[Jim in CT]

It's mind-boggling. I gather Obama wanted cuts put in there that were so Draconian, it would force congress to reach a long-term deal. Given that, Obama is in no place to blame the GOP for what might happen.

I also saw a White House spokesman calim that Boehner and the GOP haven't proposed the elimination of any tax loopholes. How many trillion-dollar spending cuts has Obama proposed?

To listen to Obama, you'd think that all of our economic problems would disapear if those meanies in the GOP would just agree to tweak tax rates on the billionaires.

It's such a blatant lie. But what stuns me, is that it works. The impact of tax hikes, in the face of our debt and the looming crisis from SS and Medicare, wont even put a tiny dent in our needs. Yet all Obama talks about is tax hikes. Sorry, let me re-phrase that for Paul S. Obama spends way more time blaming the GOP for opposing tax hikes, and not nearly enough time talking about the need for massive changes to entitleent programs.

When a conservative like Paul Ryan has the courage to say out loud that SS and Medicare are not sustainable, the liberals claim that the GOP hates old people and poor people.

It's ridiculous. Not all the liberals are this stupid. I understand that Spence works in Finance? How can he possibly work in Finance, and deny that we need mmassive, painful, but necessary, cuts?

I just don't get it. I give Obama high praise for killing terrorists, he has been better in that regard than I was expecting. But he has to stop the fear-mongering when discussing economics.

To all the Obama supporters here...please answer 2 questions. First, do you deny that SS and Medicare are underfunded by tens of trillions of dollars? Second, if you agree to that shortfall, please tell me how tax hikes will put any meaningful dent in that. Jesus Christ, we'd have to increase tax rates by 50% just to break even this fiscal year, and that doesn't give us one penny to use to shore up SS and Medicare.

Tax hikes produce an impact that is not worth mentioning. Yet it's all you hear (sorry, Paul S, almost all you hear) from liberals in general and Obama in particular. Obama will not speak the truth on this issue because it's not consistent with his ideology. So in his 8 years, no meaningful fixes will be implemented, which means that when we can't delay the fixes any more, they need to be that much more draastic.

Obama's unwillingness to lead on this issue, or even to speak the truth for God's sake, will cause unbelievable pain in 10 - 15 years. And it's not the type of dishonest cowering that he claims typifies his personality.

This is not advanced calculus, it's 4th grade arithmetic. And twice we elected a guy who denies the reality of that simple math.