[newgeezer]

The recent drumbeat calling for a "tax cut for all of the people" (cut payroll taxes instead of income taxes) is more evidence that it's only a matter of time until (1) the ceiling is abolished, (2) the correlation between personal lifetime contributions and the resulting (piddly) monthly SS check disappears, and finally, (3) FICA taxes become "progressive" (from each according to his ability, to each according to his need).

As long as career politicians control the purse strings, they will manipulate them to buy the sheeple's votes. Just another day in the life of the Sheeple's Socialist Republic of Amerika.

[Alberta's Child]

Items (1) and (2) in your list may not be such a bad thing, since they would represent the closest thing this country has to a flat income tax rate. And make no mistake about it, these are INCOME TAXES we are paying. With every year that passes, we come closer to the day when the U.S. government does nothing more than fight wars, administers Social Security and Medicare, and pays interest on its debt. Even all the other nonsense like education funding, transportation projects, etc. are miniscule compared to these four budget items.