Obama Plans to Reduce Budget Deficit to $533 Billion by 2013

[dex]

I guess this is one benefit of not being rich - I don't have to worry about a tax increase. Then again, if at some time we have a bout of inflation, I might be.


Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama plans to cut the U.S. budget deficit to $533 billion by the end of his first term by increasing taxes on the wealthy and cutting spending for the war in Iraq, according to an administration official.

 

[unclemick]

I file single - I thought [moderator edit].

No such thing as a free lunch.

heh heh heh - soooo what did Mark Twain say about Congress in session?

 

[Dawg52]

I file single - I thought [moderator edit].

No such thing as a free lunch.

They all suck.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

If we disbanded how many states do you think would vote to join back into a united states?

 

[dex]

If we disbanded how many states do you think would vote to join back into a united states?

Not to hijack my own thread but I was wondering that myself. I think Texas is the only state that has the right to get out of the union.

If there was a governor that a region of the USA could rally around is the only way I could see it happen. We used to hear about Idaho and Montana area but no more.
I think we really need to see how things look at the end of Obama's first term to get an idea as to the desire for change is in USA and how strong it it.

As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S. - WSJ.com
For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010.

 

[ziggy29]

Not to hijack my own thread but I was wondering that myself. I think Texas is the only state that has the right to get out of the union.

Well, at one point Texas also had (has?) the right to break up into five states, basically getting 10 senators instead of 2.

The question is, since this deal was made prior to the [-]War of Northern Aggression[/-] Civil War and since Texas (like all Southern states) had to be formally readmitted to the Union, does the antebellum deal still exist legally?

The other thing is that when Texas seceded from the Union in 1861, the U.S. government failed to recognize the secession, which brings some question to whether or not that right existed (or that the Feds would recognize it).

 

[haha]

He plans to lower the budget deficit by taxing hedge fund managers more heavily

It's hard to overstimate the gullibility of an American, but this is really pushing it.

Ha

 

[bssc]

Well, at one point Texas also had (has?) the right to break up into five states, basically getting 10 senators instead of 2.

The question is, since this deal was made prior to the [-]War of Northern Aggression[/-] Civil War and since Texas (like all Southern states) had to be formally readmitted to the Union, does the antebellum deal still exist legally?

The other thing is that when Texas seceded from the Union in 1861, the U.S. government failed to recognize the secession, which brings some question to whether or not that right existed (or that the Feds would recognize it).

Snopes says it does

 

[Texarkandy]

................

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama plans to cut the U.S. budget deficit to $533 billion by the end of his first term by increasing taxes on the wealthy and cutting spending for the war in Iraq, according to an administration official.

Woo-Hooo! I just hope I can get me a bowl of that Rainbow Stew when they start passing it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9cVxOl9gYI

There's a big, brown cloud in the city,
And the countryside's a sin.
An' the price of life is too high to give up,
Gotta come down again.
When the world wide war is over and done,
And the dream of peace comes true.
We'll all be drinkin' free bubble-ubb,
Eatin' that rainbow stew.

When they find out how to burn water,
And the gasoline car is gone.
When an airplane flies without any fuel,
And the satellite heats our home.
One of these days when the air clears up,
And the sun comes shinin' through.
We'll all be drinkin' free bubble-ubb,
An' eatin' that rainbow stew.

Eatin' rainbow stew in a silver spoon,
Underneath that sky of blue.
All be drinkin' free bubble-up

You don't have to get high to get happy,
Just think about what's in store.
When people start doin' what they oughta be doin',
Then they won't be booin' no more.
When a President goes through the White House door,
An' does what he says he'll do.
We'll all be drinkin' free bubble-ubb,
Eatin' that rainbow stew.

Eatin' rainbow stew in a silver spoon,
Underneath that sky of blue.
We'll all be drinkin' that free bubble-ubb,
Eatin' some rainbow stew.

 

[ERD50]

More here (Washington Post):

Obama Targets Budget Deficit

a few excerpts:

an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years

Ok, that sounds good. Kinda hard to reconcile with all the bailout money being thrown around, but....

by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,

OK, lots of people are in favor of that. But there is more....

primarily by raising taxes on business

Oh great. The old shell game of "tax those guys over there". Hmmm, we want to jump start the economy, but we are going to raise taxes on business? Let's see.... those businesses need to raise prices on ALL consumers (poor and rich alike, so this is a regressive tax, which I thought Dems didn't like?). And since when did raising prices on people get them to spend more? And how is that chain of thought going to increase jobs?

This is backwards - has anyone in this admin taken an Econ 101 course? Maybe they figure the people that voted them in didn't. Personally, I'm insulted that they are acting like we are this stupid.

This is going to be a long, long recession/depression folks..... With "help" like this, who needs enemies?

-ERD50

 

[OAG]

To many "cooks in the kitchen"!. Confusion ranks! On budget off budget! Talk about "Voodoo Economics" - it is coming back.

 

[Dawg52]

This is backwards - has anyone in this admin taken an Econ 101 course? Maybe they figure the people that voted them in didn't. Personally, I'm insulted that they are acting like we are this stupid.

This is going to be a long, long recession/depression folks..... With "help" like this, who needs enemies?

-ERD50

You are so correct. Things are already gloomy, and this will drive home the doom part of the equation.

 

[Bimmerbill]

He is reducing the deficit by cutting taxes?

 

[FUEGO]

Ok, that sounds good. Kinda hard to reconcile with all the bailout money being thrown around, but....

This guy is genius. He has taken a page out of the big corporation playbook. Yeah, we're gonna cut the budget deficit in half. If you exclude massive one time multi-trillion dollar expenses. Just like companies report strong earnings before including the effect of "one-time" expenses that crop up every year or two.

 

[FUEGO]

He is reducing the deficit by cutting taxes?

Again, it goes back to emulating big businesses and wall street. He's copying Madoff's operating strategy.

 

[Gumby]

..

 

[ziggy29]

[
It's about time I got a response from a Yankee on that one...

 

[Gotadimple]

If we disbanded how many states do you think would vote to join back into a united states?

All of them. They get a lot of $ from the federal government. No state is self-sustaining (see California as an example).

-- Rita

 

[unclemick]

It's about time I got a response from a Yankee on that one...

Being born out West - I was going to sit in the bleachers, eat popcorn and watch this one.



heh heh heh -

 

[ziggy29]

All of them. They get a lot of $ from the federal government.

But where does the federal money come from? It was taken from individuals and businesses of that state in the form of taxes.

So if a state gets $2 billion in federal aid but its entities paid $5 billion in taxes for those aid programs, that state is getting screwed.

 

[TromboneAl]

When working at a software company, and I wasn't in management, I often thought some decisions were stupid. When I was in management, I saw that there was a lot more information involved, and the decisions weren't as stupid as they seemed from the outside.

You may not agree with the decisions being made, but believing they are made due to a lack of basic economic information is probably wrong.

In announcing the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board...
The board will be chaired by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker. Its members include Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, and James Owens, chief executive of Caterpillar. Both companies have strong sales around the world, though both are encountering hard times amid the slowing global economy; Caterpillar said last month it would cut 20,000 jobs.

The board also includes representatives of labor organizations: Anna Burger, who chairs the labor group Change to Win, and Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. There are also two prominent conservatives: William H. Donaldson, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Bush administration, and Reagan administration economic adviser Martin Feldstein, who has supported the idea of a massive economic stimulus package but was sharply critical of the legislation passed by the House of Representatives.

 

[Gotadimple]

But where does the federal money come from? It was taken from individuals and businesses of that state in the form of taxes.

So if a state gets $2 billion in federal aid but its entities paid $5 billion in taxes for those aid programs, that state is getting screwed.

. . . in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish . . .

So it's just not about the state where the federal government is doing business, but about all of the states. If we could balance the costs of federal government spending based on the taxation in a given state, then we would have the confederation of states as established in 1776, under the articles of confederation. That didn't work out so well, so in 1787, we established this form of government.

-- Rita

 

[ERD50]

... When I was in management, I saw that there was a lot more information involved, and the decisions weren't as stupid as they seemed from the outside.

You may not agree with the decisions being made, but believing they are made due to a lack of basic economic information is probably wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/06/ST2009020600806.html

I hear ya, but there is another way to look at it.

It may not be that the decisions are being made with a lack of knowledge. It may be the decisions are being made in spite of that knowledge, for political expediency.

That CAT CEO told Obama to drop the "Buy American" provisions, stating they would do more harm than good. I think Obama should listen to an American Mfg and exporter about that.

What I suspect is, that they feel their target audience responds to "Buy American" sound bites, and "tax business", and those people don't peel back a single layer of the onion to understand what that really means. Fewer jobs, higher prices, deepening recession. It appears to be a simple matter of "tell them what they want to hear", or some might say "politics as usual".

-ERD50

 

[haha]

It appears to be a simple matter of "tell them what they want to hear", or some might say "politics as usual".

-ERD50

This is truly shocking to me. After all, Obama hails from the motherlode of statesmanship and selfless governing, Illinois.

Are you certain that this is true?

Ha

 

[Letj]

He plans to lower the budget deficit by taxing hedge fund managers more heavily

It's hard to overstimate the gullibility of an American, but this is really pushing it.

Ha

The deficit has to be cured somehow and the government can only do that by either increasing taxes or cutting spending. What's wrong with asking the rich to pay some more. Every advance democracy around the world does this and I for one would not mind paying more. My federal tax rate is 10% and it's this low because I have a lot of passive income. The fact is that while wealthy people pay most of the taxes in this country, their effective tax rate is less than the average middle class individual because they have a lot of income producing assets and the tax code heavily favor them. It's a shame!