Democrats Control Congress Now

[monsoon]

Allen has conceded defeat in the Senate election. This gives the Democrats full control of the United States Congress. This is the first time this has happened since the early Ronald Reagan Days. Thank god the "Republican Revolution" is finally over and we can have a return to more respectful goverment.

This is a topic to discuss the change to our government.

[DwntwnGeo]

Allen has conceded defeat in the Senate election. This gives the Democrats full control of the United States Congress. This is the first time this has happened since the early Ronald Reagan Days. Thank god the "Republican Revolution" is finally over and we can have a return to more respectful goverment.

This is a topic to discuss the change to our government.

[Captain Worley]

When has the government ever been respectful?

I think one change will be higher taxes.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

When has the government ever been respectful?

I think one change will be higher taxes.

[cinco]

I think one change will be higher taxes.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

The debt isn't an issue as long the economy grows. Once recession hits, however, it becomes quite a serious issue indeed.

Domestic spending only increased 2% over the last few years if we don't account for Homeland Security and the war. That's reasonable, but the waste in homeland security was just astounding.

[lammius]

I'm very excited about the success of Democrats in the Midterm elections! The only thing I'm worried about is that we don't f*** it up and leave expectations unmet. But hey, no pressure!

[cinco]

The debt isn't an issue as long the economy grows. Once recession hits, however, it becomes quite a serious issue indeed.

[monsoon]

The debt isn't an issue as long the economy grows.

[DwntwnGeo]

It takes more than 1/3rd of the federal budget now just to pay the interest on the debt. This means that 1 out of every 3 dollars you pay to the goverment is for debt servicing. It sure does make a difference because if this requirement was not there, the Feds could cut your taxes by 1/3rd. Bush and the GOPs endless borrowing has made this problem worse.

Tax cuts can only be accomplished and maintained by controls in spending. We have not had that.

[monsoon]

Has there ever been a war or battle that the US has been in where we as a country paid everything out of pocket and up front with no debt?

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Today, interest payments require about 10% of our tax receipts as opposed to 16% a few decades ago. Tax receipts are at their highest levels ever, even with (maybe because of) the tax cuts. With the percentage of income going to paying the interest being only 10%, the United States is very far from defaulting on the debt indeed. Certainly, the deficit is indeed the highest ever in nominal dollar terms, but as a percentage of GDP it is lower than it was during the 1980s.

Growth solves most economic problems, and there is strong correlation between less taxation and economic growth.

Note: I am not for deficit spending, and the wars, but as it stands now, we are not too close to a doomsday scenario.

[Charlotte_native]

Has there ever been a war or battle that the US has been in where we as a country paid everything out of pocket and up front with no debt?

[Charlotte_native]

Growth solves most economic problems, and there is strong correlation between less taxation and economic growth.

[cityboi]

Allen has conceded defeat in the Senate election. This gives the Democrats full control of the United States Congress. This is the first time this has happened since the early Ronald Reagan Days. Thank god the "Republican Revolution" is finally over and we can have a return to more respectful goverment.

This is a topic to discuss the change to our government.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

In ideal situations this is certainly true. If you can make sure to control the future this is true also (making sure there is no recession, making sure the corporations that are benefitting stay strong until the payback comes, etc). Since both of those situations are impossible in the real world, spending as fast as we can while cutting taxes seems like a horrible idea. This is what tends to bring most individuals to bankruptsy.

No one wants to pay taxes. We all want the services we are used to though. To me the real issue isn't taxes but government waste of my tax dollars. All politicians are part of this problem, it isn't a democrat or republican problem.

As for the democrats taking full control -- IT IS TIME!!! No single party should be in power this long. The president has rammed his ideals at all of us with a roll-over Congress that won't do its job of oversight.

I hope there is civility, but I also hope there is accountability for what has gone on for the past few years. Halliburton, wire-tapping, torture...those things CAN'T be ignore, nor should they shut down all other aspects of Congress getting to work. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

[monsoon]

In the FY07 Budget, interest on the debt was the 4th largest item in the budget.

• Social Security - $581B

• Defense Spending - $434B

• Medicare - $387B

• Interest payments on Debt - $247B

Given there are dedicated taxes for SS and Medicare, then this means the Interest on the debt is only behind the military in what is being taken from the budget. To put this money into perspective there was only $1.5B made available this year to build new mass transit systems in this country.

The interest is a huge drag on the economy and it continues to rise every year and will still be there even when the economy is not growing.

Its a huge concern.

[vdogg]

Bad things that will happen:

- National Minimum Wage

[TheBostonian]

Yes, the national debt is huge and an indication of poor governing. But interest on the national debt (about $250B) accounts for far less than 1/3rd of the federal budget (over $2T). And several industrialized nations have more debt per GDP than the US:

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...r/2186rank.html

[monsoon]

I over spoke on the percentage of the federal budget. However you can see from the figure that I posted above, it is second only to the military in the total amount spent. And it is only slated to continue to rise each year.

Also it sould be noted the Chinese now hold about 1 trillion of this debt. Most of it acquired in the last few years. What do you think would happen to our economy if they decided to sell off this debt?

[Charlotte_native]

This one stuck out to me. Why is national minimum wage a bad thing? I cannot imagine how people live off of the current $5.15 an hour honestly and I fail to see how this paltry sum has adversely affected our economy (as some state). I think that a living wage increase is well past due.

[kayman]

When has the government ever been respectful?

I think one change will be higher taxes.

[monsoon]

200 members of the European Parliament issued a joint statement about the complete sundering of the GOP in this election. They sent a congratulatory message to the Democrats, hailing their victory as 'the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world.'"

I couldn't agree more. It's nice to be welcomed back to the world community and its my guess the rest of the world feels a little bit better about America after this election.

[monsoon]

It's my prediction that idiot John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN and who wasn't even confirmed by the GOP senate will soon be out of a job.

[Gusterfell]

Plenty of states have already raised the minimum wage -- anyone know how businesses in those states have been affected? Has there been a mass exodus since the hike? I doubt it but don't know and don't have the stats.