The fact is, their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America. As Ronald Reagan’s own budget director said, there’s nothing “serious” or “courageous” about this plan. 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. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. And this is not a vision of the America I know.
The America I know is generous and compassionate; a land of opportunity and optimism. We take responsibility for ourselves and each other; for the country we want and the future we share. We are the nation that built a railroad across a continent and brought light to communities shrouded in darkness. We sent a generation to college on the GI bill and saved millions of seniors from poverty with Social Security and Medicare. We have led the world in scientific research and technological breakthroughs that have transformed millions of lives.
This is who we are. This is the America I know. We don’t have to choose between a future of spiraling debt and one where we forfeit investments in our people and our country. To meet our fiscal challenge, we will need to make reforms. We will all need to make sacrifices. But we do not have to sacrifice the America we believe in. And as long as I’m President, we won’t.
Yes actually we DO have to choose. Because we can no longer afford to spend like you have been.
Today, I’m proposing a more balanced approach to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over twelve years. It’s an approach that borrows from the recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission I appointed last year, and builds on the roughly $1 trillion in deficit reduction I already proposed in my 2012 budget. It’s an approach that puts every kind of spending on the table, but one that protects the middle-class, our promise to seniors, and our investments in the future.
Every kind of spending and your whining about cuts to Transportation, Education, Social Security and Medicaid/care? Shut the hell up.
The first step in our approach is to keep annual domestic spending low by building on the savings that both parties agreed to last week – a step that will save us about $750 billion over twelve years. We will make the tough cuts necessary to achieve these savings, including in programs I care about, but I will not sacrifice the core investments we need to grow and create jobs. We’ll invest in medical research and clean energy technology. We’ll invest in new roads and airports and broadband access. We will invest in education and job training. We will do what we need to compete and we will win the future.
Sigh...roads is in the governments job description..but no where does it say in the constitution "the government will create jobs and ensure everyone gets broadband access" Sorry but Broadband access is NOT crucial government mandated infrastructure. JOBS are created by Entrepreneurs with ideas who take a chance that they've found something, a product that their fellow citizens will want or need.
Something to pontificate on children..there are now 2x as many people that work for the government as work for the private sector.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050204576219073867182108.html
The second step in our approach is to find additional savings in our defense budget. As Commander-in-Chief, I have no greater responsibility than protecting our national security, and I will never accept cuts that compromise our ability to defend our homeland or America’s interests around the world. But as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen, has said, the greatest long-term threat to America’s national security is America’s debt.
Okay children did I not tell you REPEATEDLY that eventually there would be slash and cuts to the defense budget? Yes I agree there needs to be a few reforms in the way money is spent in defense, primarily to my mind the way government monies and contracts are awarded to contractors. for R&D, and the way our weapons systems are designed. many of them are more complicated than they need to be, therefore more expensive to design, manufacture and maintain. Follow me?
Just as we must find more savings in domestic programs, we must do the same in defense. Over the last two years, Secretary Gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving $400 billion in current and future spending. I believe we can do that again. We need to not only eliminate waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness, but conduct a fundamental review of America’s missions, capabilities, and our role in a changing world. I intend to work with Secretary Gates and the Joint Chiefs on this review, and I will make specific decisions about spending after it’s complete.
Secretary Gates..is a FOOL, and that's all I'm gonna say about that. Do we really need to conduct a "fundamental review" of our missions etc? Not really. the mission is the same as it always was. protect our home shores by killing bad people doing bad things. Preferably BEFORE they can do something bad to us. if they do succeed in doing something bad, kill every fucking one of them in retaliation, burn they're country down to the ground and then sow the earth with salt. End of Review.
The third step in our approach is to further reduce health care spending in our budget. Here, the difference with the House Republican plan could not be clearer: their plan lowers the government’s health care bills by asking seniors and poor families to pay them instead. Our approach lowers the government’s health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself.
Sigh..seriously? this repetitive generalistic misdirecting bullshit is getting annoying. I think at this point in the speech if I'd been in the room I'd have jumped up on stage, taken the cue cards out of the Liar In Chief's hands and shoved them up his ass.
Already, the reforms we passed in the health care law will reduce our deficit by $1 trillion. My approach would build on these reforms. We will reduce wasteful subsidies and erroneous payments. We will cut spending on prescription drugs by using Medicare’s purchasing power to drive greater efficiency and speed generic brands of medicine onto the market. We will work with governors of both parties to demand more efficiency and accountability from Medicaid. We will change the way we pay for health care – not by procedure or the number of days spent in a hospital, but with new incentives for doctors and hospitals to prevent injuries and improve results. And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services seniors need.
Already the reforms in healthcare are having a detrimental effect on our healthcare system, and raising prices, because older established doctors who can see the writing on the wall are retiring and getting out of it rather than have some faceless panel somewhere with no medical experience telling them how to do their jobs, and how much they're ALLOWED to charge. A good many others are giving up their practices and going to work for hospitals for a layer of protection between them and the coming bureaucrats so they can continue to practice their chosen profession. IOW doctors that actually have a fucking clue[experience] are going to start being few and far between.
Now, we believe the reforms we’ve proposed to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid will enable us to keep these commitments to our citizens while saving us $500 billion by 2023, and an additional one trillion dollars in the decade after that. And if we’re wrong, and Medicare costs rise faster than we expect, this approach will give the independent commission the authority to make additional savings by further improving Medicare.
It's not the job of the government to take care of the everyone. THAT responsibility belongs to the individual. If they don't want to bear that responsibility they can feel free to lay down and die somewhere because I won't help those who won't TRY to help themselves.
But let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations.
So what your saying is that you're going to force the people to pay for the rising costs of a program that needs to be slashed and that a great many people want slashed and brought under control? Yeah that sounds about normal coming from you Barry old boy.
That includes, by the way, our commitment to Social Security. While Social Security is not the cause of our deficit, it faces real long-term challenges in a country that is growing older. As I said in the State of the Union, both parties should work together now to strengthen Social Security for future generations. But we must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable, or people with disabilities; without slashing benefits for future generations; and without subjecting Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market.
Sigh...I'm not going to expound on SS too much because I already have..vociferously in a previous post. Suffice to say that the program was never intended to be a permanent program to create a permanent underclass beholden to the GODDAMN GOVERNMENT FOR A LIVING WAGE! It was [I hate being repetitive] a temporary program to help war widows and orphans. That is original intent of its inception.
The fourth step in our approach is to reduce spending in the tax code. In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. And I refuse to renew them again.
Okay once again we come to this falsehood. There IS no SPENDING in the Tax Code itself. The Tax Codes only purpose is to ACCRUE[gather, steal] money for the government to spend responsibly later. There is no spending in the Tax Code itself. In it's bureaucratic enforcement arm..the Infernal Revenue Service, there is massive overspending on wholly unearned and undeserved high salaries of those that work for the IRS. Oh and by the way the 'tax cut to the middle class" he refers to..would have been a massive tax hike to EVERYBODY..not just the poor or the middle class. But the poor, the middle class AND the rich with as usual the "rich" bearing the brunt of the burden.
Beyond that, the tax code is also loaded up with spending on things like itemized deductions. And while I agree with the goals of many of these deductions, like homeownership or charitable giving, we cannot ignore the fact that they provide millionaires an average tax break of $75,000 while doing nothing for the typical middle-class family that doesn’t itemize.
Itemized deductions is just that, deductions for the taxpayer or less money he has to pay to the government out of his pocket. Once again there IS no spending in the goddamn Tax code.
My budget calls for limiting itemized deductions for the wealthiest 2% of Americans – a reform that would reduce the deficit by $320 billion over ten years. But to reduce the deficit, I believe we should go further. That’s why I’m calling on Congress to reform our individual tax code so that it is fair and simple – so that the amount of taxes you pay isn’t determined by what kind of accountant you can afford. I believe reform should protect the middle class, promote economic growth, and build on the Fiscal Commission’s model of reducing tax expenditures so that there is enough savings to both lower rates and lower the deficit. And as I called for in the State of the Union, we should reform our corporate tax code as well, to make our businesses and our economy more competitive.
Yes! By all means reform the Tax Code. By all means let go even farther and toss the current Tax Code in the Trash. Replacing it with a Flat Tax. EVERYONE pays the same percentage of their income at the end of the year, poor, middle class, and the "rich", everyone is the same. THAT is fairness. As I mentioned in my ripping apart of the State of DisUnion address, this means taxes will go up for the poor and the middle class but stop whining because the "rich" will pay a MINIMUM of 10x more than the poor or the middle class will. The REALLY rich will pay more in ONE YEARS taxes; than one of us poor or middle class will pay in the entirety of our LIVES. Think about that before you start whinging people because it annoys the ever loving hell out of me.
This is my approach to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next twelve years. It’s an approach that achieves about $2 trillion in spending cuts across the budget. It will lower our interest payments on the debt by $1 trillion. It calls for tax reform to cut about $1 trillion in spending from the tax code. And it achieves these goals while protecting the middle class, our commitment to seniors, and our investments in the future.
Yada Yada the broken record revolves around the turntable.
In the coming years, if the recovery speeds up and our economy grows faster than our current projections, we can make even greater progress than I have pledged here. But just to hold Washington – and me – accountable and make sure that the debt burden continues to decline, my plan includes a debt failsafe. If, by 2014, our debt is not projected to fall as a share of the economy – or if Congress has failed to act – my plan will require us to come together and make up the additional savings with more spending cuts and more spending reductions in the tax code. That should be an incentive for us to act boldly now, instead of kicking our problems further down the road.
So this is our vision for America – a vision where we live within our means while still investing in our future; where everyone makes sacrifices but no one bears all the burden; where we provide a basic measure of security for our citizens and rising opportunity for our children.
*Sigh* I'm bored Mr President. Would you please shut the fuck up? Look your so repetitive and boring even your Vice President has fallen asleep in the front row!
Of course, there will be those who disagree with my approach. Some will argue we shouldn’t even consider raising taxes, even if only on the wealthiest Americans. It’s just an article of faith for them. I say that at a time when the tax burden on the wealthy is at its lowest level in half a century, the most fortunate among us can afford to pay a little more. I don’t need another tax cut. Warren Buffett doesn’t need another tax cut. Not if we have to pay for it by making seniors pay more for Medicare. Or by cutting kids from Head Start. Or by taking away college scholarships that I wouldn’t be here without. That some of you wouldn’t be here without. And I believe that most wealthy Americans would agree with me. They want to give back to the country that’s done so much for them. Washington just hasn’t asked them to.
Others will say that we shouldn’t even talk about cutting spending until the economy is fully recovered. I’m sympathetic to this view, which is one of the reasons I supported the payroll tax cuts we passed in December. It’s also why we have to use a scalpel and not a machete to reduce the deficit – so that we can keep making the investments that create jobs. But doing nothing on the deficit is just not an option. Our debt has grown so large that we could do real damage to the economy if we don’t begin a process now to get our fiscal house in order.
Finally, there are those who believe we shouldn’t make any reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security out of a fear that any talk of change to these programs will usher in the sort of radical steps that House Republicans have proposed. I understand these fears. But I guarantee that if we don’t make any changes at all, we won’t be able to keep our commitments to a retiring generation that will live longer and face higher health care costs than those who came before.
Indeed, to those in my own party, I say that if we truly believe in a progressive vision of our society, we have the obligation to prove that we can afford our commitments. If we believe that government can make a difference in people’s lives, we have the obligation to prove that it works – by making government smarter, leaner and more effective.
Of course, there are those who will simply say that there’s no way we can come together and agree on a solution to this challenge. They’ll say the politics of this city are just too broken; that the choices are just too hard; that the parties are just too far apart. And after a few years in this job, I certainly have some sympathy for this view.
But I also know that we’ve come together and met big challenges before. Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill came together to save Social Security for future generations. The first President Bush and a Democratic Congress came together to reduce the deficit. President Clinton and a Republican Congress battled each other ferociously and still found a way to balance the budget. In the last few months, both parties have come together to pass historic tax relief and spending cuts. And I know there are Republicans and Democrats in Congress who want to see a balanced approach to deficit reduction.
I believe we can and must come together again. This morning, I met with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress to discuss the approach I laid out today. And in early May, the Vice President will begin regular meetings with leaders in both parties with the aim of reaching a final agreement on a plan to reduce the deficit by the end of June.
I don’t expect the details in any final agreement to look exactly like the approach I laid out today. I’m eager to hear other ideas from all ends of the political spectrum. And though I’m sure the criticism of what I’ve said here today will be fierce in some quarters, and my critique of the House Republican approach has been strong, Americans deserve and will demand that we all bridge our differences, and find common ground.
Sooo..you WON'T throw a temper tantrum if it doesn't follow your great plan? riiiight
This larger debate we’re having, about the size and role of government, has been with us since our founding days. And during moments of great challenge and change, like the one we’re living through now, the debate gets sharper and more vigorous. That’s a good thing. As a country that prizes both our individual freedom and our obligations to one another, this is one of the most important debates we can have.
Yep you'd better pray..because there's no place for people like you in our government Barry old boy..and if there's any justice you are gonna be thrown out on your ass in 2012.
But no matter what we argue or where we stand, we’ve always held certain beliefs as Americans. We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms and pursue our own happiness, we can’t just think about ourselves. We have to think about the country that made those liberties possible. We have to think about our fellow citizens with whom we share a community. And we have to think about what’s required to preserve the American Dream for future generations.
This sense of responsibility – to each other and to our country – this isn’t a partisan feeling. It isn’t a Democratic or Republican idea. It’s patriotism.
The other day I received a letter from a man in Florida. He started off by telling me he didn’t vote for me and he hasn’t always agreed with me. But even though he’s worried about our economy and the state of our politics, he said,
“I still believe. I believe in that great country that my grandfather told me about. I believe that somewhere lost in this quagmire of petty bickering on every news station, the ‘American Dream’ is still alive…
Yes the American Dream is still alive..it's in critical condition thanks to big government, but it's still alive..no thanks to Politicians like you Barry old boy.
We need to use our dollars here rebuilding, refurbishing and restoring all that our ancestors struggled to create and maintain…We as a people must do this together, no matter the color of the state one comes from or the side of the aisle one might sit on.”
Yes..something I agree with..we need to invest in jobs HERE, by lowering taxes, giving AMERICAN owned companies the incentive to actually STAY here instead of them farming the jobs out to overseas!
Jeebus that duplicitous, deceitful son of a bitch likes the sound of his own voice don't he? He..like many liberal/progressive people..also has Delusions of Grandeur. Gee glad this speech is over..even his own VP fell asleep during it..which just goes to show how boring, repetitive and monotonous Obama is.
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