What Obama Could Bring to the Tea Party

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Although the new law may not be the answer, the concept of asking everyone to pay is without merit. A doctor and hospital is compelled by law to treat everyone needed medical attention. Some people don't pay. The hospital and insurance companies raise the fees and rates paid by people who do pay to cover those losses. So this plan gets everyone to pay one way or another. I don't like it, but really doesn't it just change the method of covering the losses.

steve of MA 4:51PM March 25, 2010

One of the greatest economists of all time, Mises, wrote "Human Action" which systematically and thoroughly destroys every argument the statists and central planners have ever made. From social security to public schools, it is clear that government planning is wasteful, inefficient and immoral. It should be plain to all objective observers that big government planning has caused this mess. The answer is massive cuts in government, something that is very unlikely to happen.

Scott of IN 8:56PM March 21, 2010

Until the American People realize that the government is the problem not the solution, we are going to continue on the path of financial ruin. This country is on the verge of bankruptcy . we have so many social programs that can not be sustained without a major tax increase, and yet the government is trying to add universal health care to the bill. I'm sorry people but somebody is going to have to pay for this. You ,your children, or your grandchildren. Maybe it's time we said no, we can live without all these government handouts.

dennis roen of WI 1:40PM March 21, 2010

1st off the country needs to understand that to get our house in order there needs to be "pain!" Something our politicians will not accept and americans wont take from the politicians ..... look at the Bush administrations.... 1st time in world history a major tax break was given while fighting a war!

2nd Ross Perot was right! Why is the US spending billions of dollars at the US tax payers expense to save the world? The world doesnt spend billions to protect us? Even NATO doesnt meet the expecations set down in its rules... every country must spend 3% of it GDP to meet its military obligations. Time for the US to worry about itself and let the world do without the US.

3rd We will never achieve getting out house in order by being a "service" nation! We must go back to being a production/manufactoring country again. Service pays 9-12 dlrs an hour, production pays 18-26 an hour. Larger tax base to support the spending.

Bob of CA 12:02AM March 21, 2010

In the eighties corporate raiders began buying up and dismantling otherwise productive corporations with to much tied up in assets simply for the profit to be made on return on investment because deregulation and inadequate regulation made it possible. In response, corporations trimmed their asset portfolios and turned to wall street for operating cash instead of attempting to rely on savings or equity. This encouraged wall street to begin demanding a higher return on investment dollars, which were in more demand, which spurred corporations to begin shipping non-essential manufacturing to third world countries and to also reduce r&d and other re-investment. Although returns on investment were very good, the down ward spiral of good paying jobs in America was hurting the American consumer market so credit was increased to encourage consumer buying. As a result consumer debt began to increase. All of these actions along with governments tax breaks for the wealthy and for corporations began to affect the economy until finally the giant Ponzi scheme simply collapsed from the shear weight of debt and the overly leveraged banks and investment firms.

We will not fix our economy until we create an incentive for manufacturing desirable products here instead of simply making consumer products manufactured elsewhere profitable to retailer's here while the manufacturing dollars continue to flow overseas and also we need to find better ways of sharing the wealth.

Sustainable and affordable energy is also another key element in the economic problems we face.

Obama and the Democrats cannot fix this mess without Republican nonpartisan efforts to address these problems. Simply saying "NO" to protect their corporate friends in the insurance industry, big oil, the drug companies and other corporate entities who are avoiding change because of the short term impact on profits is a recipe for an eventual economic Armageddon.

tryreason of WI 5:01PM March 16, 2010

The CBO predicts (in a rosy scenario, I might add) that the national debt will be some $22 trillion by 2020. In order to borrow that much, rates will certainly have to increase significantly. In the late '70s and early '80s, rates went into the high teens. But let's say they only go to 10%. 10% of $22 trillion is 100% of the entire government income in 2010. No money for ANY programs, no military, no entitlements, NOTHING. All of it would go to paying interest on the debt. The only solutions are either A) cut government drastically as proposed here, but we know that won't happen, or B) hyperinflation.

Thomas of PA 6:06PM March 11, 2010

Time to 'clean out' "The U.S. House of Representatives" that is. EVERY SINGLE SEAT in the House of Reps and 34 seats in the U.S. Senate are up for grabs this year. A vast part of the problem that we have in DC is that most of those geisers have been there some of them for double-digit terms. They are still thinking like we're back in the 40's & 50's and have no clue what today's REAL WORLD is like. I say CLEAN 'THE HOUSE'. I mean seriously how dramatically have times changed in just the past ten years...let alone the past 50? And most of these guys JUST DON'T GET IT!!! Time to put some folks in there that DO 'GET IT'

Jeff of CA 11:30PM March 06, 2010

No way is Obama or the other Progressives in congress going to stop wasting our money and forcing more and bigger govt power over the people's lives when that IS their agenda for the start. Do you think they don't know that what they are doing is CAUSING further unemployment, further business closures, astronomical debt never before seen?? The real shock is their knowing exactly what they are doing and why. We have to be rid of these Progressives from both sides of the aisle before the people lose everything while 'they' own everything!

Underdog of WV 10:30PM March 06, 2010

Stop giving it all away! We were a country of hard workers...now we are a country of lazy people who want everything handed to them. stop the handouts to our own people and to other nations who do not deserve our used napkins! When you have to....you will. I think every hard working American should complain. If we dont make 1500 per month per child than the govt. should subsidize all of us. Otherwise cut the free bees. "All men (and women) are created equally"! This is not equality! P.S. Nothing for non citizens. Are any other govts. giving our people anything? No!

al of NJ 9:14AM March 06, 2010

I am a huge astronomy and space science geek. But if I were Obama, the first thing I would cut is the NASA budget. Putting men (or women) on Mars is what you do in good economic times, not now. NASA should be charged with maintaining our satellite fleet and this is IT. All research programs should be dropped until the economy improves. Senators from Florida and Alabama don't like this idea. But it's simple economics. You don't spend $10 for a latte at Starbucks when you are unemployed and your roof is leaking. I personally love all the wonders NASA has brought to my life, from Tang to memory-foam pillows. I watch Carl Segan's "Cosmos" and Hubble photos the way some watch porn and Playboy. But it is financial suicide to continue to put taxpayer money on research into the potential of life on Europa while I-65 has potholes big enough to swallow an 18-wheeler. I want my tax money to go toward things that make the economy possible, such as road, ship, rail and air infrastructure. If we had taken the approach of spending on rebuilding the leeves in New Orleans instead of wasting that money on contributions to the International Space Station, the city would now have been destroyed in 2005. The port of New Orleans allows cheap movement of goods around the world. It enables the trade that creates our economy. The same is true of highways. I thin the Tea Party is idiotic. I mean Sarah Palin as a keynote speaker??? But they have a good point. Mr. Obama, please quite wasting taxpayer money on entitlements and spend it on the essentials. Deomocrats are outraged over the bonuses paid to AIG executives, yet entilements are the social equivalent of those bonuses. It is money wasted on unnecessary crap that benefits very few while ignoring the most important needs of the shareholders (taxpayers). Barry O., man-up, have a pair, and have the courage to cut spending on the luxuries. Tea Party, quit worrying about who is having consentual sex with who, and give your a real representatives a message, cut NASA spending, concentrate on infrastructure.

Jake of IN 11:06PM March 05, 2010

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Rick Newman

Rick Newman

The global economy is mysterious, even scary. Chief Business Correspondent Rick Newman connects the dots. In addition to his writing for U.S. News, Rick is the co-author of two books: Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11, and Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail.


Read Rick's latest blog entries here.

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