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The government should manage their money like corporations do. Manage what they have now. Cut costs. Have visibility on what they are really doing with our money, manage it well and then if they have to raise taxes than fine. I don't think they really know.
It seems that the simple answer to their irresponsible spending is let's raise taxes for social programs? For example, why don't they look into welfare fraud or getting pple off welfare....silly example...but is it? When enough, enough for them?
There is probably no reason to raise taxes in theory. The government takes in far more money than it should spend . . . if it were accountable!
I've heard it said many times that the US government is the worst money manager in the world.
Good money management would require changes in what we do now. Is this change we can believe in?
1. There is foreign aide. Certainly a boondoggle! Money that we give to other countries mostly for humanitarian purposes falls into the hands of dictators and crooks. Saddam, for example, was one who took huge amounts of US Foreign Aide. What he and his family didn't steal went to arm his soldiers. WE SHOULD END FOREIGN AIDE EXCEPT FOR HUMANITARIAN PURPOSES, FOOD CLOTHING AND MEDICINE. WE SHOULD MAKE THE RECIPTANTS ACCOUNTABLE.
2. Abuses in the welfare system and social security are legendary. These Social programs are rife with fraud and corruption. Billions of our tax dollars are given away, mishandled and misspent. THE US SHOULD LIMIT WELFARE TO THOSE IT WAS ORIGINALLY MEANT TO HELP, THE POOR AND THOSE PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY UNABLE TO EARN A LIVING. WELFARE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THEIR CHILDREN SHOULD STOP. gIVE THEM ONE YEAR TO APPLY FOR AND RECEIVE CITIZENSHIP. iF THEY DO FINE, THEY STAY. IF THEY DON'T, CONFISCATE THEIR PROPERTY AND PUT THEM AND THEIR DEPENDANTS ON THE NEXT BUS FOR TIAJUANA
3. When in-depth audits are done of US government agencies and facilities they always find mistakes, poor accounting and sometimes fraud and embezzlement. AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT
4. Then there is duplication of goods and services. Often such duplication results in huge surpluses which must be stored. I have personal knowledge of this since my brother manages several big warehouses in OK. He tells me that his company collects over 2 million dollars a year for storing surplus government office equipment. The government warehouses have been full for years. SELL SURPLUS EQUIPMENT
5. That's not to mention billions of dollars in "earmarks" and favored spending by congress. Nor does it take into account the fact that our congressmen and women are by far the highest paid elected government officials in the world and have the best and most expensive health plans and retirement packages. CONGRESS NEEDS A CUT IN SALARY AND THEY NEED TO BE ON THE SAME HEALTH PLANS AND SOCIAL SECURITY PLANS THE REST OF US ARE ON
Graft and Greed go by other names in Washington! Somehow it's legal. . . . more or less.
I know of lot of simple people whose image of Obama is limited to "the candidate who will raise taxes".
No doubt that the current president has been a big government interventionist and, as far the domestic economy, mainly through monetary policy (for which Congress is, ultimately, also responsible), under the guise of some unworkable ideology of the "ownership" society (really the "debtorship" society).
The current plan to get out of the deficit is inflation. A better plan would be to a set of policies to ensure that domestic production is in balance with consumption based on real hard productive work, saving and investment (no, a new "luxury" house is not a productive investment).
The best way to start is with sound money and credit policies, realistic expectations, rolling up one's sleeves, and going out to work, producing things and providing services that people actually need in proportion to their real means and that add real value to the economy.
One of the biggest problems with the current administration has been too much interventionism, mainly on monetary policy and surely also on the spending side of fiscal policy.
The US economy hobbles on one leg, tax increases at this juncture would ensure that it is a cripple.
No doubt the prolonged war in Iraq is a serious drain on our economy. We all want it to end but it's going to be a while. Even Obama, who once said he would withdraw our troops "rapidly", is now saying it's going to take much more time than he originally thought. I heard Obama say recently in a TV interivew that he "didn't know how long it would take to get the troops home. He would have to talk with the generals over there". I thought that was a pretty good answer.
If Obama gets elected and has a Democratic congress that will work with him he can get the tax increases passed easily. Besides the ones already mentioned I have heard that Obama wants to tax the oil companies like Exxon and BP. They are making huge windfall profits.
If he does put a tax on them won't they just pass it on to the consumers in the form of higher gasoline prices?
Let's face it. Neither party believes in small government anymore. Bush created No Child Left Behind and expanded Medicare, and he's spent trillions on a war. But he's cutting taxes. You know what happens if you keep racking up debt on a credit card but you don't have any revenue to pay for it? It's not pretty.
I'd much prefer a fiscally responsible government that reduces taxes AND spending. But since that looks pretty unlikely, given our choices in the next election, I'd much rather have someone who at least is going to try to pay for the handouts he creates, rather than someone who keeps expanding government but pretends that nobody has to pay for it.
Let's face it. Neither party believes in small government anymore. Bush created No Child Left Behind and expanded Medicare, and he's spent trillions on a war. But he's cutting taxes. You know what happens if you keep racking up debt on a credit card but you don't have any revenue to pay for it? It's not pretty.
I'd much prefer a fiscally responsible government that reduces taxes AND spending. But since that looks pretty unlikely, given our choices in the next election, I'd much rather have someone who at least is going to try to pay for the handouts he creates, rather than someone who keeps expanding government but pretends that nobody has to pay for it.
True enough the present administration has spent money like water. There is no denying that.
I like you analogy about credit spending. The average American is up to his/her azz in credit card debt....just like the goverment is with deficit spending.
I too would prefer a fiscally conservative president but more importantly a fiscally RESPONSIBLE congress!
We are not going to get that with either party!
I can't vote for a socialist like Obama---I don't care for McCain either but 3rd party candidates don't stand much of a chance.
Obama's website doesn't come out and say how revenue is going to be raised for his new programs. We are left to assume it is going to include new taxes. Taxes that will stretch from the upper incomes into the upper middle income levels.
Raising taxes on businesses and upper income Americans simply will not provide enough revenue to fund Obama's proposed programs.
Some have suggested that ending the war in Iraq would provide enough. It wouldn't.
Only if Obama made severe cuts in our military from top to bottom, reducing troop strength, closing bases around the world and stoping weapons research.
The current social programs are in deep financial trouble---welfare and social security.
They are going to have to be shored up before Obama can start his healthcare reform program.
Obama has already said he is going to raise taxes... Prepare to bear a heavy burden!
Precisely who did all the trillions in wasteful spending over the past eight years that necessitates a sizable tax increase no matter who the next president is?
I got a better one....
Exactly who is wasting billions a year which would be preventable if people would stop being so lazy?
Obama has already said--and it's on his website--that he is going to raise Capital Gains taxes. That means if you make a profit from the sale of property, either real or intangible, your taxes are going to be much higher with Obama as your president.
Obama will have to raise other taxes to pay for the social programs he is proposing. Socialist-Liberals want more government run programs. Already we have government run Welfare (still rife with fraud nationwide), and Social Security (which may or may not be nearly bankrupt depending on which source you consult)
*Soon there will be some form of nationwide healthcare or Health Insurance
*Liberals are proposing Federal Aide for the homeless as well as illegal aliens
All of these programs are going to cost tremendous amounts of money. Where will it come from?
It will come in the form of higher taxes. Obama is going to raise your taxes to pay for his programs! He has already said that's what he is going to do!
There is a real estate agent around here that puts signs like that on his storefront. One was in support of waterboarding. I will never, ever patronize anyone who advertises politics on their storefront like that.
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