Deficit reduction requires shared sacrifice

Deficit reduction requires shared sacrifice

by Bernie Sanders (Independent Senator from Vermont)

At a time when this country faces a $14 trillion national debt and a huge deficit, Congress must aggressively move toward deficit reduction. As we do so, however, we must be mindful of what caused the deficit and make certain that the solution to this crisis includes shared sacrifice.

Our national debt was built up over the past 10 years because of two wars, tax breaks for the rich, the Wall Street bailout and a prescription drug program. ALL UNPAID FOR! The deficit also soared as a result of declining tax revenues during the recession.

The debate over deficit reduction comes at an unusual moment in American economic history. While the middle class is in rapid decline and poverty is increasing, the gap between the very wealthy and everybody else is growing wider.

sanders.senate.gov...

I think this is spot on. It is going to have to be shared sacrifice and right now the major push is for the only the middle class and the poor to take all the pain.

I've listened to Bernie Sanders on the radio many, many times...he is simply the only man I know of who fights tooth and nail for the average joe....employed or not....middle class or poor.

Yes, he is the only declared Socialist in the Congress and is an independent...but caucuses with Democrats. He is not payed off by lobbyists and actually goes door to door to talk to the people of his state. He takes phone calls from real people on a live radio show every friday for one hour during his lunch break. I really don't know anyone else like him and I wish more new about him.


[url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread189140/pg2#pid1918420]

of course they will do everything they can to put the bill on the middle class...I'm glad there are people out there fighting this...I don't see why the rich couldn't foot a decent portion of what needs to be done...it's not like they're spending it on anything really important in about 90% of all cases of rich people...

reply to post by David9176


Well... You know my response... Rather than worry about it, let's get rid of the need for money. By adding effectively infinite energy through extraction from the plenum, the standard of living will rise for all, and money will become unnecessary.

If We pass on the ideas I offer in two threads here on ATS to many, We can accomplish this.

The End of Entropy - the foundation - read first

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The Ethical Planetarian Party Platform - the structure

www.abovetopsecret.com...


Here's a simple schematic for drawing on the plenum ("dark"/Zero Point/Radiant/Orgone/...) energy:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

But if We fail to pass these ideas on to the tipping point - yeah. Take the same percentage from the rich as the poor.

reply to post by here4awhile


Corporations are making record profits...yet not hiring anyone...and many of them aren't even paying taxes...some are actually getting refunds!

I've stated this in a few posts already:

The top 5 oil companies made 36 billion in profits in the 1st quarter alone...multiply that by 4 and divide it by 50,000....what does it equal?

2,880,000 jobs paying 50k for a year. That's just the oil companies! They could pay people to push brooms...pay them to pick up trash...ANYTHING...but they simply won't do it...because profits doesn't equal jobs.

It's time for things to change.

Sadly, Bernie Sanders is just another voice of controlled opposition.

Much like Ron Paul.

He says what people want to hear but none of what he says ever
comes to pass.

It is theater of the absurd, but it has a very wide audience.

Wow this is dope, so much truth behind it and all of these comments are stimulating as well. I truly hope some of the other senators can identify with this and take action.

Can more people please flag this ? I feel it needs to be noticed

Corporate pimps owns the whores in congress so like always congress will only listen to their masters, do not expect anything coming in the way of helping the working class, congress has not done anything for the working class in decades.

Wake up sheeple and smell the rotten government we got right now.

reply to post by marg6043


I agree Marg...but he's one of the good guys...one of the few. To me he is the FDR no one hears or knows about.

If his position is truly to only close loopholes, I can get behind that. Corporations like GE and Exxon get by without paying, or only paying very little, in taxes. And just about any individual can manipulate the system to do the same thing. Tax revenues in the billions are lost that way and the tax code needs a complete overhaul.

But if his suggestion is tax them more, in particular individuals, he can go hang. Part of the American dream is to be successful and prosperous. But the have-nots want to punish the haves because of jealousy. I'm a have-not and I couldn't care less how much money someone has. So they make more than you or me? That's not our business, and they can do whatever the hell they want with their money, as long as they got it fair and square.

And there are many, I'd say at least half of them, that did get their riches by nothing more underhanded than decades of sweat, hard work and dedication. And people like Progressives want to punish them for living the American dream. People need to grow up and learn to be responsible for their own wealth, for their own well-being, for their own job, for their own everything. Mine is mine and yours is yours and we're square.

/TOA

Shared sacrifice by everybody? Including all those countries we send billions to? How about we start with them. And then, as others have already mentioned, the corporations that leech money and tax revenue off our soil and invest more billions in the Middle East and Asia at our expense and at our "sacrifice." .

Shared sacrifice?

Shut down the Federal Reserve, draft a bill to cancel the debt, take the Federal Reserve notes out of circulation and replace them with debt free US Treasury notes, abolish the income tax and shut down the IRS, shut down all foreign bases, bring all the troops home, station troops on the southern border, abolish the CIA, NSA, get out of the UN, WTO, NAFTA, GATT, apply tariffs on slave made imports… America should be back on her feet bright eyed and bushy tailed in about 2 to 5 years.

Shared sacrifice my butt. America doesn’t have to share anything… only take back what was stolen.

reply to post by David9176


Actually oil companies pay an enormous amount of taxes. How they pay that is what you see at the pump.

Oil company taxation is a shell game, the oil companies serve as another tax collection arm of the government and those taxes affect the poor much more than the rich.

The government needs to stop the tax breaks and credits for companies that employ overseas workers but take advantage of the U.S. markets ((like GE). American businesses pays up the a$$ in taxes. Why a mom-and-pop start-up has to pay more in taxes than GE is beyond me but it does imply that someone is out to screw us.

There is no need for shared sacrifice, there is need for equal protection under the law. If GE gets to get away with having to pay anything, every other business (from mom and pop start-ups to oil companies) should not have to pay anything either.

Why should a shareholder for Disney have to worry about Disney's tax burden as well as their own income tax while GE shareholders don't get that double taxation? Is it because Disney employs people in Burbank, Ca while GE employs people in China? Sure seems so....

reply to post by David9176


The problem with the good ones is that they can go blue blowing the whistle but not body will listen, the few that do, well we are here in conspiracies site like ATS and not to be taken seriously.

reply to post by The Old American


Yes they get to fill their pockets with government incentives and plenty of deductions so the taxes that they pay are back in their coffers at the expenses of tax payers in the nation