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Subscribe to RSSAs the Obama White House and Congress negotiate to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they favor a balanced deal to reduce the deficit -- consisting of both higher tax rates and cuts to key entitlement programs.
According to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 65 percent say congressional leaders should make compromises to deal with the budget deficit, even if that means Democrats would need to accept targeted spending cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and that Republicans would need to accept targeted increases in tax rates.
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President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Daimler Detroit Diesel engine plant Dec. 10, 2012 in Redford, Mi.
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks to the House chamber to speak on the pending fiscal cliff negotiations Dec. 11, 2012 in Washington.
That includes 68 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of political independents who support this position.
By comparison, just 28 percent believe leaders should stick to their traditional positions on the budget deficit, even if that means Congress goes over the fiscal cliff, triggering the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are set to take place at the beginning of the year if Congress is unable to reach an agreement.
The full NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted of 1,000 adults from Dec. 6-9 and has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points -- will be released at 6:30 pm ET.
This particular question has margin of error of plus-minus 4.4 percentage points.
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Obama will Never compromise because Obama WANTS the Bush tax cuts to expire. He can let them expire and use republicans as his scapegoat. Obamas goal is higher taxes for ALL. Get ready.
maybe those tax cuts should expire......if Boehner is the first one over the cliff and he has to give up chairmanship it would be a good thing
Let's face it. The last thing the Buttheads in Washington will do is what we (in an overwhelming majority), want!
Here is a simple answer to the SS and Medicare "running out of money" in 20 years (or whenever). It is a tax reduction for both employees and employers.
1. Raise the FICA cap to include ALL taxable income - not just the 1st $106k.
2. Lower employee FICA to something like 3%
3. Ditto for employers
jpintar - the simple answer to the SS and Medicare "running out of money" in the future is for the government to KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF THE FUNDS. When Johnson opened the SS coffer to fund his "Great Society" of the 60's - the government just kept spending the money that was put in there by you and I and never paid it back. Instead - put it in a general fund for anyone to fund whatever project they want. And, you libs trust the government with your social security money instead of yourself? Are you kidding me? The government knows nothing about managing money and they do not generate it....they just take it from you.
Democrat-Communists=Moochers that vote for thieves to steal from American Patriots. You sorryass slugs need to get off the couch and get jobs. Stop mooching off the backs of the producers. You loons are entitled to nothing.
joe: Why do red states receive more in federal funding than blue states??? Democratic states support the red states.
Repubs are the moochers....they want to keep their tax cut entitlement...don't they. The tax cuts were supposed to be temporary....an entitlement, but now that Repubs have gotten used to them, they don't want to lose the government handout.
Boehner just said all the Bush tax cuts should be permanent.....typical Repub moocher....gotten use to the extra money, the government handout and doesn't want it to stop.
Who do you think pays taxes and works hard for small pays? The 99% are the tools of big business, unless those greedy bastards outsource those jobs. Patriots, would support the elected people, and not block every thing that might help. Being, white, christian, while your screwing your neighbors, does not make you a Patriot. We are Americans, that work hard, earn a living, pay our taxes, raise our families, and obey the laws. We don't screw everyone to be better than them. If you must call us Democrats something, it should be the party of choice. We won the election and you lost. Get over it and support our nation like a good Patriot should.
Drag and Goodie. Both communists, both moochers, both slugs. You loons would not know a Patriot in America. All you guys can talk about is you are entitled to the work of someone else. GET A JOB LOSERS.
the propaganda effort to say that Americans favor tax increases has to be one of the most deceitful collusion efforts ever by the leftist media and the Communist Democrats.
If you ask someone "do you favor having someone besides yourself, your friends and family members pay more taxes in order to ensure that social redistribution programs like unemployment insurance, EITC, Child Tax Credits, Food Stamps, School lunch programs and other similar programs are not only maintained but expanded"?
The answer will nearly always be yes.
Now ask that same question and substitute everyone paying more taxes and the results would be entirely different.
It takes no courage to agree that someone else should pay for your benefits.
larry: And Repubs said the pre-election polls were skewed in the Dems favor.....just couldn't believe majority of Americans were voting for President Obama.
Just keep on ranting about the polls being wrong.....Repubs were so right last time....LOL!
typical liberal idiocy- try reading what I actually wrote-
the propaganda effort to say that Americans favor tax increases has to be one of the most deceitful collusion efforts ever by the leftist media and the Communist Democrats.
If you ask someone "do you favor having someone besides yourself, your friends and family members pay more taxes in order to ensure that social redistribution programs like unemployment insurance, EITC, Child Tax Credits, Food Stamps, School lunch programs and other similar programs are not only maintained but expanded"?
The answer will nearly always be yes.
But like many liberals you probably lack the minimum 5th grade reading level and comprehension to understand the statement and question.
Larry
I concur with your assesment. Except for the last line about education level. It's not that they are uneducated, it's that they are lazy and want it all now !
aha, i fooled you self proclaimed tree huggers...i misled, lied, you drank the kool-aid!!! Now you're stuck with me 4 more years, haha. I'll shove my agenda down your throat. You'll play or pay!!! viva muslim brotherhood!!! #The New World Order. i blamed the rich, yet 7 of the top 10 riches politicians are Dems, haha...Banks control the world and fund both sides of wars...misdirection, slight of hand, you swallowed hook, line and sinker. "Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not."
-B Hussein
Big daddy government does not need more revenue. Big Daddy Government needs to cut the insane spending!
Your right. I vote to cut congresses pay, first. They don't do anything anyway.
I think this sends the message that not just the republicans would take the blame but also your so called president. We will see if he goes for the spending cuts but I have my reservations on that one.
Oh my God, did they say most Americans approve of cutting ENTITLEMENTS? Say it ain't so, what's going to happen to all of the liberals now? Maybe one less free cell phone, maybe can't buy liquor or go to strip clubs with your welfare cards, the world is coming to an end. You can't take away the numerous freebies or the liberals might lose a few votes. Obama, the liberal biased media and most liberals have sold this disgusting entitlement mentality to where people won't work if given the chance. When we reward people for having kid after kid starting at age 15, and penalizing those who are working and paying taxes, it's going to backfire. Just like our idiot if office mandating that he won't sign anything unless the wealthy pay more. That's fine, I already pay 37%; but the total revenue realized from raising taxes on a select few won't amount to even a rounding error. Obama is like a 20 year old girl with her rich sugar daddy's no limit credit card.
The liberal biased media is already working 24/7 trying to place blame on the GOP if we go over the fiscal cliff. In actuality Obama would love this to happen, as all taxes will go up and he can then blame the GOP. Looks like that's not going to happen now, as the GOP is saying we'll raise taxes, but Mr. President what are you going to cut.
I say raise the eligibility age to 100 for Social Security and Medicare! That way Washington Republicans will be flush with money they can funnel to their wealthy friends (and themselves!). Kill off the elderly poor for fun and profit.
OMG. Stan, you are extremely ignorant. Go play with your Barbie and Ken.
Every agument in the medicare, and social security blames congress for stealing money from them and note adjusting the funding. Small increases in the funding would make a world of difference. Our wonderful congressmen for the past 30+ years, have been kicking the hard choices down the road. A one percent change in funding social security, years ago, would have fixed it. Now, the GOP machine gets all hot about what it will cost to continue the program.
Lets start these smart cuts to federal programs, with a slam dunk in congressional compensations. Make retirement reflect how long these politicians are holding us hostage for their poor work. Medicare is good enough for the rest of us, them too. Who the hell are these special people that they deserve a special health care plan just for them? Maybe if they had to depend on the program that needs to be cut, they would act differently.
We still need to get rid of these greedy, bigoted, union busting T Publicans. They prove every time they speak, how out of touch they are with us 99%.
sounds like a great way to increase poverty
The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, 'merely a fool'. It is far less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their President.
Let me try to understand something, specifically, the thought of cutting Social Security.
Explain that to me. We, the people, pay into Social Security, so why are republicans trying to cut money from something that is not right?
Willie-359171, Obama has already cut social security with his Obamacare. You are right. It shouldn't be cut. It shouldn't be in the hands of our government either. We should be able to control our social security and pass it on to our heirs when we die.
1) In the 1960's the Dems switched to a "unified budget" so they could spend SS money on other programs.
2) The politicians promised benefits far beyond what the average person ever paid in
3) Now SS is starting to have major red ink, as all the boomers retire. 2/3's of all spending - and all the actual cash taken in - goes to SS, Medicare, & military retirements. And that amount is going up rapidly as the number of retirees to workers grows.
4) SS Disability will go broke in about 3 years, and at current T-bill returns the full SS program will have spent all its reserves and be broke in 10 years - and that doesn't even consider that all other spending will be taken away to cover SS red ink.
Yeah, higher rates on somebody else and cuts to somebody else's program ...
Question:
Where does the Government get the money to pay for these entitlements? (the gov doesn't earn money)
Don't you think it is time to cut off the programs and free loaders who are bleeding our gov and economy dry?
I am with the guy who wants to replace Congress entirely. Except for the fact one of my relatives might get selected, and boy would that ever be a disaster for the US, we could pick names at random out of phone books ( do they still exist?) in each Congressional district.
Let all the bush taxcuts expire then do a tax cut for 250,000 and down.
One change should be made to Social Security: Everybody should pay SS tax on 100% of their income.
Two changes should be made to Medicare: LOWER the elegibility age to 55 and have it pay 100%.
The first thing they need to do is cut their own "entitlements", implement term limits and pass a bill requiring a balanced budget. Then they need to close all the loop holes in the tax system and make a flat tax. Finally they need to close about half the military bases we have around the world and cut defense (what a joke that is) about in half. We are not "defending" the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq. BS on that.
federal income contributions act = FICA
contributions not taxes
Of course entitlements have to be cut! No one with any common accounting sense would think otherwise. Simply taxing the uber rich isn't going to do it. Even taxing the 50% of Americans that don't pay any taxes wouldn't do it either (though we really should do that!)
What BO is proposing just isn't enough money! It's time to look at the countries expenses, too...aka entitlements.
People there is no way you can borrow and spend your way out of debt.
Nor can we tax our way out. We have to cut our spending to match our income.
Do away with tax loop holes for everyone, and you won't need to raise taxes.
But reality is if you tax all our big corporations at 100% you still won't have enough money to cover our federal budget.
Tax them all you want but remember a business is in buisiness to make a profit. Every expense is added to the end product. Raise taxes and they raise their prices and who ends up paying the tax. We do.
Well said, Tether!
Only on small problem here. There is no proposal of any kind by the president to cut any spending. Please don't pretend that promises to get around to it or some kind of cuts that start in 10 years count. The cuts need to be done FIRST, no raise in the debt ceiling and then figure what type of tax increases to address and then ONLY if 100% goes to pay down the deficit and NOT for more spending and bigger government.
Of course that is an entirely different approach than Obama is taking but then why is anyone surprised. That's what the slimmest majority in history voted for, higher taxes on the middle class and rich so spending can be increased and bigger government that offers more payments for people not to be productive from those who are and an ever increasing anchor around the economic neck of the country.
Yep thats what leaderless government gets you.
I can't figure out what is more embarrasing, our Congress for refusing to support anything but what their major fundraisers want, or the voters that keep electing them while expecting them to change their behavior? Lunatic fringe, I know you're out there........
We vote for them because we don't want to live in a socialist state.
i suspect that there are other people more qualified and capable - aka able to think through the situation past how this is going to impact their donors or the radical parts of their electorate that are allowed to control the primary system that selects them as the "majority" choice for their party's candidacy leading up to the national election.
the biggest waste in are budget is those jerks running are country if we done are jobs like they do we would be fired they need to go