So much for the efficacy of the apolitical, unelected debt commission...

[Revere]

I guess the guys elected to do it will have to do their jobs, after all.

Deficit Commission Report Fails to Advance to Congress - FoxNews.com

A sweeping proposal aimed at cutting $4 trillion from the budget over the next decade failed to win enough votes Friday to clear the commission President Obama entrusted to solve the nation's daunting fiscal problems.

But that did not stop them from patting themselves on the back...

Despite falling short, Co-Chairman Erskine Bowles praised the work of the panel Friday and pleaded with lawmakers to keep up the "adult conversation about a very serious subject."

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

It was just a collection of the fossils that gave us this mess in the first place. Good bye and good riddance.

 

[B. Kidd]

The Debt Commission was not annointed from the beginning to be anything more than just a .......commission.

 

[Claudette]

Did anyone really believe that the Clowns in congress were going to follow the Commissionis advice??

I sure didn't.

 

[B. Kidd]

The commission was set up by the Obama administration to demonstrate faux concern for run-up large short term deficits vs. long term fiscal balance.

 

[Meister]

Tell me that we aren't truley in trouble when they can't figure it out. The road is getting real bumpy, and there isn't a person on Capital Hill willing to do what needs to be done to turn the corner.
No one is willing to do what's necessary to cut spending....but they sure know how TO spend.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Just another dog and pony show.

 

[Vast LWC]

The commission didn't go anywhere near far enough.

1. We need to raise the minimum retirement age to receive benefits for both Medicare and Social Security to 70 immediately.

Here's why:

• Social Security and Medicare make up 33% of total government spending.
  
• Social Security was originally designed to be a social safety net for the aged and infirm, not as a retirement plan.
  
• When it was designed, the average life expectancy was about 60, it is now 78.
  
• The payroll tax for Social Security at it's inception was 3%, it is now 6%.
  
• People today are living healthier lives well into their old age, mainly due to expensive advances in medial technology

2. We need to cut defense spending by 30%, at the very least. I'm not talking about pay for soldiers, I'm talking all the billions of dollars of defense pork that congress keeps alive just to provide jobs for select districts. Defense related spending makes up 24.4% of total spending.


Since Defense, Social Security and Medicare make up more than half of total spending, you cannot have a plan for doing away with the deficit without making serious changes to these programs.

 

[Meister]

The commission didn't go anywhere near far enough.

1. We need to raise the minimum retirement age to receive benefits for both Medicare and Social Security to 70 immediately.

Here's why:

• Social Security and Medicare make up 33% of total government spending.
  
• Social Security was originally designed to be a social safety net for the aged and infirm, not as a retirement plan.
  
• When it was designed, the average life expectancy was about 60, it is now 78.
  
• The payroll tax for Social Security at it's inception was 3%, it is now 6%.
  
• People today are living healthier lives well into their old age, mainly due to expensive advances in medial technology

2. We need to cut defense spending by 30%, at the very least. I'm not talking about pay for soldiers, I'm talking all the billions of dollars of defense pork that congress keeps alive just to provide jobs for select districts. Defense related spending makes up 24.4% of total spending.


Since Defense, Social Security and Medicare make up more than half of total spending, you cannot have a plan for doing away with the deficit without making serious changes to these programs.

But, but we have a broken down healthcare system, how can this be?

 

[Vast LWC]

The commission didn't go anywhere near far enough.

1. We need to raise the minimum retirement age to receive benefits for both Medicare and Social Security to 70 immediately.

Here's why:

• Social Security and Medicare make up 33% of total government spending.
  
• Social Security was originally designed to be a social safety net for the aged and infirm, not as a retirement plan.
  
• When it was designed, the average life expectancy was about 60, it is now 78.
  
• The payroll tax for Social Security at it's inception was 3%, it is now 6%.
  
• People today are living healthier lives well into their old age, mainly due to expensive advances in medial technology

2. We need to cut defense spending by 30%, at the very least. I'm not talking about pay for soldiers, I'm talking all the billions of dollars of defense pork that congress keeps alive just to provide jobs for select districts. Defense related spending makes up 24.4% of total spending.


Since Defense, Social Security and Medicare make up more than half of total spending, you cannot have a plan for doing away with the deficit without making serious changes to these programs.

But, but we have a broken down healthcare system, how can this be?

Not for seniors apparently, and it's only broken relative to the rest of the industrialized world.

 

[Sallow]

Just another dog and pony show.

Yep. Basically.

You watch..the can is getting kicked down the road..and everyone is getting jellybeans.

 

[Revere]

What a clusterfuck. Guys with nothing to lose by voting on something unpopular just punted.

 

[Revere]

Bowles and Simpson rubberstamped all this shit while they were in Congress. They have a of balls calling senior citizens "greedy," since they promised them all the shit they now want to take away.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Hey now...c'mon people!!!
The IMF will bail us out if we get in real trouble...geesh.
Whaddya think we are giving them so much money for? To bail out other countries?
Man!