Esquire Commission's proposal to balance the budget

Originally posted by whodey
No, no, I did not say reduce engagement, I said to bring the troops home.

I think a very large majority of Americans want to bring the troops home -- and I assume the Esquire Commission would agree. I think they're just trying to avoid making overly optimistic assumptions. If we can indeed find a way to bring all the troops home, that will make the task of balancing the budget that much easier.

You have voiced your expected disagreement regarding the gas tax in another thread. But assuming the troops will all be home by 2020 and setting aside the gas tax issue -- is there anything else in the plan you disagree with? - or are you willing to endorse the rest of the plan as it currently stands.

In fact, besides Mr. Booth and yourself, no one else here at RHP has weighed in on this proposal, so it doesn't appear that there's much opposition to it. If this is something that everyone at RHP can agree on, perhaps there's hope that a large majority of Americans could unite behind this plan or something similar.

Originally posted by Melanerpes
I think a very large majority of Americans want to bring the troops home -- and I assume the Esquire Commission would agree. I think they're just trying to avoid making overly optimistic assumptions. If we can indeed find a way to bring all the troops home, that will make the task of balancing the budget that much easier.

You have voiced your expected ...[text shortened]... s hope that a large majority of Americans could unite behind this plan or something similar.

I think the fact that people are not commenting has more to do with the knowledge that our opinions do not matter. Does Wall Street, the Koch brothers, and GE agree with the plan? By the time the sausage has been churned out I suspect that it will be unrecognizable. The only plan that will be followed is the plan for short-term profits and the only losers will ultimately be all of us (including the aforementioned mindless entities.)

Originally posted by Melanerpes
I think a very large majority of Americans want to bring the troops home -- and I assume the Esquire Commission would agree. I think they're just trying to avoid making overly optimistic assumptions. If we can indeed find a way to bring all the troops home, that will make the task of balancing the budget that much easier.

You have voiced your expected ...[text shortened]... s hope that a large majority of Americans could unite behind this plan or something similar.

Really? You don't think there's much opposition to raising the retirement age, using gimmickry to reduce the COLAs of Social Security, slashing the Federal workforce at a time when our infrastructure is crumbling while simultaneously keeping the Bush tax cuts but sticking a $1 a gallon tax on gas?

My own opinion is that reduction of the budget deficit should be done with far bigger cuts in defense spending and actual significant increases in the wealthy's taxes (which have been slashed over the last 25 years or so). But reducing the deficit isn't a main priority; increasing the spending power of the working and middle class should be the #1 goal if our economy is ever to recover from the self-inflicted wounds that our rulers (private and public) have given it.