Bruce Bartlett, Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Under Bush 1 and Ronald Reagan

[SiriuslyLong]

"I am not close minded. Anyone who knows me would laugh at that characterization. I have strong opinions but i love open debate
and i have argued with many liberals about Obama. What you are saying about me is false. Sorry."

My experience is totally different.

I have no problem increasing tax revenue. I don't want to participate. Feel free if you do.

"I find you extreme, you find me extreme. Thats what makes the world go round. Enjoy your evening." You too, and that's about the most accurate thing you've written today.

[Havakasha]

i get it, you want to try and change the subject from your insistence that the House passed the "Boehner bill" several hours ago and from your denial concerning all the polls that show you are in the minority in regards to what the American people want in a deficit bill. They want a combination of revenues and spending cuts. Even the Republican
voters have been supporting this position.

Who ever asked you to participate in paying increased tax revenues? Your imagination? Obama lowered taxes on the middle class
(you are truly in the middle class correct?) and wanted to lower the tax rates for all income brackets. Please stop with the imaginary straw dogs you have been fed in your steady diet of Fox news.

[SiriuslyLong]

**** the polls. No one wants to pay more taxes.

Need proof? Hava-gafa-kasha employs a tax accoutant. You don't want to pay more taxes. Your actions speak VOLUMES. Soros does the same. Gates does the same. S&L doesn't. Follow the money Lloyd. Why are you paying some ****er to find loopholes?

Though, in regards to the polls, with the extreme liberal class warfare message of tax the rich, I'm sure many of the respondants believe they won't be taxed.

Here are some likely respondants: http://video.foxnews.com/v/108093650...nd-debt-debate

Fox News at its finest lol.

[SiriuslyLong]

The mail man just came and picked up my summer taxes!!! Thankfully, we've lived in this house for 17 years and the property taxes were capped when Michigan voted for a sales tax. Regardless, they have doubled.

I was compelled to share that with you as an advocate of public schools.

[Havakasha]

Has the House voted yet Mr. know it all? lmfao

Did you hear that Mr. Siriusly long has to pay taxes? Even though they are the lowest in many years. He CLAIMS
to be a VICTIM. And even though Obama has lowered them and wanted to lower them even further with his grand plan (which S&L seems to have opposed) he continues to ignore the facts.

Oh my god. Its mr. accountant obsessed. He wakes in the morning obsessed by accountants, he goes to bed obsessed by accoountants, he probably masturbates while thinking about accountants. lol


"House Speaker John Boehner walked to the brink of a dramatic and historic agreement to change the government's spending habits.

But as he twice approached a $4 trillion deficit-reduction deal with President Barack Obama that would have rocked both parties' bases, Boehner was reeled back in by his caucus' conservative wing. The muscular, Tea Party-fueled group not only forced him to abandon a "grand bargain" with Obama, it made him scramble Wednesday to secure the votes for a far more modest deficit-ceiling plan, which in turn is all but doomed in the Senate.

The events highlight the limits of power for an experienced and well-liked politician who has struggled to budge his caucus' staunchest conservatives despite constantly reminding them that their party doesn't control the Senate or White House."

[SiriuslyLong]

CHECKMATE

It should be the end of the discussion, but we all know Hava-gafa-kasha...........................

"**** the polls. No one wants to pay more taxes.

Need proof? Hava-gafa-kasha employs a tax accoutant. You don't want to pay more taxes. Your actions speak VOLUMES. Soros does the same. Gates does the same. S&L doesn't. Follow the money Lloyd. Why are you paying some ****er to find loopholes?"

Admit it, Admit to your ACTIONS. No normal working person wants to give away money. It's a normal reaction.

How did you like that video clip? You and your polls lol. Democrats lol.

[Havakasha]

You are getting weirder and weirder. Creepy, Scary.

You cant change the subject. It will follow you everywhere. lol

[Havakasha]

From Politifact.com. I think you mean this is CHECKMATE. lol. As i said all along.

"Eighty percent of the American people support an approach (to federal budget problems) that includes revenues and includes cuts."
Barack Obama on Friday, July 15th, 2011 in a press conference

Barack Obama said 80 percent of Americans favor both spending cuts and tax increases to address budget problems,


As President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress continued their high-stakes stand-off over raising the debt ceiling and other budget issues, Obama held a press conference to press his case that he's a reasonable guy.

One of the main points of contention is whether an agreement should include tax increases of any kind, such as closing tax loopholes or tax increases on the wealthy. Republicans oppose raising taxes.

During a press conference on July 15, 2011, Obama was asked if the negotiations would be going better if he had started making his case to the public months ago, pushing a proposal that included tax increases and spending cuts. Obama rejected the premise.

"You have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren't sold is not the problem," he said. "The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically into various positions because they boxed themselves in with previous statements."

We won't weigh in on Obama's diagnosis of being dug in, but we were interested in the poll numbers on whether the public supports a balanced approach or not.

The most recent poll we found largely supported Obama's statement. A Gallup poll conducted July 7-10, 2011 posed the question this way:

"As you may know, Congress can reduce the federal budget deficit by cutting spending, raising taxes, or a combination of the two. Ideally, how would you prefer to see Congress attempt to reduce the federal budget deficit: only with spending cuts, mostly with spending cuts, equally with spending cuts and tax increases, mostly with tax increases, or only with tax increases?"

The answer "only spending cuts" got 20 percent. The other answers were "mostly spending cuts," 30 percent; "equal spending cuts and tax increases," 32 percent; "mostly tax increases," 7 percent; "only tax increases," 4 percent; unsure/other, 6 percent.

We'll note that Obama counted in his favor people who favored only tax increases or who weren't sure, so he wasn't completely accurate. If you deduct those groups, only 70 percent support the balanced approach. But the poll did support his overall point.

Other polls also showed support for Obama's statement, but not quite at an 80-percent level.

A poll from Quinnipiac University conducted July 5-11, 2011, asked: "Do you think any agreement to raise the national debt ceiling should include only spending cuts, or should it also include an increase in taxes for the wealthy and corporations?"

In this case, 67 percent favored including tax increases, while 25 percent favored spending cuts only. Another 8 percent were unsure.

In June, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that most people, 46 percent, favored a combination of cuts and tax increases, compared with 26 percent who said cuts alone and 13 percent who said raise taxes. An ABC/Washington Post poll from April found the number was higher, at 59 percent.

We reviewed polls and consulted experts a few weeks ago for a fact-check on whether people support tax increases or not. Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who studies polls on taxation, told us polls usually show support for balanced approaches, particularly if people don't have to pay the higher taxes themselves.

"Generally, combinations of tax hikes and spending cuts are most popular. It seems fair to most people. Spending cuts are favored in the abstract. Tax hikes are favored as long as they don't affect me. Generally, people don't think anybody should have to pay more than a quarter of their income in total taxes," she said.

Finally, a few other cautions on poll numbers.

Pollsters have long noted that when you ask questions with different wording, you get different results. All the polls we looked at phrased the question slightly differently.

A few recent polls also suggested that people find the whole debt ceiling debate confusing, or they aren't following it very closely. A Pew Research Center/Washington Post poll from May asked people how well they felt they understood what would happen if the government does not raise the federal debt limit; 47 percent said "not too well" or "not at all well." And the July Gallup poll found that 42 percent of respondents were following the issue "not too closely" or "not at all."

Getting back to Obama's statement, he said, "You have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts." Even the best poll doesn't show support quite that high -- he would more accurately have accounted for the small numbers that support only tax increases or were unsure, putting the number at 70 percent. But his overall point is correct that polls show most Americans support a balanced approach when given a choice between cutting spending or raising taxes. So we rate his statement Mostly True.

[SiriuslyLong]

You are getting weirder and weirder. Creepy, Scary.

You cant change the subject. It will follow you everywhere. lol

I don't want to change the subject. You don't want to pay any more in taxes either.

I'm going to post a new subject here. Should be interesting, but maybe I'm taking it on face value that you're open minded. We'll see.

[Havakasha]

I already said no one WANTS to pay taxes. The point is we pay less under Obama then in many years,
but i dont remember you crying like this when Clinton was in office. I also dont remember you crying when Bush was in office. Taxes were higher.Or was that the case?

I just want a fair mix of taxes, loopholes, tax credits. Reasonable

The fact is that a large majority of Americans support both revenue increases and spending cuts to properly address the deficit. You seem to be denying this in a rather immature way.