por admin » Lun Ago 16, 2010 9:33 pm
Muy buen articulo, les recomiendo leerlo:
Los Americanos estan dispuestos a tomar medidas dastricas para reducir el deficit
Los Americanos estan frustrados acerca del deficit de $1.5 trillones, simbolo de la paralisis de Washington (el Congreso y Obama) y estan dispuestos a tomar medidas dolorosas para reducir el deficit.
Leonard Anderson de 56 anios en Virginia, quien es ingeniero de una farmaceutica y republicano, dice que el esta dispuesto a aceptar un impuesto mayor a las ventas para reducir el deficit. Kimberly Moore de 46 anios una democrata de Richmond y analista de tecnoligia de un banco dice que todos tienen que aceptar la reduccion del presupuesto. Y Paul DesJardins de 67 anios en Henrico, Virginia y republicano dice que el aceptaria mayores pagos y deducibles de los programas de Medicare.
Como Americanos tenemos que recortar el deficit y recibir menos, dijo Lois Profitt de 58 anios, duenio de un pequenio negocio e independiente de Chesterfield, Virginia.
Con las elecciones a la vuelta de la esquina, los votantes parecen estar adelantados a Washington, en lo que se refiere a tomar medidas duras, asi lo revelaron los resultados del soldeo de opinion conducido por el Wall Street Journal en la ciudad de Richmond.
Esta es una fuente de peligro politico para ambos partidos democrata y republicano que estan tratando de hablar acerca del deficit sin dar medidas especificas de como lo van a reducir. Lideres de ambos partidos estan preocupados por los ataques que se produciran si proponen recortar los beneficios, recortar los gastos o aumentar los impuestos. Y para aumentar la ansiedad de los politicos los votantes permanecen divididos acerca de lo que se debe hacer.
Los republicanos son los mejores vistos en lo que se refiere a reducir el deficit con el 32% de los votos, comparado con el 24% que favorecen a los democratas. Pero el 40% no ve diferencia entre los dos partidos.
(Esto es increible:) El $1.5 de deficit este anio excede todo el gasto del gobierno en defensa, no defensa en $110 millones. Es decir que si se eliminara totalmente el gasto militar, educacion, agricultura, vivienda, prisiones, la CIA, el FBI, la Guardia Costera, la guardia de las fronteras, el pais todavia estaria en rojo. (QUE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
La mitad del deficit proviene de la menor recoleccion de los impuestos debido a la recesion y del aumento de los programas de ayuda a lso desempleados, boletas de alimentos, el rescate al sector financiero, etc. Obama proyecta el deficit al 10% de la economia y al 3.4% para el 2014.
Pero despues el problema demografico empieza, con el aumento de los retirados, los gastos aumentaran por los programas de Social Security (pensiones) Medicare y Medicaid (seguro de salud para los pobres y para los ancianos) La deuda publica acumulada excedera el 77% de la economia en menos de una decada, sin incluir la deuda de Social Security.
Voters Back Tough Steps to Reduce Budget Deficit
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
RICHMOND, Va.—Frustrated voters, fixing on the $1.5 trillion federal deficit as a symbol of Washington's paralysis, appear increasingly willing to take drastic steps to address the red ink.
Leonard Anderson, 56 years old, a Richmond, Va., drug-maker engineer and a Republican, said he would be willing to accept a national sales tax to raise revenues. Kimberly Moore, 46, a Richmond Democrat and bank information-technology analyst, said everyone will have to accept budget cuts. And at 67, Paul DesJardins, a Henrico, Va., Republican, said he would accept higher Medicare co-payments and deductibles.
"As Americans, we're all going to have to cut back and take less," said Lois Profitt, a 58-year-old small-business owner and political independent from Chesterfield, Va.
With the November midterm elections looming, voters appear ahead of Washington in grappling with the tough choices to come, according to national polling and a focus group commissioned by The Wall Street Journal in the bellwether city of Richmond.
That is a source of political peril for both Democratic and Republican parties, which are trying to talk about the deficit without addressing the specifics of how they would tackle it. Leaders on both sides of the aisle worry about being attacked if they produce a package of painful spending cuts or tax increases. And to reinforce lawmakers' anxiety, voters remain divided about what ought to be done.
"It's a brutal predicament for politicians because the rhetoric of deficit cutting is enormously popular, but the details are incredibly unpopular," said Matt Bennett, a vice president at the Democratic group Third Way, which has polled extensively on the issue.
For meaningful deficit reduction to happen, Republicans and Democrats likely would have to work together to slash spending or raise taxes. Instead, Republicans are attacking Democrats for planning to allow some Bush-era tax cuts to lapse. Democrats are accusing Republicans of plotting the privatization of Social Security. And neither party has convinced Americans it is serious about the problem.
Republicans are seen as the party most trusted to reduce the deficit by 32%, compared to 24% for Democrats, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. But a plurality of 40% see no difference between the two parties on the issue.
The White House professes to be relatively sanguine about the short-term deficits, half of which stem from collapsing tax receipts and rising spending on programs associated with the recession. The president has largely kicked deficit reduction to a bipartisan commission that will report back in December.
"If Barack Obama wasn't serious about this, he wouldn't have set it up," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the commission. "We're not going to eliminate three gimmicks and a loophole and call it a day."
But the president may run into opposition in his own party. A group of liberal economists argue that deficit cutting now would kill off the struggling recovery and send the deficit soaring higher. And complicating matters for Democrats, some liberal interest groups argue that Social Security is sound and in no need of serious change.
Voters seem more impatient and say they want their political leaders to take a stand. "I wish the politicians would be hard-a—, and be like, 'You know what? It's going to be horrible for the next few years, but you've got to shut up," ' said Jennifer Ciminelli, a 35-year-old political independent in Richmond, Va., and one of 12 Virginians who participated in the Journal's focus group. It included four independents, four Republicans and four Democrats.
Virginia is a new swing state that voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 then elected a Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, the next year. Most of the focus group hailed from the congressional district of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, a rising force in Republican politics who has made fiscal rectitude as well as tax cutting a mantra. Some came from the district of Rep. Bobby Scott, a liberal Democrat. Just to the west and south is the district of freshman Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, one of the most embattled incumbents in the country.
Even among such diverse voices, the nation's fiscal problems were a central concern. At $1.47 trillion, the federal deficit this fiscal year exceeds all defense and nondefense spending at Congress's discretion by $110 million. In other words, lawmakers could eliminate the entire military, all federal education, agricultural, housing programs, federal prisons, the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Coast Guard and border patrol, and the nation would still be in the red.
Half of the current deficit stems from falling tax revenues and rising spending on programs associated with the recession, such as unemployment insurance and food stamps, along with temporary measures such as the stimulus and the Wall Street bailout. The administration projects the deficit—now at 10% of the economy—will fall to 3.4% of the gross domestic product by 2014 as these programs end and the economy recovers.
But then long-term demographic problems kick in, which in some ways dwarf the short-term deficit spike. With the baby boom generation retiring, the deficit will begin rising again because of rising Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending. The accumulated debt held by the public will exceed 77% of the economy within a decade, not including the debt the government owes itself for raiding Social Security taxes for decades.
"The country's going to deteriorate," said Mary Beth Davis, a 27-year-old professional photographer and Democratic-leaning independent from Midlothian, Va. "It already is."