58% of Americans Favor Cutting Government Spending!

[JoeContrarian]

Americans Favor Cutting Government Spending Over Balancing the Budget

Thursday, July 10, 2008

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http://rasmussenreports.com/public_...government_spending_over_balancing_the_budget

Nearly three out of five Americans (58%) say cutting government spending is more important than balancing the budget, and 43% think such spending cuts will help the struggling U.S. economy.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey also found that 45% think it is more important to balance the budget, as opposed to 41% who favor cutting taxes first.

Overall, 89% rate balancing the budget as important, but only 30% think it is more important than cutting government spending.

A separate Rasmussen Reports survey released earlier this week found that 70% of Americans think a balanced budget is good for the economy. Nearly as many (64%) doubt that Republican presidential candidate John McCain can balance the federal budget by 2013 as he has promised.

McCain’s Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, has refused to say he will balance the budget, but tracking data shows that voters trust him more when it comes to that issue.

Yet Obama has promised a number of new programs that will require a substantial increase in government spending, and, in the new survey, 44% say a rise in such spending will hurt the economy. Thirty percent (30%) say it will be good for the U.S. economy, and 14% say it will have no impact. The tracking data shows that voters think government spending is more likely to go up if Obama is elected. :howdy:

Republicans by solid margins favor cutting government spending (70%) and reducing taxes (64%) over balancing the budget. A slight majority of Democrats (52%) give the edge to reducing government outlays, but only 30% favor cutting taxes over a balanced budget.

Unaffiliated voters track more closely with the responses of self-designated Democrats, with 57% favoring cutting spending over a balanced budget but only 33% ranking cutting taxes as more important. This is a potentially telling finding in a presidential race where one of the GOP candidate’s chief economic proposals is a continuation of President Bush’s tax cuts. Playing in McCain’s favor, however, is his reputation as a leading opponent of so-called pork barrel government spending.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of investors think reducing spending is more important than balancing the budget. But they favor a balanced budget over cutting taxes 47% to 43%.

White voters also favor cutting government spending first by a substantial margin (60%) as opposed to 28% who rate a balanced budget more important. By comparison, African-American voters are evenly divided on which is more important.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.
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If you're tired of big government taxing and wasting your money, John McCain is your man.

Sorry Obambi, Americans don't want your quasi-Commie economy!

Did those clueless Dimms nominate another unelectable George McGovern in a year they could have nominated a mannequin and won in a landslide?

:nohead:

 

[RobFunk]

I don't understand.

Government spending saw an astronomical leap under GWB, so I should vote Mccain?!

Unh, I don't think so.

 

[barman]

I don't understand.

Government spending saw an astronomical leap under GWB, so I should vote Mccain?!

Unh, I don't think so.

Correctomundo. MarkL imagines a Republican president who would follow through on pledges to cut federal government spending. But as any of us over age 40 know, such a notion has never been realized.

I voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 because he pledged to rein in government spending and balance the federal budget. It was but one of many egregious lies he perpetuated on the American people and one of my first lessons in how federal politicians lie their asses off.

 

[eek.]

Most of the increase has been for their war on terrah.


The root cause of the dollar disaster was Reagan.
He decoupled taxes from Federal spending, so America simply got into debt instead of paying its way through life.

Until Reagan, taxes covered most of the deficit.

Reagan stopped taxing the rich, laying the foundations for corporate fascism in America.

 

[DarrylParsons]

Most of the increase has been for their war on terrah.


The root cause of the dollar disaster was Reagan.
He decoupled taxes from Federal spending, so America simply got into debt instead of paying its way through life.

Until Reagan, taxes covered most of the deficit.

Reagan stopped taxing the rich, laying the foundations for corporate fascism in America.

Wow, if the above is true, then I just learned something important from this forum -- something that hasn't happened in a while. Good to have ya around Eek

 

[DarrylParsons]

Indeed, the national debt graph supports it -- totally unflattering for Reagan:

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

 

[bblight]

Most of the increase has been for their war on terrah.


The root cause of the dollar disaster was Reagan.
He decoupled taxes from Federal spending, so America simply got into debt instead of paying its way through life.

Until Reagan, taxes covered most of the deficit.

Reagan stopped taxing the rich, laying the foundations for corporate fascism in America.

ohmygod!

Listen to eek and his endless braying about the evils of capitalism as he adroitly ignores the 20 years of unprecedented economic growth following the Carter disaster and the Reagan recovery.

Yes, the congress has gone crazy spending money it doesn't have - the Republicans have proven themselves to be as greedy to feed at the public trough as the Democvrats and all control has been lost - and we face economic disaster because of it.

eek - you Parliamentarists forget that the Congress holds the purse strings in the USA - the President is limited by the budget the congress gives him - with the Republican in congress joining ranks with the Democrats in congress over spending, the President doesn't have the strong veto he might otherwise have had.

I'm not sying the President and the Republicans are innocent - but Puleez - please don't try to lay this total disaster at their doorstep - it was a partisan accomplishment.

 

[D2bets]

I favor cutting government spending. Let's start by cutting military and defense spending in half by removing ourselves from countries where we don't need to be.

 

[bblight]

I favor cutting government spending. Let's start by cutting military and defense spending in half by removing ourselves from countries where we don't need to be.

Right - let's get out of Germany, the UK, Turkay, and Japan - there are no vital economic interests in any of those places - and they can spend their own $ on defense.

 

[JoeContrarian]

59% of the budget is sunk into entitlements

4.5% of the budget is spent on our military

So moonbats want to blame government spending on our boys who risk their lives to defend this country and it's interests all around the world? Meanwhile, millions of parasites who contribute NOTHING feeding off the entitlement trough are driving the federal government closer to bankruptcy.

Liberalism is a mental disorder. uke1:

 

[gtc08]

americans want a balanced budget even though they dont know how to balance a checkbook. americans want decreased spending, even though the average american has 7 credit cards.

cant make this shit up.

god americans are dumb.

 

[JoeContrarian]

americans want a balanced budget even though they dont know how to balance a checkbook. americans want decreased spending, even though the average american has 7 credit cards.

cant make this shit up.

god americans are dumb.

gtc, please stop trashing Americans.

The equation simple:

In this country, we have one category of folks putting INTO the system and we have one category of folks taking OUT of the system.

In order to bring back fiscal sanity most Americans want, we need to slash taxes for the former and simply cut off the later -- balanced budget, problem solved.

Any business owner will tell you when it comes to economics, there is no such thing as "shared prosperity", "social justice", "fair share" or "compassion"....there are only debits and credits; accounts payable and accounts receivable; efficiencies and inefficiencies.

Every time the government suggests we spend money on something, responsible Americans should ask themselves only important question -- well, two actually:

What's it going to cost? What are we going to get out of it?

You see? Easy -- just like any good business person.

Not surprisingly, most liberals afflicted with the entitlement mentality who whine about "unfairness" and "social justice" couldn't run a lemonade stand if they tried. Why these people are entrusted to manage the federal budget I will never know. :think2:

So until a large portion of the electorate becomes educated in economics, I'm afraid we're stuck with these bloated budgets and voters voting themselves more benefits from the government piggy bank, until one day the "haves" will simply say "thank-you very much" and take their services elsewhere.

Emerging markets like China and India are very eager siphon off large pockets of wealth from this country, because as liberals would say, "the current system is UNFAIR."

 

[SmallDaddy]

4.5% of the budget is spent on our military

uke1:

Where on earth did you get that:shocked:

 

[JoeContrarian]

Where on earth did you get that:shocked:

Btw, I forgot to mention something...

As a general rule, because governments are notoriously inefficient, whatever the government spends your money on will only net you a negative return on your hard earned dollar.

Awesome, huh? :lolBIG:

Think of taxes as an investment.

For every dollar you put into the system, you're only getting about 65-75 cents back. So when people want the government to take care of something, they ought to think very carefully and be very cautious.

This is why government should provide as few services as possible -- i.e., national defense and not much else.

Anything beyond that is pretty much pure communism.

What the Democrats have to offer America is pure demagoguery and nothing else. You are getting virtually NOTHING from a politician like Obama....except HIGHER AND HIGHER DEBT!

If you're fed up with HIGH TAXES and EVEN HIGHER medical costs I have an easy solution:

GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE HEALTH CARE BUSINESS!

Slash regulation, cut out the greedy special interests and insurance companies and pretty soon, we'll start to see Corporate America (Walmart, Cosco, Sam's Club etc.) offering high quality walk-in medical clinics DIRT CHEAP.

Folks, it'll happen -- the free market works.

Of course the framers of our country understood all this; today's "progressives" do not.

One look at the federal budget tells you all need to know. hno:

 

[SmallDaddy]

It was reported that US defense budget is around 550 billion for the current year I think, so then the whole budget must be about 11 trillion or so, right%^_

Or we can work it backwards. The budget is 3 trillion. 5 percent of that would be 150 billion.

Joe! Is the defensive spending 150 billion? It requires a simple yes or no answer

 

[gtc08]

gtc, please stop trashing Americans.

The equation simple:

In this country, we have one category of folks putting INTO the system and we have one category of folks taking OUT of the system.

In order to bring back fiscal sanity most Americans want, we need to slash taxes for the former and simply cut off the later -- balanced budget, problem solved.

Any business owner will tell you when it comes to economics, there is no such thing as "shared prosperity", "social justice", "fair share" or "compassion"....there are only debits and credits; accounts payable and accounts receivable; efficiencies and inefficiencies.

Every time the government suggests we spend money on something, responsible Americans should ask themselves only important question -- well, two actually:

What's it going to cost? What are we going to get out of it?

You see? Easy -- just like any good business person.

Not surprisingly, most liberals afflicted with the entitlement mentality who whine about "unfairness" and "social justice" couldn't run a lemonade stand if they tried. Why these people are entrusted to manage the federal budget I will never know. :think2:

So until a large portion of the electorate becomes educated in economics, I'm afraid we're stuck with these bloated budgets and voters voting themselves more benefits from the government piggy bank, until one day the "haves" will simply say "thank-you very much" and take their services elsewhere.

Emerging markets like China and India are very eager siphon off large pockets of wealth from this country, because as liberals would say, "the current system is UNFAIR."

i trash americans becuse they are hypocrites. you can't be whining about decreased spending when you have 50k in credit card debt. can't talk about a balanced budget, when you have a negative bank account balance.

 

[barman]

SMALLDADDY, you'll come to find that MARK L (joeC) pretty much just makes shit up as he goes along.

And posts in a week or two will utterly contradict posts from today.

Once you understand the dichotomy, scrolling right past his usually bloodthirsty and chickenhawk posts is a breeze.

 

[TheRightSide]

i trash americans becuse they are hypocrites. you can't be whining about decreased spending when you have 50k in credit card debt. can't talk about a balanced budget, when you have a negative bank account balance.

You are also an American. What the hell is wrong with you. I would hate to go through life like you. Just get it over with and get the hell out.

All the benefits you have gotten from this evil country and yet you stay. Why is that?

Why are you still here? They have schools in Canada also.

You are so clueless its funny. You have no clue what the real world is like.

 

[JoeContrarian]

It was reported that US defense budget is around 550 billion for the current year I think, so then the whole budget must be about 11 trillion or so, right%^_

Or we can work it backwards. The budget is 3 trillion. 5 percent of that would be 150 billion.

Joe! Is the defensive spending 150 billion? It requires a simple yes or no answer

When you're ready to provide credible sources ("anti-war" websites and their fallacious pies don't count) let me know.

In the meantime, I have an investment proposal for you. For every USD you give me, I'll net you 75 cents negative ROI.

Don't worry about loss, it's for a good cause. :nohead:

Deal?

 

[guitarjosh]

It was reported that US defense budget is around 550 billion for the current year I think, so then the whole budget must be about 11 trillion or so, right%^_

Or we can work it backwards. The budget is 3 trillion. 5 percent of that would be 150 billion.

Joe! Is the defensive spending 150 billion? It requires a simple yes or no answer

Part of the problem is that W keeps the Iraq war costs seperate from the defense budget.