I can't comment .
I didn't stay attentive long enough to see Biden nodding.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/13/remarks-president-fiscal-policy I started out hopefully enough and alert enough to note when he said
Even after our economy recovers, our government will still be on track to spend more money than it takes in throughout this decade and beyond. That means we’ll have to keep borrowing more from countries like China. That means more of your tax dollars each year will go towards paying off the interest on all the loans that we keep taking out. By the end of this decade, the interest that we owe on our debt could rise to nearly $1 trillion. Think about that. That's the interest -- just the interest payments.
Then, as the Baby Boomers start to retire in greater numbers and health care costs continue to rise, the situation will get even worse. By 2025, the amount of taxes we currently pay will only be enough to finance our health care programs -- Medicare and Medicaid -- Social Security, and the interest we owe on our debt. That’s it. Every other national priority -– education, transportation, even our national security -– will have to be paid for with borrowed money.
Hey I thought , perhaps he is starting to "get it"!
Then he said
And without even looking at a poll, my finely honed political instincts tell me that almost nobody believes they should be paying higher taxes.
That is exactly right , no one self identifies as undertaxed , perhaps he is on the right track.
Then
So here’s the truth. Around two-thirds of our budget -- two-thirds -- is spent on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and national security. Two-thirds. Programs like unemployment
insurance, student loans, veterans’ benefits, and tax credits for working families take up another 20 percent. What’s left, after interest on the debt, is just 12 percent for everything else. That’s 12 percent for all of our national priorities -- education, clean energy, medical research, transportation, our national parks, food safety, keeping our air and water clean -- you name it -- all of that accounts for 12 percent of our budget.
Now, up till now, the debate here in Washington, the cuts proposed by a lot of folks in Washington, have focused exclusively on that 12 percent. But cuts to that 12 percent alone won’t solve the problem. So any serious plan to tackle our deficit will require us to put everything on the table, and take on excess spending wherever it exists in the budget.
Hey , he must have stayed awake for his breifing !
Unfortuneately after this point he returned strictly to blameing others and makeing rationalisations for calling an increase over last years spending that is less than the origionally proposed increase a "cut". Back he went to the tired old pandering to the least well breifed and most dependant . Back to the tired old fear mongering and promises of unending cornucopia with cradle to grave safety net ever rising, government ever more and more becomeing a hammock that supports all basic needs of life with no effort save taxing ever more heavily the dwindleing number of super rich.
I don't blame Biden, I couldn't stay awake to the end either.
