Senate's No. 2 Democrat calls for cuts to social safety net

[ParkieDem]

88. I hate to admit it, but you're absolutely right.

Many liberals (including myself) often state that the "European model" of social democracy is preferable to the crony capitalism that we have here in the USA.

I think that's right, but to achieve that, you have to look at the whole picture. While the poor and middle class do pay a large share of local, state and payroll taxes across the board, their share of federaltaxes is still quite low. In places like France and Germany, the tax system is more centralized, and the lower and middle classes pay significantly more -- but they get more in return.

Another area where we need to be more like Europe, like many other posters have stated, is in the defense budget. I've always thought that the Democrats should be able to reach some type of bargain with the "new" tea-party style Republicans like Tom Coburn and Rand Paul on this issue, because (unlike most conservatives) they realize that defense spending is the biggest form of corporate welfare out there. In fact, of all the spending cuts that Coburn has proposed, defense is at or near the top - he has repeatedly proposed more than $1 trillion in defense cuts.

As long as their corporate lobbyists control Washington, though, defense contractors and reps from their states will be hard-pressed to agree.