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PUBLISHED 2:29 p.m. ET -- President Barack Obama told his House Democratic colleagues that he would continue to challenge Republicans on how to best replace the impending sweeping spending cuts known as the "sequester."
Speaking at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Leesburg, Va., Obama said he wants to create an alternative to the sequester that includes some entitlement reforms but also more revenue through ending loopholes and deductions for the wealthiest earners, a point of disagreement with GOP lawmakers.
“I am prepared, eager and anxious to do a big deal, a big package that ends this governance by crisis,” he told the crowd.
Obama decried Republicans, who, he said, recognize “that the sequester is a bad idea, but what they've suggested is that the only way to replace it now is for us to cut Social Security, cut Medicare and not close a single loophole, not raise any additional revenue from the wealthiest Americans or corporations who have a lot of lawyers and accounts.”
While the president seemed to lament the lack of communication between himself and House Republicans, neither side has indicated that they negotiating in public or private. Earlier Thursday, White House press secretary Jay Carney lambasted House Speaker John Boehner’s reported offer, which includes cuts to Medicare premiums and federal pension programs, as “terrible.”
At the issues conference, Obama said he was steeling himself for another philosophical fight over cuts with the Republicans.
“I have to tell you, if that's an argument that they want to have before the court of public opinion, that is an argument I'm more than willing to engage in,” he said to applause.
But disagreements might not just be limited to the Republican side, the president added, saying he’s prepared to clash with fellow Democrats on key issues like immigration and gun safety.
“There will be times where you guys are mad at me, and I'll occasionally read about it,” he said.
Despite any such intra-party bickering, the president said he still believed Democrats would be in a good position in 2014 to retake the House of Representatives.
“As a by-product of doing that good work and keeping that focus, I would expect that Nancy Pelosi's going to be speaker again pretty soon,” the President concluded his remarks with, as the crowd erupted in cheers for their leader.
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Let's take a simple but clear look at two periods in our post-WWII economic era:
1945-80: The greatest middle class and industrial production developed making about all products we needed had nothing to do with Trickle Down Economics. Post-high school college and junior college/trades school education and medical care were very cheap compared to now as those have become the most out of control costs the last couple decades. Yes at the end of that period inflation got much higher, but so did the interest you made on CDs (like 10% if you are old enough to remember) and even basic saving accounts at banks (like 5%).
1981-present: Repubs have tried to force Trickle Down Economics over and over and look where we are compared to the best years in the period above. So what are the new options if you don't take this or the approaches Truman-Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon-Ford-Carter used from 1945 - 1980? Looks like going back to what worked then is better than the current repub policy of continuing and pushing down Trickle Down Economics so the rich get more tax breaks and the middle and working classes hope the rich create jobs with their bigger tax breaks.
Never heard of the Dot.com boom??? And what of 47% of people on food stamps now. Try working for a living.
Go President Obama!, ...Keep after those nasty GOP/Tea Party fools!, ...You have given Americans hope again!
hope for what?
Outstanding! One would think that quote would be common sense...but in conservative circles; that makes no sense.
Obama is doing an excellent job of keeping pressure on the GOP......our spending to GDP is too high, therefore, we can do one of two things.....reduce spending (that is the Republican mantra) but by doing that you then shrink GDP....or you increase GDP thereby reducing the percentage that is being spent (what the Dems would like to do). The GOP claims to be business savvy......but what business increases their market share by advertising and investing LESS?!? Obviously none.....or at least no businesses that actually want to survive.
I never quite understood why business loved the GOP so much (especially small business) because their plans of shrinking the economy is basically sticking a knife into their torso and twisting (sorry for the dark metaphor...but that's what it is).
The latest GDP numbers show exactly what we mean.....we had a 0.1% contraction in GDP in q4 of 2012. Not because of faltering private industry (that actually grew by nearly 3%)....it was a reduction in government spending that did it. By the way...this is exactly the reason why the right wing media isn't hammering the Obama Administration for it; it runs completely contrary to their narrative.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/30/us-usa-economy-idUSBRE90T07520130130
American Girl
Are you that shallow ????????? I knew if I searched toady's MSNBC ( My Socialist News Broadcasting Co) a news story that had OB's name in the by line, that you would throw in your mindless drivel about something well over your pay grade.
OB , and the dems agree to a sequester in aug. of 2011 .After the first credit down grade in US history, only Now two years later OB what to lead !!! With unemployment up to 7.0 soon to be 8 percent again , and ags prices escalating towards $4 , less $$ in your pay checks ( if you actually work) And you lemming are still paying no attention to the man behind the curtain !!
Dorthy ....Dorothy wake up Dorothy ... those monkeys don't really fly. And OB ant the wizard
Ed,
It is pretty pathetic to be calling out the intelligence of someone else while your statement itself is riddled with misspellings, grammatical errors, and wrong-headed statistics.
Obama is a con man. A liar and a cheat, not to be trusted, at all. The sequester was his idea when they had budget cuts promised but not yet agreed to......this is not about revenue and is only about living up to past commitments to cut spending, which is horrendously out of control. I am fed up with this guy saying how willing he is to do this or that when the truth is it is all lip service and he means none of it. Obama is the most dishonest person ever to hold the presidency and we are all to suffer dearly because of him.
Blah, blah, blah.....same song, different station. You'd think as big of a "lie" and "cheat" as this guy was, he wouldn't have 60% approval ratings and majority support on every major legislative marker on his agenda.
Sorry Steve, you folks have failed to convince people. Somehow making hyperbolic statements (like Obama is the most dishonest person) without any argument to back it up doesn't fly with most. What a shocker.......
My guess is you'll reply with even more hyperbolic b.s. and rant and rave about how somehow YOU know more than I do.....but then fail to provide evidence that is convincing.
Speaking with you folks is really quite easy because you all do the exact same thing.
try watching something other than NBC to get your news. Obama lies about everything, he never does anything other than campaign and try to degrade republicans. He makes speeches all the time where he says how he is willing to listen to others, willing to act on this or that, but he never does. It's all game playing to get political advantage. He has run up the national debt by 6 trillion dollars and does not give a damn. His great Obamacare is going to ruin healthcare in this country. It is already getting more expensive by leaps and bounds and care will degrade. The guy came to office saying he would unite America, but there has been nothing but great conflict and division in America like nothing we have seen since the civil war.
Steve,
Thank you again for proving my point......statement after statement and ZERO in terms of evidence or support of your talking points.
It really is quite amazing things are so cut and dry (as you think) and STILL Obama is at 60% approval and the congressional GOP hovers around 25%.
You are like a team losing by 35 points in a game and blaming it on the refs or saying the other team is cheating. Good Lord, we figured out in middle school that excuses like that are hollow and really, really lame.
You people must be dumb as a stick if you supposedly have all this clarity on your side, but, you can't convince anybody that you're right. Simply saying the other side is duped or brainwashed simply ain't working for you.
Did he lie about cutting the deficit in half during his first term? Did he lie about keeping unemployment under 8% if his stimulus was passed? Did he lie about Benghazi events? Did his political ads lie about Romney? Did he lie about keeping your current health plan if his health plan was passed? Did he lie about having the most open administration on record? Where are the truths?
Conservatism is dead. Face it, you lost. Obama has done all he can in the face of conservative government haters. You will all be voted out in 2014 and we can get back to the business of running a country not an ideology.
In 2008 all the DEMS said 'Oh, look the REPUBs are dead & done'. In 2010, that wasn't being being said, or at least I could not hear it with Nancy crying soo loud.
Don't you folks get it, political parties are the undead. You can't kill them, ever. Just don't let them get their fangs in you.
Liberals when are you going to get off your knees, grow a couple, and stop allowing yourselves to be played as fools?
You got your "revenue" HIKE Obama(and as yet NO BUDGET, and NO CUTS), oh yeah, I forgot the line stopped at $400K, and their is all that UNTAPPED revenue that all those "evil rich" who make $250K, that are not being punished for not throwing into your "bottomless" pot.
Forget the FACT that the "sequester" was Obama's idea. Yesterday, a cavalcade of Democrat leaders, stood before micro-phones SPEWING the usual liberal B/S that we have heard since Democrats began flapping the collective jaws.
Schools will lose funding for lunches and children will starve to death. Grandmothers will lose their Social Security and will be force to stand on freeway off ramps, holding signs saying "will work for food".
One even claimed that funding for medicine for AIDS victims will end. And not just AIDS victims, MINORITY AIDS VICTIMS, just to throw the "race card" into the mix, of the devastation that will happen because of the EVIL REPUBLICANS.
Because of the "sequester", children, grandmothers, puppies and kittens will starve in the streets, because the evil Republicans don't care.
Democrats "leaders" are allowed to go before the lame steam media, spewing lies, claims of "victims" even before the "sequester" is enacted, without PROOF that any of these specific "entitlements" are targeted.
And the "uninformed voters", the liberal base, the liberals who comment on MSN, accept it all as "gospel", just because it came out of the mouth of someone with a (D) after their name.
I am to the point now where I say "Let it happen." If that's what it takes for serious cuts to occur, let it happen. The days of both parties playing Santa Claus are over.
Dont touch their millions and billions they need trillions.
Try earning, look it up, money yourself. Have you no pride in yourself?
you truly do have an idiot running your country...
roflmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
if that's the cream of the crop...???????? your screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the fact that liberals continue to attack the GOP. I did not vote for Oblamer (either time) and I am not a registered Republican. 48% of the electorate (in '12) were against another term for Obama. They were not all Republicans. I think the Republicans have become lame and useless (not as lame as dems). Time to replace the GOP with something more for conservatives in this country. I think that's exactly what's coming next. Also, to read many of these posts, if you did not vote for Obama you must be a 1% er. LOL Wow, we got allot of them in this country. So go ahead, focus on the Republicans and the very rich while the rest of us take back our country.
@vik2112. Finally someone else has realized what I have mentioned more than once. The GOP are, to put it bluntly, LOSERS AND LIARS.
First: LOSERS. Twice, first against McCain, and then against Romney, they LOST the elections for the oval office. Therefore, the term LOSERS does apply to the GOP and their low informed base people.
Second: LIARS. They, the GOP, promised every American that Obama would be a one term President. Well, he is starting his SECOND term. Therefore, the term LIARS does apply to the GOP.
As an Independent, I did vote for Obama, holding my nose while I did so. The alternative was Romney, along with the tried, old, and failed policies that he would push. The GOP is not for the everyday working people, they are for the uber rich, the top 2%.
I guess the low informed base thinks those 2% will elevate them to positions of great wealth if they just give them the chance to do so. Sorry, you are making them Kings, and you, along with the rest of us will be part of the Serfs.
Prove me wrong if you don't believe it. Plain and simple.
Those evil 2%. The hatred for the "rich" is kind of pathetic. Don't hate, go make your own wealth. That's what the country once was. That has been eroded by people with attitudes like you. I have much more of an issue with the bottom 50% in this country than I do the top 2%. You are definitely a liberal. Having to call others who don't share your view "low informed". Blame and label. Obama is the master of that. BTW - my only king is Jesus Christ.
BRAVO!
Cut federal pensions? How dare you? There will be no cuts in any government pay programs as they have earned that right with their stellar service the country. What a joke. Pensions are EXACTLY what should be cut as they are nothing more than welfare programs for do nothings that were set up by the very people that recieie the benefits.
Damn straight. Hear about Rahm in Illinios ? That loser wants tp put all of their medical liabilities for retired gov't workers on the Obamacare exchanges because they do not have the money to pay contacts they agreed to. Liberals ! So the lame ass state of Ill wants the other 49 to help them. Ca, NY are next. Way to go labor unions and corrupt democrats.
Dr logic - Please show me which lie you and your fellow liberals with your hand out for Government cheese disagree with?
Lies During Fourth Year
“The sequester is not something that I’ve proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed.”
Politifact.com
“Mitt Romney raised nursing home fees eight times.”
Politifact.com
“Mitt Romney called the Arizona law a model for the nation.”
Politifact.com
“Planned Parenthood provides mammograms”
Spero News
“We got back every dime we used to rescue the financial system”
cbsnews.com
Benghazi violence was caused by an internet video & demonstrations
State Department
“Mitt Romney Plans to fire Big Bird”
Politifact.com
“Under Gov. Romney’s definition … Donald Trump is a small business.”
politifact.com
Because of Obamacare, “over the last two years, health care premiums have gone up — it’s true — but they’ve gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years.”
politifact.com
“I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration”
abcnews.com
Romney and Ryan will gut pell grants for low-income college students.
Factcheck.org
My budget will cut the deficit by $4 Trillion over 10 years.
Factcheck.org
“I am told that Governor Romney’s new running mate, Paul Ryan, might be around Iowa the next few days,” he said while in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “He is one of the leaders of Congress standing in the way. So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities.”
House passed bill on August 2, 2012 (Paul Ryan voted yes)
The American automobile industry has come roaring back…So now I want to say what we did with the auto industry, we can do it in manufacturing across America. Let’s make sure advanced, high-tech manufacturing jobs take root here, not in China. And that means supporting investment here. Governor Romney … invested in companies that were called ‘pioneers’ of outsourcing. I don’t want to outsource. I want to insource.
Forbes- Outsourcer-In-Chief: Obama Of General Motors
“You Didn’t Build that”
A few examples
Lies During Third Year
I will walk on that picket line with you, if workers are denied the right to bargain.
Youtube
In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama said that American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years.
www.breitbart.com
I’ve done more for Israel’s security than any President ever
Obama aided Islamic Extremists take over of Egypt/ Libya – Weapons pour into Gaza
Virtually every Senate Republican voted against the tax cut last week
Examiner
“Every idea that we’ve put forward are ones that traditionally have been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.”
Like Raising taxes?
Obama met highly qualified out of work teacher Robert Baroz
He wasn’t out of work and Obama never met him.
GOP Responsible for Obama Jobs Bill Not Passing
Dems Rejected Jobs Bill
You have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren’t sold is not the problem
Gallup Poll: Only 69%
These are obligations that the United States has taken on in the past. Congress has run up the credit card, and we now have an obligation to pay our bills.
Looks like it’s been incurred mostly in the years of Obama
Jobs Bill Paid for
Seems not so much Paid for
Then you’ve got their(GOP)which is dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance
Barack Obama, campaiging in Asheville, NC, 10/17/11
I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.
American.com
USA producing more oil than ever before
Petroleum Insights
Fence between US and Mexico is “Practically Complete”
Department of Homeland Security says 5%
Rich doesn’t pay their fair share.
National Taxpayers Union
Mitt Romney would deny gay people the right to adopt children.
Cnn Interview
@oreo, can you prove this isn't a lie? The "trickle down" will produce jobs for the American people. So said Ronald Hussian Reagan.
Where are those jobs at? Overseas, not doubt as they are not here.
So Please show me which lie you and your fellow regressives,with your hand out for more control over women reproduction rights disagree with? Should I add the "family values" that Senator diaper boy Vitter followed when he was hook up with hookers?
Need more be said?
My hand is not out for more control over women reproduction rights, I just don't want to pay for your ignorant decisions and life style. Show me where I am supposed to pay for your choices and life style.
Average unemployment rate of 5.2% during the 8 years Clinton was in office.
Average unemployment rate of 5.3% during the 8 years Bush2 was in office.
Average unemployment rate of 9.0% during the 4 years Obama has been in office.
The problem seems to be Obamanomics. We had much lower unemployment rates with Reaganomics.
Sally - I didn't think so. When you can't win the debate change the topic, nice try. Who sent the jobs over seas?? CLINTON! Let's see hooking up with hookers or getting BJ's while president?? Nice try.
Son - What of the baby's rights?? Because you are a killer with out a gun makes it right?
Average is irrelevant. Unemployment rate doubled under Bush.
@peter,
Why do an average, oh yeah thats right because it makes your guy bush numbers look good.
You can't hide the FACTS dummy, unemployment double under bush, started at 4% when he took office and he left office around 8%. But your dumb a$$ gonna try and spin it by saying "Oh look at the Average". Man please,
I mean who the hell are you trying to convince anyway with that lame comment. The Election is Over, Obama WON!! Suck it up loser!!
Question: How many times over the past four years have exploitative liberal journalists and Democratic leaders rushed to pin random acts of violence on the tea party, Republicans, Fox News and conservative talk radio?
Answer: Nearly a dozen times, including the 2009 massacre of three Pittsburgh police officers (which lib journos falsely blamed on Fox News, Glenn Beck and the “heated, apocalyptic rhetoric of the anti-Obama forces”); the 2009 suicide insurance scam/murder hoax of Kentucky census worker Bill Sparkman (which New York magazine falsely blamed on Rush Limbaugh, “conservative media personalities, websites and even members of Congress”); the 2009 Holocaust museum shooting (which MSNBC commentator Joan Walsh blamed on Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and yours truly); the 2010 Times Square jihad bomb plot (which Mayor Michael Bloomberg falsely blamed on tea party activists protesting Obamacare); and the 2011 Tucson massacre, which liberals continue to blame on former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Question: What will this rabid Blame Righty mob do now that an alleged triple-murderer has singled out prominent lefties in the media and Hollywood for fawning praise as part of his crazed manifesto advocating cop-killing?
Answer: Evade, deflect, ignore and whitewash.
And what do you know, Chris Dorner, the former police officer suspected of being behind the murder rampage presently unfolding in Los Angeles, has apparently left behind a manifesto addressed to America that the media are already selectively reporting on to leave out the more inconvenient portions. You see, there is no political upside for the media to reveal the politics of this suspected madman.
What is being reported as Mr. Dorner's manifesto not only endorses Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 and vigorously defends Barack Obama and the Democrats' current gun control push; he also savages the NRA's Wayne LaPierre while expressing all kinds of love for some of the biggest stars in the left-wing media -- by name.
No Tea Partier is this suspected mass murderer, who just might be politically motivated:
Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Pat Harvey, Brian Williams, Soledad Obrien, Wolf Blitzer, Meredith Viera, Tavis Smiley, and Anderson Cooper, keep up the great work and follow Cronkite's lead. I hold many of you in the same regard as Tom Brokaw and the late Peter Jennings. …
Willie Geist, you're a talented and charismatic journalist.
Mr. Dorner also seems to have a soft spot for those the media tells us are "safe" Republicans to like, such as George H. W. Bush and Chris Christie, "the only person I would like to see in the White House in 2016 other than Hillary."
When it comes to defending Obama, Dorner sounds like he's been watching an awful lot of NBC News:
You disrespect the office of the POTUS/Presidency and Commander in Chief. You call him Kenyan, mongroid, halfrican, muslim, and FBHO when in essence you are to address him as simply, President. The same as you did to President George W. Bush and all those in the highest ranking position of our land before him. Just as I always have. You question his birth certificate, his educational and professional accomplishments, and his judeo-christian beliefs. You make disparaging remarks about his dead parents.
Mr. Dorner's gun control views make it sound as though much of his thinking has been affected by CNN. In a paragraph that mentions Sandy Hook, Dorner writes:
If you had a well regulated AWB, this would not happen. The time is now to reinstitute a ban that will save lives. Why does any sportsman need a 30 round magazine for hunting? Why does anyone need a suppressor? Why does anyone need a AR15 rifle? This is the same small arms weapons system utilized in eradicating Al Qaeda, Taliban, and every enemy combatant since the Vietnam war. Don't give me that crap that its not a select fire or full auto rifle like the DoD uses. That's bull@!$%# because troops who carry the M-4/M-16 weapon system for combat ops outside the wire rarely utilize the select fire function when in contact with enemy combatants.
Those sound just like Piers Morgan's talking points, no? Well, surprise-surprise, Dornan agrees 100% with Morgan on gun control, though he does worry that Morgan is hurting the cause:
Mr. Morgan, the problem that many American gun owners have with you and your continuous discussion of gun control is that you are not an American citizen and have an accent that is distinct and clarifies that you are a foreigner. I want you to know that I agree with you 100% on enacting stricter firearm laws[.]
The manifesto is thousands of word long and mentions dozens of people and topics. But politically, the manifesto is pretty clear.
Nothing like calling your own bluff. Mr. Obama, you truly are a moron. You haven't a clue how the economy works. Do you?
Just cannot wait for these next 4 years to be over.. This joke of a president 1/2 the country elected is the biggest two faced liar we have ever had in office.. makes deals, backs off of them, blame the republicans... Wake up .. cut spending and entitlements and work on the budget. Never says the truth and always blaming others. His whole agenda is to socialize the economy and play Robin Hood.. He got his tax increases for the wealthiest and now does not want to face the entitlement reform or spending cuts... Should have known he would not want to stop there as he already has 4 year history of being a liar.. let the automatic cuts go forward.. should have let tax hits happen to all at the fiscal cliff and maybe he would have woken up to his reckless spending.. and , oh he says he does not have a spending problem... what a jerk
AFS...where are the house bills your party are soooooooooo..good about showing......come on tell them to put it on the table..tell the put up or shut up..America will be waiting
I will sing you a old Texan song...big balls in cow town, big balls in cow town....because the tea party in the house dont have..
Now that is an easy question to answer. On Harry Reid's desk. So they have put them on the table but the socalist dems keeps them on the desk, so shut up, America is waiting on Harry Reid
Romney loves the socialism of California...he moved there hahahahaha
oh the tea party like my saying so much ..they like using my words to create there crap...in the waiting...hey Obama put up or shut up coming soon from the tea nuts..words stolen from Elvis
another hey Obama do you have big balls..show those ..bills....come on America will be waiting..but hey I'm a dumb azz Obama does not make laws..he signs them in law tea nuts...but soon words stolen from Elvis
big ball song...just for you tea nuts..put your bills on the table .put up or shut up..
http://youtu.be/Hdk4WVgZjzw
Elvis is a mental patient. Seek help.
elvis - just another Dem loser with his hand out looking for Government cheese blaming his life's poor decisions on others. I pitty you!
Here's the funny part, conservatives want the sequester but claim not to. They know the economy will take a major hit then they will turn around and say it's Obama's economy because he didn't stop them from economic terrorism.
It's amazing how disconnected everyone seems to be. It's as if two antagonist were struggling over some trivial thing and during the fight they both tumble over the cliff, still thinking they were doing the right thing.
None of you seem to understand the gravity of your situation. The national debt is a staggering 16 trillion dollars and projected to increase by an addition trillion dollars a year (and that's without any kind of "Black Swan" event).
That debt level is even more dangerous than the total amount sounds. The survivability of the economy depends on productivity plus credit rating. If the bond markets begin to think the US is a less desirable market due to it debt structure and its inability to politically control the economy, the interest rate at which we borrow (in current terms 46% of our total income source) will go up. Do the math, if the interest rates at which we're borrowing even goes up 2% we'll be over the magic 50% margin at which the bond markets will be very cautious about lending the US large sums. Money will get tight and if you think we have a problem now, we'll be in a serious world of hurt.
It'll be like a credit card where you've jacked up the amount to a point you can't even pay the minimal amount.
So you republican hating liberals and you liberal hating republicans can bitch at each other all you want, while in reality you're wasting your children's and their children's and their children's future.
You're all a bunch of pathetic narcissitic zealots.
RT... the fiscal conservatives have been say the same all along. The current administration and the lemmings-like libs have little concern regarding spending and the resulting debt. At this point all we can do is hope that 2014 gets here without too much damage, and really think about the consequences of who we vote in. Hopefully there will be true Americans who will put our Country ahead of everything else.
I am not concerned about fiscal conservatives or progressive liberals, I'm more a student of history and it's becoming abundantly clear the US is headed towards the same end as the Spanish, the Dutch, the French, the British, and the Soviets. They all spent themselves out of positions where they controlled thier own destinies and found themselves under the influence of other, stronger and richer nations.
"The Rise and Fall of Great Nations" by Paul Kennedy isn't some political hack's opinion of what's right or wrong with America, it's about how great nations and empire spent themselves into insignificance. If someone wants to read about how the lending/credit/bond market process controls our money supply, read Niall Ferguson's "Ascent of Money", or his excellent socio-political account "Civilization". And just when you're feeling a little concerned about the direction we're headed read Taleb's "The Black Swan". For all you military spending junkies out there, pick up Rupert Smith's "Utility of Force" or Killian & Coates "Heavy Losses", Schoenbaum's "Waging War and Peace" and you'll come quickly come to the realization that we can't continue to spend on defense in foolish ways, but we have to count our pennies with each and every purchase.
I am not against defense spending or social program spending, or infrastructure spending or education spending...I am against wasteful spending of any kind.
Obama: We don't have a spending problem. We have a tax problem. Not enough taxes on the 'evil rich'.