iowan15 wrote:
Whether or not the Republicans can control spending remains to be seen. Their track record when Bush was president is not a good one. Hopefully, the pummelling they have taken at the polls the last two election cycles, coupled with the opposition to Obamacare and trillion dollar 'stimulus' packages, has convinced them that the electorate is quite tired of massive government programs. It's clear the Democrats have no interest in reducing spending.

It's still not clear to me why the revenue side of things can only be addressed by increasing tax rates, as Obama and liberal Democrats propose. I don't think there is any disagreement that revenues are down because economic activity has slowed and unemployment is so high. It seems to me that the best way to increase revenue is to increase economic activity. How raising tax rates will accomplish that is not clear.

later. iowan15
You might be right about the Democrats and their lack of resolve to control spending, but as I keep saying we can start with so called "Defense" department. That won't solve the problem and it will be a step in the right direction and possibly restore some of our credibility with the rest of the world.