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I know I said last night I was sick of writing about this topic, but for some reason I feel obligated to post President Obama's address on the debt ceiling negotiations.



At the end of this talk, the president states:

The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government.  So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard.  If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know.  If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.

I'm hearing that the e-mail servers at the Capitol are crashing. Are they getting the message?

On the issue of what measures the public supports to reduce the budget deficit, here are some interesting recent poll results from the Washington Post/ABC:


 In order to reduce the national debt, would you support or oppose [ITEM]? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

                                   ------ Support ------   ------- Oppose -----    No
                                   NET   Strngly   Smwht   NET   Smwht   Strngly   op.
a. Cutting spending on Medicaid,   
which is the government health 
insurance program for the poor     26      11       16     72     18       54       2

b. Cutting military spending       43      23       20     56     17       39       2

c. Raising taxes on Americans 
with incomes over 250-thousand 
dollars a year                     72      55       17     27     10       17       1

d. Gradually raising the 
eligibility age for Medicare 
from 65 to 67                      46      25       21     54    12        42       1

e. Changing the way Social 
Security benefits are calculated 
so that benefits increase at a 
slower rate than they do now       42     18        24     53    14        38       5

f. Raising taxes on oil and gas 
companies                          59     42        17     39     9        31       2

g. Raising Medicare premiums 
for wealthier retirees             61      31       30     36    15        21       3

h. Increasing the amount of 
Social Security tax paid by 
people with incomes over 107-
thousand dollars a year            66      36       30     33    16        16       1      

i. Raising taxes on people who 
manage financial investments 
known as hedge funds               64      37       27     25     16         9     11

SUMMARY: 

Basically everything the Republicans are suggesting, the public is against.