McCain promises to balance budget (in 4 years)

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico.com

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to promise on Monday that he will balance the federal budget by the end of his first term by curbing wasteful spending and overhauling entitlement programs, including Social Security, his advisers told Politico.

The vow to take on Social Security puts McCain in a political danger zone that thwarted President Bush after he named it the top domestic priority of his second term.

McCain is making the pledge at the beginning of a week when both presidential candidates plan to devote their events to the economy, the top issue in poll after poll as voters struggle to keep their jobs and fill their gas tanks.

“In the long-term, the only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” the McCain campaign says in a policy paper to be released Monday.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11553.html

---

Right up there with the "Secret Plan to end the Vietnam War".....

[Skittles]

1. I promise to sell bridges to the people who believe that

yes indeed

[rpannier]

6. That is his plan

He's going to sell every building, bridge and road to his cronies.

The White House will be known as

The Capial One White House by AT&T

[Captain Angry]

2. It's been the plan all along.

Make the government agencies run SO badly that people refuse to pay for them. FEMA, EPA, FDA, etc. He can cut thousands of jobs and all regulation.

Next they'll figure out how to kill welfare, Medicare, Social Security, etc.

They'll have a balanced budget, and millions more will be destitute.

[TransitJohn]

4. And we'll still be spending more

than the rest of the planet combined for "defense." Oy vey.

[TwilightGardener]

8. Right--it's not too hard to balance the budget: Just mindlessly slash the

funding on a bunch of programs and government departments that you don't think are important--who cares if they're important to somebody else? I could balance my budget at home much easier if I decided that my husband could go without his hobbies, his lunches out, and his speshul elitist coffee beans that he must freshly grind each morning. Hell, no more pool passes and music lessons for my kids. No more flea and tick and heartworm meds for all my pets. See? I wouldn't miss any of that, because those things aren't vitally important to me! Problem solved!

[Captain Angry]

12. It's incredible that they get away with it.

I know people who keep yelling that they want further reduced taxes because of how badly the government works.

I ask, shouldn't we just fix the problem and have more efficient and properly working government?

These "Libertarians" are only for the right to do whatever they want with no taxation, but nobody else is allowed to have any rights. They're delusional.

[TwilightGardener]

14. Their mentality is, "Let me keep all my money, and you keep yours, and

we'll all be fine. Private toll roads and bridges, private education, save up your own damn money for your cancer treatments or your heart stents. To fucking hell with you if you can't afford it, or your bridge collapses while you're on it, or your elderly parents have to eat cat food to buy their meds--don't take MY money!"

[bulloney]

23. The Libertarians that I know assume that the economy operates in a vacuum.

Just eliminate all government activity and the magical hand of the "free market" will go to work for the good of society.

These people obviously are missing a component of their brain that enables people to critically think. The sad part is, a prominent newspaper in my area is run by libertarians who spew this bullshit every day. They don't realize how ignorant they come across.

[bluerum]

21. It won't come anywhere near balancing the budget. But millions more will be destitute.

[pokercat999]

49. As long as they keep the new "war" in IRAN off budget, the

same as the invasion and murder of the people and country of Iraq.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. Yeah, but he also promises to stay in Iraq for 100, so split the difference

...and the best way of "curbing wasteful spending" would be to get the fuck out Iraq, right?

:eyes:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Well now...

I guess he just screwed himself on the senior citizen vote.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. I hope so! Goes to show how out of touch he is. I know so many seniors who

struggle to get by on fixed incomes and S.S., and their medicare is a literal lifesaver. (And medicaid has been the saving grace for my family for years.)

He is crazy to even touch this, but anyone who relies on S.S. and medicare who plan to vote for him anyway are even crazier.

[FogerRox]

7. Whens the last time a republican balanced a budget ?

McCain to balance budget

[eShirl]

19. a question which cannot be asked enough. n/t

[chelsea0011]

26. Nixon? I'm just quessing here.

[izquierdista]

36. Nope!

Actually, 1969 was the last year with a budget surplus before Clinton. But that was LBJ's budget, so Nixon ran a deficit all 5 years he was in charge.

[chelsea0011]

45. So it was Ike???

[sakabatou]

10. Bullshit

[Journeyman]

11. Excellent! Another promise from the 8th Grade School Council Candidate! . . .

So far, he's. . .

Promised to prevent Bolivia and Venezuela from taking the Cuban road (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3317934)

Promised to build 45 nuclear plants by 2030 (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3317934)

Pledged to take the lead in combating global climate change (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3306074#3306079)

Predicted our troops would be out of Iraq by 2013 (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5996676)

and now he's going to balance the budget in 4 years!

Promises are perfect for eighth grade student body president ("And if I'm elected, NO HOMEWORK and FREE ICE CREAM for all!") but when considering candidates for President of the US, I'd prefer to make my judgment based on what they've done with they time they've had, rather than some pie-in-the-sky promise of what they will do different from what they haven't done before.

[Frank Cannon]

25. I'm reminded of Pedro's campaign promise in Napoleon Dynamite

"And if you elect me, all of your wildest dreams will come true!"

[daleo]

13. Balanced budget, more war, tax cuts for the rich

The three can never go together.

[spag68]

15. McCain

Doesn't that make about 5 things he has promised to do by slashing "waste"? Doesn'r he realize the rethugs are responsible for most of the "waste" in the first place? Right, thats just another senior moment.

[Zynx]

16. Damn it all, THE GOVERNMENT FUCKING BORROWS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY!!!

I'm about to completely lose it when Republicans say that entitlements are the problem. They are not. They are separate accounts that the government borrows from and owes, at present, about $3 trillion to. The problem is the general fund and there the issue is that the personal income tax is too low.

[tblue37]

17. And I promise to invent antigravity chips to embed in our

feet so we can hover at will. We will also have tiny antimatter rockets in our heels, so we can travel without needing any sort of nonrenewable fuel. And I promise to cure cancer and end all war, too.

Oh, and from now on, all children will be born into families that will love them and raise them well and provide for them, and all citizens will have a free professional education and jobs that will enable them to purchase the house of their dreams and pay for vacations on the Riviera. Oh, oh, oh---and they will get four months of vacation out of every twelve, and they will work only three days a week, four hours a day.

And, and, and we will invent foods that will taste like the yummiest junk food in the world, but it will be perfectly nutritious and heart healthy never ever ever cause weght gain.

And we will develop immortality treatments, so we never get sick and never die.

And all our landfills will be miraculously cleared out overnight, and global warming will be brought to an end.

And, and, and. . . .

What? You mean we can't just have all that stuff and accomplish whatever we want just by saying so?

Darn.

[Michigan-Arizona]

18. After reading the title

I wanted to post this earlier but I couldn't stop laughing at him wanting to balance the budget or anything else.

[Baby Snooks]

20. Good luck...

This administration practices the Enron method of accounting. So no doubt there is all sorts of hidden debt buried beneath the figures they put out. And even their figures are not real "encouraging" any more.

You have to feel sorry for whoever becomes president with regard to the economic mess this administration will be leaving them.

The debt from the Iraq war alone will take more than four years to balance out unless McCain decides we need to return to the good old days when the robber barons paid 90% tax. Which few realize still left them with enough income to still live quite well. Just the same, that most likely will be the solution except it will be the middle-class paying the 90%. And if McCain slips up and admits it then he will probably lose enough of the Republican vote to ensure he will lose the election. A growing number of Republicans cannot pay their bills either. And really don't want another president who believes only the middle-class should pay taxes. The middle-class is disappearing in this country. And taking some of the rich with it. We are fast becoming a two-class society. The haves and have-nots. And the have-nots will have even less if the Republicans regain their control in Congress and their version of "tax and spend" continues. Their version is tax the middle-class and spend on themselves. The problem is at this point they're taxing their own support base and taxing them to the point they cannot pay their bills. When Republicans no longer like Republicans, there is something wrong. And what's wrong is the economy.

Even if he plans to bankrupt the already bankrupt middle-class in this country, which seems to be the preferred means of balancing the budget by Republicans, it will take 40 years to balance the budget.

We are in deep doo-doo. Apparently John McCain is so used to someone else paying the bills he has lost his sense of smell and really has no concept of economics beyond sending the bills to someone else to pay.

[bulloney]

22. I heard all of this talk about McCain pulling this off by cutting domestic programs.

Nothing was mentioned about cutting the budget ratholes known as the Iraq war or the Pentagon.

I'm all for a strong defense, but that doesn't mean you give the Pentagon a blank check every year and approve supplemental funding for their war games just because their top brass has a phalanx complex.

[Vinca]

24. Cut off SS and starve the old people - sounds Bushian. nt

[trof]

27. This is from The Onion, right?

:rofl:

[Nickster]

28. Easy to balance the budget when you don't count the mind numbing pace that overall debt continues

to increase with all the things that are done off the budget books.

[DallasNE]

29. What Does McCain Mean By "Reform"?

While I haven't yet heard his proposals, it can only mean "gut" since he has already proposed more tax cuts for the very wealthy. His proposals to cut spending during a recession will only prolong the recession, causing balance to be made all the more difficult.

Besides, those rebate checks that did next to nothing become due in 2009. That tax increase will come due right in the middle of the recession and cause it to be prolonged unless Congress acts to either forgive it or delay it until 2010.

One thing we can be sure of thought. McCain's numbers will not add up. Like Bush, he will propose giving the same Social Security dollars to two different groups but only count it once. Also beware of other off-book items that will drive up the debt but not the "deficit". Intellectual honestly will be in short supply.

[Betty]

30. Balanced budget and 100 year wars

sounds reasonable to me.

[grahamhgreen]

31. Yeah - let's gamble all our retirement funds in the stock market that has remained flat since Bush

became criminal in chief...

[pipi_k]

32. Political dead meat

OK I don't get it.

It didn't work for Bush. So what's McCain gonna do? Package a stinking fish up in pretty paper with sparkly ribbons and bows to make it more attractive?

Honestly, he can't be serious....it's got to be a joke of some kind, right?

All he has to do is look at the mid term elections in Mass in which Kerry Healy, Lieutenant Governor, pissed off a whole lot of Seniors (and probably their kids as well) by saying that any seniors living in homes that are "too big for them" should sell (or give them away?) them to younger families with children.

In effect, she implied that seniors are using up precious space and resources that rightfully belong to younger generations.

Yes, that was the issue that spelled political death to Healy's hopes of becoming Governor in a state which has had a Republican Governor for many years, and why she thought her stance on elderly people giving up their homes would be popular here I have no clue....

OK lady...just TRY kicking us out of our homes!!!! Don't mess with the old people, dammit!!!!


Something that occurred to me the other day, though...

McCain is such an unlikely person to win in November that I wonder if he's not just the sacrificial lamb put forth by the Republicans since they must KNOW that people aren't happy with their party anymore, you know? Like, they know they have to have a candidate for the fall and he was seen as the most expendable while they regroup for another try in 2012.


They used Bush to get what they wanted for eight years... for all that I think he's a disgusting little puke, I really do believe on some level that he was used...

So why wouldn't they use McCain as well...only for opposite purposes....to take the fall until they can get their bearings back...?


something to consider, anyway...

[Doctor_J]

33. Just run that side-by side with *'s promise to do the same thing

that will be the end of that canard

[Zuiderelle]

34. "entitlement programs"... yes, people who contribute to a program are entitled to benefit from it.

But of course, he doesn't have to worry about it personally, so he'll overhaul it for the rest of us. :eyes:

[JMackT]

35. Right

And I bet it works real well for him:crazy:

[lumpy]

37. No question, McCain is following in Bush's footsteps.

Sick of politicians promising the moon.

[Javaman]

38. he'll cut every program for the people and reduce us to third world nation

all because he doesn't want to raise taxes.

in the beginning, I called moron*, well, moron*, because as my governor, I saw first hand just how blindly dumb he* was.

Now I will refer to mclobbyist as stupid.

because only stupid people willfully believe that other people are as stupid as they are.

[LiberalFighter]

39. How long does he want the Iraq War to last? Will he continue to pay for that fiasco?

[MrsBrady]

40. The London Bridge IS in Arizona....

But I don't think the Thames has moved...

you know "beach front property" in Arizona I could sell you....

[olddad56]

41. on the backs of working people.

[high density]

42. So that means we either end the Iraq war

or we end everything domestic that our government does. Although if McCain wants to cling to the Social Security "reform" third rail, that's fine by me.

[ryanmuegge]

43. As long as funding for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan stay "off the books," it's possible.

How come nobody in the media mentions that when either candidate starts talking about balancing the budget or cutting spending?

[KamaAina]

44. Curbing wasteful spending?

I guess he doesn't consider the trillion$$$ it'll take to stay in Iraq for a hundred years, or for that matter, to "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran", to be "wasteful". :eyes:

edit: that

[Alexander]

46. In 4 years? This sounds like he's not going to be around for 8.

Is he only going to serve one term, or what?

[Solly Mack]

47. lololololololololololol

Has McRage considered doing stand-up?

[bitchkitty]

48. Jeez, what a liar! Does anybody believe this shit? n/t

[superconnected]

50. How low does he want to go in the polls? He'll balance the budget by cutting Social Security and

medicare. What a DUMB thing to announce during an election run. And also a horses ass thing to do if he invokes it. Who's going to vote for it... only the republicans who are truly sociopathic.

Why does his answer to balancing the budget go after social security anyway. Why not go after defense spending? What a fucking sociopath this guy is to believe that the US economic problem is the drain from social security and medicare.

[sakabatou]

51. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

HAHAHAHAH ha ha.... huuuuu.... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!