Americans consider most ideas for reducing the deficit to be more ways of screwing the middle class
From a post at the Big Picture
Despite all of the back and forth over the fiscal cliff and the deficits, when you get specific about deficit reduction, the majority of Americans are not supportive.
Of course, some of us understand how much of the so-called reduction is still ideological crappola. The best example being suggestions on modifying social security. You could remove social Security, SSA, entirely from the budget and nothing would change in the deficit.
SSA pays for itself, has years of equity remaining. All that needs to be done is to remove the cap on contributions – don’t stop collecting the tax when people pass $105K/year income – and we’re good till the next century.
Holler at your Congress-critter to support Bernie Sanders' bill to 
The amount of money to be saved by bringing our troops home is astronomical. Over 700 bases around the world.
Just take a single example – part of the expense of maintaining a base like Kaiserslautern in Germany – 50,000 troops. Just to sustain those troops as a ready unit = $5 Billion. That would be cut in half bringing them back home and stashing them at, say, Fort Bliss in El Paso. That doesn’t count wives and families which would also be cheaper to maintain back home.
They could be put to work on infrastructure, road work, bridges, building schools.
Multiply those savings by another 700 useless bases.
Oh, and troops being supported in war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq? The cost of their daily waste is 10 times the cost of peaceful duty in leftover Cold War bases in the rest of the world. Hundreds of bilions of dollar$.
keaneo
December 15, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Barry Ritholtz is a funny take. His analysis of things political is often right on. A great deal of his economic analysis is equally spot on. Then all of a sudden, some traditional turd of Republican ideology drops into the conversation.
He’s funny, witty, sharp – and occasionally very frustrating. I admit I still find him enjoyable on Tom Keane’s TV program.
moss
December 15, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Reblogged this on Ye Olde Soapbox.
Michael B. Calyn
December 16, 2012 at 12:22 am
Great information.
shoutabyss
December 16, 2012 at 8:14 am