HOW TO ELIMINATE THE DEFICIT

First of all .. you realize that we're not going to get rid of this deficit overnight ... but eliminate the deficit we must. The Congressional Budget Office has this nifty little bit of information for you. We can eliminate the deficit .. and do it relatively quickly ... WITHOUT cutting spending or raising taxes. Three scenarios:

• If we cap federal spending at current levels and extend the Bush tax cuts the budget will be balanced by 2016.
   
• If we limit increases in government spending to a rate of 1 percent above inflation and population growth the budget will balance by 2017.
   
• If we limit increases in government spending to a rate of 2 percent above inflation and population growth the budget balances by 2020.

So ... why the push to raise taxes on the rich? For some it's because they truly believe, in spite of decades of evidence to the contrary, that increasing taxes will result in increased government revenues. To arrive at this conclusion these people have to ignore all of the previous tax CUTS, not increases, that resulted in increased tax revenue. As for Obama ... the reason for extending the Bush tax cuts is more sinister. For history's most incompetent president (Sorry, Jimmy) it's all about wealth redistribution. Obama believes that these evil people who make over $200,000 a year have made that money by exploiting and plundering other people. Besides, as Obama has said, these people have made enough money anyway.