Remember, if you're losing a budget debate, talk some pretty ideology. Good job, Jr.

We continue to hear that the Great Budget Debate has two sides. The president and the Democrats want to cut the deficit mainly by increasing taxes on the rich and reducing military spending, but not by privatizing Medicare. On the other side are House budget chair Paul Ryan and congressional Republicans, who want to cut the deficit by privatizing Medicare and slicing programs that benefit poorer Americans, while lowering taxes on the rich.

By this logic, the center lies just between.

Baloney.

According to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 78 percent of Americans oppose cutting spending on Medicare as a way to reduce the budget deficit. Meanwhile, raising taxes on the wealthy is supported by 72 percent. That includes 68 percent of independents. Even a majority of registered Republicans - 54 percent - say taxes should be raised on the rich. A majority of Republicans!

In other words, the center of America isn't halfway between the two sides. It's overwhelmingly on the side of the president and the Democrats.

I'd wager that if Americans also knew that the Ryan plan would channel hundreds of billions of their Medicare dollars into the pockets of private for-profit heath insurers, more would be against it.

If people knew that two-thirds of Ryan's budget cuts would come from programs serving lower- and moderate-income Americans while more than 70 percent of the savings would fund tax cuts for the rich, even more would oppose it.

And if they knew that combining the tax cuts for the rich with the budget-cuts plan would produce almost no deficit reduction at all, just about everyone would be against it. The plan is little more than a giant transfer from the less advantaged to the super advantaged.

The Ryan Republican plan shouldn't be considered one side of a great debate. It shouldn't be considered at all. Americans of all political persuasions - including a large percentage of registered Republicans - don't want it

AND, don't none of ya'll, except Steve Cohen, act like Democrats in Washington have the balls to vote for a respectable budget when 108 voted against it.

Our Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores America’s Competitiveness
The CPC budget rebuilds America and makes it competitive again. We put America back to work. We rebuild our roads and bridges, ensuring that those who use it help pay for it. We rebuild our dams and waterways with seed money for shipping systems that can compete with the rest of the world. We rebuild our education system by training more and better teachers, restoring schools, helping each student graduate, and supporting community colleges. This is what competitiveness looks like.

Our Budget Creates a Fair Tax System
The CPC budget implements a fair tax system based on the American notion that fairness and equality are integral to our society. Our budget restores fairness to a system that unfairly benefitted the richest few while hurting the majority of America. Our budget heeds America’s call to end the Bush Tax Cuts and the estate tax and create fair tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires while maintaining credits for the middle class and students. It ensures that the banks that wrecked our economy pay a modest financial responsibility fee and that exotic trading by Wall Street traders who gambled away America’s savings is levied a tax. It guarantees that hedge fund managers (and those who use them) do not get special treatment by taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income.
It eliminates charity to oil companies making record profits from prices paid at the pump by the American people, given that it is unfair that the American people must also give these oil companies billions of dollars in handouts. Finally, our budget taxes US corporate income as it is earned, in much the same way Americans are taxed. This is what fairness looks like.

Our Budget Brings Our Troops Home
The CPC budget responsibly ends our wars that are currently paid for by American taxpayer dollars we do not have. We end these wars not simply to save massive amounts of money or because the majority of America is polling in favor to do so, but because these wars are making America less safe, are reducing America’s standing in the world, and are doing nothing to reduce America’s burgeoning energy security crisis. The CPC budget offers a real solution to these fiscal, diplomatic and energy crises, leaving America more secure, both here and abroad. The CPC budget also ensures that our country’s defense spending does not continue to contribute significantly to our current fiscal burden – a trend we reverse by ending the wars and realigning conventional and strategic forces, resulting in $2.3 trillion worth of savings. This is what security looks like.

Our Budget’s Bottom Line
• Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion
• Primary spending cuts of $869 billion
• Net interest savings of $856 billion
• Total spending cuts of $1.7 trillion
• Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion
• Public investment of $1.7 trillion
• Budget surplus of $30.7 billion in 2021, debt at 64.1% of GDP.

Your response to Duncan, the POOR middle class Republican, is SO much better, so much better researched, so clear that my 7 year old grandson could 'get it'. Therefore I nominate you to submit it as a GUEST column for those here who still subscribe to the NS (most of my friends got disgusted and stopped getting it in 2008!) And we deserve for 'our side' to be given equal time, especially since Greg Johnson NEVER writes the truth, never reveals where he finds his lies, gossip and rumors...Never!

Awesome, ERIC!

Oh, and to counter Duncan II's little family tale: my granddaddy (and Grandmother Dixie) raised 11 children during the 20s, 30s, 40s...here in EAST Knoxville proud, Irish and VERY devout and they did have indoor plumbing! He supported his family by finding jobs for those who had none, grateful everyday for FDR's leadership. He had a small store on North Central in the old City, and managed to raise some awesome young'uns. He even 'took people in'...strangers, and relatives,to live with the family until they could get on their feet. He passed away before Social Security and Medicare were passed into law...I am so proud of my Liberal, Democratic roots...as far as I know, not one of these relatives of mine ended up "rich liberal Dems" as Duncan claims!

The Republican Party is anti-elderly, anti-poor, anti-middle class,anti-environment, anti-education, certainly anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, anti-religion, anti-morality,and anti-American. The Republican Party is anti-everybody except for the wealthy elite. The only people that could possibly be voting for their own interest by voting Republican are rich atheists.

mld