Obama: "No doubt" more revenue still needed
One month after signing into law a "fiscal cliff" deal upping taxes on American families making more than $450,000 a year, President Obama said today there's "no doubt" additional revenue is needed to bring down the U.S. deficit, but believes lawmakers can do it "without raising taxes again."
"I don't think the issue right now is raising rates," the president said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley. "There's no doubt we need additional revenue, coupled with smart, spending reductions in order to bring down our deficit. And we can do it in a gradual way so that it doesn't have a huge impact."
Rather than raising taxes, the president proposed gutting government waste, reforming health care - "we spend a lot more on health care than any other country does, and we don't get better outcomes," he said - and closing loopholes that he suggested allow wealthy Americans to manipulate their tax rates.
"Can we close loopholes and deductions that folks who are well connected, and have a lot of accountants and lawyers, can take advantage of, so they end up paying lower rates than say, a bus driver or a cop?" Mr. Obama asked. "The average person can't take advantage of them.
"The average person doesn't have access to Cayman Island accounts," the president continued, in what may have been a punch at 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney's "tax haven" in the Caribbean. "The average person doesn't have access to 'carried interest income,' where they end up paying a much lower rate on billions of dollars that they've earned.
"...We just want to make sure that the whole system is fair, that it's transparent, and that we're reducing our deficit in a way that doesn't hamper growth reduce the kinds of strategies that we need," he concluded.
Earlier this week, a new GDP report showed the U.S. economy shrank 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. Mr. Obama reasoned that a sudden drop in defense spending amid the so-called "fiscal cliff" was to blame, and called on Congress to act to avert a series of automatic spending cuts set to trigger in March.
"Washington cannot continually operate under a cloud of crisis," he said. "That freezes up consumers, it gets businesses worried. We can't afford these self-inflicted wounds. There is a way for us to solve these budget problems in a responsible way, through a balanced approach... if we do that, there's no reason why we can't have really strong growth in 2013."
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We can certainly balance the budget with spending cuts and filling loopholes (some modicum).
However, we cannot hope to pay for past wars and 16T in PAST debt with austerity measures, nor by magical economic growth. Even in great gworth spurts, without higher taxes, debt tends to increase. Look at the magical growth during the Reagan term. Deficits and debt blew out of proportion, but no one cared. This is one reason why Cheney claimed that no one cares about the debt.
Frankly, we had no business thinking that we could wage wars and cut taxes at the same time. Other unsustainable spending and tax relaxation decisions were made as well.
Now if we also cut Military Spending by 1/3 we would still spend almost twice what every other Nation in the world spends on defense.
Really, leave us alone.
When Obama took office the deficit was at $1.1T due to a combination of REPUBLICAN actions (cutting taxes, increasing defense spending, increasing unfunded requirements on medical care (Medicare part D) and education *No Child Left behind). Obama and the Democrats have barely touched spending - in FACT the Obama administration has had the smallest change in government spending since Eisenhower.
And that's totally ignoring the fact the PRESIDENT doesn't spend a dime - the CONGRESS is responsible for all spending and taxation.
Bottom line - fully 75% of the ENTIRE DEBT is due to Republicans lowering taxes and increasing defense spending. Therefore when Obama says "the solution to the dent and deficit will require more revenue" he is just stating the obvious - and the truth. And if Republicans would stop blocking all revenue increases and all defense cuts then we might be able to balance the budget - but as long as they refuse, it can't be done without sacrificing the poor, the old and the sick to pay for billionaire tax cuts and defense programs even the Defense Department says they DON'YT WANT.
And that's misguided and morally reprehensible.
Quit blaming the past for this guys inactions!
However, if you want to "blame" Obama for the "Bush" tax cuts on the middle class since he has been in a position to impact them (ignoring that Republicans would never have allowed those taxes to go up anyway) then you could say that about $1T of the debt since Obama took office is "his" desire.
That still leaves the other $4T thanks to Republican actions - or inaction.
I am not saying Obama and the Democrats are blameless - I am saying that until conservative accept responsibility for their own actions we're wasting everyone's time. Like conservative s "blaming Obama" for the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, which THEY DEMANDED not Obama, THEY PASSED and not Obama, and THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR and not Obama.
Perhaps updating faulty tax codes is overdue, necessary, and the resulting tax increases necessary to raise enough revenue to pay down the debt. However, fair is fair. The bill to tinker with tax rates has been passed to raise revenues. Now is the time to address spending.
from Forbes:
The Inexplicable War on Lemonade Stands
I'm beginning to think that there's a nation-wide government conspiracy against either lemonade or children, because these lemonade stand shutdowns seem to be getting more and more common. If you set up a stand for your kids, just be prepared for a visit from the cops.
In Coralville, Iowa police shut down 4-year-old Abigail Krstinger's lemonade stand after it had been up for half an hour. Dustin Krustinger told reporters that his daughter was selling lemonade at 25 cents a cup during the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race Across Iowa (or RAGBRAI), and couldn't have made more than five dollars, adding "If the line is drawn to the point where a four-year-old eight blocks away can't sell a couple glasses of lemonade for 25 cents, than I think the line has been drawn at the wrong spot."
Nearby, mother Bobbie Nelson had her kids' lemonade stand shutdown as well. Police informed her that a permit would cost $400