Obama deficit plan might have balance

"The point is that balance is essential," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said. "What is not acceptable in the president's view – and we believe in the American people's view – is a plan that achieves serious deficit reduction only by asking for sacrifice from the middle class, seniors, the disabled and the poor, and while providing substantial tax cuts to the very well off."

In a divided Washington, where a budget standoff between Obama and House Republicans nearly led to a government shutdown last week, the broader debt debate now begins in earnest. It is expected to shape both the course of legislation and a presidential campaign that already has Obama seeking a second term.

Obama has renewed his call to end the Bush-era tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000 a year or individuals earning above $200,000. The White House has insisted that every aspect of the government must be considered as part of a serious discussion on debt, including revenues, which tends to be Washington-speak for taxes."

America Held Hostage, Part Deux - The Debt Limit Ceiling

“Most people understand that Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on “The Early Show.” “We can’t raise taxes,” he said, “that was settled last November during the elections.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53093.html

"House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made similar remarks on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” saying: “We don’t have a problem with our budget because Americans don’t pay enough taxes. We have problems with our budget because we spend too much money."

Katrina vanden Heuvel:

"Although the media seldom mention it, the cuts aren’t really a “down payment” on deficit reduction. They simply are a partial payment for the $700 billion, 10-year cost of the extension of the Bush top-end tax cuts that Republicans insisted on in December."

Republicans have doubled down on their reverse Robin Hood agenda. The plan put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan calls for the wealthy to launch another offensive in the class war they’ve been winning. It would slash another 20 percent from domestic programs, end Medicare as we know it, cut a trillion from Medicaid, repeal protections for consumers and the environment. It would do this not to reduce the deficit — the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Ryan plan would increase the deficit over 10 years — but to pay for extending the Bush tax cuts and further lowering tax rates on the rich and corporations."

Repealing Tax Cuts would meet 4 trillion savings goal





From Obama a born moderate (by Dana Milbank):

Ryan’s proposal has spooked all the Republican presidential aspirants, save former senator Rick Santorum (R-Fugheddaboudit). Ideologues who defend the Ryan plan, such as former George W. Bush adviser Peter Wehner, attempt to argue that those who oppose it oppose any entitlement reform.

But even mainstream conservatives such as Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), part of the Gang of Six, say the no-new-taxes Ryan plan is a nonstarter. “What he seeks to do is to, number one, balance the budget over about a 10-year period simply by reducing spending,” he said. “And you can’t do that. It’s not going to work.”

What Ryan has done, however, is boost prospects for the Bowles-Simpson plan as a reasonablealternative. “When folks look at the two plans side by side,” Bowles told me, “they see balance in ours.”