Republicans are plainly not just foolish but also inexcusably and monstrously VICIOUS. Taxing the poor and rich at the same rate is profoundly regressive. It crushes the poor so they can never rise, because every dollar they spend on everything is taxed, whereas the rich spend very little of their income, so pay almost nothing. Among the taxes currently in place, only the progressive income tax is truly fair, tho there are ways of taxing WEALTH (that is, accumulated, unspent income), not just income. The rich, who are proposing these "trickle-down", "voodoo economics" measures, do not seem to understand that the more outrageously unfair the distribution of wealth becomes, the more the Nation is set up for a REVOLUTIONARY situation, in which the rich will be cut down as they were in the French Revolution. Heads might LITERALLY roll, by the tens of thousands. We should erect a supersized sculpture of a GUILLOTINE on the Washington Mall and in a comparably prominent place in every state capital to remind politicians and their masters, the rich, that if they crush the little guy too badly, they will find themselves suffering the ultimate "redistribution": execution, and having their bodies chopped up for parts for decent working people (no transplants for the rich).

[Re suggestion that Congress shouldn't be paid until they resolve budget issues:] Would you work for free? They can play ruf too: "You don't pay us? We don't work. We pass NO budget; the Government shuts down; the economy goes into freefall, and -- guess what? We're RICH. We're not going to be hurt by the shutdown of the Govt for MONTHS. How about you?"

So funny, these endless drug jokes. Never mind that 39,000 Americans die each and every year from illegal drugs, and 60,000 Mexicans have died in violence fueled by U.S. drug users. Isn't that FUNNY?

How very dishonest. The Republican Reagan TRIPLED the national debt. The Republican Bush I added another third, so after the Reagan-Bush years, the national debt had QUADRUPLED. Then the Democrat Clinton reined in the debt and produced a surplus. Then Bush II DOUBLED the national debt AGAIN. So under Republicans, the national debt OCTUPLED.

If the Federal Government would take away redistricting of FEDERAL districts from the states and let COMPUTERS draw nongerrymandered districts, there would be a lot fewer crazies elected to Congress.

Immigration policy is not intended to steal educated people from Third World countries. U.S. education is supposed to help the Third World DEVELOP. It is not to parasitize and subvert the development of poor countries.

The problem is not the Tea Party loons. It is the refusal of the 'mainstream' Republicans to stand UP to them and tell them that they are taking the Republican Party to the verge of extinction as a national force.

Cheaters consume NO significant portion of the national budget. Illegals and cheats are insignificant distractions from the real costs entailed in governing a country.

Foreign aid is 1% of the Federal budget. Do some research on the FACTS before spewing nonsense.

Would those Medicare cuts be MEANS-TESTED? Or should poor people's assistance be cut equally with benefits for the rich? -- who shouldn't get ANY Govt benefits.

Drivel. Taxes are DUES for being allowed to live in a wonderful, rich country in which infrastructure, education, technology, and other SOCIAL expenditures, many of them Governmental, enable people to do and live well. Without those things produced by OTHER people, you couldn't make a dime. Indeed, there wouldn't BE a dime, a Federal coin, without the Federal Government. It's NOT 'your' money. It has OUR name on it: "United States of America". Without the United States of America, all 'your' money would be decorative paper or engraved metal, but nothing more. Be grateful, or begone. Go to some country more to your liking. But there ISN'T any, is there? So let's add a third option: be grateful, begone, or be QUIET.

Any budget has two elements: income and expense. If you increase income, you don't have to cut expenses.

That [a government default] would be fine if only Republicans were hurt. Alas, EVERYONE would be hurt -- even the rich, the only people the Republicans care about. If a stock-market crash results, the rich will have capital LOSSES, not capital gains. But they don't believe the Democrats will really allow that to happen. They expect Obama to cave, as he always does.

President Eisenhower -- five-star GENERAL Eisenhower -- warned us almost exactly 52 years ago about the "military-industrial complex". Why haven't we YET wised up to these merchants of death?

I just love the way people pretend that the money we have spent and continue to spend does not benefit today's children and grandchildren. Of COURSE it does.

[Re remark about unhappy Liberals:] Liberals are unhappy because society is so unfair. Conservatives don't care about fairness, and can always make excuses for unfairness -- as long as THEY are not the ones being treated unfairly.

[Re suggestion that the people do the voting on bills, not Congress:] Do YOU have thousands of hours a year to devote to reading and researching bills, holding hearings, and otherwise doing the deliberative job that members of Congress do on legislation? Of course not. There have been many ballot initiatives that have gone very seriously awry, because of simplistic thinking like yours.

You are confused, or a very poor propagandist. The REPUBLICAN President George W. Bush was in office EIGHT years [not six], 2001-2009 [not 2001-2006], during which time the national debt went from $5.8 trillion to $11.9 trillion, a difference of $6.1 trillion greater. On a base of $5.8T when Bush entered office, that means the Republicans DOUBLED the national debt in his Administration. (Search for the U.S. Treasury webpage "Historical Debt Outstanding - Annual 2000 - 2010" to see the truth.) [The $11.9T figure is for the last budget year of the Bush Administration, as at 9/30/2009.]

You know nothing about finance. The Bush Administration DOUBLED the national debt, in part by putting TWO wars on a credit card.

How are you going to [both shut down the Government and] seal the borders if there is no Government to do that?

You people have regaled us with this insane paranoia against that 'un-American' black man in the White House for four years, and the Nation REPUDIATED your crap. You LOST. Go away and be quiet. And seek professional help if you REALLY believe Obama is trying to destroy the United States and become dictator. But you DON'T really believe any such thing, do you? You are just a troublemaker lying to annoy your betters.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress would have to affirmatively renounce debts -- or pay them.

Pls stop pretending that the Government serves only SOME people, and that other people are victimized. That's not the way things work. Government activities keep society working. If you think we don't need Government, but things will just run themselves fine, you need to be in a mental institution.

Reminder: when the stock market crashes, so do pension funds and the holdings of the rich. Nobody gets off scott-free.

- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 12:56 PM