US Budget can be balanced without touching entitlements

WoodPeckr

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This is bad news for greedy GOPers looking to screw Americans out of Social Security and Medicare they worked their entire lives for, so their rich millionaire pals can get more tax-cuts, along with Corporations (BIG OIL, etc.) getting corporate welfare, tax subsidies they don't need. This also explains why GOPer blowhards like Johnny Boner, et al., have been strangely silent on these issues of late. These corporatist GOPers went home and caught HELL from their constituents who loudly told these big business lap-puppy GOPer weasels to leave Social Security and Medicare alone.....:Eek:

Poll: Budget can be balanced without touching entitlements

By Bernie Becker - 05/23/11 11:23 AM ET

A majority of Americans believe the federal budget can be balanced without touching either Social Security or Medicare, a new poll found.

Close to six in 10 in the AP-GfK poll thought Social Security did not need to be cut as the government looked to get its books in order, while 54 percent said Medicare could be left alone.

In all, close to half of Americans said they believe the budget can be balanced without rolling back either entitlement program, which account for about a third of federal spending.


The survey was conducted May 5 through May 9; 1,001 adults were interviewed. The margin of error is 4.2 percentage points.

The AP poll comes as Public Policy Polling, a Democratic outfit, found that overwhelming numbers of voters in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana and Ohio do not want Social Security or Medicare cut to help bring down the national debt. All four of those states have Democratic senators up for reelection next year.

The Senate is expected to vote this week on the House’s fiscal 2012 budget, which received near-unanimous support from House Republicans and would turn Medicare into a voucher-like system.


The House budget’s treatment of Medicare is seen as playing a significant role in a close special election in New York for a House seat previously held by a Republican.

According to the AP poll, Americans are about evenly split over whether it is extremely likely they will be able to rely on Social Security or Medicare, somewhat likely or not at all likely. Fewer than two in 10 said the two programs were either not at all or only slightly important to their financial security.

Americans, the poll found, are also more likely to trust Democrats to handle Social Security and Medicare. (The poll found more trust in Democrats for handling the economy, healthcare, taxes and job creation, with a rough split over managing deficits.)

As for the PPP polls, which were commissioned by liberal groups, around seven to eight in 10 voters in the four states opposed cutting Medicare and Social Security to get the budget in order. Smaller majorities opposed cuts to Medicaid for the same purpose.
 

nottyboi

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Well of course it can, but it would require either massive cuts elsewhere or higher taxes. Of course what the majority of Americans believe has little to do with reality... It would take about 3K from each American to cover it. So you can expect the top 40 richest to cover the tab for the bottom 150M so they would have to come up with about 500B, and the top 150M would have to cough up the other 500B. EASY!!! lol (BTW that is per year)
 

WoodPeckr

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Well of course it can, but it would require either massive cuts elsewhere ...
All they have to do is take their meat cleavers to the Military Budget!
THAT is where all the fat, lard, corruption and graft is located! Same to certain extent applies to out bloated Hearth-care Industry that roughly charges double or more than what the rest of the world pays! ....:cool:
 

nottyboi

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All they have to do is take their meat cleavers to the Military Budget!
THAT is where all the fat, lard, corruption and graft is located! Same to certain extent applies to out bloated Hearth-care Industry that roughly charges double or more than what the rest of the world pays! ....:cool:
Most of the miliitary budget is salaries. Start making some big cuts to that and you will have many unemployed, trained killers roaming the streets. Our health care industry is bloated and needs massive restructuring.
 

onthebottom

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We could institute a new kind of Alternative Minimum Tax.... if you can't pay 3k of income tax per year we usher you to Mexico (I think we owe them a few million illegal immigrants), after a few weeks there I'm sure people would be able to come up with the 3k....

OK, I know it's unrealistic to ask half the households in the US to share the burden.... after all they're victims of being born in the easiest place in the world to make a living.

OTB
 

fuji

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OTB I finally did some digging into your weird claim that half of US households pay no tax. It's just flat out wrong. You are talking about federal income tax, but most of those still pay payroll taxes, and get less back on their Federal income tax return than they paid in payroll tax. So they are paying federal tax. In addition they are paying sales taxes, state taxes, property taxes, and so on.

So your claim is pretty misleading, really.
 

WoodPeckr

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So your claim is pretty misleading, really.
I'm not surprised since bottie is no doubt using 'fuzzy numbers'.
Learnt that in business school he did....:eyebrows:
 

WoodPeckr

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OK, I know it's unrealistic to ask half the households in the US to share the burden.... after all they're victims of being born in the easiest place in the world to make a living.
Pure partisan BS straight from K Rove!
Were that true why is US unemployment and underemployment at record levels???....:rolleyes:
 

onthebottom

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OTB I finally did some digging into your weird claim that half of US households pay no tax. It's just flat out wrong. You are talking about federal income tax, but most of those still pay payroll taxes, and get less back on their Federal income tax return than they paid in payroll tax. So they are paying federal tax. In addition they are paying sales taxes, state taxes, property taxes, and so on.

So your claim is pretty misleading, really.
I always say income tax.... so not misleading at all. Payroll taxes fund entitlements, they generate revenue and accrue an obligation. Income taxes fund everything else the government does, this is what half the country is not helping with.

OTB
 

fuji

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So just to be clear, you agree that these people are paying for the entitlements that represent the topic of this thread.
 

onthebottom

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So just to be clear, you agree that these people are paying for the entitlements that represent the topic of this thread.
The topic of the thread is balancing the budget, and no, people are not paying for that. They are paying for (those that work) some portion of their entitlement.... I don't know what %.

OTB
 

blackrock13

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The topic of the thread is balancing the budget, and no, people are not paying for that. They are paying for (those that work) some portion of their entitlement.... I don't know what %.

OTB
OTB, you do understand that anyone who debates with FUJI has to be prepare to wear a Philly collar to minimize whip lash from the hard turns.
 

WoodPeckr

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Income taxes fund everything else the government does, this is what half the country is not helping with.
How is this their fault???
They USED TO FUND EVERYTHING until you globalist corporatists shipped their jobs offshore!

Kind of hard to help and pay when your on UI!....:rolleyes:

BTW?
WTF, are all those JOBS you globalists promised???
 

onthebottom

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otb, you do understand that anyone who debates with fuji has to be prepare to wear a philly collar to minimize whip lash from the hard turns.
lol

otb
 

Aardvark154

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What people believe, and what economic and governmental reality are, can not infrequently be utterly different things.
 

onthebottom

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What people believe, and what economic and governmental reality are, can not infrequently be utterly different things.
An alternative title could be "Most Americans have not yet faced reality"

OTB
 

WoodPeckr

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irlandais9000

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OTB I finally did some digging into your weird claim that half of US households pay no tax. It's just flat out wrong. You are talking about federal income tax, but most of those still pay payroll taxes, and get less back on their Federal income tax return than they paid in payroll tax. So they are paying federal tax. In addition they are paying sales taxes, state taxes, property taxes, and so on.

So your claim is pretty misleading, really.
Good luck getting OTB to stop misleading in this area. I have made the same point to him several times. After all, the payroll tax is a tax on income. But OTB would rather focus on one kind of tax to make his point, and disregard others.
 

Aardvark154

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Good luck getting OTB to stop misleading in this area. I have made the same point to him several times. After all, the payroll tax is a tax on income. But OTB would rather focus on one kind of tax to make his point, and disregard others.
Income tax is Income Tax, FICA for most intents is an insurance premium.
 
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