What do I think of them raising the debt limit once again?
It is part of the intentionally-planned financial enslavement of America:
http://www.upwardvectorpubs.com/10.htm

It's ridiculous to exclude tax revenue from the equation of solving the deficit problem. Why is GE not paying taxes and why are the oil companies getting subsidies while working class Americans are struggling to make ends meet? The infrastructure in this country is in shambles. Our education system is a joke. And we are the only industrialized nation without universal health care. Our politicians only care about being reelected and political ideology and not about the well-being of our citizens. Political hopefuls should be subjected to an emotional maturity test before being able to run for office.

Deficit means poor productivity and increased consumption, expenses that do not match productivity.

It is amazing how we can reduce deficit by just starving the work force and not making jobs available. Jobs means initial investments; The Tea Party needs to go to school or we should go after their sponsors, the kochs and the Exon Mobils- get rid of their Welfare Queen status!

Letter to the Peasants of America from the Top 2%,

You asked, Where did all the money and jobs go?

We took the money. We can never have enough. We shipped the jobs overseas. We started international corporations where we seek out the cheapest labor and the least stringent regulations. We invested in scams which produced nothing but debt for you.

We crashed the economy. Now Americans are just as desperate to have a low paying job as anywhere else in the world. We arranged the largest theft in history and stuck you with the bill.

We set up offshore businesses and accounts. We deposited our money in Swiss and Cayman Island banks. We bought enough politicians and judges to write the laws. We implemented free trade, free markets, low taxes for us, and no taxes for our corporations.

We used the military (you pay for) to take over any competition that can't be stolen or bought. We will destroy anyone in our way.

We bought TV networks, radio stations, newspapers, and Internet providers. We propagandized our point of view to convince enough of you to vote against your own interest.

We will go after civil rights, education, environmental laws, unions, Healthcare, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare ...any group or law that stands in the way of us controlling the economy and government. This allows us to profit as much as possible. That's our goal. That is all that matters.

Forever looking down on you,
The Top 2%

A bunch of eunuchs looking just at their selfish interest. I'm afraid I'll be throwing up if I hear any of them mention the word patriotism. But I digress. Aren't we the gullible ones who keep voting them in? They keep talking about "our" children having to carry the burden of "our" debt. I'm sure it's not going to be their children. No, no. They'll find a loophole.
Well I guess slavery it's not gonna be that bad as long as they keep us fat and entertained.

The one valid thing Obama has said in this whole debacle is that the country has painful work to do in order to get out of our economic problems. He's entirely right on that. The painful work is to transition government employees into the free market economy so that we can dramatically cut the size and scope of the federal government.

No, the jobs do not currently exist to make that transition, because the federal government has assumed roles that it simply should not be occupying. So yes, the transition is going to be painful, but it's necessary to build a strong America that can survive and thrive for generations to come.

The current quasi-socialist state called America is not what our Constitution proscribes, and it's not a system that can sustain itself.

The difficulty in getting the debt ceiling raised is the real issue. This points to a polarized American at it's historical worst, just when we do not need it. The failure to refund the FAA over 16 million (which is pocket change in terms of both national and international finance) has led to the furlough of 74,000 jobs.Ther does not seem to be any relief in sight.All ideas of balance, and good moderate legislators who seek such balances, have been hijacked by a new wave of amateur politicians whose one-agenda motives are like the suicide bombers vest. Nothing good can come out of this era of polarization. The health care bill was a virtual still-birth, and this new debt agreement has left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth.We really need to think about what we want from government, what we want to keep and what that cost will be.Like it or not, nothing worth having can be obtained, or kept without cost. Fair taxation - and I do mean fair- is a necessary part of balance, as well as a long term reduction in federal discertionary spending.Let's hope that the climate in Washington improves, because there is so much that can be accomplished - or permanently damaged.

The 4 trillion reduction of the National Debt that the rating agencies are looking for would have been met with the 3 trillion cut, 1 trillion raised revenue offered by Obama. Now thanks to the intransigence of the republican party, and especially that of the tea party ideologues, our credit rating may be down graded anyway. Let the Bush tax cuts expire on Dec 31, 2012 and cut the budget along Clinton era lines. If the Surplus does not reemerge, the return the tax rates on the wealthy to pre-Reagan levels.

Write your senators...write your congressmen. Let them know that we will not stand for another extension of tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Republican legislators need to know they cannot push Americans around and vote against the wishes of the people. We are up against BIG money, so the only thing that will work is constant pressure...every single day.

Also, enlighten your neighbors.... A lot of people don't understand what just happened here. Many middle and lower income people think Obama and the Democrats want to raise their taxes. Let them know that if their income (taxable, bottom line, after deductions, net income) is less than 250,000 dollars per year, their taxes will not change if Obama has his way. We should all be in favor of responsible spending restraints, but we cannot pull our economy together without also investing in it, and without the missing revenue these tax cuts for the wealthy have caused

Resolution? What resolution? What was resolved? The increase in the debt limit didn’t solve anything. What we needed was a return to fiscal responsibility, not hasty agreements to reduce a fraction of what’s required to fix the problem. Now Congress is on summer break and there are more people out of work as a result? Please leave everything else alone. We really don’t need more fixes that break more than they repair.

How can you resolve a spending problem by borrowing more money? Yes it’s complicates, and yes I am not an economist, but neither are the people that crafted this delay of inevitability. Not one of the parties has the intestinal fortitude to do what must be done. The emperor has no cloths… Someone needs to say it. It sure looks like this is part of the Socialist agenda.

Why do we consider these decisions contests? It should not be about winning and losing. It should be about what’s best for the country. We have allowed partisan politics to invade our lives.

So who really lost; The Democrats, Republicans, The Tea Baggers: No. The American People Lost again…

As the drama recently unfolded regarding the debt limit, I was reminded of the Biblical story of Solomon.

In the modern version, the Democrats and the Republicans are the prostitutes (appropriately) who are disputing control of America, the baby. The damage to America over not extending the debt limit is the sword poised to destroy the baby if one side does not give in or a compromise reached. The Republicans made it clear that they would let the country default and, so, got “virtually everything they wanted” while the Democrats gave in so as not to harm the country. Who do you think was the baby's real mother?

THE PEOPLE WE ELECTED TO HELP GET OUR COUNTRY OUT OF THE MESS WE ARE IN ARE WORTHLESS BUMS. WE SHOULD HAVE GONE INTO DEFAULT. THE LIES OBAMA WAS PUTTING OUT WERE TO SCARE THE PEOPLE. GOD HELP AMERICA IF WE CANNOT VOTE ALL THE POLITIANS OUT OF OFFICE WHO SIDED WITH HIM!

Too many people are on entitlments. 50 Per cent is way too high.. Jobs have to be created..spending needs to be cut alot more! A flat tax system would close all loopholes. I believe that should be strongly considered as an option

All I can say is "WOW." I couldn't believe how many of the comments regarding Graelyn's question on raising the debt ceiling espoused the fact that - we need a balanced approach to our financial woes (more than half of the comments, 9 out of the 17). Revenue has to be part of the fix. Our system is broken and got broken over the last 10 years by borrowing from China, et al for not paying for things like: the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - the Bush tax cuts and - Medicare Part D. Our current President put these items on the balance sheet, as any fiscally responsible manager would do. You should therefore now understand one of the reasons we have had such an increase in our debt and deficit. Also, as any manager worth her/his salt, knows that you need financial resources to fix something this badly broken. It was heartening to see so many people comment on this topic. You need to keep airing your views. You need to write letters to the editor. You need to keep the pressure on elected officials, and I don't just mean our NJ representatives. Call the leaders of the House and Senate too.

The facts have been checked, and Daniel Phelan is correct.