Obama's Debt Reduction Plan

We all have known for a long time now that America has a debt problem.  Our debt has gotten so large it's going to be a daunting task to rid ourselves of it, especially when members of congress are not willing to discuss many ideas.  President Obama proposed 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts, and 1.5 trillion in new revenue over the next decade.  Obama's plan will cut $248 billion on Medicare and Medicade, cut some spending on the two wars we are currently involved, along with spending cuts in other areas.  This should satisfy Republicans.  The plan also proposes raising taxes on people making more then a million dollars a year, repealing the Bush era tax cuts, and closing corporate loopholes in the tax code.

Obama said that he will veto any bill that comes before him that cuts spending on Medicare without reforming the tax code, along with tax increases on the wealthiest Americans.  He also said that "This is not class warfare- its' math".

Now I understand why Republicans will not raise taxes.  They think that raising taxes will stunt an already stagnate economy, but would raising taxes on the the wealthiest Americans PERSONAL income adversely affect the economy?  I don't think so, the majority of that money isn't being spent, its being saved.  A recent poll from CBS says that 78% of Americans are in favor of taxing people who make more then a million dollars a year; why aren't the Republicans listening?  I think this shows that the majority of Republicans are not representing their constituents, but rather large corporations, or they're just not willing to vote for anything Obama puts before them.

There was a study that came out a few months ago that showed that the wealthiest 1% of Americans control 42% of the U.S.'s wealth (if you would like to see it, click here.).  That is a MASSIVE amount of money!  And the bottom 20% of Americans control around 17%.  This is a ridiculous wealth gap.  When this country has been so generous to you, there is no reason we can't ask for you to help out the ones struggling the most.

Now I feel like I should get something straight, I know our government is spending way more then it needs to, and I am in favor of these spending cuts, in-fact, I think we should try to cut more.  Our defense budget is very large (more then countries 2-10 combined, $698,105,000,000 just last year), why cant we cut that down a little bit?  You rarely hear anyone in congress suggesting that.  But at the same time, we have to get out of this debt, and we have to increase revenue.  Taxing the middle class more would be devastating, they are already struggling as it is.  So that leaves two options, sit on our debt and increase it, or start generating more money then we spend to pay it off.  Either way, Obama is sure to get criticism for his choice, but something needs to happen in a positive direction if Obama wants to be reelected.

Anyway, I will surely have more on this topic later, but as of now, that's all I have to say.

Tyler,