blaming nafta is not the answer, blame the unions that drove our manufacturing out of the country, blame the epa and the environmental regulations imposed on the business in this nation. it doesn’t matter which side of the fence you are on greed likes the same profit. all you have to do is use california and the liberal democrats for an example. this state is in chaos, our gov. moonbeam brown has to borrow money, 5 billion dollars, to make the payroll for the people living off the state, they have regulated and taxed business to the point they can no longer do business here. can you blame nafta for this, no, you can blame the unions, tax and environmental regulation.
union leaders like to blame the ceo’s of our business corporations for the lack of jobs and benefits. all you have to do is take a look at gm, they are a prime example. they can’t make it even with the government holding their hand. barry paid off the unions for their vote by giving them gm stock and look at the consequence, we lose two or three billion and gm will go under.

shut down the environmentalist by shutting down the epa.
this will induce more business and end our energy problem.
enforce right to work laws.
remove the union control of our schools, make the teachers account for their own ability.
remove barry from the wh.
remove boehner and mcconnell from leadership and the republican party
remove pelosi and reid from washington dc.

Well the article written,side steps the real core of the problem,and that is when the boy and girl wonders in this republics government gave away this nations economy via (NAFTA) guess what? big big big mistake.why look around at all levels of our nations citizens,everyone is dying in the government formulated deal that gave our nations economy away,and the real truth is that both sides of these ruling elite people in government,are trying to cover this massive blunder by pointing fingers and yelling cut this and cut that,the point i am going to make is what good is it going to do the dying patient(THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER) who doesnt have a job to pay the bills? i myself can tell you for fact all the cutting on government will not help,the first step in saving this nation is to throw the (NAFTA) agreement in the garbage can where it belongs,and that will never happen until we all look at the real cause of this planned destruction of this nation by those who wish to turn us into a third world nation that is ruled as a police state,with foriegn corperations ruling the very every day operations of this nations government,its time to get rid of the cancer(NAFTA AGREEMENT)and not let the patient bleed out little by little,i am an older american,and identify myself not by any ethnic group, but by my fellow cuntryman and those who live as those who wish to be governed,but not ruled by those who wish to destroy,the very basis of this nations,self determination and that is the right to make a fair living,and i did that many years ago,and in thruth,i myself wonder how anyone can live under all the evil that has overtaken this once great republic,on one side the republicans,lets kill off all the old folks on social security and medicare and on the other side the dumocrats with lets turn this country into a communist police state,what a choice,its a real win win sitution for those in power,but in thruth the american people lose either way,how about putting the house in order by dumping the (NEW WORLD ORDER)concept and getting this nation rebuilt from the ground up,by dumping all the laws that have stopped this nation dead in its tracks and is only serving a small number of people,and i sure dont mean folks that make less than a million dollars,like the middle class,not that there are many,that are doing well,i have some of the answers,but in fact i wont last the day if i posted them,for this is the new america,where the thruth has no place,well thank you for reading the banter of an older american,but please look at the true facts,no one caused this mess,but those in power in government and they are puppets of foriegn corperations in reality. and they control those we elect.

Income taxes were a lot higher in the past than they are now. Back when I started working in 1959, the bottom tax rate was 20% and the top tax rate was 91%. Today the bottom tax rate is 10% and the top tax rate is 35%. We also faced the USSR with its ICBM’s, a massive conscript Army, Red China with its massive Army. Russia is now just a shadow of its former self, and China is economically dependent upon exporting manufactured products to the USA. The foes we face are groups of Muslim terrorists and rag tag pirates off the Horn of Africa. Neither compares in any way to what we faced in 1959. Effectively we have the same defense budget (in constant value dollars) as we had in 1959. But our foes are much weaker. In 1959 jobs were plentiful. Today they aren’t because we have exported tens of millions of jobs to Mexico and China. That is the source of our problem. Something no one wants to do anything about because business lobbyists have convinced Congress not to act on this. In effect we have “The Finest Government That Corporate Money Can Buy”!
That is why we are in the fiancial difficulties we are now in…

It’s TIME TO CALL 911 on FEDURAL GOVERNMENT

THE ONLY DEBT DEAL… WAS RAISE THE BORROWING LIMIT! The Borrowed Money is to pay for their Defisit! ( The Money to pay for their Pet Projects, when they have SPENT ALL of the REVINUE From TAXES!!!)

Good article from BusinessInsider:
The Truth About Who’s Responsible For The Explosion In Government Spending

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/government-spending-2011-7#ixzz1U4IgG0k9

(follow the link to see the charts).

Mention anything about the US’s huge debt, deficit, and debt-ceiling problem, and fans of both political teams will immediately begin shouting at each other.

Republicans howl that the whole problem is the fault of President Obama, who exploded federal government spending the moment he took office.

Democrats, meanwhile, blame massive increase in federal government spending during the Bush years and the triumphant assertions by Republicans during those years that “deficits don’t matter.”

So, what’s the truth?

They’re both right. (And wrong. And, on the Republican side, hypocritical.)

Federal government spending has risen under President Obama, mostly because of the $800 billion stimulus designed to offset the massive recession he inherited from President Bush. But the increase in federal spending under Obama is dwarfed by the colossal increase under President Bush.

Don’t believe it?

Let’s go to the chart.

Here’s Federal Expenditures from 2000-2011 (quarterly figures, annualized), from the St. Louis Fed:

Federal Government Spending 2000-2011

As you can see, from 2000 to 2008, under President Bush, Federal spending rose by $1.3 trillion, from $1.9 trillion a year to $3.2 trillion a year.

From 2009 to 2011, meanwhile, under President Obama, federal spending has risen by $600 billion, from $3.2 trillion a year to $3.8 trillion a year. It has also now begun to decline.

In other words, federal government spending under President Bush increased 2X as much as it has under President Obama.

The Truth About Who’s Responsible For Our Massive Budget Deficit

Say the words “budget deficit,” and Republicans and Democrats begin screaming at each other about who’s to blame.

Republicans howl that the deficit is President Obama’s fault, because he has exploded government spending and failed to fix the economy.

Democrats roar that President Obama inherited a catastrophic economic mess, that this mess will take time to clean up, and that our massive deficit is therefore President Bush’s fault.

So, who’s right?

Let’s start by looking at the deficits under Presidents Bush and Obama. Then we’ll figure out what has caused them. Finally, we’ll assign some blame.

First, the chart below shows the progress of the annual deficits under Presidents Bush and Obama.

President Bush, you will recall, inherited a budget surplus (the first in decades). Then, hit with a recession, he took the budget into deficit. Then he cut taxes, growing the deficit to $400 billion a year. Then, the economy boomed between 2005 and 2008, reducing the deficit to $200 billion a year. Then, the financial crisis hit, and the Bush deficit ballooned to $400 billion again.

In early 2009, President Obama took over, amid the worst recession since the Great Depression. President Obama signed an $800 billion spending increase at the same time that GDP and tax collections tanked. The combination of these two factors–growth in spending and a drop in revenue–exploded the deficit to $1.4 trillion. In 2010, the economy and tax collections improved modestly, and the deficit shrank to $1.3 trillion annualized.

US Federal Budget Deficit 2000-2011

So, what actually caused these deficits?

The chart below provides a look at federal receipts (taxes) and spending during the same period. (The deficit is the difference between them).

Republicans howl that President Obama has exploded the size of federal government spending in his short tenure as President, and it is true that he has increased it. But President Bush actually increased federal spending by more than 2X as much as Obama has. So it is unfair to lay the explosion in spending at the feet of President Obama: Both presidents are responsible.

The increase in government spending, meanwhile, is actually NOT the only factor that has caused the deficit. The other factor–equally if not more important–is the fall-off in government revenue (tax receipts).

This second and larger factor can be blamed on two things: First, the Bush tax cuts, which reduced revenue, and, second, the weak economy, which has reduced the incomes and capital gains upon which most federal taxes are based.

In the chart below, you can see what happened to both federal receipts (red line) and spending (blue line) over the past decade.

President Bush cut taxes in 2001 and 2003. These tax cuts hit federal revenue, while federal spending growth continued apace. This combination ballooned the deficit in the early years of the Bush presidency.

By the middle years of the Bush presidency, however, on the strength of the housing boom and strong economic growth (much of which now looks like a debt-fueled mirage), federal revenues began to grow rapidly. By 2007, in fact, the gap had almost closed.

But then the bottom fell out. The housing bubble burst, the financial crisis hit, and the economy plunged into recession. And then President Bush handed President Obama the worst recession in more than 70 years and left Obama to clean up the mess.

This recession clobbered federal revenues (tax receipts–red line), which still have not regained their 2007 bubble highs. President Obama’s stimulus, meanwhile, helped add about $600 billion to federal spending (blue line). The combination of these two factors ballooned the deficit from $400 billion when President Bush left office to ~$1.3 trillion now.

US Federal Receipts And Expenditures 2000-2011

So, who’s responsible for the massive deficit?

This is a tougher question.

We know WHAT is responsible: The combination of weak government revenues (tax receipts) and a vast increase in government spending.

But figuring out WHO to blame is a more subjective exercise.

If you believe that the growth during the “Bush Boom” was a debt-fueled mirage–a theory that is certainly supported by the evidence–then you can lay the blame squarely at the feet of President Bush. His combination of reduced taxes and increased spending took the US from a surplus to a deficit, and even the economic boom from a massive housing bubble and enormous borrowing couldn’t close the gap.

Even if you think the “Bush Boom” was real, moreover, the recession and financial crisis began on his watch, and the deficit was already exploding when President Obama took office. So it’s very hard to escape the conclusion that President Bush bears a lot of the responsibility for our current mess.

On the other hand, President Obama’s stimulus certainly hasn’t had as big an impact on the economy (and, therefore, government revenues) as he and his advisors promised it would. Given the extent of the mess Obama inherited, it’s possible that nothing would have fixed it by now. But even huge Obama supporters are justifiably frustrated with his over-promising, as well as with many of the decisions he has made.

So it seems fair to lay some of the responsibility for our current deficit at President Obama’s feet as well.

But, of course, if we’re doling out blame, we need to bring two other parties into the conversation.

First, Congress, which approved all of the decisions above.

Second, us–the American citizenry–the folks who voted Presidents Bush and Obama and Congress into office.

We cheered as President Bush and Congress ignited the housing bubble. We cheered as they cut taxes and increased spending (it’s just so marvelous to have it all). We cheered as President Obama and Congress approved the stimulus and extended the Bush tax cuts. And we’re cheering now as Republicans promise us that–if only we just cut taxes and spending–our problems will be solved. (Never mind the examples of Greece and the UK, which demonstrate clearly that enacting “austerity” in the midst of a fragile recovery doesn’t work).

In short, we’ve all become accustomed to our free lunch, and we never tire of electing politicians that promise it to us.

So if we want to know who’s really to blame, we should take a peek in the mirror.

Fix our woes? This ‘deal’ makes it worse! Kicking the can down the road only postpones the coming train wreck which is snowballing. Saving 10T over 10 years? They’ll find a ‘special case’ where we really need to spend this money – just ‘can’t save it right now’. In other words, Washington can just go back to their spending habits till after next election!

In my opinion the “people who have benefitted the most” are those people who have been supported their entire lives on the public dole and have never worked or paid any taxes. What would happen to tax revenues if we just required them to pay taxes of even 1% on their benefits? We all hear about having skin in the game and equal representation and yet I see alot of representation with NO taxation.
The uber wealthy at least had someone,somewhere who worked their butts off to create wealth and then worked hard after that to keep their wealth together, and rest assured that all along the way they paid “taxes”. Maybe not Form 1040 Income tax; but they paid property tax, sales taxes and all the hidden taxes included in the price of goods, which adds up to almost 50% of all taxes paid.
Isn’t America supposed to be about working hard and becoming a sucess? Well, lets work to get this country and its laws back to where those people who are willing to do the work are rewarded. If you are unwilling to work for the reward the I have one comment for you: Hunger is a powerful motivator”.

It has never worked before and it will simply never work. You cannot get out of debt by borrowing money. Economists are either ignorant of that fact or are hoodwinking the populace into believing it. Makes them all the same anyway – is liar a polite word?

US citizens are so damned stupid.

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Guess where we are today? Do you think I am going to continue to bust my ass to keep watching more and more of it being taken away by the government? Lets see: Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax, County Piggyback Tax, Social inSecurity Tax, Medicaid Tax, Property Tax, Sales Tax, Gas Tax, etc.

Really rich people don’t pay taxes on their income since most of it is made from foreign investments. You don’t Tax the Rich on what they have beyond property taxes. You think I’m going to stay here if I were a billionaire when I hear you want to take it all away like all the socialized countries do? You need to take a look at all those socialized countries to see lies told about their successes.

Let the bashing begin….

Good I really wasn’t aware that they did. However I did read somewhere that a few years back David Rockafeller paid $850.00 in
personal income taxes.

Doc do you mean people like the George Sorros’s, Rockafeller family,
Nancy Peloses, Kennedys, Warren Buffets? I don’t know do these people pay any taxes?

Yes we need to cut costs in some areas of the budget but we can’t solve our debt on that alone. We need to end tax loopholes and increase the tax on those in our country who have benefitted the most from all she has contributed to them.

All that has happened is Obama’s campaign war chest has been filled. And the debt ceiling issue has been kicked down the road until after he is re-elected, from his perspective of course.

Nothing has been done to restore confidence that would inspire businesses to hire new workers. In fact, Obama is hard at work to insure just the opposite with the mandate that health insurance companies now provide birth control at no charge. Is there any doubt that the cost of which will be passed on to consumers? And in turn will this not make it more expensive to hire new employees?

Strategically, this move has a two-fold effect. First it’s right out of the Rothschild playbook of population reduction. And two, will further stagnate economic recovery as far as new job creation.