Republicans and the debt ceiling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is McCarthy doesn’t have the votes to broker a deal with Biden and save his Speakership. GOP is going to take the country over the fiscal cliff and blame the White House. And since Biden has long lost his ability to think clearly and speak coherently, the GOP may actually pull it off.

Or, if Biden refuses to negotiate and make meaningful concessions, we will go over the fiscal cliff. That's the way i see it.

What meaningful concessions is McCarthy offering?

He's taken everything except discretionary spending off the table for starters.

How about we go back to the spending budget of 2018? He isn't even pushing that hard.

So he has taken 90% of spending off the table and is leaving things like funding police and teachers, maintaining roads, food safety inspections and VA hospitals.

What food safety inspections? No one is inspecting food. They're in their office all day surfing the internet, shuffling paper and sending emails to each other about ESG and DEI. You know I'm correct, even if you don't want to admit it.

Huh? This really exposes the ignorance of the right. Yes, there are over 9,000 USDA food inspectors who review the processing of our animals like cows, pigs and chickens, as well as facilities that package things like spinach, lettuce, grapefruits, stawberries etc on a daily basis to ensure what we are getting the the market is safe and clean.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/

Do you really not know this?

I know what govt is all about. There's a website with "mission statements" and then there's reality.

Reality is govt is about paper pushing, unbelievable bureaucracy, ridicuous layers of management and busy work.

Reality is, there are hundreds of thousands of Federal employees, Park Service, Food inspectors Postal workers etc spread across the country working hard on behalf of the American public. Your ignorance is a tell.

Reality is you could cut the federal workforce by 60% and no one would miss it.

I guess you don't like going to national parks or riding on safe planes or taking medicines that meet quality control standards.

I could go on and on, but there is not cure for blindness.

I seem to remember Biden telling us he would cure cancer if elected. Ridiculous.

Meanwhile, we got statements from Biden stating Trump should resign because Covid deaths crossed the 250K mark. When it crossed the million mark with Biden, silence.

The bureaucracy needs the national parks. The parks don't need the bureaucracy.

Not true - remember when Trump was ready to start mining and drilling them for oil and gas?

Parks need protection, careful maintenance to reduce tree diseases as much as possible, and maintenance of public hygiene facilities and trash …

Diseases are nature. Forest fires are nature.

Forest fires clear dead brush. But apparently Gavin Newsom didn't get tbe memo.

No, in reality, federal workers need $$$ because they can't hold private sector jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

This will anger the echo chamber.

No kidding. Reading the comments on this board is depressing. I can't believe many posters are advocating for socialism. Capitalism may have it flaws but I'll take it any day over what Democrats are driving this country toward. Capitalism, entrepreneurialism, free enterprise, and an abundance of natural resources is what made the United States the economic power that it is today. The government needs to get out of the way. Democrats are destroying it.

Unfettered capitalism is an awful system if you aren't on the top. The countries with the highest standards of living are those with very regulated capitalism

We haven't had unfettered capitalism in one hundred years. Don't act like it's right around the corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

This will anger the echo chamber.

No kidding. Reading the comments on this board is depressing. I can't believe many posters are advocating for socialism. Capitalism may have it flaws but I'll take it any day over what Democrats are driving this country toward. Capitalism, entrepreneurialism, free enterprise, and an abundance of natural resources is what made the United States the economic power that it is today. The government needs to get out of the way. Democrats are destroying it.

Unfettered capitalism is an awful system if you aren't on the top. The countries with the highest standards of living are those with very regulated capitalism

We haven't had unfettered capitalism in one hundred years. Don't act like it's right around the corner.

We're certainly the closest of any western democracy. For a country with our per capita GDP, we also have a worse standard of living than similar counties by just about every metric

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Much of the debt was created by GOP tax cuts

Then, why did revenue increase as a result?

They don't pay for themselves. Even CATO admitted that yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

Ok, be specific, what would you cut?

- I would cut the Department of Education, HUD, Labor, and the EPA in half for starters.
- I would scrutinize all government travel, fact-finding missions (boondoggles), etc. A lot of govt travel is unnecessary and with today's technology most can be done via video call.
- Eliminate compressed work schedules for the Federal workforce. This is the practice of working 40 hours in 9 work days so you basically get every other Friday off.
- Eliminate sick leave carry over for the Federal workforce. It should be use or lose on an annual basis.
- Streamline the Dept of Commerce. Eliminate wasteful and bureaucratic regulations. Cut red tape and the govt jobs that support them.
- Cut the DoD civilian workforce by 25 percent. There's so much redundancy in the Pentagon. Completely rewrite the inefficient and costly defense acquisition process. Reward program managers for saving the govt money not for meeting their budget projections.
- Increase the size and the pay of the SEC workforce. Expand their surveillance and enforcement powers.
- Eliminate the carried-interest tax loophole.
- Reduce the authorized size of Congressional staffs.
- Etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

Most of it is inheritited, let's be real.

What I don't get...unless you are a billionaire, which I doubt, why would you be ok with them pay less of their income tax proportionally than you, me or the garbage collector?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

This will anger the echo chamber.

No kidding. Reading the comments on this board is depressing. I can't believe many posters are advocating for socialism. Capitalism may have it flaws but I'll take it any day over what Democrats are driving this country toward. Capitalism, entrepreneurialism, free enterprise, and an abundance of natural resources is what made the United States the economic power that it is today. The government needs to get out of the way. Democrats are destroying it.

Asking people to pay the same rate of taxes as other people isn't socialism.

Trump is a "billionaire" yet apparently paid almost no federal tax. Why is that ok?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

Most of it is inheritited, let's be real.

What I don't get...unless you are a billionaire, which I doubt, why would you be ok with them pay less of their income tax proportionally than you, me or the garbage collector?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/621426/sources-of-wealth-of-global-billionaires/

According to statista.com: "As of 2021, a majority of the world's billionaires had earned their wealth themselves. Over 2,000 of the total 3,311 billionaires worldwide that year had earned their fortune this way. Meanwhile, 338 billionaires had inherited their wealth."

I am not a billionaire. Billionaires and millionaires could certainly afford to pay more but they already pay more than their fair share. Most have created companies that employ thousands of people, probably including yourself, that also pay taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

This will anger the echo chamber.

No kidding. Reading the comments on this board is depressing. I can't believe many posters are advocating for socialism. Capitalism may have it flaws but I'll take it any day over what Democrats are driving this country toward. Capitalism, entrepreneurialism, free enterprise, and an abundance of natural resources is what made the United States the economic power that it is today. The government needs to get out of the way. Democrats are destroying it.

Asking people to pay the same rate of taxes as other people isn't socialism.

Trump is a "billionaire" yet apparently paid almost no federal tax. Why is that ok?

You clearly don't understand how the tax code works or you don't do your own taxes. Don't believe everything the liberal media spits at you. Trump did pay taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is McCarthy doesn’t have the votes to broker a deal with Biden and save his Speakership. GOP is going to take the country over the fiscal cliff and blame the White House. And since Biden has long lost his ability to think clearly and speak coherently, the GOP may actually pull it off.

Or, if Biden refuses to negotiate and make meaningful concessions, we will go over the fiscal cliff. That's the way i see it.

What meaningful concessions is McCarthy offering?

I'm at a loss why Democrats/Liberals have a problem with the work requirement Republicans are asking for. Except for people who can't work for various physical reasons, it seems ridiculous to just give money to people without getting something in return. Oh the horror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

Ok, be specific, what would you cut?

- I would cut the Department of Education, HUD, Labor, and the EPA in half for starters.
- I would scrutinize all government travel, fact-finding missions (boondoggles), etc. A lot of govt travel is unnecessary and with today's technology most can be done via video call.
- Eliminate compressed work schedules for the Federal workforce. This is the practice of working 40 hours in 9 work days so you basically get every other Friday off.
- Eliminate sick leave carry over for the Federal workforce. It should be use or lose on an annual basis.
- Streamline the Dept of Commerce. Eliminate wasteful and bureaucratic regulations. Cut red tape and the govt jobs that support them.
- Cut the DoD civilian workforce by 25 percent. There's so much redundancy in the Pentagon. Completely rewrite the inefficient and costly defense acquisition process. Reward program managers for saving the govt money not for meeting their budget projections.
- Increase the size and the pay of the SEC workforce. Expand their surveillance and enforcement powers.
- Eliminate the carried-interest tax loophole.
- Reduce the authorized size of Congressional staffs.
- Etc.

ok, where are you getting the other 95% of cuts republicans are requesting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is McCarthy doesn’t have the votes to broker a deal with Biden and save his Speakership. GOP is going to take the country over the fiscal cliff and blame the White House. And since Biden has long lost his ability to think clearly and speak coherently, the GOP may actually pull it off.

Or, if Biden refuses to negotiate and make meaningful concessions, we will go over the fiscal cliff. That's the way i see it.

What meaningful concessions is McCarthy offering?

He's taken everything except discretionary spending off the table for starters.

How about we go back to the spending budget of 2018? He isn't even pushing that hard.

So he’s offered nothing then?

That is the offer.

There's a 1.5T spending cut bill on the table. If you don't like it, don't agree to it.

Don't care. Let's Thelma and Louise this.

So McCarthy is just threatening to crash the economy and hurt tens of millions of Americans unless he gets what he wants, and he won’t give up a single thing to get it. Got it.

Biden is the one who is going to crash the economy. He should agree to cut spending. This is 1st grade math. But I doubt he even knows what day of the week it is or that he's even the President. Dementia has a way of doing that to you. No one runs their household budget this way, then why should the government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the folks on the right, ask yourself, who benefits if the US Economy crashes. Who benefits if the Dollar is degraded?

Answer: China and Russia

So...why is the GOP hell bent on tanking the economy for basically no reason, to benefit China and Russia?

So....why are the Democrats hell bent on tanking the economy for basically no reason by spending beyond our means....

There...fixed it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the folks on the right, ask yourself, who benefits if the US Economy crashes. Who benefits if the Dollar is degraded?

Answer: China and Russia

So...why is the GOP hell bent on tanking the economy for basically no reason, to benefit China and Russia?

So....why are the Democrats hell bent on tanking the economy for basically no reason by spending beyond our means....

There...fixed it for you.

+1

Gentle reminder: GOP in House has already passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling. What have the Democrats done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Government has a spending problem not a revenue problem. I could cut 25 percent of the federal govt workforce and it wouldn’t make a difference to most Americans. Just a jobs program. So much wasteful spending.

You're wrong. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Every one of them would have contributed the same amount in exchange for $500 million -- meaning we left half a billion dollars on the table that could have gone to something productive.

Ummm....as of 2020, the top 10 percent of earners paid 74 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of earners paid 89 percent of income taxes and the top 50 percent of earners paid 97.7 percent of all income taxes. Most billionaires (not counting those who inherited it) took risk and founded companies that grew and now employ thousands of people who also pay taxes. The device you are typing on is a result of capitalists, innovators, and risk takers.....personality traits that socialism inevitably destroys. Socialism fails to take into account human nature -- why should I work hard, risk capital, take chances, innovate if I can't reap the rewards.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

This will anger the echo chamber.

No kidding. Reading the comments on this board is depressing. I can't believe many posters are advocating for socialism. Capitalism may have it flaws but I'll take it any day over what Democrats are driving this country toward. Capitalism, entrepreneurialism, free enterprise, and an abundance of natural resources is what made the United States the economic power that it is today. The government needs to get out of the way. Democrats are destroying it.

Unfettered capitalism is an awful system if you aren't on the top. The countries with the highest standards of living are those with very regulated capitalism

We haven't had unfettered capitalism in one hundred years. Don't act like it's right around the corner.

We're certainly the closest of any western democracy. For a country with our per capita GDP, we also have a worse standard of living than similar counties by just about every metric

That's your first mistake. You keep thinking we're a rich country.

We have a national debt of $95,000 per person and $248,000 per worker.

We're like the guy living in a mansion with $50 in equity, a million in debt and 598 payments to go. Do you understand that? Is that clear enough for you?