“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,”

[Speed8098]

Warren Buffett get's it right again.

http://regtremblay.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/warren-buffett-how-to-fix-congress/
(snip)
“You just pass a law
that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all
sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election"

[dkf]

1. The Repubs would be the ones dancing in the streets.

Be careful what you wish for.

[girl gone mad]

2. You're so transparent.

[dkf]

4. Well it looks to me like the Reps are more interested in cutting than the Dems.

You disagree?

Republicans only defend Defense spending. Dems have so much more to protect.

[Speed8098]

6. You're not paying attention

It's not only about cuts, it's about revenue and strengthening the middle class. I'm sorry you can't see that and I hope you will try to become more informed. There are many more ways to shorten the deficit than simply cutting spending.

The Democratic party has the ability to think outside the box while the right wing does not. Cut this, cut that, end this program, end that program, that's all you hear. If you believe the only way to cut the deficit is to cut spending you may be on the wrong side of the isle. In reality we need to spend more to get the economy back on track.

If the idea Warren Buffett visualizes came into effect you would certainly see both parties start to think outside the box and the bullying from the right would end as well. As Albert Einstein said: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

[dkf]

13. Ending the Bush tax cuts brings us back to normalized revenues.

The bigger job is cutting spending and limiting entitlement spending growth aka Medicare.

[Speed8098]

17. Limiting Entitlement Spending?

Ok, now you've definitely raised my tentacles. Medicare should be available to all. Please tell me exactly how you would cut "entitlements". Further, what programs do you describe to be "entitlements"?

:popcorn:

[dkf]

18. Me? Single payer. What they will actually do is anyone's guess.

But this is the part of the budget that keeps growing faster than projected GDP. It's not doable as is.

[Speed8098]

23. What???

I said:
Ok, now you've definitely raised my tentacles. Medicare should be available to all. Please tell me exactly how you would cut "entitlements". Further, what programs do you describe to be "entitlements"?

How is your response relevant to either of my questions?

Me? Single payer. What they will actually do is anyone's guess.
Posted by dkf
But this is the part of the budget that keeps growing faster than projected GDP. It's not doable as is.

:wtf:

[dkf]

26. I'd cut entitlement spending by implementing single payer.

Really it's a no brainer.

[ArtiChoke]

33. Tentacles?

you mean hackles.

[Javaman]

36. Lord Cthulu is not amused. nt

[Speed8098]

43. No

If I meant hackles, I would have said hackles.

[Scuba]

31. Excuse me? Medicare is now an "entitlement"? ....

If you want to cut spending and stimulate the economy, cut the worlds largest military.

[louslobbs]

50. I never understand why some people won't use the term "earned benefits" rather than the Luntz type

of label "entitlements." We the People who pay out of our paychecks for things like Social Security, unemployment etc., have "earned" these benefits. Entitlement is a FOX/GOP/Republican/Teabagger/Chamber of Commerce/ALEC/Koch type term used to make these benefits sound like someone is taking something for nothing....which of course is why they use it.

How's everything going Scuba? Good to see you.
Lou

[cui bono]

37. You are looking at the problem from the wrong side of the spectrum.

Who says you can only fix the deficit by cutting spending? Did you miss this little thing called Occupy Wall Street? The signs that say "tax the rich"? Did you not know that Exxon and BofA paid no taxes?

Seriously now, try again.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. Indeed!

:thumbsup:

[Speed8098]

3. Care to elaborate?

Please don't just hit and run. Explain yourself.

[dkf]

5. Republicans are the ones who want to shrink government and entitlements.

All they have to keep afloat is defense spending. Everything that protects the American public, advances the common good, provides safety nets is Democratic territory.

[Speed8098]

7. I don't understand your point.

Did you read the link?

[dkf]

12. I'm saying that controlling the deficit is something Republicans want more than Democrats.

And I agree with the sentiment that threatening their jobs would be very effective.

[Speed8098]

16. What gives you that idea?

Are you joking me?

?w=408&h=326

[IndyPragmatist]

32. Ugh, I hate dumb graphs like this. Read a book on how budgets are approved please

The party in control of Congress has much more of an impact on spending than the President.

[Speed8098]

41. What you hate is of no consequence to me

I posted that chart in response to the assertion made previously and there are hundreds, if not thousands of graphs/articles that support the fact that Democratic administrations are better at lowering the deficit and debt than are republican administrations.

Hate it or don't, I really don't care. If you have credible sources that prove otherwise please, provide those sources.

[IndyPragmatist]

44. Certainly

http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html

[IndyPragmatist]

47. Here is another link

Only shows White House control, but compare the two charts and you will have plenty of information.

http://www.skymachines.com/US-National-Debt-Per-Capita-Percent-of-GDP-and-by-Presidental-Term.htm

[quaker bill]

19. Actually, it is what they say they want to do

but when given the power to do so, they expand the deficit instead.

[Speed8098]

22. Please provide proof

You've made a statement, now it's time to back it up

Actually, it is what they say they want to do
Posted by quaker bill


but when given the power to do so, they expand the deficit instead.

I would love to see where you get your information from. Since you made this assertion please provide a link to a credible source that will back up your assertion. Just because you say so doesn't float.

[quaker bill]

49. The Bush Administration

The Reagan Administration

It is in the history books, check them out. Neither administration ever even proposed a balanced budget, in this reality.

[Speed8098]

51. I think I misunderstood you

Sorry Quaker Bill, I misunderstood you. Please accept my humble apologies. I thought you were referring to Democratic administrations. Now that I'm clear, I couldn't agree with you more.

[quaker bill]

53. I was tagging off your statement

that republicans want it more. It is their rhetoric, true, but it is not their actions.

Republicans rarely act in ways consistent with their rhetoric. Democrats tend to govern far closer to their rhetoric.

[eomer]

20. Republicans want to control our money and to loot it, not to control the deficit.

Controlling the deficit is the fake cover story they use, together with the corporate media, to trick people into letting them get away with it.

[dkf]

27. The new batch of Republicans aren't the same.

These guys really are slashers..look at what they put us through for the debt ceiling. The Bush era republicans weren't that crazy.

[eomer]

34. They smell blood in the water and it has them in a feeding frenzy.

They don't care about the deficit. They care about cashing in for themselves and their friends. So they do things like selling public assets at a fire sale price, which is a horrible deal for the public but it's a piñata for them.

If you pay attention you will see them slashing programs that deliver real benefits to people while creating and increasing programs that loot the public's assets and deliver them to themselves.

Their goal is not reducing the deficit; it is looting the commons to create a bonanza for the private elite.

[cui bono]

39. Yeah, they are total whackadoodles who don't know shit.

They are not slashers when it comes to HUGE spending that benefits corporations. Same old same old just crazier and more stupid than ever.

[ejpoeta]

21. that's funny because the deficit seems to increase when republicans are in charge.

the only time they make a peep about deficits is when a dem is in the white house. I remember dick cheney saying deficits don't matter. The best way to control the deficit would be to get rid of the bush tax cuts and end the wars. Social programs actually HELP keep the deficit down because people are enabled to live a life and have things to pay taxes on. And when the wealthy who currently have all the money pay taxes, then it helps everyone. Lots of foreclosures hurts the tax base thus hurting our bottom line. People without jobs can't buy things and it becomes a cycle downward as the demand drops and more people lose their jobs. These people without jobs aren't paying taxes because they have no money. It sure seems simple to me.

[dkf]

28. You think they care that social programs stabilize the economy?

If they believed that then extending unemployment would be a slam dunk and you know it isn't.

[cui bono]

38. Are you joking???

When have the Republicans EVER controlled the deficit???

Link for proof of your comments please. Sheesh, how have you lasted this long?

[Tunkamerica]

14. you've been posting for 10 hours or so and every one I've read is incendiary.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. So I get it you're saying...

when I put him on ignore I wasn't missing out on anything.

[lib2DaBone]

8. Nationalize the FED...... put a $1 transaction tax on Wall St.

Nation build at home .... instead of in the sand 5 thousand miles away.

[Speed8098]

10. That's a sentiment I can agree with. N/T

[ObaMania]

9. Another excellent suggestion that will get lost..

.. in the dark halls of the internets.

Why don't folks like Sharpton, Shultz, Malloy, Stewart, Cenk, Larry O, Tweety, Rachel, or Morning Joe take this one and run with it?

[Speed8098]

11. I hope you're wrong

Maybe if enough of us pass this around it will get to MSM and we may begin to hear about it on the idiot box. Personally I'm going to e-mail it to every pundit I can think of and if more of us do that it can't be ignored.

[ObaMania]

15. I've already done that.

But like everything I email to the M$M, it gets ignored.

[n2doc]

25. I kind of think the republicans would go for it

Because all they would have to do is continue to do nothing and Obama would be out of office. Even if they lost their jobs, it seems like getting rid of Obama is more important to them.

And of course whatever 'plan' they came up with would be all cuts, no tax increases.

[Motown_Johnny]

29. holy crap, Austerity on steroids .... here we go

[slay]

30. That and legalize and tax marijuana

it's a win-win for everyone. :evilgrin:

[Speed8098]

46. "That and legalize and tax marijuana"

We are in complete agreement.

:smoke:

[MH1]

40. Ok I'm calling bullshit on that article.

The quote in the OP was supposedly said in a TV interview but no link to video is given. Still, it might be checkable.

But further down it has this thing that's been going around facebook:

"Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum
of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do
likewise."


Oh, really???? Then how come I have NOT ONCE seen this posted with a link to where Buffet actually says this?

I like Buffet, and I don't have any big problems with what is being claimed he said - except parts of it are technically problematic enough that I doubt he really said it.

Someone please prove me wrong.

(and oh yeah, that Madison 'quote' that's been going around is dubious as well. Look it up.)

[Speed8098]

42. LOL, sometimes I really wonder about people

Oh, really???? Then how come I have NOT ONCE seen this posted with a link to where Buffet actually says this?

Well Exxxxxccccuuuuuussssssee me.

I apologize for posting something that you've never seen before. I never realized it would be read by an omniscient person like yourself. The next time I post something I'll make sure to read every article and watch every video on the internets to make sure it is something that isn't unknown to you.

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

:sarcasm:

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. Such a law would of course be unconstitutional

[Bigmack]

48. Fact-check... It's a LIE...

says....

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/congressional-reform-act/

"members of Congress already participate, paying Social Security payroll taxes just like nearly every other worker."

"Recommends that "Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise." But Congress doesn’t do that now. Under current law, pay increases are determined by a cost-of-living formula, and they take effect automatically, unless Congress votes to stop them. And in fact, that’s what has happened for the past two years. Congress denied itself any pay raise in 2010 and in 2011."

"Currently members of Congress have the same health insurance options as millions of other federal employees and retirees and their families. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program gives them a wide choice of private insurance plans."

I have received this POS from several friends who should have known better than to believe it... and even worse... to send it on.

This is Republican bullshit dressed up with Buffett's name. He didn't write it.

[mwooldri]

54. Yep, Buffett did not write it. But turkeys wouldn't vote for Thanksgiving.

I don't expect any polticians to pass anything in that email anyway. Not even "the other side".

Remember them teabaggers who came in back in 2010, and was most upset that their government health benefits didn't start when they expected?

Even though they got elected because they were against government health care?

Yes, there will be a few members of Congress who would actually vote *for* this, but when you have teabaggers who are very unlikely to vote for this, any legislation like this will not come to pass.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

52. It would end the defecit, but probably also end social security, education etc.

The reason America has a deficit is because the alternatives are spending cuts (which the left doesn't want) and tax rises (which the right doesn't want). And the right is a lot larger than the left.

[ThomWV]

55. Obama could have ended it in 5 minutes too- just Veto the Bush Tax Cut renewal, but he didn't.

[coalition_unwilling]

56. Populist rhetoric masking a bullshit ideology. There are going to

be times when we had damned well better be prepared to have our annual budget deficits exceed 3% of GDP. How about World War II? Buffett is such a loon. Give me a friggin break.