$500 billion is the combined budget for our education, energy, homeland security, ...

[rudder]

... and two wars. Since the deficit this year topped $1.6 trillion... maybe this will make people more understanding of why Americans are fed up with the Government...

By 2019 the U.S. will be paying $700 Billion per year towards interest on our debts.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34104722

Blah blah Bush blah blah. Yes I know. I also know that the democrats have been in control of congress since the 2006 elections. Plenty of blame to go around so keep the partisan hackery to yourself.

Baby Boomers are retiring en masse. This means more social security payouts, medicare payouts, etc. It will take just a small increase in interest rates to go from critical to meltdown.

I think we may to end up selling Alaska back to the Russians.

 

[shadow9d9]

... and two wars. Since the deficit this year topped $1.6 trillion... maybe this will make people more understanding of why Americans are fed up with the Government...

By 2019 the U.S. will be paying $700 Billion per year towards interest on our debts.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34104722

Blah blah Bush blah blah. Yes I know. I also know that the democrats have been in control of congress since the 2006 elections. Plenty of blame to go around so keep the partisan hackery to yourself.

Baby Boomers are retiring en masse. This means more social security payouts, medicare payouts, etc. It will take just a small increase in interest rates to go from critical to meltdown.

I think we may to end up selling Alaska back to the Russians.

680 billion for our empire building not including the 2 wars. I consider energy and education a lot more important...

 

[boomerang]

680 billion for our empire building not including the 2 wars. I consider energy and education a lot more important...

Just curious, how would you deal with terrorism if you were the President?

 

[shadow9d9]

Just curious, how would you deal with terrorism if you were the President?

Establish a foreign policy where we don't prop up dictators that we then supply with tons of money through our oil addiction... the same dictators that keep their people poor and ignorant... the same dictators that feed their people hate of the west as the source of their problems.

Take real strides toward oil independence. See above.

Working with allies and creating real relationships with the world.

Eliminate wasteful "defense" spending on billion dollar aircraft we won't use.. or military bases in places we absolutely do not need.

We no longer need to control Japan's military.. they are ready to do their own thing.

 

[Desireisis]

I would deal with it like the oklahoma city bombing and invade oklahoma to get them terrorists

 

[Lemon law]

I can see spending money on education and energy, but all the department of homeland security has even been is the department of homeland pork distribution.

Lets see, hmmm, which President came up with the not very bright idea of homeland security?

 

[Genx87]

I can see spending money on education and energy, but all the department of homeland security has even been is the department of homeland pork distribution.

Lets see, hmmm, which President came up with the not very bright idea of homeland security?

Have Obama with this super majority congress disband it then. Oh wait, govt never cancels a program no matter how retarded it is.

 

[Patranus]

This is the problem.

All of these programs need to be cut from the federal government and federal income taxes need to be drastically lowered.

This would allow income taxes for states/counties/cities to increase putting money directly into schools, energy, ect....

The local governments should be first in line to collect tax dollars, not the federal government.

 

[boomerang]

Establish a foreign policy where we don't prop up dictators that we then supply with tons of money through our oil addiction... the same dictators that keep their people poor and ignorant... the same dictators that feed their people hate of the west as the source of their problems.

Take real strides toward oil independence. See above.

Working with allies and creating real relationships with the world.

Eliminate wasteful "defense" spending on billion dollar aircraft we won't use.. or military bases in places we absolutely do not need.

We no longer need to control Japan's military.. they are ready to do their own thing.

I think you'd have been better off ignoring my question. I wouldn't have pressed you on it.

Here's where our oil comes from;

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

No Dictators in Canada or Mexico. You hit the jackpot with Venezuela, but I don't think we're propping up Chavez. I may be wrong.

Oil independence - radical Muslim extremists that want us dead - hmm. The connection between the two is what now?

Working with allies would be a good thing, but the terrorists would still hate our western lifestyle for religious reasons.

Not spending money on aircraft would make Al Qaeda and or the Taliban learn to love us? Likewise for bases?

I agree on your last point, but once again, Japan - Al Qaeda - what's the connection?

I thought you might mention Afghanistan, at least once, but guess not.

Really, just drop this. Let it go and I will too.

 

[0marTheZealot]

I think you'd have been better off ignoring my question. I wouldn't have pressed you on it.

Here's where our oil comes from;

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

No Dictators in Canada or Mexico. You hit the jackpot with Venezuela, but I don't think we're propping up Chavez. I may be wrong.

Oil independence - radical Muslim extremists that want us dead - hmm. The connection between the two is what now?

Working with allies would be a good thing, but the terrorists would still hate our western lifestyle for religious reasons.

Not spending money on aircraft would make Al Qaeda and or the Taliban learn to love us? Likewise for bases?

I agree on your last point, but once again, Japan - Al Qaeda - what's the connection?

I thought you might mention Afghanistan, at least once, but guess not.

Really, just drop this. Let it go and I will too.

Are you not aware of how much the US meddled in the Middle East and South America during the Cold War? We literally overthrew as many democracies than the Soviet Union. Why do you think there are no democratic elections in the Middle East? The US practically forbids it. After what happened in Iran in '53, the US has been utterly scared of allowing free elections in that region. Do you think the House of Saud would be where they are if they didn't receive billions of dollars of aid, weapons and training to quell their population? Or Egypt, where the President-for-life has outlawed all political parties and still receives close to 3 billion dollars in aid? Or how about Iraq, where we paid our good ol boy Saddam to systematically destroy the government in Iraq in the '70s and '80s. Or Kuwait, where we launched the biggest campaign in history to "liberate" the Emirs and Sultans, who again, forbid any free and open elections.

Look what happened to Germany and Japan after WW2. Both countries were radicalized by the power structures, but instead of quelling democracy, we encouraged it. We gave less than 1/10th the aid to those countries compared to what we give to the Middle East and now they are pillars of the developed world, to the point where they finance our debt. If the same strategy was applied to the Middle East in the '40s and '50s, our present day world would be in a much more advantageous position than it is now.

 

[xj0hnx]

Are you not aware of how much the US meddled in the Middle East and South America during the Cold War? We literally overthrew as many democracies than the Soviet Union. Why do you think there are no democratic elections in the Middle East? The US practically forbids it. After what happened in Iran in '53, the US has been utterly scared of allowing free elections in that region. Do you think the House of Saud would be where they are if they didn't receive billions of dollars of aid, weapons and training to quell their population? Or Egypt, where the President-for-life has outlawed all political parties and still receives close to 3 billion dollars in aid? Or how about Iraq, where we paid our good ol boy Saddam to systematically destroy the government in Iraq in the '70s and '80s. Or Kuwait, where we launched the biggest campaign in history to "liberate" the Emirs and Sultans, who again, forbid any free and open elections.

While I agree about the middle east, I think his question was more like, "Since we don't have time machines, how would you with terrorism nowadays, if you were president?".

 

[0marTheZealot]

While I agree about the middle east, I think his question was more like, "Since we don't have time machines, how would you with terrorism nowadays, if you were president?".

Recognize that it's not a 4 year or 8 year solution and more like a 40 year solution. American wants quick and easy fixes for a problem that cannot be solved in such a way.

 

[boomerang]

While I agree about the middle east, I think his question was more like, "Since we don't have time machines, how would you with terrorism nowadays, if you were president?".

Yup. I wasn't referring to the past, which as most sane people know can't be changed, I was referring to the present.

shadow was lamenting about the wars we're involved in as he often does. The context appeared to be that the money we're spending there could better be used elsewhere. My question was in regards to that. If you don't want us involved in Afghanistan, how do you deal with terrorism?

 

[Red Dawn]

This is the problem.

All of these programs need to be cut from the federal government and federal income taxes need to be drastically lowered.

This would allow income taxes for states/counties/cities to increase putting money directly into schools, energy, ect....

The local governments should be first in line to collect tax dollars, not the federal government.

Federal tax decreased,State tax increased? You know that'd be great for States like CA,NY and TX but would really hurt the welfare Red States in the Southeast and the Bible belt that depend on Federal handouts to make ends meet.

 

[shadow9d9]

I think you'd have been better off ignoring my question. I wouldn't have pressed you on it.

Here's where our oil comes from;

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

No Dictators in Canada or Mexico. You hit the jackpot with Venezuela, but I don't think we're propping up Chavez. I may be wrong.

Oil independence - radical Muslim extremists that want us dead - hmm. The connection between the two is what now?

Working with allies would be a good thing, but the terrorists would still hate our western lifestyle for religious reasons.

Not spending money on aircraft would make Al Qaeda and or the Taliban learn to love us? Likewise for bases?

I agree on your last point, but once again, Japan - Al Qaeda - what's the connection?

I thought you might mention Afghanistan, at least once, but guess not.

Really, just drop this. Let it go and I will too.

Your ignorance of our interference in the middle east makes you look foolish. Hell, you could even watch movies about it... Syriana for example.

 

[shadow9d9]

Yup. I wasn't referring to the past, which as most sane people know can't be changed, I was referring to the present.

shadow was lamenting about the wars we're involved in as he often does. The context appeared to be that the money we're spending there could better be used elsewhere. My question was in regards to that. If you don't want us involved in Afghanistan, how do you deal with terrorism?

Recognizing the past is the key to the future.

I already stated the way to solve the problems and the first step is recognition in the meddling. We continue to meddle in their affairs today in both occupations. Continuing to do what has pissed them off for 50 years will continue to make things worse.

 

[QuantumPion]

Federal tax decreased,State tax increased? You know that'd be great for States like CA,NY and TX but would really hurt the welfare Red States in the Southeast and the Bible belt that depend on Federal handouts to make ends meet.

From http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/62.html

the top 10 states federal money received per tax money paid are (in order):

D.C.
New Mexico
Alaska
West Virginia
Mississippi
North Dakota
Alabama
Virginia
Montana
Hawaii
South Dakota

While Louisiana and Arkansas are also pretty up there, Georgia and North Carolina are low on the list. The "bible belt" are around average. Therefore your assumption is flawed.

 

[ElFenix]

I think you'd have been better off ignoring my question. I wouldn't have pressed you on it.

Here's where our oil comes from;

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

No Dictators in Canada or Mexico. You hit the jackpot with Venezuela, but I don't think we're propping up Chavez. I may be wrong.

Oil independence - radical Muslim extremists that want us dead - hmm. The connection between the two is what now?

oil is a globally traded commodity and demand for it anywhere affects the price that all producers see. so, even if we don't import oil directly from immadinnerjacket and putin, our demand still causes the price that they receive to be higher than it otherwise would be.

 

[Red Dawn]

From http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/62.html

the top 10 states federal money received per tax money paid are (in order):

D.C.
New Mexico
Alaska
West Virginia
Mississippi
North Dakota
Alabama
Virginia
Montana
Hawaii
South Dakota

While Louisiana and Arkansas are also pretty up there, Georgia and North Carolina are low on the list. The "bible belt" are around average. Therefore your assumption is flawed.

No it isn't. I didn't say all therefore I'm correct.

 

[dainthomas]

Just curious, how would you deal with terrorism if you were the President?

Pu + Pu = WIN

 

[xj0hnx]

Recognize that it's not a 4 year or 8 year solution and more like a 40 year solution. American wants quick and easy fixes for a problem that cannot be solved in such a way.

Ok, so then "Since we don't have time machines, and the problem will be with us for years, how would you deal with terrorism?". Better?

I agree that a lot of the animosity towards us is due to our decades of shenanigans in the middle east, but the fact is that there are very real people, that want us very dead, even the why doesn't matter at this point, how would you suggest it is dealt with? I've met some of those people, this isn't some "pissed at your neighbor because he ran over you dog" hatred, it's very real, very imbedded, very driving, how do you deal with that? You think a Christmas card, and a pineapple upside down cake will do the trick? Nice words? Some more promises? How do you propose to balance national security, and our countries freedom and prosperity against a mix of decades old political hatred, and religious zealotry?

 

[QuantumPion]

No it isn't. I didn't say all therefore I'm correct.

Well I guess that depends on what your definition of "isn't" is.

 

[Jaskalas]

Just curious, how would you deal with terrorism if you were the President?

I'd find and deal with the ones here at home.

 

[Jaskalas]

Federal tax decreased,State tax increased?

I'm in favor of this.

 

[boomerang]

I'd find and deal with the ones here at home.

We could pull all of our troops home the world over, fully protect our shores and borders and have plenty of manpower left to root out terrorists here at home. Both home-grown and the imported variety. Probably save a boat load of money too. IMO

But, our government considers returning vets to be rightwing extremists. A real Catch-22.