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On Sun, 24 Apr 2011 02:13:28 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2011 20:48:45 -0700, wrote:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:28:14 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2011 11:19:20 -0700, wrote:

On Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:28:43 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:27:08 -0400, Harryk
wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:18:41 -0400,
wrote:

We should be concentrating on cutting back our miiltary expenditures
drastically, to the tune of $100 billion a year, until we are down to a
reasonable level. Half those savings can go to reducing the deficit and
half can go towards funding needed social programs. That, and a serious
tax increase on the wealthy, and we'll be out of the hole.

I agree we spend too much on the military but if you cut it to zero,
it would only cover half if the deficit. There are not enough rich
people to make up the other $700B.

You think all the deficit has to be paid down in one FY? I'm suggesting
we cut the Pentagon by $100 billion a year until we're only spending
$100 billion a year on the military, and using the savings to pay down
the deficit and fund needed social programs and infrastructure
rebuilding *and* increase income by making the wealthy pay a fairer share.

If you don't cut the deficit (the amount we spend vs what we take in)
you do have to pay it off every year. We are not talking about the
rolling debt, we are talking about how much more we spend every year
more than we take in.

No, you don't. Not in the short term. Only in the long term. It's an
issue that needs an intelligent solution, not cut gov't to the bone
and throw a bunch of people out of work.

What do you think will happen when these cuts have to be made because
our interest payments triple and we can't afford the entitlements?

Again, you always take the worst situation. Who says they all have to
happen at once? The right wing. There's no middle ground is there.

Do you even have a clue how much of our debt is in short term notes
that roll over in months not years so the interest rate can change in
a flash. You keep talking about "long term" and "years down the road"
but we could get clobbered in a matter of months.

There's no evidence to support that fear.