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Monday, September 19, 2011

President Reveals His Deficit Cutting Plan

President Barack Obama spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP)

President Barack Obama spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP)

By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is proposing a more than $3 trillion plan to shrink the nation’s debt, with roughly half of the money coming from tax increases on the wealthy and corporations.

Speaking from the Rose Garden at the White House, Obama said Monday everyone must pay a “fair share.”

Obama’s goal is try to influence a special joint committee of Congress that is charged by the end of November with coming up with deficit reductions of up to $1.5 trillion over 10 years. He wants lawmakers to aim even bigger.

Yet his plan also aims to pay for his short-term jobs bill, and to put Republicans on the spot over the issue of raising taxes on the richest Americans.

The plan stands little chance of passing Congress, but its populist pitch is one that the White House believes the public can support.

Guest:

  • Gail Chaddock, Capitol Hill correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • Missdemorest

    Type your comment here.a)  it’s not a millionaires tax .it’s a million a YEAR-onaires tax.

    it does NOT apply to you if you have a million in money or assets

    it does apply to you if you make a million a YEAR.

  • Mango

    Class warfare?? Well sure it is! It always has been,  The money  and power class against  the working and impoverished.  We always here interviews with “average Joes”  and how hwrd things are. I wish we could here interviews with people making 6 and 7 figures a year, Here are sample questions:
     Has the price of  gas affected your life style? Did you sell your jet skis and cigarette boat?

    If your taxes go up say 5% will you sell your second home? cancel your trip to Paris? Fire your Gardner?

    For the corporate CEO: If you are given a tax break how many people will you hire?

    Eric in Conway, NH

  • Grant_cook

    This plan doesn’t come near to beginning to address the true size of our fiscal hole.  Its an election year strategy that reminds us yet again that this President is a mere shadow of the leader he claimed he would be in his election.
    Â
    Russ Douthat nails it in today’s NY Times  –
    Â
    “is that for all his brave rhetoric about shared sacrifice and grand bargains and hard choices, when it comes to make actual, specific, detailed policy proposals, President Obama has always shied away from putting his name on anything that 1) acknowledges the actual scale of our deficit problem and 2) takes on his party’s interest groups in any meaningful way. So why should we expect his election-year proposals to be any different?”

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