benny 0 #26 June 30, 2004 QuoteQuoteQuoteThe FACT of the matter is, that if the national debt were paid off, as we were in the progress of doing before GWB came along. Then income tax could be reduced 15% ACROSS THE BOARD. I see you found my crack pipe. Yeah, but it's empty. You must have already toked it all up Come on man, let me hit that, I know you got the goodstuff Master, so pass that on down here Kev. Never go to a DZ strip show. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,433 #27 June 30, 2004 >How about we eliminate pork first. Agreed, but you may have to make a serious change to our current government to make that happen. >After making as many cuts as possible, then I'd support a tax increase. Problem there is that you can easily cut spending by 50% and not need a tax increase. Heck, you could pull off a tax cut! Where's that going to come from? Prescription drugs? Highway maintenance? Food safety? Military benefits? NASA? Department of energy's nuclear materials monitoring program? Homeland security? The TSA? I think there's a common idea out there that if we just "cut the fat" off the budget, get rid of some bloated programs, fat-cat politicians, or (insert your own favorite description of waste here) you can get rid of all our financial problems. The problem there is that every single politician, ever, has promised to do that, and most of them have tried. All the low-hanging fruit is gone. Every program that could safely be cut has been cut; that makes for good campaign sound bites. ("Joe Smith saved US taxpayers millions!") The rest haven't been because they have so much popular support that cutting them would be political suicide (or more realistic suicide, such as drastically cutting defense.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #28 June 30, 2004 I have no problem with the statement if applied correctly. I've long argued that the common good demands that the government forego the gravy train. For the common good, people should not get all of the services they want. This shouldn't be Europe, where everyone depends on the government for everything. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #29 July 1, 2004 well you could start by cutting every politician's salary by 10%...after all they do the work "for the people" right?? oh wait, you said 'low hanging' not 'forbidden' ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
