There’s Plenty Of Ways To Bring Down The Deficit
Readers suggested a topic on government budgets. “The ‘budget’ discussions are completely useless. There is no ‘budget.’ Budgets are for working families that don’t rely on government support for food and housing. The government hasn’t had any budget in a long time. To say ‘deficits don’t matter,’ or that we will ‘grow our way’ out of the problem of deficit spending is ludicrous. We are far to indebted and the national economy is more a of dog and pony show in terms of ‘growth.’ It’s government statistical lies with smoke and mirrors.”
“But, the democrats will never stop spending and based on the last election, the 50/50 line has been passed on people wanting their free cheese. We are the New Japan, but much bigger and a lot dumber. The endgame seems to be endless deficits and continual ‘money printing’ by the FED. It will result either in the destruction of the currency or a collapse by exhaustion. No one knows what will happen. We can only speculate. World events will play a role. Politics will play in, too. But as far as I can see, if the Republicans cannot hold a line and say NO MORE SPENDING, the game will go on, till it can no longer sustain itself.”
“Many people will siphon off fortunes from the money printing, if they are in a position to stick a straw into the trough of the Banksters honey-pot. The majority of Americans will be poorer.”
One said, “Re expiration of the tax cuts: the *ahem* liberal websites have reached a general consensus: they believe that Obama has been allowing the R’s to hold the middle class hostage for far too long. In their view, it’s time to run out the clock and let the cuts expire on everyone. Then Obama can tell the R’s to either free the hostage or kill the hostage, but either way, he is done with giving in to demands. The moral victory is satisfying enough that many libs are willing to give up those tax cuts, to pay a little more in taxes as long as the rich pay a lot more in taxes. Many more welcome cutting the war machine. [just reporting the lib perspective]”
Another noted, “Sequestration calls for a 10% across the board cut in the military budget — which sounds like a good start until you realize it’s a 10% cut in budget INCREASES, which haven’t even been requested yet.”
And finally, “Will Realtor™ propaganda or economic reality carry the day in the decision whether to include the mortgage interest deduction among fiscal cliff spending reductions?”
The Daily Journal. “As Congress shifts its focus to reducing the budget deficit, a big loophole appears to be on the table: yours. The mortgage interest tax deduction, an advantage to thousands of homeowners in South Jersey, is up for debate, lumping them in with corporate jet owners and 1 percenters.”
“‘First-time home buyers really like the (tax break),’ said Elizabeth Giordano, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Gateway in Ocean Township. ‘They know instead of paying rent and not seeing any (immediate) financial benefit, they have a huge tax benefit buying a home. I don’t think they should touch it. I’m sure there’s plenty of other ways we can bring down the deficit.’”
“After all, who wouldn’t want to make life a little easier for Robert and Allison Harper? The Ocean Township couple has a 2-year-old daughter. They both work full time — Robert is an account executive for an electrical contractor in New York, Allison works for a pharmaceutical company. And their cost of living only seems to rise.”
“They are selling their house and buying another one a few miles away, trying to take advantage of the low interest rates. And they have come to depend on the mortgage interest deduction, which can amount to a couple thousand dollars a year, depending on their income. ‘That’s going to hurt me, for sure,’ Robert Harper, 41, said of the possibility of losing the deduction. ‘I turn around and go spend it on a local business, or I’ll hire a guy to put in air conditioning, or we’ll go to Florida to see the in-laws.’”
