Thursday Stories: The Budget Unveiled; Deficit To Hit $1.75 Trillion; Hurting The Housing Market

Now might be the time for fiscally responsible people to move to Canada, instead of just threatening to like the many lefties have been doing for years. The govt. budgets are in much better shape than ours, you could get a good currency deal on the CAD at this point, Canada might actually produce base and precious metals and oil when demand eventually rebuilds, it has a big exposure on Arctic resources, public school education is undoubtedly better, there is less crime generally, housing bubbles were not as rampant, and it won't matter about socialized medicine, as you won't get health care when needed in either the US or Canada anyway. I noticed that Dagen McDowell did not have a blog to write to , but I wonder if she realizes that her seeming philosophical opinions are a bit Orwellian, as in big brother govt. can MAKE people lose weight, and govt. can MAKE mortgages be rewritten, thereby making people indentured servants for 40 years or so in homes that were bought at bubble prices, etc. Central planning is what got us into this financial mess (Greenspan's Fed), and even more of it does not make one feel that we are not headed eventually toward a totalitarian form of govt.

Move to Western NY, more reasonably priced, no wild fires, just a whacky Governor Patterson who's taxing ski lift passes at local ski resorts....

Good interview with Rep Steve King - this is the kind of Republican I was hoping for last November. My man is Ron Paul, and this reinforces bbain's post above - It's time to get rid of the UNCONSTITUTIONAL IRS

There's nothing we can do about it. Obama wrote two books. Those of us who read them know exactly what he is and where he's going, but are powerless to stop it so long as he has a Democrat Congress and Senate. If your Congressman is a Democrat -- forget that too. You'll be lucky if you even get a form letter back after you write him or her. All you can do is hunker down and hope people wake up in the 2010 elections. If they don't there is more coming down the pike. "Rich" will be defined as anyone left standing who is paying their bills on time.

Phase out IRS in favor of value added or consumption tax revenues__Steps:__1 ) Institute a 10 year plan to phase out income tax revenue receipts in favor of the consumption tax model. This means the IRS is going away forever… Institute a national sales tax that is phased with income tax decline. __ 2) It might be possible to have both – a nominal flat tax on income in concert with a consumption tax.__Let's do what Teddy Roosevelt would have done - level the playing field and step on the elites who think protectionism is a dirty word.__ __

The current " Stimulus Package" would stimulate components of a failed economic model. The free-trader, globalist economic model has failed miserably- when will "protectionist" policies become fashionable again ? It's the only thing that will save what's left in this country. Firstly, we need to stimulate/rebuild the manufacturing base Steps : 1) TARIFFS - slap tariffs on key import products ie. appliances,televisions,computers,autos,machine tools,robotics, shoes,sneakers,abercrobie & fitch - level the playing field for a spectrum of products and services. 2) TARIFFS on outsourced back office IT, software/systems & suspend new H1B visa program 3) Incentives for new business creation for aforementioned industries - seed $$ and grants for local municipalities to invest in manufacturing. 4) Auto industries took bailout $$ - require them to pull in outsourced parts & assembly operations and bring them back to the US. Put % thresholds on part content and assembly - to be considered to be an American car company - act like one.

Is there nothing we can do? What if every working man and woman refused to file a tax return this year? I know, it's against the law but what Obama is proposing SHOULD be against the law! My husband is an attorney and makes $150K. We live in a SMALL home in CA with no upgrades. We are almost debt free excluding our home YET we still do not feel rich and we STILL watch our budget closely. We've been trying to plan for his retirement (we are in our 50's) but it now looks like he will never be able to retire. I am a Realtor who gave up trying to sell homes and couldn't afford the fees and marketing associated with it. I now stay home and find ways to cut back. I can only imagine that if WE feel burdened by the taxes we pay, how much more do those making $250K! MAKING GOOD MONEY IS NOT A CRIME AND PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED FOR IT! And now I hear about the new budget reducing the mortgage tax deduction?! Brian, you said it well. If people don't feel they are unable to move up, it will freeze up the housing marking even more.

Are you kidding us? What in the world is going on with this administration? We are projected to go $3.33 trillion in debt with no REAL plan to clear it. Uping taxes on the wealthiest and taking from medicare (in the name of universal health care which will never happen) will not even make a dent in it. When is someone going to step up and stop this stupidity?

My husband makes around 100,0000 a year that's working overtime. His base salary is around 75000. He has worked 12 hours a day for the past two weeks and made around 7000 after taxes he is clearing around 3800 that sounds fair. We are not rich. How much more does the government want. We are in our 50's and lost over half of his retirement. I guess the government wants us all to be poor.

You ought to point out all those "masters of the universe" who: 1) Blew up the banks and some hedge funds and then.... 2) Supported Obama. STUPID - twice. I read somewhere about "Wall st." supporting Obama something like 10 -1 against McCain.