FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
President Obama's $3 trillion debt reduction plan is really a huge tax increase accompanied by very small and somewhat questionable spending cuts.
The president wants $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts, according to the Washington Times.
His plan will go nowhere in Congress.
Besides the $1.5 trillion in new taxes, here are the president's ideas of spending cuts:
Find "waste" in Medicare. Where have we heard that before?
Count savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which was going to happen anyway.
Count lower interest costs on national debt.
Where are the cuts? There's no entitlement reform in this plan, no orders to cut the federal workforce, to cut the budgets by a significant amount or to close overseas military bases.
There's no means test for Social Security, no raising of the retirement age. Nothing.
Meanwhile, as we wait for the so-called Super Committee to come up with its plan, this deficit situation is a ticking time bomb.
Here's the scary truth: Even if the committee manages to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade, it's a miniscule drop in the bucket.
The United States is more than $14 trillion in debt and we are adding to this debt at the staggering rate of more than $1 trillion in deficits per year.
So even if the government cuts $3 trillion or $4 trillion over 10 years, we will still have a national debt of $21 trillion in 10 years: $7 trillion more than we have now.
The federal government knows this full well and refuses to be realistic about how dangerous our predicament is.
Here’s my question to you: Is anyone besides Ron Paul serious about our deepening national financial crisis?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Rich in Gainesville, Florida:
Nope, no one. It's not popular to deliver the truth, particularly when it's bad news. As a result, none of the others are going to do it and Dr. Paul won't get elected by trying to. Too many people are willfully ignorant or else benefiting from the status quo. Hate to be so downbeat, but it is what it is.
Steve:
You gotta be kidding! Ron Paul wants to dissolve the Federal Reserve. Probably would like to go back to the gold standard and the late 1890s for that matter. His ideas are worse than those of the Bush/Cheney administration that caused this mess.
Jon on Facebook:
Not only are the other candidates not serious about our financial problems, they are oblivious. Ron Paul is the only candidate who understands the business cycle and our monetary system and why we have the problems that we do. Dr. Paul has been right for 30 years; we no longer have time not to listen him.
Carla:
I don't think he's serious about anything but his own self-interest. I can't take anyone in this race seriously who does not support heavy taxes on the wealthy and big corporations and closing tax loopholes. If they don't want to tax the wealthy and they don't want to tax big business, they have to have an ulterior motive.
H.J. in St. Paul, Minnesota:
I want Social Security. I want health care when I'm old and no longer have a job. I want them to raise taxes on me now so I have a huge fund saved up by the time I retire. Stop talking about cutting! I WANT those things! Taxes HAVE to be higher. These Republicans want to eliminate the entire social safety net that was put in place to stabilize the economy. You don't like taxes? FINE! Go live in Nigeria and make 2 dollars a day!