And people want to keep cutting taxes?

As with everyone else posting so far, I wanna say you've pretty much got the right of it. I want to add that military spending takes a disproportionate amount of our budget and if any of the people in power REALLY wanted to make a dent in our budget deficit, they could likely do so by taking a fine-tooth comb over all our military expenditures and, just by reducing waste, probably come up with quite a bit of money.

It is just evil that the country is in the state it is in, that this state of affairs originated a long time ago and will likely keep getting worse and worse until our kids or grandkids get screwed by it.

I like taxes. With them I buy civilization.

That means roads, healthcare, libraries, education, and a whole host of other things.

I think the most idiotic report I've seen recently was one with redtop-style headlines that 90% of people 'blow most of their monthly income in the first week of getting it". Duh. That's when your rent, utility bills, and every other expense, goes out your bank account. What would be more interesting than chastising the entire western world for mismanaging their money to sell some financial service, would be calculating what percentage of income was genuinely discretionary spending.

The money trick is a thing of wonder - until it is your pension fund invested in an Enron and a stroke of a pen destroys the imaginary money you're supposed to live on in retirement.