5 Reasons Taxes Are Going to Rise

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I applaud "Mekhong Kurt of TX" who is that rare breed of person who was able to look at this party's behavior objectively and say [to paraphrase] "Enough! You Republicans clowns don't deserve my vote anymore after the way you've been behaving."
We should all be open to changing our minds when the facts change, instead of blindly and ignorantly clinging on to old habits and beliefs.

saty13 of NY 11:59PM July 19, 2012

Wendell of TX hit upon the single most important thing we need to do to reduce our budget deficit (aside from a 50% cut in military spending). We MUST reduce the insane amount of medical care provided for people near the end of their lives. For example, 70-year-olds should not be getting $500,000 heart or lung or liver transplants. Or, if they do, they had better exceptionally healthy 70-year-olds and they had better be willing to pay at least 50% of the cost themselves.
Our politicians never talk about this issue -- which is bankrupting us -- because the AARP is too powerful and because they are politically scared (They'll be accused of supporting "death panels" or "throwing grandma off a cliff"). Republicans are to blame for this demagoguery of the issue
We will not get our fiscal house in order until we deal with our out-of-control healthcare system.

Saty13 of NY 11:44PM July 19, 2012

it ius utter nonsense the left and right have been paid to argue rather than get things done in bipartisan way. right is acting irresponsible just to look back in 10 years and say "the democrats did it" left is bankrupting this country. george w has set the right way back in credibility. yet no one is running on centrist ideals to move country forward. Its true we don't pay alot in taxes, but increases would only pay for generous pay increases for gov't workers, who as we know are the only ones who get good bene'sin the m anyway. meantime, we're fat and lazy needing open heart surgery and food stamps to pay for our papa murphys and cookie dough.

brian trombley of WA 1:53PM December 27, 2011

Mr. Newman, this is probably the single best article I'v read about the sins of both parties. True, I'm writing in mid-September, long after your article appeared (but which I just now ran across), but you sure hit the nail on the head.
By this time, it should be clear that as miserable as the Democrats generally and the President particularly have been in addressing these problems, they don't hold a candle to the Republicans, whose only goals have become the complete blocking of the President's proposals and his utter destruction as President.
And I'm a guy who voted Republican some 70-80% of the time over my four decades of voting -- until 2010, when I quite deliberately did not vote for a single Republican or Republican cause. For the first time EVER.
Speaker Boehner, House Majority Leader Cantor, and Senate Minority Leader McConnell deserve special approbation. So do many other Republicans infesting the halls of Congress, including my Representative -- who recently returned to the tired old theme of impeaching the President in a speech to Tea Party adherents (a comment he has tried desperately, but unsuccessfully, to disown) -- and one of my two [Republican] Senators -- also a Tea Party slave. The other one is moderate, but retiring.
If we go down in flames, it will be largely due to Republican stubbornness wedded with Tea Party Planet Bizarro solutions.

Mekhong Kurt of TX 10:22AM September 13, 2011

Rick's example is the same as saying to someone who has run up their private debt; instead of spending a lot less, they need to go to thier employer and demand a raise in pay or take on a second job. Most people are not able to do either of these income increasing activities. Democrats cannot and will not get elected by telling their govt payment recipients that the gravy train will not be arriving. The words, welfare payments does not exist in his article either. Let a single mom who is not on welfare run this budget for a few years and see what true austerity looks like.

Steve of AK 4:27PM August 04, 2011

Democrats at least recognize the need for smaller government? Didn't they just quadruple the national debt by pullling private money into the government to squander on public programs. I think Rick Newman may be in, oh how did he put it, la-la land.

Michael of WA 2:59PM August 02, 2011

I think that Congress and Senators shouldn't be paid their salary for the rest of their life. Other people don't have this opportunity. They voted this in themselves. Nothing like paying youself and scew the people who can't help themselves. The ones who work even though they have an illness. I don't get paid my salary for the rest of my life after working onee term. Look in your own house.

Marion Mifsud of FL 11:52PM July 26, 2011

NO MORE TAXES,DO YOU UNDERSTAND,HOW LONG CAN YOU LAST?

JIMMY SINGLETON of TX 1:29PM July 15, 2011

If government borrows 40% of what they spend, has anyone seriously considered what would happen if 40% of the government went away. Is there really 40% waste in the government and if so, would “special interests” and their political pawns ever take such a pay cut?
“Entitlement” programs are an easy target in this time of cost cutting. Seniors are an easy short term target, but all Americans young and old will suffer without adequate access to health care. And how do we define adequate? What medical services should a medicare type program pay for and what not? I think it’s fair to say that GOVERNMENT cannot do for the people what they are unwilling to do for themselves. Government cannot and should not foot the medical bills for Americans who choose to eat, smoke and/or drink themselves to death.
Why can’t medicare/medicade work like car insurance? The better risk you are, the lower premium you pay. Or alternatively, if your medical situation is the result of poor decisions you made, you should be expected to pay a larger percentage of treatment costs. What better way to reduce medical costs (and the deficit) as we look years and decades into the future? Plus, we will be a healthier and more productive as we face a global economy where we compete with workers from all our trading partners.
Another frightening statistic is that amount of money spent on medical treatment in the last months of life. The government – and insurance companies – should not necessarily be expected to spend tremendous amounts of money to prolong life by a few days or weeks or months. For example, stage 4 cancer is terminal. Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to prolong the lives of these patients by a few months? If an American wants an insurance company to write blank checks for their medical treatment, let those that can afford it go out and purchase such a policy. We as taxpayers should not foot the bill for such extravagance.

Wendell of TX 12:46PM July 14, 2011

As long as the Republicans can lie their way into office with promises of no new taxes,spending cuts are their motto.Anybody that can do math realises that isn't working now and hasn't worked for several years.Talking about cutting social security and medicare will cost them a lot of votes in 2012.Of course with the Tea Party dreamers screaming about taxes they're caught between a rock and a hard place. Any Republican that admits the truth abut taxes is probably committing political suicide.

Dave Condon of NY 10:28AM July 12, 2011