Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending (The return of borrow and spend?)

NY Times ^ | 03-15-2015 | JONATHAN WEISMAN

[Candor7]

The GOP is AGAIN busy effing itself up the a$$.

At this rate of broken promises,not a single chance the GOP will win the presidency or Congress in 2016.

These GOP budget bend over boys will pay, in Nov. 2016.....right up the wazoo! Result?

Welcome President Hilolita Clinton.

[VRWC For Truth]

The SC fag needs to be sent to the glue factory.

[CPT Clay]

How soon they forget 2006.

[9YearLurker]

What, you’re for more taxes?

Let Europe pay for its own defense. No reason the US needs to spend more on its military than the next 10 biggest spenders combined.

[Theodore R.]

So many of our little Republican officeholders are stealth Democrats. Even Nelson Rockefeller tried to avoid being called a stealth Democrat, which he really was.

[Theodore R.]

The American people don’t mind broken promises so long as it is the Democrats breaking the “promises”.

[NRx]

Not at all. I am AGAINST debt first last and always. If the debt can be reduced by spending cuts fine. Cut away. I can think of a lot of places to cut spending. But no more debt. Whatever that requires, no more debt. Not one cent!

But if you think corporate welfare is a figment of the leftist imagination, I suggest reading this...

http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/corporate-welfare-federal-budget

[kearnyirish2]

Unfortunately buying votes with taxpayers’ dollars is so ingrained into our election process the Repubs probably see no way to win elections while touting spending cuts.

Dems have always used that to their advantage when courting voters.

[SkyPilot]

No one has sacrificed more for our nation these past years than our military members and military families. No one.

And under Obama and the "cut spending and who cares where" Republicans that gave us this "deal" called Sequestration, it has been the military who has suffered the most.

Things were so bad in 2013 that we went from over 40 Combat Brigades down to 2. Two! The Air Force didn't even have enough money for fuel for its aircraft. Thousand of DoD doctors and nurses quit in disgust after their pay was cut 20%.

Meanwhile, Entitlements are EXEMPT from Sequestration. That's right: EBT, SS Disability, Section 8 Housing, EITC for Illegals - all untouchable to any cuts.

Great deal the Republicans "negotiated" with the Democrats, huh? Oh, and it lasts until 2023.

World War is coming. I can feel it.

Screwing over our military is misdirected, and it must stop.

We are giving pink slips to men and women in combat zones! Their health care has been cut, their retirement is being slashed, and their benefits destroyed. Meanwhile, for illegals and fat breeders, it is turn up the Ca$h spigot.

[upchuck]

The SC fag needs to be sent to the glue factory.

Yes! And I'm doing everything I can to see it happen.

[Always A Marine]

Washington is a hydra; one head is the Welfare Party and the other is the War Party. Each has its own large constituency, and the two have tag-teamed for decades in a race to pick the nation clean before it dies. The Pentagon is awash in money, but wastes a huge portion of its funding on things that have nothing to do with defense. Our manpower and materiel have been wasted in two decades of wars that have achieved nothing, and we have sapped our national will to fight — a will that may soon be tested by a real and dire threat.

[NRx]

OK so find some more money for them. If they are that important then cut spending somewhere. If that is honestly not an option, which I don’t believe, then raise taxes. I am not arguing against money for the military. I AM arguing against more debt. You write eloquently about sacrifice and proclaim a belief that a world war is coming. Then surely we should all do what we need to. During World War and for most of the following two decades the top income tax bracket was 91%. Perpetual war is expensive. Being the world’s police force is expensive. One of the most common reasons for the fall of empires is the failure to recognize their own limitations and fiscal folly.

So by all means fund the military. Cut spending. Raise taxes. Or do both. Just not with more debt. We are broke. As in bankrupt. It has to stop. Islamists will never bring this country to its knees. However our belief that money grows on trees just might.

[NRx]

I strongly agree. If we cannot tame the perpetual Welfare - Warfare State, then the Republic is doomed.

[Jim Noble]

No more debt!

Unfortunately, while we were not looking, debt was redefined as money.

Debt as money contains the seeds of its own destruction, which is now well underway.

There's nothing anyone can do. Just try to enjoy the ride, and prepare for the end.

[houeto]

Don’t fall for the trolls and the “Corporate Welfare” crap.

What is your take on subsidies for 'green energy' companies? My take is "Corporate Welfare crap"!

[houeto]

Why is the school lunch program a large part of the farm bill?

School lunch program? That is itty-bitty. How about the EBT program?

[houeto]

No reason the US needs to spend more on its military than the next 10 biggest spenders combined.

By percent of GDP?

[9YearLurker]

Relevance?

[gleeaikin]

What is your take on 100 years of benefits to railroads and oil companies. Check out the relative benefits paid to carbon energy and renewables.

One issue not yet mentioned is Social Security. In 1983 there was bipartisan agreement to have a “wage cap” at 90% of total wages in the country. Unfortunately for the soundness of the SS trust fund, 1983 was the ONLY year in which SS was collected at the 90% level. The cap was raised each year according to inflation 2-4%, but each year the top earners wages were increasing 10% to 20%. So the cap has drifted down to somewhere between 82 and 85%. Restoring it to 90% and keeping it there would solve the SS running out of money issue.

[DaxtonBrown]

Corporate welfare is just as bad. All the envirocrap especially.