Boehner says there will have to be "something big" on the table...

[kentuck]

to get an agreement on the debt limit. The Repubs are looking at Medicare or something similar.

Democrats haven't a plan except to say it is "unthinkable" to not pass a new debt limit. Perhaps they should look at "something big" on their own?

How about start withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and shutting down about half of our bases around the world? How about changing the expiration date on the Bush taxcuts and let them expire immediately? How about closing some tax loopholes immediately? That is "something big". Come on Democrats, come up with some ideas to match the nonsense of the Republicans.

[bluethruandthru]

1. Yep, the Dems need to say "I'll show you something big"....

we're raising taxes on the richest Americans to 50 percent. Big enough?

[B Calm]

3. Problem solved!

[Mz Pip]

10. Or perhaps

the bloated defense budget. We could save quite a bit if we closed a good portion of those 700 bases we have sitting around the world.

[bluethruandthru]

11. Right! Lets take a chunk from defense and a chunk from the rich.

There is no reason the poor and middle class (what's left of them) need to be the ones to suffer!

[bobbolink]

22. TWO somethings big. Better bargaining. But Dems will NEVER do that.

They will keep demanding more and more sacrifices from poor people, and the middleclass will go along with it just fine.

Problem solved.

[zbdent]

13. wow, it takes real "courage" to whine about high taxes ...

real courage would be to actually buck the trend and raise the taxes on the billionaires ...

[Bound by Honor]

20. FDR levels

95%.

I'll be nice and go with Eisenhower levels which I think is at 56%.

And make it an mandatory 25 year prison sentence and an automatic forfeiture of all assets known and hidden paid back to the US Treasury for ANYONE attempting to get around the tax - That GE CEO needed to be sentenced, and GE forfeits everything.

If corporations want to be recognized as a person, pay the fucking taxes.

[kentuck]

21. I think rates under Eisenhower were much higher?

Maybe in the 90% range?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. The world would melt if we didn't have trillions of U.S. soldiers based around the

globe doing whatever it is they do.

[Octafish]

4. Ending three wars would be a nice start.

Defunding welfare for the wealthy would be good, too.

[ejpoeta]

5. yep. don't lift the debt ceiling..... stop fighting wars and spending on

wars and the war machine and you won't need to raise the debt ceiling. start taxing the rich what they SHOULD be paying and then we can get rid of the debt altogether!

[Champion Jack]

6. Here's something big Mr Tangerine Man....

"We'll raise taxes on the wealthy.
Cut ALL oil subsidies now.
Make Corporations pay their fair share.
Cut the bloated defense budget."
....
Of course they won't, what they will do is cower and whimper like always...

[malaise]

7. Good

Tax the fugging rich

[Keith Bee]

8. His tanning bed?

That's cut at least 20% off the deficit, right away.

[liberal N proud]

9. I say we put his head on the table

[Logical]

12. You know we are going to get screwed in this deal. n-t

[msongs]

14. how about eliminate all services to republican districts? that's big nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. They don't need a plan.

Goldman Sachs won't let them not raise the limit. It's all theater.

[jemelanson]

16. Here is a plan for you.

1. Draw down the military in the three wars we are now fighting. Complete the draw down within three months.
2. Review all contracts for the military. If any are not within the limits of the contract specs then stop all payments to those companies until they are within the limits (time and quality specs) of the contract. If the contract was let on a no-bid basis, have it canceled as illegal and put it back open if the goods are still required and have it done through the proper bidding procedure. NO MORE NO-BID Contracts.
3. Reset the highest marginal Tax rate to the pre-GWB levels.
4. Revise the Tax code and remove the loop holes. If the Tax code is so complicated that it requires a CPA to figure the tax liability of a person or entity then the tax code is too complicated. Every one pays their fair share.
5. Remove all Tax exemptions on Churches and other non-profits.
6. Establish an Estate Tax on any Estate valued at more than $5,000,000.00
7. Remove property tax exemptions for Churches and non-profits.
8. Require all Corporations, City, County, and State Governments to fully fund the Pension plans that they agreed to fund for their employees
9. Limit contributions for Candidates, Political Parties, Political Action Committees (PACs) to real persons (flesh and blood persons) no Company, Corporation, or Lobby Group being allowed to make those type of donations (cash or in-kind donations)
10. All donations have to be reported and should be subject to verifications.
11. Reinstate the Equal Time requirements on Radio, Television, Cable media. If you give one candidate or party air time you must give the other candidates or parties equal air time.
12. Put into place recall procedures on every elected office, City, County, State, and Federal.
13. Close out the Bush White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives and get rid the failure called No Child Left Behind.


That is a start anyway.

Just my humble opinion.

[sabrina 1]

17. Good, so what are the Dems putting on the table?

Or they are going to wait for Republicans again, and then react rather than take the lead yet again?

A few suggestions:

1)End the Bush tax cuts

2)Cut the military budget at least in half

3)End Bush era funding for faith-based programs

4)Increase SS benefits to help stimulate the economy.

5)Off the table are any cuts to social programs.


Their hysteria over the economy has made it clear that we can no longer afford tax cuts for the wealthy. If they are sincere, they will agree.

Decreasing the military budget and ending tax cuts for the wealthy would solve all the problems they claim to be so concerned about.

[roamer65]

18. How about a 90% cut in the defense budget.

[kentuck]

19. Here is something else "big" we can put on the chopping block.

Homeland Security's budget this year is $43.2 billion dollars. That is a 0.7% increase over last year.
There are some "big" things we can put on the table if we so wish.

[and-justice-for-all]

23. How about the pentagon budget...

it does not get any bigger than that.

[calimary]

24. How 'bout a "matching grant"? YOU put Medicare on the table? We match it with

BIG-ASS, exhorbitant, bring-'em-to-their-knees taxes on the wealthy and corporations (room enough to negotiate some of it downward and STILL have enough to force the rich to start paying their fair share again).

Now we can talk about how many microns to shave off the tax increase package.

We STILL HAVE TWO of the three houses here: the Senate and the White House, which trumps everything since Obama can simply veto what he doesn't like. I do NOT understand why we can't stand on that majority. For all their talk and bluster and arrogance and swaggering around like they own the place, they only have ONE THIRD of it. And they DON'T get to dominate the agenda or call all the shots.

WHERE THE FUCK ARE OUR DEMOCRATS????

[Poboy]

25. Yep, our pathetic crew is caught 'flat footed' again and again.

(if one actually believes they champion our best interests at all).

How about they start here-

The Real U.S. National Security Budget The Figure No One Wants You to See -$1.2 Trillion for National Security

By Chris Hellman
Tom Dispatch.com

So the big week is here as the federal budget heads for the Washington operating table. The question in the media will be: to shut or not to shut the government down -- and whether that shutdown is likely to happen now, two weeks from now, or in the spring when raising the debt ceiling comes up for debate. In the meantime, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is intent on taking out fuel subsidies for the poor, federal funding for Planned Parenthood, money for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, and the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant that “supports state-based prenatal care programs and services for children with special needs,” among many other programs, but not (as New York Times columnist Gail Collins pointed out recently) the millions of dollars the U.S. Army sinks into its “relationship” with NASCAR. The House voted down a proposal to eliminate that program a week ago by a wide margin.

Here’s the thing: the House Republicans are going after their version of unsightly pimples on the body politic -- the programs they and their billionaire sponsors find ideologically unpalatable -- without seriously considering where our money really flows. We at TomDispatch thought we might lend a hand to Congress’s deliberations this week by offering something new: the first real figure on what American taxpayers actually pay for the Pentagon, the U.S. military, homeland security, our distant wars, the care of veterans, intelligence, and every other aspect of our national security and war state.

It’s often said that military and security expenditures make up 20% of the federal budget. But you have to wonder about that figure when you consider what the U.S. national security budget adds up to. Let’s face it: what American taxpayers really fork over for “national security” should make us all feel exceedingly insecure, as Christopher Hellman of the National Priorities Project, an expert on military spending, makes clear below. He offers a startling figure that undoubtedly could have -- and should have -- been calculated long ago by others in the media and in government (including that freshman class of Republican congressional representatives). Perhaps, though, Americans in Washington and out would prefer not to know where their money is really going.

Here’s your chance. Take out your calculator and check the addition yourself -- and prepare to be staggered.

CONTINUED...
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175361/tomgram%3A_chris_hellman%2C_%241.2_trillion_for_national_security