure miles long.
Lets see which Republican President has had a balanced budget in the last 30 years? Oh yeah that would be none. Which Democratic President has Gee Clinton and he showed a budget surplus. Obama has spernt the first 2 years of his presidency fixing the economy that W broke (That cost a boatload of money). And actually submitting budgets that included everything they planned to spend money on, including the wars (unlike the previous president. The DOW is back up to 12,000+ from about 8,500 because of his efforts. Now he can finally focus on getting the budget under control. Maybe he can do this and not have the middle class and poor shoulder all of the burden.
How cute... a rafflerazzi quote misused... please L2 troll better IMO.
Yup the dems made a lot of mistakes, cutting taxes to the rich by 75%...wait that was the GOP... corporate bailouts... Wait...GOP again, crashing the stock market...of crap...sorry....GOP again, People talk about Obama's insane spending but if you go back and check facts... I know this is a difficult concept for you conservatives to grasp...but please try... then you'll see that approx $8.7 trillion of the deficit, more than 2/3, was brought about by the Bush administration and their windfall actions.
Wanna fix the debt problem? make those corporations making $5, 12,14 billion in pure profits actually pay the 20% tax that EVERY American pays. If they decide to be little b!tch3s and leave the U.S., imposed cargo and import tarrifs so rediculously high, put an inflation moratorium on imported goods, that we make our money anyways. I garuuuunteee
other smaller companies, either private or funded by the guv'ment will emerge and create the good that Americans want on AMERICAN SOIL.
How about dropping the cost of a barrel of patrolem to the $24 that it actually costs to process and ship and stop letting GOP oil tycoons make 175% profit on every barrell.
Point is Obama is a gutless idiot and as long as he continues to let the GOP pound him in the @s$ we will never see an end to spending.
FAREED, TO PRAISE PAUL RYANS RADICAL BUDGET IS SHOWING US WHO YOU REALLY ARE,THAT YOUR ON THE SIDE THAT SAYS MAKE THE LESS FORTUNATE PAY FOR THE EVIL DEEDS OF THE MORE FORTUNATE. IF YOU CAN,T SEE WHAT YOUR PRAISING, THEN LET ME TELL YOU, IT WILL WEAKEN MEDICARE AND PUT THEM AT THE MERCY OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES, PRIVATIZE MEDICAID INTO MANAGED CARE, SLOWLY DEMINISH THE FOOD STAMPS PROGRAMS, DESTROY THE GOVERNMENT EDUCATION SYSTEM AND PRIVATIZE IT AND WEAKEN SOCIAL SECURITY TO THE POINT WHERE SENIORS WILL SUFFER. CONGRATULATION MR. ZAKARIA FOR BEING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HUMANITY AND
And what, you think the Republicans don't have a record of failure and lying? Wake up!
Let's cut the MILIATARY SPENDING, RIGHT!
Its refreshing to hear scholarly knowledge over rhetoic
It would be a mistake to change the retirement age until there are more jobs available.
that wont happen till the big companies are forced to bring jobs back to the USA and pay taxes on corporate income. As things now stand, they not only kill jobs here, but put their profits in accounts in tax havens not subject to taxes. And tehy cant use that money in the USA without paying taxes, so the system actually feeds itself more and more, driving investment overseas.
Time to end corporate welfare, period. GE paid zero on 2010s billions in profits. those expensive drugs – lots are mfd in IIndai, and drug company profits are going up everry year while corporate taxes on them are going down. Because they claim their profits come from the value of their patents, and they have moved their patents to corporate shells in eg the cayman Islands.
Ditto mircosoft, prob Boeing, whcich has large parts of airplanes assembled overseas. BTW GE just got a large contract for jet engines from china. Part of the deal is GE will put China in the jet engine biz, each one of which sells for $10 mil and up.
NO wonder America is becoming a poor nation. And if we don't do something our children will be the new illegal immigrants to mexico, looking for backbreaking work to feed their families
Your formula for dealing with corporations makes absolutely no sense, sorry to say. It's a pie-in-the-sky wishlist that ignores the most basic economic market rules. So you want to force corp's to bring jobs back to the US AND pay more in corporate taxes?? Let's follow the dominos. Corp's would then be forced to offer less jobs here than overseas, since they are more expensive to maintain here. Or they would expand the workload of current employees to compensate and give less in pay raises. Or they would lay off non-union workers and re-hire cheaper labor. Higher corp taxes GET PASSED ON TO CONSUMERS. Corp's don't just 'eat' them. Prices rise to compensate for higher corp taxes. Period. So while the corporations would pay higher taxes and we could all feel so much better that those ugly corporate thugs were paying up, WE would pay more for their products. In essence, when the consumer demands higher business taxes, the consumer is actually demanding higher prices for themselves.
Unless, of course, the Fed instituted price controls to protect consumers. Then corp profits would shrink and bye-bye jobs again. So even the love of big government control over corp's is self-defeating. When you try to control capitalism and free markets, the only throat your hands end up wrapped around is your own.
mdamone is right, but misses the point that it is Capitalism that has It's hand round Our throats
You can't blame capitalism. Without capitalism, there would be NO JOBS AT ALL!
mdamone is WRONG and listening to talk radio way too much. If people can't afford the goods, the business dies and everybody loses. Therefore, they can only pass the cost on to consumers to a certain point, otherwise they will shop elsewhere... perhaps even those small businesses the right loves to ramble about whenever they need to look compassionate.
Here's an idea why not have corporations pay a tax rate of 20% (thats about half the current I think) on what they show as profit to the SEC and investors, no deduction or exemptions.
And just WHY do you think the corporations are sending jobs overseas? Cheaper labor is certainly 1 incentive. But HIGHER TAXES is a main reason. So you want to "make" them bring jobs back and then charge them higher taxes. And just WHY would a company do that? They are not in business to provide revenue to the gov't. Nor are they in business to provide jobs. They are in business to MAKE MONEY. They will do it as best they can according to the owners' wishes. The jobs and taxes are just part of the equation to accomplish the first task.
Steve youre a moron. Even with the low taxes and loopholes we have companies are still leaving the USA in droves. Its cheap for them to move operations to overseas where they can pay someone 30 cents an hour to do our same jobs! Dummy!
let the discussion begin. haha as posted here above or below, GOp/Tea offer false choices considering there track record. Rein in corp's are not going anywhere just as fixed income citizen, the older americans know full well this is the great nation has been bingeing for decades. The market which is american is large enough and profitable enough to handle small stablizing well managed tax increases and revenue enhancements. Were we to all act like adults.
We seriously need to consider Logan's Run
The Republican budget is a lot like the first Japanese cars in America. If not for them we would still be driving the clunkers Detroit was selling. Most of the Republican proposals would not get through without a Democratic President. Exactly like the Clinton end to the old welfare society. Also why the stock market goes up during Democratic presidential cycles. Works for me.
Clinton was smart to move to the center, and was pushed by Speaker Newt Ginrich like Ryan who is pushing Obama in that direction. But President Obama doesn't get it, and because of his inability to leave his Liberal Democratic Party ideology, and govern from the middle as Clinton did, he will continue in his downward spiral of failed Presidential Policies along with his starting a third USLed War in the Middle-East will seal the deal for the GOP to win the Presidency, and maintain control over Congress.
Regan was and is considered by Historians and you beloved Barack Obama to be one of the most successful Presidents who had more acomplishments then any other President in the 20th Century. So is Obama who just started another US Led War in the Middle-East a Republican? Was Abe Lincoln who freed the Slaves with the Emacipation Doctrine a Democrat?
while Regan might have truly been the most loved, doubtful, He was definitely a Republican and like all other Republican Presidents He left a huge deficit for predecessor to clean up after him. This is a matter of record and increased the debt more then any other president before him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms. simple math does not lie unlike the Regan era trickle down theory.
I would also call his practice of following Nancey's love for astrology and making this counties important decisions based on the days astrological forecast very suspect if not down rite satanic. Thia is very well known fact among the inner circle of Reagan's cabinet. It is funny to me that Christians proclaim Reagan as being great while he practiced black magic and against the God of Christianity
The basic bargin is broken, and it started with Reagen's policies. Before Reagen, the economy was growing from the 1945-1980, at a avg of 3.7% per year. Since his policies, of "trick down", the economy has grown at a avg of 3.0%. So we have a nearly 1% decrease, in something that is suppose to incease the economy. Trick down is a failure, and should be showcased as such. There is only one true way to fix the mess we are in, but neither side is willing to do it, because their wall street owners don't want them too.
Reagan put the CON in CONservative.
Oh Dear Dear Daniel, perhaps I will have to get Ugly Betty to teach you about life, and the real world. Capitalism is Democrocy in its purest form. The United States of America is a Capitalist Democrocy that is still the envey of all those who wish to have the opportunities and freedom that our country brings to offer. We may be down, but all of your Social Democrocies in the United Nations of Europe are falling by the wayside, while we are still the testement of freedom and the hope for all in the world to look to in times like these.
American Freedom and Financial System envy of the world? Not anymore pal. True for a few decades, not any more. Parts of the world, sure.
Obozo is nothing but a cheap suit and a snake oil charmer he is a lying thug form the loweat form of a president and is not even American
" deniro". LOL. How old are you ? 12.! ? Cheap insults to the POTUS won't win an argument. And you end with a birther nonsense! You don't get it, people like you attacking him is a recommendation, if people like you hate him , he must be doing something right! BTW I wasn't born here, but I'm an American and I vote!
Deniro – wander over from Fox Nation, did you?
your endless demonizing of the president shows you know nothing but hatred. YOu sure dont contribute to the conversation.
Maybe you could have taken on wall street and the banks that have robbed millions of their homes with mtg scams? BTW you can bet that most (but not all) of the super-rich are republiicans. Many of them sucking off corproate welfare and tax breaks
All your troll friends live there. You add nothing to the conversation.
Is this more rhetoric based on nothing but a lack of intelligence and a bit of hatred? Has Fox News given you your narrative? Can you formulate your own thought process, and do those thoughts have any fact involved?
Bottom line... What was the DOW when Obama took office? Where is it now? What was the unemployment rate, and what was the trend during that time frame? How has that trend been slowed down? Do you think that a global spiral can be retrieved in less than 12 months? (what planet do you live on?) What was the US opinion by other countries? What is it now? What was Bush giving you, that you now feel is missing? Why is it that after all these tax cuts, that the rich still feel entitled to more? Most rich people still have their home(s), their livelihood, retirement funds, and their savings account. Why is it, when their country needs them the most, do the still feel compelled to fight a small tax hike? I back this man, I back his moves, and I back a tax hike. My wife and I made over $300k last year and we're in our 30's. We back paying more now in order to have a country later. At this rate, when we're in our 60's there won't be a country to call home. And yes, Mr. President, we fall into the upper category that you discussed, and we're willing to pay a bit more to help our country and fellow Americans. Raise our taxes, sir. We are willing to pay for the expenses we've incurred, and would appreciate the work you're trying to do to ensure we have a home in 30 years. We have made personal cuts to make that happen without affecting our lifestyle.
There is nothing stopping you from donating any extra income to the government. You talk the talk, walk the walk, if you're serious. $300k in combined income should allow you to donate at least $200k to the government. Just make a few more cutbacks and you should easily be able to give that much. And while you're at it get all of your liberal friends to do the same, and the budget crises will be solved. Simple, you just lead the way!
You're absolutely correct. The top 1% (not you) share of total income has moved from 9% in 1980 to 25% in 2010. 90% of ALL income growth from 2000-2010 went to the top 1% while the income for the bottom 50% actually declined. And we all know what corporate profits have done over the same time period. After shifting the income to the top 1% the Republicans still want to give them even more tax breaks. Why? We need the middle class to be strong for total US to be strong. Paul Ryan's plan does nothing for the middle class.
It was the the Federal Government who allowed us to become the Spend-Happy Glutants we bacame, and look who is trying to continue down that same spiraling abyss, but none other then President Barack Obama. Thank you Sir for raising our Taxes because of your careless spending of our money. Sir, Please raise our Taxes, so we can become like our Buddies in Greece, Ireland, and saty tuned for Spain to go Belly-Up.
He ain't even that much.
What exactly does a POTUS do to be a snake oil charmer? What oil is he selling you? Your country has spent too much money? (and no he didn't spend it all) That the rich and entitled don't owe it to their country to pay them back? That corporations are able to dodge the tax code, but they shouldn't be able to? Exactly what is it he's 'selling' that you find offense to? Rush Limbaugh is loaded, he's against the taxes, that's why he tells you they are bad. Stop listening to people that aren't in your tax bracket when it comes to gov't finances. They aren't there to serve you, only themselves, but using their sheep (you) to back their point for their interest. You spout off garbage without any fact. And how do you know that he's not a citizen? Are you telling me that the best intelligence units the US has to offer are wrong? But that you've heard Donald Trump run off at the gums and he must be right? Are you really kidding yourself? Do you not realize the work done to get a person vetted to be President? The fact that no one is presenting Trump with a certificate has to do with the fact that no one has to entertain this moron. It's on file, it's been proven. This is the most important position in the world. It's not taken lightly. GROW UP!
I love you guys from the far right and far left. First, you all insult the right wing guy for spewing insults like an idiot, but then sort of fade when it comes to your side. First, this commentary was laughable, but always is from this guy (like it is from MSNBC and the far right wing talk radio people). News flash. Obama did not even try and make a real substantive argument on how to cut the deficit, besides raising taxes which will not make it by itself make any impact, despite his fuzzy math (for God sake, talk to real financial economists who are not aligned with either the far right or left). The main problem is the entitlement programs that are unsustainable due to the change in demographics, and of course, POTUS (I run for office but I don't actually do my job and 1/2 the country will love me regardless, just like Bush) said nothing on such issues, only making a campaign speech. . . Two, of course large corporations are greedy and don't pay their fair share. So, raising tax rates will make them do so, bring more jobs and bring in more revenue? News flash, ask any reputable economist, CPA, I.R.S., etc. .. they don't pay taxes now. Raising taxes will just hurt the middle of the road or smaller businesses that do most of the hiring (but let's not adopt the far right wing view of making them pay nothing). Third, for the guy who is arguing that social security is you get back what you paid in . . . really, have you looked at the numbers? For example, if your earning years were done by approximately 1990, verse people will are suppose to retire after 2020, it is not even close on the return rates.
Again, neither side knows what the heck their talking about at this level (although I believe the higher ups really do). All of you are laughable.
I will say one thing for the Republican congressman, he actually proposed something of substance. If you hate it ( a lot of which I do) and think its wrong, propose something substantive back . . . but cheering on POTUS when he actually does not substantively indicate how it is all going to work, is sad.
And you laugh at the last guy?? Laugh at yourselves and him when are children and grandchildren have nothing.
it is very sad that people disrespect the president of the united states the way you do deniro! you hide behind your screen with your insults! we all know what organization you belong to! three letters.Obama will win in 2012!
Just another far rightwing media attempt to make something out of total BS.
Two points to make here.
One, Social Security is absolutely not an entitlement. It is a retirement program that pays back what you have put in, nothing more. If you do not contribute you cannot receive benefits. Simple change can continue the program indefinitely.
Two the real issue with Medicare is the cost of medicine. Unless you deal with that you will not ever solve Medicare costs save for bankrupting the working and middle classes with an ultimate result of armed guards at every hospital and emergency room.
I cant tell where you stand. But thte repubs would toss the old people to the whims and profits of the insurance biz. Who of course would either refuse to insure them or else want hundreds of thousands of $$ per year.
EXampe – Back when I was 55, I had a prostate biopsy, which was negative. Still, a few years later when I retired and exhausted cobra, the insurance co wanted $30,000 to cover myself, let alone my wife.
Today I have had 3 prostate biopsies (all negative, skin cancer (not serious or a big deal, heart valve issues, etc.
We can only guess that the insurance co's would absolutely find a way to not cover me.
The republican plan for medicare for older folks – Go die. We need our mansions and pvt jets etc
Wow, Erik... it's always refreshing to see an intelligent post, based on reality/facts, not spin you've been told to memorize.
Even Fareed falls into the foolish spin. He praises Ryan for courage in throwing The People to the wolves.
Fareed: take a second and look at Ryan's numbers... they don't pass the elementary math test. It does nothing about medical costs... it just transfers the money people contribute to Medicare/Medicaid, to the insurance companies. It's a Ponzi-scheme that would make Madoff proud. And of course, there are tax give-aways to the wealthy. It doesn't take courage to be selfish, greedy, & corrupt.
Baz – you fail to realize that in any negotiating courses or training you are told when selling something to go higher than you would or buying to go lower than you would. Ryan is simply coming out with cuts over the top because he knows that there is no way that all of the things he wants cut will go through and will be happy with a smaller portion. Yet it looks like he is compromising.
Take a look at this video though for a great visualization of the budget. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt8hTayupE
Fareed, From a left of center commentator I do appreciate your sincerity. Recognizing Rep Ryan's courage is a start. Our President did not propose a budget with cuts at all and has been dragged kicking and screaming to the table. That said America Wins in that we've got the conversation started. "Education" spending unfortunately is fraught with waste too. It's the good-old-boy network of liberals of that you must agree. Track the last 20 years of increases in Education spending at Local, State, and Federal (proper order). I don't trust them with more of my money. Tax reform is the right track. The Fair TAX initiative has been pushed by Republicans for 8+years. Increasing tax revenues is if done with real fairness can be sold, but not by the current group of liberal pitch-men.
Well said.
"The Fair TAX initiative has been pushed by Republicans for 8+years."............REALLY?????? Under Bush???? Whatever your drinking or smoking please pass it around because it certainly has "rosy tinted" your view of reality.
The one huge flaw in Obama's speech was that fact that just like everyone else,he ignored the proverbial "800lb. gorilla in the room",that is,the vastly unnecessary military spending and the three obnoxious wars that we're currently engaged in. Getting rid of these would play a part in reducing the huge deficit,but nobody seems to get it and that's quite revolting to put it mildly!!!
cut military spending, raise taxes on the wealthy, tax corporations that ship jobs overseas so heavily that they go out of business, give them tax breaks based on number and quality of jobs here
Obama is not the source of this problem.
It wouldn't matter if we had a Republican or a Democrat in the White House.
America and the Dollar is Toast. Anything now is much too little, much too late.
The inevitable is a continuing (possibly steep quick) decline in the American Standard Of Living.
The problem with something being conventional wisdom is that policymakers have to at least acknowledge it. Obama doesn't seem to buy into the armageddon talk of Medicare and SS–but for him to simply say there's no problem is to invite not being taken seriously by the people whose opinions might matter, however undeservedly.
His take was better than to be expected in this environment. So what's Fareed's excuse? He seems to have bought the (as usual) GOP-supplied framing that what we really need to worry about is the social safety net. Just accepting the premise that debt is the real crisis here is playing into their hand. The real crisis is unemployment and vast wealth inequality. Fix those and the budget problems become much easier.
Well, if that ever happens then I will just move to a different country. Luckily I know 5 other languages
The Federal Reserve will purchase 600 Billion in US debt by the end of their Qualitative Easing II program.
China owns approximately 1.3 Trillion in US debt. It is simplicity itself to note that two more Qualitative Easing programs could fully absorb the entire Chinese US debt reserve.
Social Security may need an extra 1 Trillion dollars over the next 20 years.
The Federal Reserve could purchase Social Security specific debt at the rate of 100 Billion per year for 10 years and Social Security is now fully funded.
The Federal Reserve could buy any Medicare specific bonds issued by the government required to fully fund Medicare.
Note: All interest paid to the Fedral Reserve on the Us bonds it holds must by law be sent to the Federal Treasury – in effect, this debt costs NOTHING. There goes the arguments that the interest on the national debt will destroy our budget.
Issue SDocial Security bonds, Medicare bonds, have the Federal Reserve purchase them. If a financial entity wishes to purchase them from the Fed then so be it. But these bonds should be sold at a premium because the interest paid to the FED is in effect a contribution to the Federal Treasury...makes more financial sense to keep them than sell them and have the government pay the interest to others.
The national debt crisis and the budget crisis, the Social Security crisis and Medicare crisis, the Medicaid crisis are propaganda designed to scare us into giving up the few remaining benefits we areceive as citizens.
Thought project: Where does China get its money? They print it, just as we do. If CHina needs money to keep[ its people calm and non-revo;utionary, if it needs momney to buy oil sands in Canada, minerals in Africa, or Australia, where do they get the mon ey? They borrow if fromo the state owned Chinese banks. And where do the Chinese banks get it? They print it.
Please, Fareed, blow the smoke off of these propagandist issues.
Interview someone NOT in government, NOT from Wall Street...interview an expert of the REAL American economic an d currency ssytem and tell people the truth.
What I have written here is considered by man to be nothing more than a conspiracy theory or the diatribe of a hard money, gold bug crank.
It is a fact....there are no financial crisis at all.
How did Wall Street survive? The FEDERAL RESERVE bought over 3 Trillion of their assets and gave pout hundreds of billions at interest rates of 1/4 of one percent.
If you insist on using the word "crisis" then please discuss the possibility that the Federal Reserve could handle many Trillions of the immediate unfunded liability problems facing us today and by doing so defuse the long term unfunded liabilities that are so popular among the talking heads on CNN.
Is everyone at CNN a financial expert...you all talk about it like you have published peer reviewed papers....tell the simple truth.
Two words for ya "Weimar Republic"...idiot.
Speaking neither from the right or left, Ernie try and read some books on economics, history, etc. Really??
Moron. Every dollar thus printed is inflationary. To quadruple our money supply as you propose would increase prices by an immediate factor of 4 or 5, and price momentum would carry that to 10 or 12. Hyperinflation is worse than depression, and would forever destroy our economy.
I read President Obama's speech. I agree with it, it will take serious people with a serious plan with some type of fail safe built into the budget to get some results. I just hope that it really works or this country will even more setbacks in trying to jump start the economy
As usual, your assessment is right on the money. I wonder how much money the government would save if it stopped offering guaranteed pensions, and started offering 401k plans which accept the same market risks that most Americans' retirement plans do. I worked in PA state government when the stockmarket crashed, and while I watched people losing their retirement savings, my pension grew by the guaranteed 3%. It felt wrong. It felt wasteful to make tax payers pay into my retirement because it lost value on the market.
I wonder how much money employee pensions cost the federal government and how much money we tax payers paid to ensure the guaranteed federal pensions' growth rate.
The reason the 401K plans crashed was because they were invested in a high risk investments like stocks. Your retirement was invested in lower risk, lower yielding bonds which did OK in a down market. While you made out like a bandit with an increase of 3% as others lost 50% remember that the previous year you were stuck with that same lousy 3% while others increased by 30%
The problem with defined contribution plans is that if someone does a poor job of investing and looses it all because of greed, ineptitude or fraud, they will end up on the government's coffers because a civilized country is not willing to see its senior citizens sleeping on the streets and people do not want to be tripping over dead bodies of those that died the previous night on their way to work. That does happen in 3rd world countries. While a defined contribution plan can lead to a better retirement if it is managed well, it can not be used as a safety net because it does not guarantee a fixed level of income in retirement.
The Muslim himself is flawed. One he shouldn't be president because of his birth certificate. Two his name speaks for itself. I am sick of the stupid stalling of the whole moving forward. We are not moving forward, we are slowly becoming what Hitler tried to do, and he is succeeding in his dream. Cause we are truly spineless
Wow. An accusation he's a Muslim, Birther nonsense and you also Godwinned the discussion. You're obviously a classy guy there Warblade and not a drooling moron at all!
Glad to see, I'm not the only one that is SICK and TIRED of hearing these "birther" rants. I guess this headache will only go away when we accept the fact that nothing is gonna shut them up. Why don't you birthers come up with a new and improved fallacy, such as his birth certificate being a fake counterfeit copy!!
Not all Blacks and Jews are Democrats. Not all Cubans in Miami are Communists either. So what makes you think all Muslums are Terrorists? I too am leary or have genuine fear and concern when Muslums are dressed in Shariah traditional Burkas, but I don't subscribe to a one racist view fits all Muslums in America. Don't forget that most of the Middle-Eastern Muslums came to America to escape the oppressive Islamic regimes from their native lands of Arabia and Persia.
I think the right political strategy would be to close the loopholes WITHOUT lowering corporate taxes, let the corporate lobbyists fester and squirm and stew for a few years, and then lower the tax rate.
The president has increased government spending so that it represents 25% of the GNP from its historical average of 19%. His budgets borrow more than a trillion dollars a year. Though we have paid into Social Security for generations, the money has been moved to the general fund with the treasury department writing IOUs. Medicare has been underfunded for decades. At this point, there is more than $60 trillion in unfunded entitlement liabilities plus our current $14 trillion dollar in debt. President Obama submitted a budget two weeks ago that did not even pretend to deal with our impending financial armageddon. Only because of the Ryan budget did he even deign to address this crisis at all. Anyone who thinks Obama actually put forward any cuts in spending was not paying attention. He pushes all meaningful cuts until after a presumed second term. That Fareed found this to be an intelligent speech shows either that he didn't listen to it, is completely ignorant of our current financial situation, or is simply so biased as to view anything Obama says as being intelligent. The interest for the first six months of US debt for 2011was $216 billion. We are currently borrowing more than a billion dollars an hour.
It also amazes me that Mr. Fareed fails to address the smears of our post-partisan president against Congressman Ryan after inviting him to attend. Mr Obama cannot win the debate with the congressman, so he stages an event where Mr. Ryan is forced to remain silent while the president completely misrepresents Mr. Ryan's budget, and worse, his motivation for submitting it. We are in a crisis that the President did not create but has greatly exacerbated. Yet still he seeks to spend instead of dramatically cut the budget or deal with our bankrupt entitlement programs. This is not intelligent, and Mr. Fareed's commentary represents a paucity of thought, candor, and understanding of our current economic situation.
Beautifully said Ian Deal – thank you!
I agree with your thouhts/ Thank You
Couldn't have said it better.
"Mr. Fareed's commentary represents a paucity of thought, candor, and understanding of our current economic situation." Poetry sir sheer poetry
Is that sheer Liberal Poetry?
Can you explain how Paul Ryan's Medicare plan (change it to vouchers) would work successfully? It demonstrates an utter lack of knowledge about insurance. 90% of the healthcare costs we will incur in our life will be after 65. That makes the over 65 pool incredibly expensive to cover – thus, exorbidant premiums. The average income of 65+ in the US is $19,000. Plus, since Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare – if successful that would put pre-existing conditions back on the table – an insurance company could once again deny coverage for a pre-existing condition. Does anyone know ANY ONE over 65 who does NOT have at least ONE pre-existing condition. So Ryan says seniors will somehow be able to buy private insurance on their own with a little help from a voucher that is a fraction of the expensive premium for a risky pool. It simply will NOT work – the seniors will either be denied coverage due to pre-exisitng conditions or they will simply to unable to afford the premiums. That is why Medicare was passed in the 1960's, they figured this same problem out then. Seniors cannot afford to spend half their income on premiums. Get real. BTW – the real solution to bringing Medicare costs down is to let Medicare negotiate with the Pharma Co's for volume pricing just like Walmart or the VA. The Bush Medicare Drug Bill which prohibits such negotiation (what happened to a free market for Medicare) was a Republican trillion $ gift to Big Pharma.
I'm surprised that no one mentioned an even more obvious answer: they discussed cutting the defense budget but if we're so broke why, oh why are we sill in Iraq and Afghanistan? The police and military are here for what? Our protection? What is more protective than health care coverage vis-a-via Medicare/Medicaid. The Republicans suggest a voucher plan. I suggest let me use my voucher on the wars that I want to contribute my tax dollars to instead. Until we are out or Iraq and Afghanistan I cannot take our intent to save money seriously.
Better yet why don't you volunteer for EOD
As a Sebnator, Obama criticized the Bush Doctrine and voted against the Surge led by General Petreus with 40,000 Troops to give the Iraqi people an opportunity to have Peace and Democrocy in their Backward Barbaric region led by Kings, Dictators, and Leaders of Terrorist States. President Obama extended the Troop Surge proclaiming "A Victory," so that he could as he promised to "Bring the Troops Home!" Well your Peace-Loving Group Hug President Obama took most of those Troops he promised to bring home, and sent them Willy Nilly all the way to Afgahnistan to be part of the 35,000 Troop Surge led by none other then General Petreus.
Of course the Bush Doctrine's Troop Surge was again used by President Obama as he proclaimed it as his Policy. So did you exorcise your Voucher and Vote for Obama's Third US War in the Middle East which will be certainly be his Legacy. Ahhhh....Poor Barack didn't have his own War, so he tried to take credit for Bush's War Policies. Oh Darn, those American people...they just saw right through him, so Barack Obama decide to start his own War in the Middle East after he told the Pro-Democrocy Demonstrators that he would not support ther pursuit of freedom unless the good ole Spineless Blue Helmet Brigade (The same folks who stood by while the Butchers of the Congo and Ruwanda raped the women and young girls, while they sliced and diced thousands of men, taking the young boys and forcing them to carry out their evil deeds.)
Your logic is flawed. The war's failures, between the time of Senator Obama and President Obama, under Bush required that a continued surge happen. But you forgot to mentiion that very significant point. Bush/Cheney and Company refused to set a timeline to get the troops out of Iraq and put them in Afghanistan where they were more needed. That finally happened under Obama, it's working and we are on a schedule to leave Iraq in the hands of it's own people. By the way, remember how Bush stepped in and demanded that Lebanon allow a democratic voting process? Funny how Hamas ended up winning that election. DOH!!!!!! He didn't see that one coming. He just couldn't leave well enough alone and now look at the Middle East.
Eh...Battle 4 the president throne.Happen every 4 yrs Bwahaha
This countries was destroyed by George Bush and his GOP crooked friends for their adventurous Iraq safari. One trillion dollar and and thousands of service men were waisted at Iraq. We should be able to at least recover the money we spent from Iraq. The money they made from oil sail are trillions of dollars. If they are no willing to pay, we should freeze their assets in US and recover it. It is sad to see GOP doesn't have any real leaders to address the issues of this country. Saraha palin, Bachman, Trump are real stupids and waisting the time of the public. White house cannot have more than one first lady. If Trump becomes President, we have to handle three first ladies.
Where did you learn English boy, da Bronx?
Don't worry about the Don becoming Prez, because professional politics will always Trump a Great Pretender. I beleive that because of Bush and Obama's Bail-Outs and Spending Habbits has brought us to the brink of financial disaster. However, it is Barack Obama who is and has been the President for the last three years. In fact, while Obama who has been steadily attacking Bush blaming him for his Policies, he has adopted almost every major Bush Policy from War Stradegy to adopting the Bush Tax Cuts. And so who is calling the Kettle Black here? Go and find a mirror my friend, and get back with me.
People should save money by using programs like freeheadset.org
"I rarely heard a speech by a president so shallow, so hyper-partisan and so intellectually dishonest, outside the last couple of weeks of a presidential election where you are allowed to call your opponent anything short of a traitor. But we're a year and a half away from Election Day and it was supposed to be a speech about policy," ~ Dr. Charles Krauthammer
"But for those of you wondering what Obama stands for – what his core beliefs are – I would suggest that you read or watch the speech. It was an intelligent, passionate defense of his view of America and of the role of government."~ Fareed Zakaria
Dr. Charles Krauthammer is correct.
Mr. Zakaria lives in an alternate reality
Republican social security and healthcare plan is a CEMETERY PLOT( and we pay the deductible)
We pray it's so...at least in your case
Heyward you silly person. Republicans don't pray. They don't believe in the teachings of Jesus. You know...the part about feeding the hungry, curing the sick, sheltering the homeless, taking care of the elderly, and giving to the poor.
We will all end up there, nobody will escape it. Why destroy our nation by bankrupting it while on that inevitable journey?
I do not fear death. I'm 55 now, and know my years are numbered. I'd rather live a natural, normal life and then die, than spend my estate into bankruptcy to attempt to extend my stay. And i will never ask the government to bail me out. I consider most people to be crazy to waste all their wealth trying to live forever.
Fareed Zakaria WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING BOY? " a fail-safe mechanism" read Congress further cedes it authority to the Executive DOESN'T sound constitutional but then again you aren't any scholar of the Constitution. Your drivel is typical of wannabe crowd in the world as is Obozo's. Thank God you are as irrelevant as your "work" Btw you ain't no centrist you commie pinko muzzie
Sorry Mr. Zakaria, but Obama's proposal was flawed in multiple ways.
1) it is built on a Marxist agenda of redistributing wealth by increasing taxes on the wealthy,
2) refuses to deal with cut backs and reforms needed with health care (a pet Democratic entitlement),
3) refuses to deal with cut backs and reforms need with social security (a pet Democratic entitlement),
4) refuses to deal with cut backs needed with education (another pet Democratic entitlement),
5) does not reduce the deficit to zero,
6) deals only with generalities.
Cut education, so you what more nuts on the street. So how rich should the rich get before there is no middleclass.What's happening in Egypt should be an example that without a middle class buffer there would be revolution against the rich. Increase the middle class, fad out medicare and medicad immediately. Have everyone purchase the government plans that the congress has through private insurance. Cut defense spending on worthless projects and end these Bush Wars. Rebuild the US first, and close the boarder period.
Let's be clear on how we got to > $1.1 Trillion annual deficits. In 2000, Clinton had a $236B surplus. In 2008, Bush had a $436B deficit BEFORE the financial crisis and recession hit. In 2009, tax revenues fell by $419B due to the recession. Bush grew the government more than 8% per year for 8 years. So in 2009, the government was set to grow roughly another $250B. Do the math. No matter WHO was president in 2009, we were set to have $1.105 Trillion deficit (436+419+250). Yes, Obama added to it by spending on the bailouts and stimulus TO RECOVER from the Bush recession. Basically the Bush tax cuts and recession kept tax revenues flat for 8 years while the government grew from under $1.8 T in Clinton's last year to over $3.0 T in Bush's for unfunded 2 wars, unfunded Medicare Drug Bill. Yes, Obama needs to fix it. But it is a joke how the Tea/Republican party try to make it appear that this whole $ Trillion + problem suddenly happened due to wild spending in Obama's first year. It took 8 years of Bush policy to get us here.
To blame the Bush presidency for the depression is wrong. The causes go back decades, and both parties (especially the Democrats) are to blame.
And the "surpluses" of the Clinton years were real, but based on another economic bubble, the "dotcom" bubble. When that bubble burst, there went that surplus, along with a big part of the economy.
Couldn't have said it better myself...
As noted in an earlier post – what got us here (> $ Trillion deficits)? Over 8 years – Bush tax cuts, doubling of Defense and Homeland Security for 2 wars and post-9/11, Medicare Drug bill, basic government growth, all topped off with nearly a $500B tax revenue decline due to the recession. How do we get out of it? Why not reverse what got us into it? Repeal the Bush tax cuts. Bring troops home from 2 wars and reduce Defense spending significantly. Allow Medicare to negotiate with Pharma Co's for volume purchasing of drugs – just like Walmart can and ironically, like the Veteran's Administration can. Medicare pays more than 5 times as much for the same drugs as the VA. What a simple change. Let's see – should we reduce senior's benefits or reduce Pharma profits? Well, we know the likely answer. The Republican-led clause that prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices was a Trillion $ gift to Big Pharma. And finally, bring as many Federal Government dept's back to, say, 2005 levels as possible. That's what any good business would do.
People calling for entitlement program cuts are wrong. These programs are not dealing with things like buying a bigger home or new car. These programs are literally a matter of life or death for millions of Americans. Everything from foreign aid to the military budget should be cut first. Why are we giving foreign aid when we can't pay our own bills? I also believe all politicians salaries and health benifits should be cut first. I'm still waiting for Congressman Ryan to announce he's giving up his very good health benifits, to help the budget, as he appears to be in good health.
Also, lets not forget that Congress just gave themselves a pay increase, while denying seniors any increase in there benifits.
Entitlement programs should be cut just as much as every other program. This depression is not just a rich man's depression, it's everybody's depression, and the pain and cost must be felt by all, just as the benefits of good times should be enjoyed by all.
President Obama will win in 2012! i promise you that!
In your dreams my Liberal friend.
I agree...a foregone conclusion considering what the Republicans have to offer. I predict a landslide...
big business has used american labor as a stepping stone to using labor abroad and have never looked back...only refusing to understand there is only so much money to be made spent and shared and they have hoarded the lions share. america has been used and big business is off on a lear jet to enjoy life with little regard for where they came. greed, cold hearted and perhaps the american dream for many...especially in teabagistan where second to god is only the filthy rich. ignorants do not know they are ignorant.
the KKK is alive and growing! You would think that these racist ass people would change. But it was not long ago that they were burning crosses> its not like those idiots are all dead and gone! they still have the same views they had in the 60"s its just not as blatant! When Obama became president all those racist attitudes came alive! its sad but they cant stop God"s plan.
That was a not so SWift1 you just made in regards to your deceptive remarks of racism for anyone who would dare question the Great One. Look, I personally think Barack Obama as a person seems to be a nice guy, but I don't subscribe to his point of view. Does this mean I am a Racist? I think not. Are you a Racist? I don't know you well enough to make that distinction, but I have listened to President Obama speak, and deliberate his policies for the last three years, and while I agree with some of his policies, his Liberal ideology of Tax and Spend Money We Just Don't Have my friend is a Failed Policy. FYI, Barack Obama has the same mix of Irish/Scotish/German Liniage that my Daughter has, and the President is also not a Black or traditional African-American whose ancestors took the Middle Passage from West-Africa to be sold as Slaves in the Ole Dixie-Crat South. His Father's people never sang and danced in the Cotton Feilds of Georgia in a traditional Ring Shout either. Barack Obama is not simply an African.
President Obama is a First Generation-Born Kenyan-American from his father who was an Immingrant from Kenya. Like his father, Barack Obama was born as a privileged Harvard Lawyer's Son who never experienced what it was like to grow up as a poor Black man with no opportunities. My Daughter, like Obama is a First Generation-Born Immigrant from her Mother's side, but she is not growing up with a Silver Spoon in her mouth with a Harvard Pedigree, which is OK with me. Like many in my racially diverse family and extended family have before her, my daughter will have to learn and earn her own way in life. FYI, my Daughter prefers Black or traditional African-Americans over the predominantly Racist Cubans we live around in Miami, Florida, and misses her African and African-American School-Mates from ICS in Decatur, Georgia.
Fahreed I like you, however YOU had one major flaw in your analysis. Social Security is NOT part of the federal budget. It is a separate trust fund that has NOTHING to do with the deficit. I find this glaring mistake on your part quite surprising.
Fahreed I like you, but you made one major flaw in your analysis. Social Seucirity is NOT part of the federal budget, it is a separate trust fund and not part of the deficit problem. I'm surprised at this glaring mistake on your part.
In Fareed Zakaria's article about President Obama's response to Congressman Paul Ryan's GOP plan to tackle the long term Federal Budget, and Deficit that our country faces, Obama's own Budget Plan is suposedly intelligent and well thought out. The article also claims that Obama's Plan is genuine acheiving a successful Budget Plan that is suposedly Left of Center. I can appriciate your balenced praise for both Plans Mr. Farheed, but like President Obama, you have contradicted yourself by claiming that Ryan's Plan led the bold charge taking the necessary steps that our government never wanted to take before or as you call it, "Kicking the Can down the Road." Yet you claim there is only one minor problem or flaw in Obama's Plan you have indicated he was forced to make because Ryan's Plan is Real Budget Reform that you some how favor Obama's Plan over Ryan's Plan. I beleive that Obama's Plan is a mixed bag of some Budget Cuts mixed in as a side dish to Obama's main course of continuing Raising Taxes, and Spending Money We Don't Have! It is a Fallacy that President Obama who was the most Liberal-minded Senator who only served one term in Halls of Congress is politically slightly to the Left of Center.
I always enjoy watching and listening to you Mr. Farheed, but there is no question in my mind that you are a Liberal, which is OK, because many of my friends are well-educated Liberal Democrats who can always offer a good healthy debate. So your definition or perceftion of Barack Obama being just Left of Center is more like the President is actually Far Left of Center. President Obama is a Harvard Lawyer who is an elliquent public speaker, but he is towing the perverbial Left Wing DNC LIne of B#2l@*%!$ as he tries to dazzle and wow everyone while misdirecting and confuzing his constiuants with deception away from the reality of the real problems in his failed Fiscal Policies that Americans over-welmingly voted against in the Mid-Term Elections. Barack Obama, who has already lost his Derrier in those Mid-Term Elections. Obama and DNC Senate Leader Harry Reid never have been able to get back in touch with reality they began blaming the Tea Party for everything but Global Warming. Obama is not Bill Clinton, who wisely moved to the Center to work with Ginrich to pass more Legislation leaving a surplus with the Budget. Ginrich in effect was the Tea Party Leader from the Regan Era who pushed Clinton as Ryan is doing with Obama. Bill Clinton was and is very smart to have made the Political move from Left to the Center, while Obama's ideology and Left Wing DNC Party Leaders Budget Proposal is deceptive and disingenuous because it is Farheed Left of Center.
You think Obama is not a right of center President? Come one, he is. BTW Ireland's financial crash was caused by complete deregulation, open markets, and lack of financial oversight. It quickly went from the best to worst economy in Europe. Read about it, its a mess of "free market" ideology and corporate greed.
Bob,
I'll ask the same question to which nobody has yet responded. What do you consider to be "far left" and "far right"? If you are honest with yourself, you'll see that the main problem with our debate is that the entire political spectrum has shifted to the right, cutting out certain topics from even being discussed.
THIS MUCH TO BE Expected From A Democrap Lackey & Obama Boot Licker.
a social safety net is wonderful ... but why should it be the federal government's responsibility. All people are basically good and generous ... why do the liberals believe that help needs to be supported by the federal government forcing people to give money to the current politicians' favorite charities .... charities that are designed to be a source of votes for those same politicians? I don't need the government to force me to help others and I don't need the government to tell me who to help. And I refuse to continue to be forced to help people that have the ability to work but refuse to work!
Charities are good for handling special situations, but not as a general safety net. A cute middle-class girl develops cancer and people get in line for fund raisers to help her out. A minority child struggles to live with a drug-addicted parent in a crime-infested neighborhood but the charities are much harder to locate because there's much less public appeal for such problems.
This is NOT a slam at charities, simply a recognition that people are much more generous to special problems than the everyday struggles of many people who rely on the safety net.
Social Security is a retirement program??? Ha! No it's a Federal Fraud!! It was never meant to pay back. That's why they keep moving the retirement age. No one will ever get back what they have put in, and not even half of it!!! Before retirement you worked all your life and during your working days you pay taxes in everything; from property tax to sale taxes, from service tax to account tax, interests tax, all sort of tax, etc. etc. I think it's so unfair that when a person die that amount of money drop dead too, and it can not be pass over to their love one. After all this is the money we pay in for our retirement not tax?...
If Obama and the neo-cons would solve the illegal immigrant issue SOON, it would remove a lot of ppl from the payroll. More importantly, it would put a number of ppl back to work.
And yet, we will not solve it.
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Someone better do something , most everything has turned to crap in the US.
Just add some more sin tax on Ciggarettes that will solve the problem. Then pass out free Zanax.
We need free dental Obama.
I was stunned that Fareed joined the herd that treated Ryan as if he had made a serious budget proposal. As Krugman points out, Ryan's cuts in programs pay for tax cuts, not actual deficit reduction (unless you make the usual Republican assumptions, which were demonstrated to be wrong in the '80s and again in the '00s, that if you give a millionaire more money he will create more jobs)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/opinion/18krugman.html?hp
The Ryan plan controls Medicare costs by shifting most of its future costs back to individuals. More importantly it offers only one mechanism for controlling the underlying problem - the rapid increase in the cost of medical treatment. He places all of his hope on "market discipline", namely the belief that when people have to pay a significant portion themselves then they will push for the cheapest pricing.
Other proposals, such as ACA (AKA "Obamacare"), Simpson/Bowles, and the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) plan all include more direct measures to push providers to be more cost/efficient in providing medical care. Unfortunately, the current crop of conservatives interpret all such moves as meddling in the rights of businesses.
FAR LEFT , FAR RIGHT YOU PEOPLE ARE ALL A BUNCH OF IDIOT.... WHAT HAPPENED TO EQUALITY? WHAT WE
NEED IS A 10% TAX ACROSS THE BOARD ON EVERYBODY OVER 18. ANYTHING OVER 10% IS YOURS TO KEEP.
I'M TIRED OF SUPPORTING ALL THESE DEADBEATS THAT JUST WANT A HAND OUT. LET'S GET THIS COUNTRY
BACK ON TRACK AND MAKE EVERYBODY PAY THERE FAIR SHARE . PUT A LIMIT ON PUBIC AID AS THEY DO
WITH UNEMPLOYMENT. SEE HOW MUCH WE NEED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THEN. WHEN THIS A$$ BACKWARDS
GOVERNMENT STOPS SUPPORTING THESE IDIOTS THAT WON'T WORK BECAUSE THEY CAN LIVE OFF THE GOVERNMENT FOR FREE WE WILL BE A FREE NATION THEN...
I agree to a point, welfare should be for one kid only. If you have a bunch of kids they are on you. Why can't working americans but there parents on there insurance? I'm paying it anyway. Undocumented people should not get any government assistance because this is not there government.
I absolutely hate any plan that allows Congressmen to put a gotcha in the budget. If the deficit doesn't start going down, they will have automatic tax increases to compensate for the overspending. Then the cowards can sit back and spend as much as they want and later say "The tax increases weren't our fault; they happened because of some byline in the budget."
We need congress and the Coward in Chief to be courageous and layout a real budget with no gimmicks and then convince the majority that it is in their best interest. Right now Obama is pandering to the left who hoot and howl everytime some deadbeat government dependent might not get a Cola and the Tea Party is pandering to the right who are convinced that if we only stopped aborting babies that everyone would go back to church and the budget would fix themselves. Both groups are deluded.
If taxes need to be raised to reduce the deficit then everyone should have to pay more in taxes. Those who make $1500 a year like my teenage son, and those who make $15 Million a year like corporate bankers but if we are really talking about shared sacrifice then everyone should have to share.
But before you convince me that I need to pay more in taxes you also need to show me how we are being fiscally responsible with the money that they are taking in now and that includes: Do we really need to fight holy wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya? Do we really need to give every senior a blank check to use as much healthcare as they see fit? Do we really need to allow Social Security to pay out at 65 for people who will statistically live until they are 80?
Obama is hard left not just left of center he is hard left and giving him the opportunity to tax more today just means he'll be back with his hands in my wallet next year because there are more needy to be coddled.
Too bad he didn't propose the one safety net that would actually work when the deficit doesn't shrink: A constitutional amendment that kicks in term limits for the elected morons in office when the deficit goes up instead of down.
I don't know how anyone who can add 2+2 can see the Ryan proposal as anything bug a red herring. I saw Ryan speak on a show last night and his first statement was that their isn't a revenue problem. E.g. cutting takes for the rich and for corporations isn't the problem.
Of course this is total nonsense. Cutting taxes, a reduction in revenue, has to a large degree created the problem and eliminating health care, education, job training, parks and public services isn't the solution.
Thank you Mr Zakaria for putting intelligent "spin', pro & con, into the president's budget plan. Some believe it was simply a copy of the Republican proposal but how could he possibly have come up with something this well thought out just a few days after they released their own plan?
No one wants their taxes to increase, especially those who have enjoyed the Bush years of high income and low taxes. Some say it will hurt the small business person. What they won't tell you is that with your filed taxes being based on adjusted gross income most of these small business owners would still get a refund to put back into their business. The MUCH higher level earners who have been able to hide income and have massive amounts of write-offs are the ones who will see a few percentage points of higher taxes. They are the BIG business owners and CEO's who rack in 10's of millions of dollars each year in earnings while still pushing jobs offshore thereby reducing jobs and potential income here in the states. That’s who will help to rein in the debt by increasing the treasury coffers.
Unfortunately, the Republicans/TeaPartiers in their zeal to kill anything the President proposes ( they stated from the beginning they would do this to make him a one-term president ) are pulling the same scare tactics that Cheney and Company did for 8 years to keep the voters in a submissive position and allow the rich to get far richer then they have ever been.
Typical selfcentered greedy Americans, that refuse to look at the rest of the world and learn how their politics works. Only country in the world that do not care for their old and sick is USA. The entire industrialized world has social healthcare for ALL it's citizens, and is a lot cheaper than in US. Americans are eating themselves to death, getting fatter and more unhealthy by the month. Education is bad, people are getting dumber by the minute.......and all this is blamed on Obama ? Stop fighting and work together for a better life..........Look at the Scandinavian countries, from cradle to grave care, people have 5 weeks payed vacation, never have to worry about gettng sick.
To all you people that argue you don't want to pay for the people laying at home doing nothing, and for illegals.......I have news for you ,you already do and always will, or would you prefer a country where the poor dies because of no help ?
Time to end corporate welfare, period. Example- GE paid ZERO on 2010s billions in profits. Also time to close at least half of USA foreign bases – we cannot afford to police the world anymore. We are now in 3 muzzie wars – get out!!
Get rid of 15,000,000 Illegal Aliens and let America live again. We'd save over $1,000,000,000,000.00 a year. Money that can be spent on Americans. Arrest all Employers of illegals. Throw them in jail for their first offense. In Prison for the second. Then hang them for Treason on the third.
It is unbelievable how uninformed the American Citizenry is of the major economic issues in the USA and Globally. The two wars we are currently involved in have substantially ruined our treasury and in the final analysis we will withdraw with no pssitive outcome for the US.
Congress has ravaged the Social Security Trust Fund and does not have the financial resources to pay back the money leaving the issue up for debate as to how to curtail and marginalize the citizens who will need to depend upon Social Security in retirement.
The health care system is in disarray due to the perverse incentives that drive the system. The sicker one is the greater economic opportunity they become for the health care delivery system. Where is prevention and early disease detection?
How come we have not awakened to the reality that a primary care physician, paid to keep their patient population well and coordinate all care needs has not materialized? Mostly because the self interest groups in the delivery system make more money treating illness. Insurance companies pay claims, they do not accept financial risk for patient care, if they did they would be more proactive in the development of a continuous, coordinated health care paradigm much like what developed in the early 20th century with the Roos Loos Health Plan, Kaiser Permanente, Group Cooperative of Puget Sound, etc.
This type of health care reform was envisioned by Ted Kennedy, and in fact, the Health Maintenance Act of 1973 epitomized positive incentives for the health care system in keeping people well, early disease detection, etc.and signed into law by President Nixon. However the public was led to believe that they would lose the right of choice. Hogwash? We can choose what ever we want, as long as we are able to pay for it.
American greed prevented this type of system from ever taking a firm hold in health care financing. Why? I stated that earlier in this reply. Also very influential interest groups representing lawyers, health care practicioners, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and insurers are significant contributors to our elected officials campaigns, and as long as their self interest is protected why should they change.
Yes we need to get the deficit under control, however at what cost to the American Public? Are we to keep paying through the nose due to a congress that is so tied to political action committees and special interest groups? Or does the public awaken to the fact that the root of so much wrongdoing is in our election process.
It would be a huge step and I believe a correct one to do away with the electoral college, eliminate all private financing for campaigns and fund them solely from taxes set aside for that purpose. Absurd? Taxes for campaigns? Ponder how much the costs of goods and services would be reduced if the dollars contributed to campaigns, currently paid for by us, were outlawed?
The costs for a presidential campaign are embarrasing. More money that some countries economies. What do we get for it all except too many glitzy and frequently misleading advertisements on TV, radio, etc. lying to the public or telling half truths, or sheer negativity regarding opponents. Shameful!
Yes we can shout about the job losses to emerging economies, however the US could not compete globally if we were still producing the products shipped overseas for lower production costs. The loss of so many jobs has us reeling, however and again we could not produce the products and be price compteitive.
Now the sad truth. Those jobs will not come back to us anytime soon, if ever. Unfortunately the two wars and the destruction of our treasury cost us our leading place in the future. Why? No investments in new technologies, education, research, etc. And the Republicans want to cut even more! Where will we wind up??? I hate to speculate.
Adding to the job loss phenomena and no money to invest in new opportunities along with the Information Age which is making many, many jobs redundant. IT will displace most work as we now know it. Jeremy Rifkin explained it all in his economic treatise, "The End of Work". Consider how many jobs have been displaced? Tens of thousands. It is a rare event that we ever get to talk to a real person when doing a telephone order, or requesting an airplane ticket. Consider what IT driven robots do in the manufacturing process? In the surgical world? Etc,,Etc.
Wake up America! We have ourselves to hold accountable. The American Dream can flourish again. Let the congress focus on fair taxes, efficiencies in government, eliminating loopholes and putting their own health benefits and retirement funds on the table for consideration.
true so true.......great input
If the world (as we know it) doesn't end on 12-21-12, then the age limit will have to be increased to 70 for social security.
There's no way the government (being 14 trillion in the hole) can support the baby boomers entering retirement age.
agreed
Obama is doing for America what Zakaria did for Newsweak. Total destruction.
Scare tactics aren’t smart but living in reality isn’t a bad idea. Here’s the reality; the government, our government spends more than it brings in. We are encouraged by our government to save for the future and live fiscally responsible lives. The burden we all live with personally is making sacrifices. There are so many stupid programs that add stupid unnecessary safety nets to American that would get by without it. These unnecessary stupid safety net programs are comforts that are killing our budget and comforts that simple do not fit into reality. The problem every American faces is doing the best with what you have. This new budget idea that Obama has suggested in outside of the reality the rest of the country has to live with. If, at the end of a year, a family’s income doesn’t cover the bills can it forcibly take more money from their employers? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT!
We elect our official to make hard decisions and not to live outside of reality we are all forced to live. What happens to our country when the responsibility to the needy exceeds the capacity of the giving? What happens to our country when the price of extra programs cripples the function of vital ones? I am so worried. Not because of predicted doom and gloom doomsday scenarios but because there is no common sense. We all understand that where our country needs to be means making drastic cuts. We understand that balancing a budget is difficult. What I don’t understand is why the elected politician that we hire to make hard decision won’t make the hard decisions. I am in the military and when I go to work and I can’t say I tried…I have to do. I have to do my job even when my pay check is threatened by our government’s indecision.
Live with some honor, courage and commitment and live in reality. You (our government) know what programs are absolutely necessary and you know the ones are getting our country into trouble. Stop this party crab and fix the problems. Balance the budget so my children can have a future.
But he still doesn't want to touch the billions we spend on illegals every year in schooling, housing, healthcare etc. Obozo would rather screw the American Citizens rather than stir the pot on illegals! What a coward! Here is a fact, after the 2010 conses, the top 10 poorest cities in America are all run by Democrats and has been since 1907, some like Chicago never had a Republican mayor! I guess the Dems didn't take a budget course in math!
The money spent on illegals is a crime. A crime against our vets, against our aged, against our own poor, against our handicapped, against our poorly educated, and against our sick.
Amen.... enough of Obama, he will be out in 2012
The major problem with Obama's budget speech, was Obama. He is not merely "left of center", He is a Marxist, trained as a young man by a Communist cell organizer, and practiced it as an adult, associating, during his Columbia years with William Ayers who had a similar outlook. The apparent shift to the center, betraying his Liberal supporters, is a sham, to preserve his power to achieve his true goals.
So if your in the room with someone you don't know, your one of them. Is that it, then you a member of the KKK, Black Pather Party, Tea Party, Commmunist and every other group. How about letting whats on your mind run through your brain first.
Fareed's praise of Ryan's approach makes Fareed Zakaria sound like an asshole!!!
Why does it seem that all of this budget discussion ceners on reductions of costs, cuts in medical benefits to those who can least aford those cuts, but does not discuss the absolute need for more livng wage employment, a reduction in the income disparity between the upper 3 of income arners and the bottom 97% of wage earners, and the need for full, living wage employment (an unemployment rate of between 3.5% and 4%) for all of us? I may have missed something in the last 10 years of so; but I believe that people who are employed do consume goods and pay taxes. Could it be that a full employment population might call upon our local, state, and national "leaders" to solve real issues, rationally?
Foreign payments, stop foreign payments to the counties around the world and pay off the debt,.. let those countries decide on their own if they are allies or not without getting anymore money from america,.. then take that TWO trillion dollars and return it to Social Security where it was stolen from in the first place,.. get the priorities right,.. america 1st the rest of the world 2nd (if and when america can afford it),.. no more world policeman, no more bribery of friendship,.. get the idea???
The largest economic crashes America has EVER suffered was in 1929 and 2008- and BOTH during eight(8) years
of Republican Party rule. WHERE is the credibility ????? Do Repubs qualify to lecture us on fiscal policy. Sheeeesh.......IF SO....where does it it come from ??? Conservatives say REAGAN. But gads, he turns out to be a massive fake and the largest spender and tax increaser OF ALL.
The Obama plan is not aggressive enough. Moreover, spending cuts need to begin right now, immediately. He's just passing the problem onto the next administration. The House needs to take serious control of the situation, but seems to lack the courage to do so. The 2012 budget must reflect our current concerns and demostrate a reduction is spending.
The 1st cut is: 50% pay cut for every government employee including congress and the president!
The 2nd cut is: 100% pension cut for every government employee including congress and the president!
The 3rd cut is: comments please?
Would you cut your income 50% and forfeit all or your retirement. why do you object to public service employees be denied a pension? I have worked in both the "public sector" and the "private sector" and found there is no difference in the great a work ethic, the desire to perform the job, or overall intelligence of employees in those employment sectors.
Mr. Zakaria, you speak of "all the other key investments that will fuel growth for future generations".
This is a mindset we must all change. Obama's main failure in his budget speech is his unwillingness to come out and say it: going forward, we have no realistic expectation of generation-over-generation economic growth like we have enjoyed for the past half century and now take for granted.
It is impossible for any system to grow indefinitely. Our own growth has been artificially extended by ballooning debt at all levels, and by duplicitous management/analysis of the economy. If you are to write intelligently about contemporary economics, you must acknowledge the extended period of economic contraction that lies ahead.
I'm not a doomsday theorist. The degree of contraction isn't going to be uniformly severe everywhere. Many places will come to be better off than they are now. But overall, the longer we stick our heads in the sand, the worse it's going to get.
This awareness of contraction would improve your analysis. Obama's emphasis on access to medicine, education, and infrastructure makes a lot of sense in the years ahead. Research, not so much. The things we're going to need most have already been figured out.
You ever try digging a hole for 8 years...then try refilling it in 2? Cut the man a break. He is doing a pretty good considering the mess he was left to deal with. If you think you could do better then run for president...until then shut the hell up. I have an idea. Amend the constitution to allow more than 2 terms for presidents so Clinton can run again. Or legalize marijuana and tax it. Deficit solved. Have a nice day.
Fareed is one of the brightest analysts on TV. But his refusal to realize that our problem is revenue puts him on the side of the fools and the greed machine. Eliminate the Bush tax cuts for the rich; cut military waste; close tax loopholes; protect US manfacturing; end unneeded subsidies; and reform that awful Bush Medicare Advantage that gives money to Big Pharma.
You talk about Big Pharma, well what about B.O.'s plan, where he meets with big pharma in closed door meetings? And I thought all of this would be on C-Span? Oh, that was while he was running for President, just like closing Gitmo, ending patriot act, ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, lowering unemployment.......Yeah, he should be reelected
When people talk about entitlement programs eating up 60% of the budget everyone assumes it's our aging population that is to blame. No one talks about SSD (social security disability) or SSI (federal welfare for those who haven't paid any SS taxes). To qualify for either of these programs you have to be disabled, which leads to additional expenditures for these individuals under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. No one ever talks about these 2 programs that have ballooned in size over the previous decades. They always point the fiinger at retirees. Why are there so many individuals in this country physically unable to work? Some of them have gotten those funds fraudently....but not all. I have a brother-in-law who was born with a condition. He worked for as long as he could but the disease finally got him and he's on SSD and Medicare now. He's not very happy about it and would rather work for a living but that's what life throws at you sometimes. There's no cure for the disease because it's not profitable for medical research to investigate it. The Social Security Administration recently stated that funds for SSD, SSI, Medicare and Medicaid are overwhelming. They also predict that the new health care reform legislation will massively lower medical expenditures. And yet....the erroneous message that it's baby boomer retirees that swell the size of the budget keeps getting put out there. Amazing.
We pledge that we are "One nation" and "indivisible nation" that stands for "liberty and justice for all". Why is it we cannot act like we believe what we pledge?
Two big issues that never seem to ge be discussed...
First, the basis of SS and MC was the assumption that a percentage of the returns of labor would be set aside for future use... that there is an intrinsic value to every product sold which is redirected for future support. When manufacturing went overseas, that contirbution was lost.
A simple start would be to levy an import tax, equivalent to the SS and MC contributions that would have accrued if the manufacture of a product had occurred in the US. - and leave it in the SS and MC accounts – don't replace it with IIOUs!
Second point, those SS and MC dollars are being spent here, supporting the economy here, not in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Egypt, Israel, Gaza... etc., etc...
The largest problem with most entitlement program is the insistence that they are one-size-fits-all. If these programs could come up with a blended approach using location, income, and other resources, costs MIGHT be lower, but we will never know because the situations are never adequately explored.
Supplementing existing insurance, a discounted government insurance, or normal Medicare might better meet the needs of different groups of seniors. The same might be true for Medicaid. Social Security could be reduced, deferred or refused (used as a tax offset) for some high-income seniors. We can raise the SS contribution cap in conjunction with these ideas.
We need ideas NOT idealogy.
Actually, the cost efficiency of insurance programs is directly related to their size. That's why Social Security here and single-payer plans elsewhere are the worlds most efficient insurance programs. But they are "one size fits all."
GOP solution = Soylent Green.
Tax the rich
I wish that Fareed had not made the mistake so many do of conflating Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is no more than an actuarial problem. We need to introduce some means testing and slowly adjust the retirement age but, overall, its actually in pretty good shape.
Medicare, however, is another matter. There are exogenous variables driving it's costs (medical and drug industry profits, for example) and those cannot be controlled by fiddling with elegibility limits and funding formulae. In fact, the real answer to the problem of Medicare, as nearly every industrialized democracy has discovered, is to ensure the entire population in a single program so as to spread the costs (and reduce the influence of those who profit from providing health services). That is Obama's real omission, and our remaining challenge.
Social Security is our most regressive tax. Why do we cut it off on high incomes? I'm not a fan of class warfare and believe you have to incent achievement; however, this one doesn't make sense. The wealthy and right-wing always says they want a flat tax; that's exactly what Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid taxes are!! Yet, they'll scream bloody murder if you even mention this and they'll use their power to make sure it never happens. If that's the case, then we should means test Social Security and quit this nonsense that it's just an actuarial system. The fact is it's a tax and we need to treat it as such, and it's benefits as tax rebates; not entitlements and not for the wealthy. It's completely unsustainable in the long-run as it is and no amount of adjustment in retirement age is going to fix it. The working and middle-class need it's benefits and that's where it needs to stop.
I do take issue with Fareed when he says things like "Without such government support, there would be no American semiconductor industry, no early adoption of computers, no Internet and no Global Positioning System". That's the kind of thinking that leads to big government, overspending and debt. The free market would definitely have created all of these things on their own; maybe, in fact, probably before they were via the government.
The problem with Obama, is he is all rhetoric, and no substance. he says the deficit is a problem, then he turns right around and squanders hundreds of millions, on anything and everything that crops up, on a moment's notice.
In other words......words are meaningless.
Of course it was "intelligent", It was by CNN's Crown Prince Obama
Their is a reason why our government isn't concern about the deficit , it's called the Iraqi Dinar. Did you know our government is setting on trillions of Iraqi dollars , waiting for them to revalue their currency . When that happens the United States will be able to pay the deficit off if they want to and pay some of the money they owe Chine for the all those bogus mortgage loans wall street sold to them . And personally make them selves a lot of money by buying the currency for their selves . Did I mention that when this happens the United States will be getting oil form Iraqi for 30.64 a barrow ? You have to ask your self , If I don't have any money ( the United States ) , what do I have to sell that is worth a lot of money. Answer Iraqi Dinar . Look in to it for yourself , it's a real eye opener.
Fareed Zakaria – pimping for Obama and Soros. A plant. A stooge. Bought and paid for by The One. This explains the fawning interview he had with his paymaster, George Soros.