OK, so what is my simple mind missing here?

The USA spends more than it takes in.

The USA keeps upping the Debt Ceiling, so it can CONTINUE to spend more than it takes in, further increasing debt.

I'm with the Republicans on this battle.. at least when it comes to cutting spending. Dammit... we cannot continue on this ruinous path! The USA HAS to live within it's means.

Y'all have to do it and I have to do it... so, why can't our bureaucrats understand this crap?

There are lots of ways to cut spending... we have hit the tarbaby so many times and lobbyists have so much pull for pet projects, I sincerely doubt that we could cut programs entirely... so, let's do it across the board like we did for the "sequestration".

You go to cutting specific programs and the news media would have a feeding frenzy, publicizing how the proposed cuts will hurt, and they will interview poor people that will lose their jobs as a result. "Boo-hoo." Man-up. Life's a bitch.

Cutting aid to other countries ought to be considered, but it alone is insufficient to balance the budget and whining supporters of our allies (Israel especially) will come out of the woodwork.

Eliminating most subsidies would help. I sincerely believe that Big Oil and Megafarms do not need tax money to survive.

Please excuse my rant. My simple mind just cannot understand how the USA ignores the warning signs of oblivion.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/food-stamps-making-food-companies-fat/story?id=17166643

Instead of printing debit cards for one in seven inhabitants of this country, and letting people scam that system, perhaps we should go back to making people stand in line for commodities. At least, we know that people aren't cashing in their debit cards at unscrupulous merchants for pennies on the dollar to buy beer and cigarettes.

Cheese, bread, milk, sugar, and flour can be a whole lot more nutritious than people buying crap like sodas, Ding-Dongs, candy, and potato chips with food stamp assistance.

Quote :

Makers of these maligned products, meantime, have lobbied Congress and state governments to prevent their products' exclusion from SNAP eligibility, arguing that consumers ought to be free in the grocery store to buy pretty much whatever they want. The National Confectioners Association, for example, argues on its website that excluding candy from SNAP would prevent parents from enjoying the freedom to give children "an occasional treat" on "Halloween, Hannukah, [or] Easter."

So, it's now a "freedom" issue. Yeah, right. Many SNAP recipients are FREE to get a damn job. Some folks deserve a hand-up. What I don't agree with is folks receiving assistance for generations of their family... food stamps, AFDC, welfare. Benefits should be available for a limited time.

When folks make more money on the dole than what they can earn working, we will have long-term entitlement abuse. Put those folks to work, sweeping the streets or whatever. Make 'em think that there is no free lunch. Right now, there is...

Aargh! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/07/new-air-force-cargo-planes-fly-straight-into-mothballs/?intcmp=latestnews

Quote :

The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.

A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News. The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.

Good comments Erik.... You're on a roll today..

Eric wrote:

Aargh!  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/07/new-air-force-cargo-planes-fly-straight-into-mothballs/?intcmp=latestnews

Quote :

The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.

A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News.  The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.

    The official statement:....cheaper to mothball rather than stop the orders....when it comes to military contracts it's no wonder defense corporations go crazy attempting to land them...where else can a corporation build an inferior product or a not needed product and still get the government to pay for the increases or scrapping them....What are you missing?...Inside the Belt Way Logic or lackthereof...and more is NEEDED!...