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[Monrover]

I have to go...I hope I remember to reply later.

But I do wonder if acting like you, an a-hole, would be better or worse than a tool?

As you said earlier:
"No need for name calling."

[Frenchfry]

Well I guess I'll help you prove your point...and mine as well:

Senate Dem budget embraces Obama fiscal commission
April 17, 2012

Back in December 2010, when President Obama's fiscal commission released its final proposal, the report was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats, and Obama himself rejected the recommendations. Now, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has given the the proposal new life by introducing it as the Senate Democrats' budget plan.

This doesn't mean it's actually going to be embraced by most Democrats in the Senate and it may not even come up for a vote. The Senate has not passed a budget since 2009 and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed not to pass one this year, saying it is unnecessary because spending levels were set by last year's deal to raise the debt ceiling. Conrad himself is sympathetic with Reid's argument.

“To be clear, we already have a budget in place for this year and next," Conrad said in a statement. "The Budget Control Act passed last summer provided the spending limits and enforcement measures for the budget for 2012 and 2013. It is the law of the land. What we do not have is agreement on a long-term budget plan. That is what we must now work to achieve."

The Simpson-Bowles plan would reduce deficits mainly by cutting defense spending and raising taxes while tweaking other aspects of the budget. To its credit, the proposal does attempt to simplify the tax code by getting rid of loopholes, broadening the tax base and reducing rates. But the result would be a massive tax increase.

Overall, the plan would spend $44 trillion from 2013 through 2022, according to an accompanying table, which is $4 trillion more than Rep. Paul Ryan's budget that was passed by the Republican controlled House and $1.4 trillion less than Obama's budget. It would raise $39.6 trillion in tax revenue over that same time period, which is $2.6 trillion more than Ryan and $600 billion more than Obama.

The release of this budget could put Obama in a difficult spot. Earlier this month, Obama praised the Bowles-Simpson plan as "a serious, honest, balanced effort between Democrats and Republicans to bring down the deficit," while saying he disagreed with the specifics. The reintroduction of the plan will once again put him in the position of having to reject it, even though he has no plan to address the nation's long-term debt problem.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/senate-dem-budget-embraces-obama-fiscal-commission/485596

[Frenchfry]

Wonkbook: Senate Democrats inching towards a budget

On the politics of the budget, House Republicans are from Mars and Senate Democrats from Venus.

Both sides face the same problem: Nothing they produce has any chance of passing. But to House Republicans, that's been a reason to go big on the annual budget resolution. Unshackled from the need to write legislation the Senate can pass and the president will sign, House Republicans have used their budgets to detail a dramatic, sweeping vision for how they would remake the federal government. For Senate Democrats, it's been just the opposite: Since nothing they produce will make it through the House, they've mostly ignored the annual budget resolution and saved their political capital for the inevitable end-of-year dealmaking.

Both approaches have had their weaknesses. House Republicans ended up going too far, signing onto unpopular Medicare reforms that they tried to walk back in this year's budget and proposing deep cuts that have given the president an easy target. But Senate Democrats have developed a reputation for cowardice on fiscal issues, and Republicans have delighted in noting that we have gone more than 1,000 days without the Senate passing a budget.

If I were David Brooks, I could spin this into a profound insight about the differing psychological and cultural make-ups of the two parties. You see, scientists have found that if you give toddlers a choice between a Toyota Prius and a Ford Excursion, the ones that choose the Prius are far likelier to hide their blocks from you. That's pretty much what's going on here.

Okay, that's not true. At least, I don't think it is. I take the actual explanation to be that this is a predictable outcome of differing coalitions: John Boehner's biggest problem is keeping the extreme wing of his party happy, and that means taking more dangerous votes, while Harry Reid's biggest problem is keeping his moderates in line, and that means protecting them from dangerous votes.

This year, however, both approaches are being changed, at least a bit. Republicans have eased up on their efforts to eliminate the traditional Medicare program in their budget. And the Senate Budget Committee, led by Democrat Kent Conrad, is readying "a longer-term plan" -- short-term funding levels were set in the debt-ceiling compromise -- that will be marked up next week. The plan may or may not end up passing. But it will at least be out there.

This is, by the way, a good moment to offer an overdue correction: Last week, I offhandedly mentioned that the House Democrats didn't have a budget. I was wrong. Their budget didn't pass the House, but it certainly exists, and you can read it here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/wonkbook-senate-democrats-inching-towards-a-budget/2012/04/10/gIQALNJv7S_blog.html

[Frenchfry]

Catholic bishops say GOP budget proposal fails moral test
5h 21m ago

WASHINGTON – A week after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan claimed his Catholic faith inspired the Republicans' cost-cutting budget plan, the nation's Catholic bishops reiterated their demand that the federal budget protect the poor, and said the GOP measure "fails to meet these moral criteria."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-04-17/catholic-bishops-paul-ryan-budget/54361480/1

[Frenchfry]

It's David Versus Goliath, especially on Wall Street. Phil Angelides explains how the tax code gives things away to big spenders and favors the wealthy and corporations over other Americans. Angelides recently chaired the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He says the tax code is rife with unfairness.
Tune in Weeknights at 9:00/8:00c on Current TV
http://current.com/shows/the-war-room/

Ryan budget pays for war, banking crisis on the backs of seniors and the disabled


Sister Simone Campbell joins Jennifer Granholm in 'The War Room' to discuss the Catholic Church's stance against Paul Ryan's budget proposal and what it means for a nation to be united for all its people. Ryan has said his faith helped influence his choices for the budget, but progressive Catholic leaders have called his plan "morally indefensible."
Tune in Weeknights at 9:00/8:00c on Current TV
http://current.com/shows/the-war-room/

Sister Campbell: Ryan misunderstands Jesus' call to community in budget plan

[Monrover]

It's David Versus Goliath, especially on Wall Street. Phil Angelides explains how the tax code gives things away to big spenders and favors the wealthy and corporations over other Americans. Angelides recently chaired the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He says the tax code is rife with unfairness.
<snip>[/url]


The tax code offers many credits and deductions to 'typical' taxpayers.

Credits include: Earned Income Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit and the Savers Tax Credit.

Deductions include: Education expenses, donations to charities, losses on investments, job search expenses, mortgage interest deduction, sales tax, medical expenses, property taxes, cost tax preperation, Traditional IRA contributions, contribution to employer sponsored 401k plan, student loan interest, tuitiona nd fees, moving expenses, alimony paid and casualty and theft losses...

The Tax Code does need reformation. However, it is incorrect that it favors the rich.

More correctly, the Tax Code favors people with taxable income; since around 45-47% of all people with incomes don't pay income taxes; the remainder that pay taxes have access to credits and deductions.

[Frenchfry]

Rachel Maddow - Bush tax cuts leave stinging legacy

[Monrover]

The fact is that as a nation we spent $28 TRILLION over the past 10 years.

The CBO has scored the most recent budget from President Obama as spending $47 TRILLION over the next ten years.

The CBO has scored the House submitted Budget as spending over $40 TRILLION over the next ten years.

Both the House and President's budgets as submitted do nothing to reign in the out-of-control spending and resulting deficits, debts and suppression of growth in the general economy.

Congress (both Republican and Democrat members) has abdicated its responsibility to exercise fiscal responsibility as a fiduciary of the people.

[Frenchfry]

Economic Illiterate Peter Schiff's Senseless Austerity Proposals Debunked

[Frenchfry]

"Viewpoint" host Eliot Spitzer argues that while the economy's recovery has been slow, Obama's stimulus is clearly working, and that the effects of austerity measures in Europe are proof that drastically cutting spending doesn't work. "Unless you want to be like Spain, with 23 percent unemployment, or Greece, wtih 21 percent unemployment, maybe we should stick with what has worked: government stimulus and Barack Obama," Spitzer says.
Tune in Weeknights at 8:00/7:00c on Current TV
http://current.com/shows/viewpoint/

Eliot Spitzer contends Obama's stimulus is working, contests Republicans' austerity plans

[Monrover]

Three years.

No budget

[Frenchfry]

"The co-creator of the concept that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is relying upon to reform Medicare no longer thinks it will work. Henry Aaron, now of the Brookings Institution, got the chance to tell Ryan exactly why at a recent Capitol Hill hearing. Aaron and former Urban Institute president Robert Reischauer came up with the idea of "premium support" in 1995, after the failure of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton's bid to reform the health care system. The basic idea is simple: let people pick their health insurers in the private market, subsidize the premiums, and competition will drive down costs...".

Ryan Medicare Reform Plan Suffers Blow

[Monrover]

Three years.

No Budget.