Interesting article about the Tea Party

[CoeburnCane]

Fix the Budget:

Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

Done.

I'd probably piss off several folks w/my plan, but it would be a 45/55 split between tax increases/cuts in spending. My plan as set out by this NYT tracker puts us back to a surplus sooner than later.

Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

[1inStripes]

I think when I tinkedered with that last night I was 65/35 on cuts leading the way. I had us with a surplus by 2015, but not the long range date.

[CoeburnCane]

I think when I tinkedered with that last night I was 65/35 on cuts leading the way. I had us with a surplus by 2015, but not the long range date.

I think that shows that people aren't that far out in what needs to be done when faced with something as simple as that. I'm more liberal, you're more conservative, yet we did a little bit of both--cut spending and raised taxes. Why? Because we needed to balance the budget, and that was our main goal...no lobbyists, no earmarks, no backroom deals done by either side. We saw the numbers and made the decisions.

Put that NYT Ticker on the ballot as a vote for the whole country--and cut spending/raise taxes as the votes say. Then no one can really bytch about it one way or another, and the politicians can't just stand up there w/their thumbs up their collective asses debating and rehashing what should be done. At that point, they'd actually have to DO something.

No matter how far right/left you are, if you simply say that "we can't" raise taxes or cut spending, then GTFO of the country, because you don't care about it enough to make a tough decision that is a mix of your core values and someone else's...all in the name of getting this country back where it needs to be.

[R13]

Lol I'm pretty sure foreign aid accounts for about less than 1 percent of our spending, as PV said, a drop in the bucket. And how much of that has gone to Israel too, being the largest recipient of foreign aid since WW2? We've seen how supportive some of you are when we've talked about cutting Israel off. Iraq has moved in to that top spot the last few years, but that's after we destroyed the country, we wouldn't have to send that if we didn't put our nose where it doesn't belong there.

And military could take a huge cut, we outspend the closest country by about 7 times and a most countries combined. Cut that in half and you still outspend many times over and no one ever be close, be realistic, that's a huge drain on us and a lot of it isn't needed. There's weapons, aircrafts and other equipment that is contracted and renewed every single year and never see's any use. 9/11 had nothing to do with having "our pants down" due to anything with our military, it was ignoring intelligence.

[R13]

Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

[1inStripes]

9/11 had nothing to do with having "our pants down" due to anything with our military, it was ignoring intelligence.

I didnt say 9/11 was due to our military being down. I was saying that they weren't prepared to fight a war when 9/11 happened. Ammunitions and armor were in short supply. We had plenty of tanks, planes, ships, and missiles, but common things that are actually used/needed by infantrymen we were short on such as body armor for years due to the lack of foresight in what we needed to spend on post Desert Storm.

[R13]

I don't remember hearing about any real significant shortage at the beginning, maybe if any it was after a few years of fighting that wasn't expected and maybe after Iraq started. Even so, that really wouldn't see cuts, when talking defense cuts it's to massive projects/contracts for those tanks, aircraft's and missiles.