I agree with much of what you say but the answer is not to continue to give tax cuts to people earning over a million dollars a year while we're at war. It's the middle class that is going to pay for this war and the rich, who have had incredible opportunity in this great country, should be willing to do their share. They are not patriots.
Simple solutions like raising the income cap for social security would fix the problem. After what happened with Worldcom and Enron, etc. it distrubs me that Wall Street is literally salivating to get their hands on that money. I don't think that there are safequards in place to protect those dollars.
Worse yet, what about the debt? Why is everyone ignoring the national debt? Who do you think is going to pay for it? With the current tax evasion laws in place and corporations moving off-shore in order to avoid paying any taxes, it's the middle class that will pay. The President's proposal adds 2 TRILLION dollars to that debt.
I am not opposed to tax cuts for the middle class or for small businesses, I am opposed to corporate welfare for giant coporations who have all of the opportunities afforded by this country, but don't want to pay their share.
The oil companies have all reported record profits!! Guess who paid for that? When are we going to wake up and figure out that the middle class is being slimed!
When are we going to admit that millioniares are still going to Washington with their hands out while our troops go without proper armour?
Our troops have armor, or are getting it as we speak. It has taken a couple of years to build the military back up, and then equip the men for war. It might be that there are soldiers who are not 'front line' who do not yet have body armor, but that just reflects the fact that the army hasn't moved into the 'every soldier is a combat soldier' mode required by this war.
As far as the rich not getting a tax cut, why shouldn't they get their own money back? They've been paying the lion's share of the taxes. Besides, in order to reduce the deficit, the economy needs to grow. In order for that to happen, there have to be people willing to take risks and either start new businesses or expand the existing ones. Who is going to do that and from where will the money come? That's right, those nasty rich folks. With the money that they don't have to send to the government in taxes, they can help create another couple of jobs which will provide greater revenue for the government.
People seem to have forgotten the double whammy that this Administration suffered in 2001. First was the recession that was inherited from the Clinton administration. George W. Bush was warning about it during the summer while he was running against Algore. Then as things had leveled off, along came 9/11 which was another HUGE blow to the economy. We're just now turning around from that.