On a scale of one to ten

[Tiz]

How offensive did you find President Obama's campaign/policy speech today?

How offensive do you find adding budget "cuts" over a twelve year period, so as to make it sound like a better reduction? Keep in mind that the government is spending $1.645 trillion dollars more than it has this year. One year, not twelve.

“There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.” Obama

Do you see anything wrong with that sentence?

[natisha]

Nothing is being spent by a tax cut. It doesn't cost a thing. You're just not taking as much from someone else. Has nothing to do with decreasing the deficit.

[Tiz]

Yes, and the fact that no one claimed to reduce the deficit by leaving our current tax rates in place. Nonsensical sentence all around.

Even liberals must, must must be getting annoyed with this President being so disrespectful of their intelligence.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I didn't listen to it. There's no point. It just makes me angry to hear his smarmy, arrogant, snotty voice... He pokes that nose of his way up in the air, sniffs, and proceeds to lecture me on why I'm not giving my "fair share". In the end it doesn't matter what he says anyway. He'll say whatever he thinks sounds good, and then go off and do something else.

I really don't like this business of talking in terms of "...over ten years" or "...over twelve years" like they've gotten in the habit of doing. We're talking about a ONE year budget. Every congress, every year, fights about the budget. It's simply pointless to pretend that anything they do will actually be binding on any future congress. It's not. What it does is just hide the actual numbers being discussed in a camoflage of extra decimal points and exaggerated proportions. It's just another way to lie with meaningless numbers.

[Tiz]

I didn't listen to it. There's no point. It just makes me angry to hear his smarmy, arrogant, snotty voice... He pokes that nose of his way up in the air, sniffs, and proceeds to lecture me on why I'm not giving my "fair share". In the end it doesn't matter what he says anyway. He'll say whatever he thinks sounds good, and then go off and do something else.

I really don't like this business of talking in terms of "...over ten years" or "...over twelve years" like they've gotten in the habit of doing. We're talking about a ONE year budget. Every congress, every year, fights about the budget. It's simply pointless to pretend that anything they do will actually be binding on any future congress. It's not. What it does is just hide the actual numbers being discussed in a camoflage of extra decimal points and exaggerated proportions. It's just another way to lie with meaningless numbers.

I didn't listen to it either. I was driving back from the track which takes 45 minutes, and every time I checked the radio station, he was still talking. Even Joe Biden dozed off as it droned on. Plus, you're right about whether it matters what he says.

Yes, just another way to lie. I'm tired of being insulted by it.

[mare]

I was driving out to feed the horses and caught some of NPRs analysis. Even they couldn't reconcile the facts with his statements in the speech, although they liked the theme overall. But as usual, he spews so many statistics and jumps in so many directions it may take days for all of it to get sorted out.

[gaited07]

This guy makes me sick to watch him and even worse to listen to yet more lies of his. I really can't wait til 2012!

Has anyone noticed if this "speech" was posted to youtube or ?

[outriding01]

I am having the same problem as the rest of you. I did not like Obama at all during the campaign, and not just because I'm a Republican. I was raised in a staunchly right-wing house hold and rebelled against it from day 1. I went through the whole gambit of political ideals, from socialism to anarchy, apathy, etc. When I finally settled more or less on my real ideals and philosophies, I ended up on the right side of the spectrum as well, quite close to my parents. For someone my age, i think I do a good job of studying the issues and learning as much as possible about candidates from both sides. So when I decided I didn't like Obama, it wasn't because of his skin color, or his political affiliation or anything. It was because I listened to his ideas and opinions and decided that I completely disagreed. But my life motto has always been "It is what it is," so when he was elected, I just told myself that, and prayed to the Lord to guide him and our country.

I honestly can't deal with it anymore. I listened to about 5 minutes of his speech and had to turn it off because I was getting so upset and angry that I started crying. The last time anyone spoke to me in the manner he speaks to our entire country, it was a professor with one of those "holier-than-thou" attitudes who ended up being fired for his teaching methods and manner of addressing students. It's just making me sick and I'm done.

573 days to go....

[JackieB]

Even liberals must, must must be getting annoyed with this President being so disrespectful of their intelligence.

Is this a completely unbiased poll? Because I get the impression that the way Tiz worded it might be a bit slanted? :p

I didn't listen to it, but I will accept that any cutting the president is willing to do is coming from Boehner et al forcing the issue. That's troublesome, but I do like that our system of checks and balances does seem to be working. The elections last fall did help move the argument forward in a positive way.

I don't know what I'll do with my vote in 2012. I may vote to re-elect the president, but I'm open to what the other party(ies) have to present.

One thing I heard on the radio today that made me chuckle, but made great sense was a commentator who said something like "Those who are venting their deficit anger at Planned Parenthood and NPR are mistaken. The need to be expressing their rage at grandma and the pentagon."

Entitlements and defense are the only way to get to fiscal soundness. The taxes that Outriding, HE, Ponies, Dakota, Doc, Fjords, Lacyloo, Rie, etc., will have to pay during the heights of their careers to pay for us boomers in Social Security and Medicare will be astronomical.

The current FICA tax (Social Security and Medicare) is 12.9% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. That's the employee and employer contributions combined as a percent of total wages. That total will probably need to triple over the next 30 years to keep those programs going. Denmark will have nothing on us in terms of total taxes, and it won't matter how much we cut other government programs.

I promise I won't be one of those seniors who is shaking his fist and ranting about what's being "taken away" from me. You guys (young people) do what you need to do at the time. In the meantime, we'll all just continue to kick the can down the road until it hits the wall.

[Tiz]

Is this a completely unbiased poll? Because I get the impression that the way Tiz worded it might be a bit slanted? :p

I didn't listen to it, but I will accept that any cutting the president is willing to do is coming from Boehner et al forcing the issue. That's troublesome, but I do like that our system of checks and balances does seem to be working. The elections last fall did help move the argument forward in a positive way.

I don't know what I'll do with my vote in 2012. I may vote to re-elect the president, but I'm open to what the other party(ies) have to present.

One thing I heard on the radio today that made me chuckle, but made great sense was a commentator who said something like "Those who are venting their deficit anger at Planned Parenthood and NPR are mistaken. The need to be expressing their rage at grandma and the pentagon."

Entitlements and defense are the only way to get to fiscal soundness. The taxes that Outriding, HE, Ponies, Dakota, Doc, Fjords, Lacyloo, Rie, etc., will have to pay during the heights of their careers to pay for us boomers in Social Security and Medicare will be astronomical.

The current FICA tax (Social Security and Medicare) is 12.9% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. That's the employee and employer contributions combined as a percent of total wages. That total will probably need to triple over the next 30 years to keep those programs going. Denmark will have nothing on us in terms of total taxes, and it won't matter how much we cut other government programs.

I promise I won't be one of those seniors who is shaking his fist and ranting about what's being "taken away" from me. You guys (young people) do what you need to do at the time. In the meantime, we'll all just continue to kick the can down the road until it hits the wall.

I just don't believe the constant warnings that reforming SS and Medicare are the only way to fiscal soundness. In fact, I think those programs are being used to scare people into putting off spending cuts altogether. Reforming SS has been a campaign issue in every single election I've been old enough to vote in, and I'm older than you, Jackie.

I've heard that 40% of the money spent on Medicare goes to fraud. Does it make any sense that we need to collect more money for it then?

I've heard the Pentagon was unable to account for a trillion dollars in their budget. I don't remember over how much time that money went missing. Have you ever wondered why a missile costs $750,000, or a jet millions of dollars. Do you think those are real costs?

I just heard yesterday that Nasa was spending 29 million dollars to retire the space shuttle.

There are so many examples of waste, it makes my head spin. The fact is, our government takes an enormous share of our money, and doesn't give a rip about how it's spent. Cronyism, corruption, sloppiness, on and on.

Republicans are dumb for falling into the same trap over and over. I also can't wait for 2012.

[rocknK]

Eleven...

[WashingtonBay]

I've heard the Pentagon was unable to account for a trillion dollars in their budget. I don't remember over how much time that money went missing. Have you ever wondered why a missile costs $750,000, or a jet millions of dollars. Do you think those are real costs?

I just heard yesterday that Nasa was spending 29 million dollars to retire the space shuttle.

There are so many examples of waste, it makes my head spin. The fact is, our government takes an enormous share of our money, and doesn't give a rip about how it's spent.

Makes my head spin! :coffee: And it's beginning to really hurt.

[Tiz]

Will someone define "reduced spending in the tax code"?

[JackieB]

I was pretty disappointed when I read the details of the speech that the president took jabs in his speech at the Republican plan after specifically inviting Paul Ryan to George Washington University to attend it.

If you've got to ridicule a political opponent's plan, don't do it at an event where you specifically invited him/her to sit in the front row. That would likely keep me from ever accepting such an invitation again. It really wasn't cool. The proper thing to do would be to say ahead of time "You may not want to join me..."
It put Ryan in a really tough position and he couldn't graciously just get up and walk out.

Tiz, we do have to tackle Medicare directly to have a chance of getting anywhere fiscally. The current 2.9% of annual salary contributed by employees and employers (combined, not each) is a joke.

Social Security should be more solvent, but they kept dipping into it to borrow money and now it's all gone with massive commitments. That was unconscionable. If someone did that with a 401(k), he/she would be going to prison. Those are deposits made by employers and employees. But, what's done is done on that one and we'll probably need to accept reduced benefits to get ourselves out of it now.

[gabhainn]

Social Security should be more solvent, but they kept dipping into it to borrow money and now it's all gone with massive commitments. That was unconscionable. If someone did that with a 401(k), he/she would be going to prison.
lets not forget writing checks on an empty bank account, to me this id the single most important thing we need to correct. No money in the coffers? Dont spend any. I dont know how it could be any simpler........Kevin