How to pay for the war, per Joe Biden

[kainah]

At the National Press Club today (9/9), Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) said that if you cancelled just the 10th year of the tax cut for the top 1% (whose average salary was approx. $950,000/yr), you would save about $85 billion -- almost exactly the cost of the supplemental now being submitted for $87 billion for the war in Iraq.

Sounds like a pretty good solution to me.

Frankly, I've always thought Joe Biden was of a class by himself. I think he understands, as few other senators do, the responsibility of the power with which he is invested by virtue of his position. My suspicion is that he gained this rare understanding because he was so young when first elected (29) and, right after his first election, as he was preparing to assume his seat in the Senate, his first wife & infant daughter were killed in a car accident while out Christmas shopping. His two sons were severely injured and hospitalized for months. Biden assumed his seat but, every night, he went back to Delaware to be with his sons. Today, he still goes home to Delaware almost every night. He learned early in life what really matters and has held a position that allows him to work for those values on the national stage.

Even when he infuriates me -- as he did with his treatment of the other witness against Clarence Thomas -- I respect his integrity and I know that he is sincerely trying to do what he believes is best. I wish he had not decided against another presidential run.

[Parche]

1. Respect

I have always respected Joe Biden and think he is a great Senator
but lately he has been on the side of bush the smirk

[kainah]

6. I don't think he's so much on the side of *

I think he's looking at the absolute mess that * has created and is trying to see a way out of it. As I said in my initial post, I do not always agree with him by any means. But I don't question his integrity. He actually tries to find solutions to problems rather than just looking to score political points. As someone who is also more interested in public policy, I have to agree with that approach.

[NJCher]

2. but is this really a savings?

The tax cuts were a stupid idea and threw us into deficits in the first place. It's not like this is "found" money. It was money that was going to come from the pockets of the middle class instead of bush's cronies. Still, as it had not yet been enacted, it's "paper money."


Cher

[Algorem]

3. Joe Biden seems

like he sucks ass to me.He seems to be avery vain,very high-priced gangster-type.

[xray s]

4. I do not see how Biden's numbers add up

Anyone with a basic understanding of the concept of the present value of money knows $87 billion spent today is worth a lot more than $87 billion dollars collected 10 years from now.

[kainah]

5. The way CBO accounts for money

it actually can make sense. But, of course, very little about the federal budgeting makes any sense.

Besides, I don't think he was serious that this would be the $$$ to pay for it. I think he simply wanted people to understand how the two compared -- and, for that, I think it's extremely interesting.

His other point was that he believes the top 1% is absolutely as patriotic as the rest of the country and that, if asked, they would gladly forego this.