The Times They Are A-Changin'

[Fear No Evil]

Cut war mongering and nation building defense spending in half while you're at it.

Do regular wars count, or just mongering ones?

 

[GeezerMan]

Do regular wars count, or just mongering ones?

That brings up a question. When was the last war, or police action, that the US should have been involved in? WWII? Korea?

 

[Robor]

Do regular wars count, or just mongering ones?

Are the two wars we're currently involved in affecting the deficit?

 

[werepossum]

Well, there are at least a few Democrats who support my suspicion that Democrats will begin raising taxes to cut the deficit. http://thehill.com//homenews/house/69295-dems-push-wall-street-150b-stock-tax

 

[classy]

This is news? Its been like this since let me see......George W. Bush was in office.

 

[BoberFett]

Cut war mongering and nation building defense spending in half while you're at it.

What are you, some kind of Paulbot?

 

[Darwin333]

Cut war mongering and nation building defense spending in half while you're at it.

The reality of the situation is we are going to have to do all of the above. If our politicians don't make the hard choices then our lenders will eventually make them for us and it could happen a lot sooner than people think.

I have been talking about the inevitable effect of our short term debt for a while now and no one ever gave a shit and most people still don't. Our "interest" rates will rise in the near future and that will almost instantly add another few hundred billion a year in interest payments to our budget. Not to mention the small issue of having to resell all that debt (old and new), a declining dollar, inflation and deflation fears, political issues, the fed already monetizing debt, and the simple mathamatical problems with us continuing our current spending...

Taxes have to eventually go up on everyone, sorry the rich folk simply don't have enough money to cover the tab. There are good arguments that now is a horrible time to do so but its inevitable. Entitlement programs must be reduced (all of them, and boy are the old folks gonna be pissed). DoD/military spending must be cut as well. Basically, just about every major item in our budget will have to be reduced in one way or another (can't wait to see the righties try to argue that we should be fucking grandma out of the SSI she paid into all her life but we can't cut funding to their favorite billion dollar war machine).

All of the above must, and will, happen. Its just a question of how much deeper we dig ourselves into the hole before we do it and how bad will our politicians fuck up while trying to kick the can for just a few more years.

The biggest fear I have is, historically, countries tend to start big wars when faced with situations like this. I just hope its not the Chinese ,who are going to be understandably pissed off when we fuck them out of the money the lent us.

 

[Darwin333]

This is news? Its been like this since let me see......George W. Bush was in office.

And this is the reason why we are all fucked.

The two groups of assholes that run this country won't take time away from blaming each other to actually try to solve some of these problems. Good job.

 

[StageLeft]

And this is the reason why we are all fucked.

The two groups of assholes that run this country won't take time away from blaming each other to actually try to solve some of these problems. Good job.

win

 

[alphatarget1]

The biggest fear I have is, historically, countries tend to start big wars when faced with situations like this. I just hope its not the Chinese ,who are going to be understandably pissed off when we fuck them out of the money the lent us.

Tough luck. They made a shitty investment. Deficit spending would be much harder (in the near future) without so many foreigners willing to lend us so much money in the first place.

 

[DanDaManJC]

We could cut back on military spending... we've been very active in South America for over a century, if not more ever since after the Spanish-American War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America_–_United_States_relations

We could also cut back on our state-sponsored terrorism...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_state_terrorism

 

[werepossum]

And this is the reason why we are all fucked.

The two groups of assholes that run this country won't take time away from blaming each other to actually try to solve some of these problems. Good job.

I'm not sure they can work together. Republicans only have lower taxes and less government as the answer to all domestic problems. Democrats only have higher taxes and more government as the answer to all domestic problems.

Where's the possible middle ground? (Other than sweet, blessed gridlock I mean.)

 

[PingSpike]

The reality of the situation is we are going to have to do all of the above. If our politicians don't make the hard choices then our lenders will eventually make them for us and it could happen a lot sooner than people think.

I have been talking about the inevitable effect of our short term debt for a while now and no one ever gave a shit and most people still don't. Our "interest" rates will rise in the near future and that will almost instantly add another few hundred billion a year in interest payments to our budget. Not to mention the small issue of having to resell all that debt (old and new), a declining dollar, inflation and deflation fears, political issues, the fed already monetizing debt, and the simple mathamatical problems with us continuing our current spending...

Taxes have to eventually go up on everyone, sorry the rich folk simply don't have enough money to cover the tab. There are good arguments that now is a horrible time to do so but its inevitable. Entitlement programs must be reduced (all of them, and boy are the old folks gonna be pissed). DoD/military spending must be cut as well. Basically, just about every major item in our budget will have to be reduced in one way or another (can't wait to see the righties try to argue that we should be fucking grandma out of the SSI she paid into all her life but we can't cut funding to their favorite billion dollar war machine).

All of the above must, and will, happen. Its just a question of how much deeper we dig ourselves into the hole before we do it and how bad will our politicians fuck up while trying to kick the can for just a few more years.

The biggest fear I have is, historically, countries tend to start big wars when faced with situations like this. I just hope its not the Chinese ,who are going to be understandably pissed off when we fuck them out of the money the lent us.

Everyone knows this. The reason no one is facing it is because deep down all the old people really just want to pump up the dead ponzi scheme just long enough that they'll hopefully die before the bill comes due. Part of me doesn't even want to have kids because they're just going to end up fucked.

 

[Chaotic42]

I'm not sure they can work together. Republicans only have lower taxes and less government as the answer to all domestic problems. Democrats only have higher taxes and more government as the answer to all domestic problems.

Where's the possible middle ground? (Other than sweet, blessed gridlock I mean.)

The Republicans of late certainly haven't been fans of spending less and giving Americans more freedom.

 

[piasabird]

So the New York Times is a Right wing paper now?

Makes me laugh.

What you going to do when O'Bamma starts sending more troops overseas? I say just start the draft.

 

[Specop 007]

Cut war mongering and nation building defense spending in half while you're at it.

Sorry, been payin the war tax for damn near a century. The nation building is paid for for quite some time.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1693599/posts

WASHINGTON (Aug. 31) - Consumers can claim a standard $30 to $60 refund next year for a tax on long-distance telephone calls that the government declared invalid, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday.

Telephone customers had been paying the 3 percent federal excise tax on local and long-distance service. The government this month stopped collecting the tax on long-distance calls after businesses repeatedly fought the tax in court and won.

Next year, consumers can use their 2006 tax returns to claim a refund on long-distance telephone taxes paid since March 2003.

The standard refund starts at $30 and increases by $10 for each additional exemption claimed on a tax return, up to $60. A married couple with two dependent children, for example, could claim a $60 refund.

The IRS will add a line to the 2006 tax returns mailed next spring, enabling individuals to claim the refund. The tax agency will also create a special form for people not otherwise required to file tax returns, so they can request their money back.

"These amounts save taxpayers from locating 41 months of old phone bills and analyzing these bills to determine the taxes paid," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. "We believe the standard amounts are both reasonable and fair."

The IRS said it based the refund amounts on telephone usage data, and that the standard amounts reflect averages for households of different sizes.

Individuals do not have to use the standard amount. Consumers who have their old phone bills can instead add up the taxes they paid between March 2003 and July 2006 and apply for a refund.

The tax dates back to the late 19th century and the Spanish-American War, when telephones were a luxury and the government needed revenue.

In recent years, multiple businesses successfully challenged the tax because it applied to long-distance calls billed according to time and distance, a billing formula mostly replaced by flat-rate calling plans.

The Treasury Department has said it expects to return $13 billion to consumers, including businesses and other organizations.

Businesses and nonprofit organizations will have to compute their taxes paid before applying for a refund. The IRS said it's looking to make that calculation easier through methods that might allow them to estimate the taxes paid. The IRS will take comments on that topic through Sept. 15 through a special e-mail, Telephone.Tax(at)irs.gov.

 

[Darwin333]

I'm not sure they can work together. Republicans only have lower taxes and less government as the answer to all domestic problems. Democrats only have higher taxes and more government as the answer to all domestic problems.

Where's the possible middle ground? (Other than sweet, blessed gridlock I mean.)

Thats my point. Neither side wants to address the issue. They simply want to kick the can down the road long enough so that it becomes the next guys problem while they proclaim they helped xyz with their favorite government program.

In the mean time, in order to NOT have to address the issue they will continue to point fingers at each other and enlist their serfs to do the same for them. This is called a diversion and both sides are doing it. Want proof that its working? Read a few threads here. Palins book is much more important (based off the attention it gets) than the inevitable financial failure of the United States Government.

At some point we will be forced to put the bullshit behind us and actually work together. Its just a matter of who makes that decision, us or our lenders.