Last Friday Turbo Timmah sat down with CNBC's "chief economics correspondent" Steve Liesman. There were many pieces to this interview that were annoying (such as saying oil prices are the result of the economy getting better), but the line that should have gotten everyone's attention was this one:
"if you don't ask the most fortunate Americans to bear a slightly larger burden of the privilege of being American, then the only way to achieve fiscal sustainabilty is through unacceptably deep cuts"
Really Tim, for the privilege of being an American people who have achieved success can pay more in taxes? Excellent. There was once a guy named George who said the same type of stuff back in the 1770's.
Let's start with perhaps having the growing amount of Americans who aren't paying ANYTHING in Federal taxes pay something - anything. You know, in the name of "fair share" and all.
Then maybe let's get to work on actually CUTTING SPENDING at the Federal level. Although some enjoy saying Government spending isn't like a personal budget, there is no magic to this. If you have "x" in revenues, you can only spend "x" in expenses. Cash in / Cash out is a pretty easy concept in which you (contrary to popular belief) do not need a Phd to grasp.
The President's (and thus Timmah's) most recent budget proposal not only does not cut spending, but it actually ignores the mandated spending cuts put in place by the budget control act [6].
While we're on the privileges of being American, one of the biggest privileges is paying taxes to the Goverment so we can bail out the world (currently Greece) via the IMF [7].
The United States' quota is 17.7% of the total IMF yearly budget - by far the most by any country. As of the latest quarterly statement the IMF had ~137,645 million SDR's, or ~$215 billion dollars on hand (not enough advil to go look at how much has been lent out.
Let's take a moment & point out what Americans do on their OWN, without being forced, with their hard earned money. America is an incredibly charitable nation, not only to countries around the world, but for causes domestically as well. The following breakdown shows just how much people give (again, ON THEIR OWN) to people less fortunate. This 2006 chart shows Americans gave ~$222 Billion dollars (billions, with a B).
So before you lecture us about what we should do with our money for the "privilege" of being Americans, try balancing a budget, or cutting spending, or NOT BAILING OUT THE WORLD WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS. Then we can talk about how much extra you need to play your games, you pompous ass.