Submitted by gwiener@quicksc... on
The current political debate about taxes and the fiscal cliff are interesting but totally dishonest. The President and Democrats want us to believe that raising taxes (on the rich) by $80 Billion dollars a year is a way to get to balanced approach to resolving annual deficits of $1.2 Trillion dollars/Year. The Republicans say they can get $ 60 billion a year by eliminating loopholes and deductions (on the rich) but only if tax and entitlement reform is on the table for next year. Neither party wants to do the $120 Billion in cuts they signed into law last year. Neither party wants to make the sequester cuts signed into law by the President last year. If that is not enough to frustrate you, the media is doing its best to decide who is going to be the political winner. Meanwhile it is us the American public who will most definitely lose.
Neither party is remotely interested in reducing spending. Maybe Rand Paul, but that's it. Cuts are not cuts, they are reductions in growth. Budgets are automatically increased each and every year without any voting from congress whatsoever. When the media and politicians talk about cutting spending it is all baloney. Let me give you an example. Lets say the estimated budget for spending in the defense department is $800 Billion dollars for 2013. Then say in 2012 the government spends $ 600 Billion and someone says hey we are spending too much, lets freeze the budget and only spend $ 600 Billion dollars in 2013. The politicians and the media say "Hey we can't do that; we are cutting $200 Billion form the budget." That crazy. ITS ALSO WHY SPENDING NEVER GOES DOWN.
If you look PAGE 411 of the Presidents 2012 Economic Report: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/economic-report-of-the-President you can see exactly what has been happening with revenues and spending since 1945.
There is no revenue problem. There is a massive spending problem and the President, Democrats, republicans and the media knows it. They just refuse to talk honestly about it.