The illogic of giving the wealthy more and more money needs to be explained
in very simple/understandable terms to the people who vote GOP.

The logic of giving back the middle class salaries that have been stolen over
the past 30 years needs to be explained in very simple and understandable terms.

Even the Republican't party platform shows that they are just trying to impose
their religious beliefs on the rest of the country.
May they Rest In Peace...quickly

Freedom of personal choice is where the balance is!
Live and let live.
"You live the way I want you to live" - is not Democracy

The logic of slow/evolutionary change to better people's lives is the goal.

The history of the era of the robber baron is what we need to learn from
And the failure of the "Trickle-Down Theory" is what we need to learn from.

The illegality of bribery from lobbyists needs to be stopped
Our Congress is bought.

The misappropriation of corporate funds to buy elections is absurd!
Our Supreme Court is bought.

The Republican't run states that are gerrymandering and blocking the vote
need to be corrected. The fact that they don't even try to hide their hurtfull
manipulations of the system should immediately be outlawed by the judicial
branch - but where are they? Where are the ethics committees?

If our current form of government had been proposed back in 1776
we never would have tried to break away from England.

What a mess!

thank you, babylonsistah

A Balanced Plan to Avert the Sequester and Reduce the Deficit

Jennifer Palmieri February 21, 2013

In eight days, harmful automatic cuts are slated to take effect, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs, and cutting vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and our men and women in uniform.

Only Congress can avoid this self-inflicted wound to our economy and middle class families, and the only thing standing in the way of a solution today is Congressional Republicans’ refusal to even consider closing tax loopholes that benefit wealthy Americans and well-connected corporations. The President and Congressional Democrats have put forward solutions to avoid these cuts and allow time for both sides to work on a long-term, balanced solution to our deficit challenges.

The President is serious about cutting spending, reforming entitlements and the tax code to reduce the deficit in a balanced way. The question is, will Congressional Republicans come to the table to get something done?

Let’s take a moment to look what we’ve done so far: The President has already reduced the deficit by over $2.5 trillion, cutting spending by over $1.4 trillion, bringing domestic discretionary spending to its lowest level as a share of the economy since the Eisenhower era [see below]. As a result of these savings, together with a strengthening economy, the deficit is coming down at the fastest pace of anytime in American history other than the demobilization from World War II.



The next paragraph after that graphic downloads a graphic when I click on these words:

...he's laid out a specific plan to do more.

People are talking about CPI, but nothing about CPI is at the link being used. When I went further down the page there is a link at the text with the exact same pdf, still no mention of it:

...Here it is again.

All I am able to provide by copying and pasting is the contents of the pdf, and apologize for format:

The President’s Plan: $4 Trillion of Deficit Reduction Including the Last Offer to
Speaker Boehner
(in $ billions)
THE PRESIDENT HAS SIGNED INTO LAW MORE THAN $2.5 TRILLION OF DEFICIT
REDUCTION
Spending cuts to discretionary programs enacted over the past two years,
(not counting war savings) $1,400
New revenue from wealthiest in fiscal cliff deal More than $600
Interest savings More than $500
Subtotal, Deficit Reduction to Date More than $2,500
THE PRESIDENT’S LAST OFFER TO SPEAKER BOEHNER IS STILL ON TABLE: MORE THAN
$1.5 TRILLION IN ADDITIONAL DEFICIT REDUCTION
Spending Reductions
Even split between defense and nondefense discretionary savings $200
• Non-defense discretionary spending $100
• Defense discretionary spending $100
Health savings – could be achieved by: $400
• Reduce payments to drug companies $140
• Reduce hospital payments such as reimbursement for patients who don’t pay $30
• Encourage efficient care after a hospital stay $50
• Encourage beneficiaries to seek high value health care and ask the most fortunate to
pay more $35
• Medicaid, Pay-for-Delay, IPAB, program integrity $25
• Other health savings $120
Non-health Mandatory Savings – could be achieved by: $200
• Eliminate certain subsidies for agriculture $30
• Reform Federal retirement programs $35
• Reform postal service and TSA passenger security fees $40
• Strengthen solvency of UI trust fund $50
• Other savings including Spectrum Fees, Sales of Excess Property, & Program
Integrity $45
Spending Savings from Superlative CPI with protections for vulnerable $130
Subtotal, Total New Spending Reductions $930 + $200 interest
Revenue
Limit tax deductions to 28% for the wealthiest and close other loopholes $580 billion (+$100 billion
from CPI change)
Temporary Growth Measures
Immediate investments in infrastructure -$50
TOTAL DEFICIT REDUCTION
Deficit Reduction to Date More than $2,500
New Deficit Reduction $1,800
Total Deficit Reduction More than $4,300

218 Republicans voted for the Sequester versus ZERO Democrats. Obama is trying to find other funding to help. They want to cut the marrow out of the ACA, and are continuing their attack on the poor. What an intractable foe they still are, with full media support. Hang tight, folks.

info on the White House's Balanced Plan, freshwest!