While the "Fiscal Cliff" looms..............

[sroz]

Honestly, let the fiscal cliff come. The GOP is not negotiating in good faith. Obama is giving them practically all they want.

What exactly has Obama given them? Please list it all. Just take your time & start at the top of the list. It must be a long one.

[nynco]

Obama has to be the worst negotiator in history. The idiot starts off with compromise before they even start. Someone give the man a spine.

[Rucker61]

Congress steals my money all the time. I'm kind of used to it.

Where's the [like] button?

[spqrzilla]

So the largest expenditure in the budget is the military. You ready to cut what is not needed? Endless war costs money.

Actually, no, the largest expenditure isn't the military. Its entitlement spending.

[Rucker61]

entitlements cut them to the bone and let's get to work

What level is "cut to the bone"?

[spqrzilla]

Soc Securtity is not paid for by general taxes. It is not an entitlement.

Also false. Social Security does get funding from general revenues currently, because it is not collecting enough money through payroll taxes to match its expenditures.

[nynco]

It does that because the congress decided to raid it starting in the Reagan years. We can end that by raising the ceiling to reflect what todays dollar is worth or take off the cap completely, cut the rate in half and it will be solvent for ever. It is where it is because only the middle class pays the bulk of it. Once you make more than 250K you stop paying into it. So it is a regressive tax structure that hits the poor and the middle class disproportionaly more.

[spqrzilla]

The interest on that money should more than pay for the baby boomer bulge.

There is no "interest" on the social security funds which the Federal govt moved to general spending. Because that money is not "invested".

Discretionary funding does more than you understand. NASA falls under that, so does the national high way system. Those two things have more than paid off in economic benefits than their cost. I want efficient gov not ideological knee jerk hate for gov and slashing just to slash.

The national highway system is paid through fuel taxes, which is equivalent to the kind of direct link between taxation and spending that you worship with social security but forget so conveniently.
NASA has not "paid off" in economic benefits more than its cost at all. All the supposed "spin offs" of NASA are propaganda.

[spqrzilla]

Obama has to be the worst negotiator in history. The idiot starts off with compromise before they even start. Someone give the man a spine.

Obama has not presented any compromise at all. Another false statement by you.

Obama's idea of "compromise" is to increase his demands. Its what he has done this week. Its why he was thrown out of negotiations by Democrats in summer of 2011.

[spqrzilla]

It does that because the congress decided to raid it starting in the Reagan years. We can end that by raising the ceiling to reflect what todays dollar is worth or take off the cap completely, cut the rate in half and it will be solvent for ever. It is where it is because only the middle class pays the bulk of it. Once you make more than 250K you stop paying into it. So it is a regressive tax structure that hits the poor and the middle class disproportionaly more.

If you are going to raise the cap on contributions, then you'll have to raise the cap on benefits. If not, then its not an insurance system paid for by contributions but an entitlement as you denied earlier.

And you are incoherent again, you don't "stop paying" into social security at the cap. You just don't pay more social security taxes above the cap, you still pay the social security taxes for the base amount. Your benefits are also capped.