1.5 Trillion to "fix the economy"; how will we pay for all of Obama's proposals?

[Clarkie1]

The media is already saying neither McCain nor Obama will be able to deliver on what they are promising (some combination of tax cuts and spending) without massively inflating an already inflated federal debt.

Obama should get out in front of this and be blunt. He will not be able to enact all his proposals. Be the candidate who is honest with the American people about the reality of the situation. The American people are already beginning to understand that we don't have the money what either candidate is proposing.

[phrigndumass]

1. I can find $10 Billion a month to afford them, easy :)

Get out of Iraq.

:hi:

[redstate_democrat]

2. Exacccctttlllyy.

[Clarkie1]

4. Sorry, but there was a tyop: 1.5 trillion.

Getting out of Iraq will be just a drop in the bucket, at best.

[PBS Poll-435]

13. *** Unintentional Humor Alert ***

Sorry, but there was a tyop: 1.5 trillion.

[Cha]

7. Yes! And, he says so at the end

of this ad I just saw..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONM7148cTyc

[Clarkie1]

10. It's not true.

Getting out of Iraq would only save $10 billion a month.

The federal bailouts are costing 1,500 billion....that's 1.5 trillion.

Edit: by "not true" I don't mean that Obama is lying, simply that the reality has changed.

[Sensitivity]

3. You mean TRILLION.

[liberalmuse]

5. Obama is creative enough to deal with this.

I sure as hell trust him over McCain.

[Cha]

11. Prescisely...no need to start handwringing

just yet.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. You can start with the 700 billion a year we send overseas to buy oil.

By building and using things like solar panels and wind turbines we can greatly build our economy.


And I think the number you wanted is 1.5 Trillion , with a Tr and not a B

[FrenchieCat]

8. If Obama does as he proposes and puts America back to work to stimulate

a 21st century economy, we will reap the benefits.

But you have your candidates mixed up. It is McCain that has never said how he would pay for his proposals.

Watch this, and perhaps you will remember "stuff"...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv8eiDvrHJ4

[Coexist]

9. during the Great Depression, while the nation was dead broke,

jobs programs and national parks building programs, from the government, saved us.

Infrastructure rebuilding programs, moving Vets and unemployed/barely employed workers to Green Jobs installing solar panels, manufacturing wind power equipment, subsidized by the government will pay the country back in taxes from working Americans, in property taxes as Americans can purchase homes again.

We NEED the government to step in to create jobs and fill the gap to save the nation's economy.

[abburdlen]

12. minor tweaks certainly won't do a damn thing

In just eight years this administration took us from a surplus to this sorry state.

If there is any hope of fixing this disaster it will take an overhaul of the entire system akin to the New Deal.
So we have three options:

1) Whoever wins does patchwork repairs and we slide more slowly into economic oblivion
2) McCain wins and he does drastic changes, probably something like gutting Social Security, Medicare, taxing medical insurance withholdings.
3) Obama wins and he does drastic changes shifting the tax burden to the CEO class who helped bring about this mess, scales back our military expenditures,etc

There is going most likely going to be serious financial pain involved whatever solution the next administration comes up with. The question is who is going to feeling that pain.

[bread_and_roses]

14. Wrong question, wrong answer

The correct question is how the hell do we have endless $$ to bail out Wall Street when ordinary Americans get no relief for mortgages, for bankruptcy, for health care, for their communities infrastructure, for the polluted messes left by our Corporate Masters as they left for cheaper shores, for "green economy/energy investment, for schools, for THEIR tax rate, which is generally higher than that of the upper 1%, especially when FICA, State/local fees and surcharges are added in, as well as property taxes, which keep going up due to the Neo-Lib/Con tax cuts resulting in the Fed squeezing the States and municipalities.

The right answer is that the wealthy and the Corporations have not only NOT been paying their fair share of taxes, but have been flush with excess profits from suppresing wages, cutting health care and pensions, and off-shoring to even cheaper labor - without penalty. This is the result of Conservative, Chicago-boys, Dem DLC free-marketeer-ism and de-regulation.

Surely, Obama's advisors could come up with a way to make hay out of this in simple, sound-bite language. Like, "Hey, what do WE get for bailing out our Corporate Masters?" At least, he could, if his economic advisors were not some of the very people who helped craft and have supported this ponzi scheme that WE are now asked to eat.

But Obama has come out with nothing but a mealy-mouthed generalization that says NOTHING about the root causes of this mess. He is losing a perfect opportunity - and the Rs will be quick enough to step into the breach with some nonsense.

People are not stupid. They know somone has to pay. It is up to Obama to make clear exactly who is going to be paying (us), who is going to skate off with their off-shore accounts intact (the already obscenely wealthy), and who is to blame (the free-market-eer de-regulator free-traders).

Obama has a perfect opportunity to get out in front of this as a champion of the ordinary, job-holding, wage-dependent most of us. I don't see any sign as of yet that he is doing so. I just got in and havn't seen the news since about mid-day, so I'll be happy to learn that I'm wrong.

edit for typo and last sentence

[MarjorieG]

16. He needs to wait for the bi-partisan solution to say yea or nay, or something else.

[Clarkie1]

18. Agree 110%!

People are not stupid. They know somone has to pay. It is up to Obama to make clear exactly who is going to be paying (us), who is going to skate off with their off-shore accounts intact (the already obscenely wealthy), and who is to blame (the free-market-eer de-regulator free-traders).

Obama has a perfect opportunity to get out in front of this as a champion of the ordinary, job-holding, wage-dependent most of us.

[tridim]

15. Cut the defense budget in half by cleaning out all the bullshit.

[Willo]

17. It's going to be hard to deliver with the republicans hell-bent on

making the debt as big as possible before November.

I have no doubt our debt situation (among other things) is far worse than even the media knows or will tell.
But the choice is either stop the hemmoraging and start to turn things around or simply bleed to death.

McCain has no intention of improving it and frankly I doubt he has a clue on where to start if he wanted to.

I believe Obama really WANTS to fix things and that's a big start. As bad as things truly may be, I hold out hope that even a few changes will yield larger results than would seem possible right now.

I figure that after a few briefings on the mess of things, Obama and Biden would cry "oh shit", then get about the business of cleaning it up.

[Iterate]

19. I'm not so sure that wasn't the idea,

to hamstring the government (that's us) for a generation or two with debt and war.

I say bullshit, we don't look at it that way. We can all get medieval, or we can cut a deal, and this is what we want.
Not many of us can do the math, but we all know what's fair and I haven't seen it.

Start with this: Reaganomics is over, done, publicly, with no Faux guest shot runarounds. They had thirty years grace and they made a mess of it. Libertarians, too, listen up. It's our collective responsibility, through government, to maintain order and fairness, even in that magical market.

#2 No more Dick Cheney cowboy bullies running around picking fights with every taxi driver who doesn't pay homage. Neocons and pundits, get a fucking job. People who were wrong in 2002, and haven't been right since, get off my TV and go pick lettuce. Soldiers come home and heal.

#3 3rd rate health care for 16% of GDP? Get real. Start with a non-profit health sector, for all.

#4 through #25 your can write yourselves. It's 4 a.m. and I done.

[guruoo]

20. Round up offshore tax cheats, redeploy 101st Airborne to Caymans to collect