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Subscribe to RSSPresident Obama said he's willing to compromise, but it remains to be seen whether or not he will reject House Speaker John Boehner's back-up plan which would prevent tax hikes on those making less than $1 million. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
An overwhelming majority of Americans want Congress and the Obama White House to reach a deal featuring both tax increases and spending cuts to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, according to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Click here for full results from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll (pdf)
In fact, majorities of Democrats, Republicans and political independents each support such a deal.
Yet respondents are split over whether any kind of agreement can be reached, and nearly seven in 10 believe that the coming year will feature Democrats and Republicans in Congress showing little willingness to come to an agreement on important matters.
Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, says the public is sending this one-word message to Washington: compromise.
“Doing something trumps doing nothing,” Hart said.
Related: Boehner: 'Serious differences' separate GOP from Obama
The survey – conducted a month after November’s election – also shows a positive uptick in opinion toward President Barack Obama, and more negative views about defeated GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the Republican Party. The poll also finds that a majority of Americans now support gay marriage.
Fiscal cliff talks have stalled as 'serious differences' remain between both parties – and according to the latest NBC/WSJ poll the public wants an agreement, soon. Although both sides are still discussing ways to avoid the fiscal cliff, neither side is optimistic that they'll come to a resolution before Christmas. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
‘Hints of a thaw’
According to the poll, a combined 68 percent of Americans say that the fiscal cliff – the looming combination of tax increases and spending cuts set to take place at the beginning of next year if nothing is done – is either a “very serious” or “fairly serious” problem.
A similar two-thirds of respondents are willing to accept an increase in taxes or cuts in federal government programs they care about to reach an agreement to avoid the problem.
Asked another way, 65 percent say leaders in Congress should find a compromise to reduce 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.
NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss the latest developments in the fiscal negotiations between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.
By comparison, just 28 percent believe that leaders should stick to their traditional positions on the deficit – even if that means Congress goes over the fiscal cliff, triggering those automatic spending cuts and tax increases.
“There are hints of a thaw here, compared to previous data we’ve seen,” McInturff says.
Indeed, for the first time in the poll, a majority of Republicans (59 percent) want GOP leaders in the House and Senate to make compromises in order to gain consensus in the current budget debate.
Previously, in 2011, majorities of Republicans said they preferred GOP leaders to stick to their positions rather than make compromises.
And the percentage of Democrats who favor compromise on this question (70 percent) is now at an all-time high in the survey.
With Christmas less than two weeks away, the White House is faced with the same key question – Can House Speaker John Boehner deliver enough Republican votes for whatever debt deal he and President Barack Obama agree on. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
Who’s to blame if there isn’t a deal? Everyone
Yet the public is split – 48 percent of respondents are optimistic, and 48 percent are pessimistic – over whether Congress will be able to reach consensus to avoid the fiscal cliff. And another 69 percent believe that the next year on Capitol Hill will be marked by division and little willingness to compromise.
If there is no compromise on the fiscal cliff and the automatic tax increases and spending cuts go into effect at the beginning of next year, 24 percent say they will blame congressional Republicans more, while 19 percent will point the finger at Obama and congressional Democrats.
But a majority of respondents (56 percent) say they’ll blame both sides equally.
Still, twice as many Americans say they trust the president more in handling this fiscal situation (38 percent) than House Speaker John Boehner and the congressional Republicans (19 percent).
And significant majorities believe Obama holds a clear mandate from the election on issues related to this subject:
- 68 percent say he has a mandate on cutting taxes for families earning less than $250,000 per year
- 65 percent say he has a mandate on reducing the deficit by both increasing taxes on the wealthy and reducing federal spending
- And 59 percent say he has a mandate on eliminating the Bush-era tax cuts for household income over $250,000 a year.
Obama’s lift vs. the GOP’s decline
Speaking of Obama, the poll shows an uptick in his numbers after his victory in last month’s presidential election.
Fifty-three percent of adults approve of his overall job performance, and 49 percent approve of his handling of the economy – higher marks on these questions than at any time during the 2012 campaign.
Another 53 percent say they feel either “optimistic and confident” or “satisfied and hopeful” Obama will do a good job as president, which is up three points from Oct. 2012.
“Any president has a little bit of a lift heading into the first few months of any new term in office,” McInturff, the GOP pollster, says.
Thursday's "Gaggle" which includes Jackie Kucinich, Margie Omero, Perry Bacon and Bob Costa talk about the fiscal cliff negotiations.
But if Obama is getting a lift after the election, the Republican Party is seeing a further decline.
The GOP’s favorable/unfavorable rating in the poll now stands at 30 percent/45 percent (minus-15 points), which is down from 36 percent/43 percent (minus-7) right before the election.
That’s compared with the Democratic Party’s 44 percent/35 percent rating (plus-9 points).
What’s more, asked to give a word or short phrase to describe the Republican Party, 65 percent offered a negative comment, including more than half of Republicans.
Some of the responses: “Bad,” “weak,” “negative,” “uncompromising,” “need to work together,” “broken,” “disorganized” and “lost.”
By contrast, 37 percent gave negative descriptions of the Democratic Party, while 35 percent were positive.
“Republicans have gone off the image cliff,” says Hart, the Democratic pollster.
“Elections have consequences,” McInturff adds about the GOP. “And among those consequences is the cost of losing.”
The consequences of losing also exist for Romney, whom Obama defeated in November.
Romney’s favorable/unfavorable rating in the poll is 35 percent/44 percent (minus-9 points), down from his 43 percent/44 percent score (minus-1) before the election. Much of that drop comes from Republicans and conservatives.
Majority supports same-sex marriage
Finally, for the first time ever in the NBC/WSJ poll, a majority of respondents – 51 percent – support same-sex marriage.
That percentage in support is up from 30 percent in 2004, 41 percent in 2009 and 49 percent in March 2012, demonstrating how quickly public opinion on this issue has changed in just eight years.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Dec. 6-9 of 1,000 adults (including 300 cell phone-only respondents), and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.
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Its shamefull and difficult to watch the level of greed, self serving, and refusal to co-operate , that we have on our federal level.
Have we failed to take care of our politicians? Dont they vote themselves raises , and give themselves special insurances, and retirement plans?
Apparantly they believe it is better to to sit back and do nothing, while everything fails around us, and they collect thier paychecks.
It looks a lot more like deliberate sabotage to our economy , and refusal to do their jobs. Any politician who is not trying to reach a reasonable agreement supported by their constituents on this very important issue, needs to be removed from office through impeachment ASAP.
Reach a damn agreement allready.
Look at the picture of Boehner. He looks intoxicated, very red faced. How can he be productive if he is hammered ?
Wonder if Obama is still a pot head??
Bush still is
NoCommon sense, and how do you know this for fact? Do you light up with him?
Joe, nbc did a cover of it two days ago. GW Bush was photographed smoking a joint.
NBC, boy, for sure I believe you now.
all it takes is a google joe. If you choose to hurl insults at me that's your perogative, but at least I claim substantive proof whereas you call me a liar with no precedent. In a Jeffersonian debate you'd have lost right there.
Compromise?
President Obama: Here is my plan what do you think?
Republicans: We like many parts of your plan but we would like to incorporate these ideas.
President Obama: So you don't want to compromise?
This is how it has been for almost 4 years. I don't think President Obama knows the definition of compromise
So if MSLSD is not reporting this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCJlk3gQzeQ
Who is to say what you are actually hearing is the entire truth and represents both sides of the equation? NBC News, the American Pravda.
What else have they omitted and outright lied about?
I watched a video of an interview yesterday on MSNBC and the MSNBC kept changing to Lean Forward then back to MSNBC.
first compromise....replace Boner, MyWayMcConnell,and CannotCantor. Then things can get moving.
right - in the wrong direction
Five weeks since the election and the elephants are still whining. Wahhh Wahhh. Grow up!
Do something Boehner. Prove that you're not Grover Norquist's little orange puppet. Make the deal. Then you and your crybaby friends can figure out how you're going to beat Hilary in 2016. Chris Christie? Fat chance.....he's either switching parties or going independent. He's done with you clowns. Hilary/Chuck Hagel in 2016. Bet your life on it.
Geez, I got the 12/12/12 concert for Sandy on. Where's Kid Rock and Ted Nugent? Didn't anyone invite them? Ha!
Nothing was done for New Orleans like this - a very racist concert obviously that should be protested
Where were they for Katrina?
no marcus - billions were spent in N.O. - just that - blah blah blah racist - you people are broken records
Come on' PC, it's me brother Marcus - I was being sarcastic here
Hurricane hits NY/NJ and they act like they're the first to get hit - a super storm
Happens like that all the time on the east coast and the world keeps going
Guessing NY/NJ must be special - better than the rest who've endured the hurricanes in the past
Marcus, because hurricanes have historically almost never landed in these regions first. The east coast is not built to withstand a scenario that usually never happens. Plus, did you see the damage to NYC subways and metro? And the idiots who keep building below sea level and then buying cheap levies shouldn't be helped. Suck it up you idiots get fair pay for stupidity when you know you are in hurricane alley.
Look at the picture of Pelosi. She looks intoxicated, very red faced. How can she be productive if she is hammered ?
She was not intoxicated. She is just nuts.
ENOUGH of this nonsense from everyone involved in the "fiscal cliff!" They all seem to forget who voted them into office, who they represent and that they are working on our dimes. This posturing only worries the working class Americans and they twist it all around to avoid being accountable for their own actions. I was never interested in politics, now I am disgusted by it and if I could figure out how to make a living at it I would become a political activist now, only to get rid of politicians who can't get the job done! It's time we took every goofball out of office and replaced them with someone who will actually work instead of posturing and threatening us.
Notice how the Reds make fun of Nancy Pelosi and Obama, but why don't we just think about how quiet LYIN' RYAN was for the multiple stimulus packages and wars (91% YES votes) when we had a budget surplus and were cleaning up out debt - under a DEM - Clinton. 1996-2000, we experienced surpluses and were paying off our national debt. THEN, Bush signed away $1.3 TRILLION in tax cuts which destroyed the surplus... this after ONE WEEK in office. And, a generous break given to millionaires. Most Americans got zero, $300 or $600. The millionaires received $165,000 as an AVERAGE tax rebate. Think Reds are for regular working Americans? The SECOND tax break was even MORE GENEROUS TO the top 1%. And, that's what the Repukicans are fighting for... how can anybody be so BLIND to their BS? The only thing this tacking cliffhanger is about is reversing the 36% tax rate to 39.6% which was what the rate was under Clinton - when we had prosperity... REMEMBER??
Just to be fair, Boehner is forever at the tanning salons and I'm sure that's one of the new taxes he is fighting. The real RED face should have been Dubya when he stood on an aircraft carrier, in 2003, with the huge banner that read "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" which referred to the war in Iraq. We all know OBAMA ended it, as he pledged, in 2011, but what a FOOL Bush must have felt like to have that image on youtube for the world to see.
Republicans are dumb as rocks please let us go over the cliff it will be great. Speaker of the House John Boehner won’t be reelected as most wont. Remember what just happened to you last month republicans out of touch.
tman, you have a very short memory. Remember 2010
tman, you don't get it. 1.6 trillion can't all come from the hated 2%. It will have to come from the other 51% that pay Federal taxes.
And, all you clowns lashing out at the DEMS must be Faux Noise deadheads who swallow whatever swill the right (wrong) wing devises and splashes out on Faux. BTW the ONLY reason we have a Red majority in the house is due to Gerrymandering (PHONY redistricting to favor a group). If Reds played fair by really stating exactly what they intend to do, there would be very few in either house of congress. The U.S. is NOT a "right-to-work" (country) because most Americans like the idea of Child Labor Laws, Minimum Wage, and other benefits accrued through Labor Unions which the Reds are deadset on busting. Note that every state that has become "right-to-work" (without labor rights) has been accomplished by Red legislatures and Red governors. Why don't we put it up for vote by the people? Because it would NEVER be allowed - such as the vote OVERTURNING those phony "Right-to-work: laws in Wisconsin by the VOTERS. Unfortunately, we now have 24 states that are RTW, but maybe the voters will express their dislike of NO minimum wage, NO labor board, etc.
This is why the Reds do everything to suppress the vote - their "values" clearly do NOT appeal to the vast majority of Americans and it is consistently reflected in polls and voting turnout alike!! That's why OBAMA won and the DEMS took seats in the senate. Red candidates who open their mouths and tell us truly what the Red objectives (i.e. the nuts talking about "legitimate rape" or women made pregant by rape by "God's will") keep losing elections... get the message YET?
Talking about "clowns" Harry, your'e a screwed up mess!! Every state should be a right to work state. Why should someone be forced into paying a union for a job. What if companies forced employees to pay them monthly.
And, Joe - you're a steaming pile! If employees do not want to join unions, they do not get union salaries and are not represented by the union. Americans should have a right to choose - not one standard to benefit corporations... that's where we will go, if RTW becomes law and affects enough people. After eliminating unions, we can watch employers pay whatever they want - which means no minimum wage or overtime to a lot of Americans. We had plenty of unions throughout the last century and the salary for the 98% only became STAGNANT with the Reagan tax cuts (for the rich) while income has risen well over 250% for the top 1%. In 2011 alone, 93% of the wealth created in the U.S. went to the top 1%. Crushing the unions which are the only major donor groups for Dems is the objective of the Reds by passing these unfair laws. Notice with many new laws passed by Red legislatures they try to ensure there is an addendum with each law requiring a super-majority of 60% (or more) to overturn them. Doesn't it seem obvious?
FACT: Under the EIGHT YEARS of the Clinton administration (22.3 Milion) MORE JOBS were created than in TWENTY years of Reagan/Bush/Bush. And, Obama created more jobs in FOUR YEARS than Bush in EIGHT!
I think we should let teachers/cop/firefighters and other GOVERMENT employees enjoy the American way which allows THEM the CHOICE of unions rather than the Reds outlawing them. It's blantantly clear how they don't serve the people... except those at the top.
One track minds. The word is compromise! Do both parties understand this word. It quite obvious they are in another world. Again, they are not listening to the people. Ladies and Gentlemen no-one wants to see taxes going up though Clinton when he was President was able to get the Speaker Of The House and Republicans to work collectively together to raise taxes to balance the budget. Once the budget was balanced taxes came down. There are a number of concerns that need to be addressed, but what gets me they have had four years to address this and many issues and nothing has been done. Give me a break. Alright kids it's time to get your act together and act like grown ups. I can tell you these individuals wouldn't last long in the business world. In fact they would be fired. I have seen no business plan from either party that has any substance. You can't run a government without it. We the people elected you to represent us, but it is quite obvious your really not taking into consideration what impact this will have on America if we don't have something in place by December 31st.
Remember, this will not only have an impact here, but around the world. Countires are looking at us laughing behind our backs seeing that we can't make business decisions. Hence, they will do business with other countries because of our weaknesses. Our forefathers are laughing in their graves at us.
Ladies and gentlemen of the senate, congress, and president is now the time to show the world what America is about by coming together and being leaders instead of followers. I'm ashamed of both parties. It's time to come down off of your high horses before it's to late.
As usual feisty dummy head is talking the liberal double standard...for some reason the fact that the republicans in the congress were voted in again to stop the irresponsible spending of the idiot in chief in the white house doesn't matter ...oh no....Obama won so he can do what he wants...how dumb are you? He can work with the congress and slow the spending or there shouldn't be any deal. Obviously feisty dumbhead doesn't believe in only spending money you have ...there are enough gimmees for you without spending it all dummy...and don't be so sure that dems will get anything in 2014..not if Obama keeps doing the job he's doing..Oh..by the way...did you know that Obama couldn't even pronounce corpsman correctly...how is that? Of course he's the same president that said there were 57 states...he's SO brilliant...ha,ha,ha..he's a lightweight.
Ok Boner and Obambi, it's time to whine like Boner and shoot baskets like Obambi and stop the squirt gun fights and consider for just one second--WE THE PEOPLE!
How odd....liberal spin on NBC. Where are those spending cuts that will make a difference??? Another broken promise???
Yeah what about the balanced approach?
Fair & Balanced? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I dont see any of the Pub leadership stepping up to say lets cut entitlements for the wealthy who also draw them but dont need them. Dont see the Pubs saying lets tax equitably by taxing all income rather than capping payroll tax. Dont see the Pubs saying lets cut the tax breaks the rich can access and enjoy like company cars, planes, boats, residences. They just want to cut benefits to working poor, vets and elderly.
Jager, not sure where you dreamed up all this B.S. But you seem to be just another nut job Liberal who will never know success or failure.
Better watch what yer saying there Joe to Mr. Jager. He might just be someone you don't want to cross or you might git a visit from the midnight riders, which obviously you as a died in the wool Republirat haven't got a clue about having lived yer life tied to Momma's apron strings. WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!
Doc, is that a threat? If it is , I guarantee you that I will find out where you live.
Tea-Publicans targeted spending cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and that Republicans would need to accept targeted increases in tax rates.
POLITICIANS ARE LYING TO THE PEOPLE!!!!
UNDER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION!!!!
The 2004 deficit reached $415 billion, a record. Still, its real size is masked by the fact that Bush has shifted $150 billion from the Social Security trust fund in order to make the shortfall look smaller. It's like pretending you're richer when you move money from one pocket to another. Both sums have to be repaid, so the real amount borrowed is the $415 billion nominal deficit plus the $150 billion from Social Security or $565,000,000,000 billion.
This is why Social Security will go broke!!!!
In 1980, the top 20% of income earners captured 43.7% of all national income. By 1992, at the end of the first Bush administration, their share had risen to 46.9%. Today it is over 49%. Meanwhile, the lowest four fifths of all income earners have seen their share of national income decline. The lowest quintiles share has shrunk from 4.2% to 3.5%. The second lowest quintile has fallen from 10.2% to 8.8%. The middle quintile has seen its share fall from 16.8% to 14.8%. And the second highest quintile has suffered a decline from 25.0% to 23.3%. It is empirically the case that the rich are getting richer while everyone else is getting poorer.
The problem this holds for national economic management is that the rich consume a much lower percentage of their income than do those who are not rich. How many cars can you drive at one time, anyway? The rich are also the most likely to spend what money they do on foreign luxury goods, take foreign vacations, make investments in foreign countries, or just let the money sit in the bank.
The poor, working, and middle classes, on the other hand, spend virtually everything they earn. The car needs new tires, the kids need new shoes, the washing machine needs fixing, there two months behind on the rent and three months behind on the credit cards. In all of these ways, income shifted through the tax code to middle and lower quintile earners is quickly spent while income shifted to the wealthy is not. This is not class warfare. It is Economics 101.
It is personal consumption spending that generates 67% of GDP. If more of the nations income goes to those who do not consume its output, while those who do consume it have less and less income, a structural shortfall emerges where there is simply not enough purchasing power to sustain GDP. GDP will ratchet steadily downward in mirror image to the rate at which national income is transferred upward.
The only recourse is for the government to step in to pump up demand. This is the role the deficits play in sustaining GDP. This is why deficits exploded under Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II, all of whom cut taxes on the rich, but declined under Clinton who raised them. Rising public deficits are necessary in fact, indispensable to sustaining GDP because so much of the nation’s wealth has been transferred from those who, as a matter of necessity, spend it to those who, as a matter of taste, do not.
Supply side economics (and that includes Bushes ill-disguised variant) rests on the repeatedly disproved faith that investment and prosperity are caused by giving ever more of the nation’s wealth to the already wealthy. As long as this lunacy continues to drive tax policy, the government will keep expanding federal deficits. Eventually, possibly soon, this will cause a collapse of the dollar that can only be reversed by raising interest rates. But that will explode the carrying costs on the by-then mammoth debts, vitiating private sector investment. And that will kill all future prospects of meaningful growth.
This is the essence of the Bush budget deficit death spiral. To be sure, the debts are an unequalled bonanza for those few who lend the money, for they get to do so at ever-higher rates of interest. But it is a death sentence for all the rest of the economy.
Where it the Obama / democrat budget? NO budget in almost 4 years.
Is McConnell's #1 goal to make Obama a 2 term president?
Or will he actually do his job this term?
how does it feel to have the president and senate and still cant o sh*t
McConnell is like unto a Missouri Mule. Yah hit em real hard the first time to get his attention. The second clobber is to get him pointed in the right DIRECTION, and the third one gets 'em movin that way! Pure and simple ~ bigger IDIOT ~ BIGGER HAMMER, Louisville Slugger (TED Williams MODEL 56 ouncer) or a Blackjack with a lead filling about 12' long!
It's both sides screwing with America - equally
Neither is serious - just talk, smoke and mirrors
Marcus STFU ~ Obama is a very clever fellow and I know what he is doin'!! It's a cat and mouse game and Ol' Bonner ain't gonna see the one that beans him when it comes outa left field at 100mph! The American voter is an idiot and we are lucky to have the Big O! He's the only smart Prez we've had since JFK!
DOC, once you come down off your high, get back to us.
You may be one of the bigger "ignorants" to ever be on this post DOC.
Your post above and it's blindness - unfathomable
I hope your Christmas shopping is going well
Boehner is now negotiating with himself in that he can't come up with something the tea party gang will accept. If he thinks he has a serious proposal he should vote on it. At the very least he needs to have the House vote on the WH proposal. This running back and saying my side will not support this while the naysayers remain anonymous is not acceptable.
The country is going to drown in debt. If we do not fix the deficit now, there will be no entitlements for the future.
You sound hysterical Kevin~get a friggin grip and I don't mean a Samsonite!
How long has the US been in debt?
Hint: We were in debt to the French for the Revolutionary War...
Bonehead Boner is a most tiresome and SAD SACK lookin' guy I've seen in a long time. He has that Basset HOUND DAWG look town to a T. I suspect several things about his personality and character which I won't write here, but he is classic case for ol' Sigmund to unravel!
and obama looks like urkle - whats your point?
we know where yer point is: on top of yer head, boy!
Yo Mama said so
Critical times hard to deal with, will be here.
John Boehner should stand in front of Congress as well as the American People and explain the chart on the linked page below: WHO are the real conservatives and WHO are the ones that got us in this fiscal mess?
http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
Cool chart and lots of other links, too! These are based on HISTORICAL FACTS and cannot be manipulated, but as was said in a previous post, Bush shifted $150 BILLION in one year alone to make his books look better. This is part of what I've mentioned on previous posts... Social Security has a $2.6 TRILLION surplus and everybody who PAID into it should be getting their COMPLETE benefits - Hands OFF Boehner! Even if the account is filled with IOUs, Americans have paid into it for years and do NOT need "privatization" which is nothing more than handing control to hedge fund managers and investors. THEY OWE US for saving their collective asses when we should have let them lose their shirts.
Many people don't know this, but to ensure we didn't experience another real stock market crash guidelines were passed to SHUT DOWN the stock market so that a fever could be contained. Isn't it time all the bankers and hedge fund investors who "lost" that money were taken to court for cheating the American public? Why don't we hear about ANYBODY going to jail?? It was a major ripoff and the American people deserve to have money spent on Americans instead of enriching the military industrial complex which is milking us dry.
Let's start the cuts by closing one or two HUNDRED of our 373 military bases around the world. Bring those people home and maybe they can help with our surplus jobs that don't have properly trained Americans. Take them off the military payrolls early and re-introduce them to the private sector while putting skilled professionals that are Americans to work simulataneously. One reasonable idea to cut military spending and putting our people to work.
I'm moving to canada when I finish up my doctorate. It might be colder, but it's filled with nicer, smarter people, and it has all the same freedoms the U.S.A used to stand for. Plus, no one's going to war with Canada. It'd be like fighting Russia in Siberia at the right times of the year. Plus, it's in the nuclear club. Also, it's environmentally friendly!
well get the hell out
Not until I'm done sucking up the college education morons like you took for granted. The reality is the U.S. is doomed unless the people march on washington; take all the top businessmen, economists, and engineers from around the country, toss out the current congress, and hold a gun to the heads of said experts to produce a long term return path to partial industry and fiscal responsibility. And it won't happen because as I've grown up learning, americans are worthless, self-righteous, arrogant, lazy pieces of societal garbage almost entirely across the board.
Birds the word~doesn't yah spell it with a T on dah front ub yer handle?
Well if we can get the Dumbocrats off of welfare that have two arms and two legs, that CAN WORK and HAVE THE ATTITUDE that they dont have to work, it might help the Deficit. But we all know, the Kenyan wont do that for the DUMBOCRAT PARTY. Take us to a Socialist country, please. I want to LMAO. I want to see those who have NEVER WORKED on the streets, stealing, creating more crime. I dont mind helping those who have worked and are layed off. But those that have never worked and never intend to. I am sorry I am sick of it. I dont feel like paying higher taxes because of those ATTITUDE People. Sorry, I am not for it.
Rick, the reality is a great deal of those on welfare would like to work, but no one's hiring. If you want companies to hire, you need to increase private sector demand for products to spark need for more production which would result in hiring. It's not that those on welfare don't want to work. It's that they can't.
bull@!$%# patrick
Pat is dat as in dah which gender is it???
Sorry pat that was another Pat I was responding to not you #93!
Patrick,and you really believe that? In the best of economic times unemployment is around 5.5%, which is aprox. 6 million people. These numbers I'm sure have grown. Thats 6-7 million people that the tax payer has to continually support.
bird I spent enough time on the streets of New York City and San Francisco to know. People would love to work, but no one is hiring and the required education for top end jobs isn't free. You arrogant fools created a competitive system that forgot the limitations of humans. If you have nothing but stars running an organization, elitism grows like a weed, destroying everything. You will all collapse under your partisan arrogance. You're all political addicts with no sense of reality. You can't be helped until you hit rock bottom.
Joe, the best economic times are during surges of new hiring when consumer confidence skyrockets and everyone takes out credit. Theoretically you could reduce unemployment to 1% or less if you got a large enough market boom, but sadly the next technological boom is the quantum or molecular computer, and only those with both computer programming and quantum physics knowledge will be able to fill positions for jobs surrounding that technology. We are reaching the limits of a type 0 civilization. Unless solar and fusion energy take off, there won't be another market boom for a while, and thanks to the Koch brothers, consumer confidence in solar is dead. If anyone had bothered to check why solyndra failed, it was coordinated short sails made all by people who invest in big oil and coal companies. Exxon had representatives who collectively owned 12% of solyndra's stocks. The financial market has simply created more elitist corruption where no one wants to hire and no one wants to give up anything. It will collapse on itself given enough time.
Patrick, sad to be you. Really deep diving with that rant. Sounds important though but useless.
FACT: Most of the Red states who vote against extending unemployment, welfare, and other social benefits are the same states that get more federal tax money sent to them than they contribute. In other words, the blue (Dem) states are the ones who pay extra taxes so Repub states keep receiving more money than they contribute so that means we would be cutting off benefits to a helluva lot of Repub voters. Maybe that might open their eyes to the Reds being the party of the Rich and Ready for war. I see Obama getting NATO involved and AVOIDING involving the U.S. Any questions?
Joe, spend two years as a business/econ double major at any good business college and then tell me I'm wrong. Keynesian economics cannot self-sustain. the current crop of economists are looking at both parties and telling them they're full of garbage.