Politicians are afraid to ask people to sacrifice

[kentuck]

From the White House to the Senate to the Congress, all we hear is talk. They keep saying we have to do something about the unemployment and the huge deficits. But nobody has the courage to do it.

Nobody has the courage to say that we should repeal the entire Bush taxcuts. The middle class and those making under $250,000 shouldn't have to sacrifice, they say.

Secretaries shouldn't pay a higher tax rate than their wealthy employers, they say. Yet, no one says that we should raise the top tax rate to 50% until we get the deficits under control.

No one connects the tax rates to the unemployment rate, even though incentives could be built into the tax codes that would favor employing more people.

Nobody suggests that we tear down the war machine that has been built up for the last 15 years. Why shouldn't we return to the early Clinton, post-Cold War defense budgets?

If we are in such a dire condition as the politicians say, why are we afraid to ask people to sacrifice?

Why are we afraid to repeal the Bush taxcuts on average working people? Are we fearful of creating tensions between workers and employers for higher wages to compensate for the loss in income due to repeal of the Bush taxcuts?

I don't see any politician that is exempt from this cowardice.

.

[Autumn]

1. They sure are not afraid to insist that poor

people sacrifice.

[Rex]

2. I was just thinking that...really? They are scared to ask?

Tell that to all the dead soldiers that came home from Iraq.

[kentuck]

5. They volunteered.

They don't even ask the people to pay for the wars.

[Rex]

6. They did not volunteer to fight an illegal war.

Something that will never be pointed out and rewritten as...'Saddam was a threat...WMD blah blah'...in the GOP history books.

[kentuck]

7. Different subject...

but true.

[Rex]

8. True

and one that will be forgotten.

[kentuck]

4. Only the ones that don't vote.

Food stamp recipients, ie...

This is one area where I am critical of Barack Obama.

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Because they don't ask and the media won't tell? n/t

[dkf]

3. They can't even tackle the explosive growth in Medicare, which is the largest threat to solvency.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. They're afraid to ask the 1% to sacrifice.

They're totally down with asking me for some of my future Social Security, to pay for tax cuts for the 1%.

[kentuck]

11. True but...

...they have convinced enough people that they mean nothing to the SS fund - it will be paid back from the "general revenues". No need to worry...

[MannyGoldstein]

12. I think you're referring to the payroll tax cut

Besides this, both parties want to slash benefits to future recipients.

[kentuck]

13. Bottom line...

It is a battle over less government vs present government. Republicans are on a warpath to cut every facet of government and send it back to state or local authorities. And they are passionate about their cause. Many Democrats do not have the stomach for such a fight.

[MisterP]

15. proposing Bowles-Simpson and supercommittees is hardly a sign of maintaining "present government"

[kentuck]

18. But the politicians do not have the courage to act on either...

thereby keeping the status quo and sliding deeper and deeper into the hole. They prefer political rhetoric over action.

[MisterP]

20. how's Bowles-Simpson courageous?

[yourout]

14. +1 bazillion.

[Rex]

16. That is it right there.

I believe it is more the employees scared to ask their boss for a raise type thing.

[Marr]

21. Exactly-- hell, they're fine with sending your kid off to be burned alive in

just about any foreign land that happens to be floating on oil-- or anything else that might be profitable for their employers. They're fine with helping big business send your job overseas, telling you to put up with unreasonable searches, spying, and they'll codify the theft of your retirement at the drop of a hat.

They don't even trouble to *ask* regular people to sacrifice-- they just take it. That 1%, however... that's a very different story.

[lonestarnot]

17. Alli Belshit is on the tv box demonstrating with popcorn how much more richie rich pays than us.

[saras]

19. Sacrifice? Give me an altar, a knife, a shoggoth, and some bankers, and I'll sacrifice. To Cthulhu!

A reasonable sacrifice would be that the 1%, corporate or individual, sacrifice any income and possessions above, say, 100 times the wealth of the poorest Americans. Is that the one they're afraid to ask for?

[Initech]

22. The millionaire and billionaire class are the ones who need to make sacrifices.

Not us. Its time this shit stopped - when you can build a car elevator in your sixth house that has it's own lobbyist - you're the one who needs to make sacrifices.

[libinnyandia]

23. One big problem is the almost total lack of knowledge of American history among voters. They don't

have a clue about how high taxes were on the wealthy not that many decades ago. They don't know that the high taxes did not hurt the creation of jobs.