Peter G. Peterson Foundation

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I never said being in Congress wasn't a real job. I'm just suggesting that it's not a career. (Or more accurately, that it should not be a career...)

As for moving money around not being a real job, if someone's willing to pay you to move money around, go for it.

Congresspeople are paid for by tax dollars, though, so they work for the taxpayers. And I do appreciate the notion that we don't need term limits at all for so long as there's an election. The people can have de facto term limits every time they vote.... Read More

I guess when you peel the layers of the onion back, term limits (which I am still in favor of) are not the ultimate solution. What we really need is for (1) canididates to be funded by INDIVIDUALS only with a maximum contribution that doesn't put a candidate in someone's pocket, and (2) corporate lobbyists to be put out of business.

Take the money out of the equation, and the playing field becomes more or less leveled, although I do maintain that term limits will help the inevitable inertia that comes with being the incumbent.

The solution to our fiscal mess is re-instating birthrights and establishing a propagating taxable income stream for an eternity. www.legacywillandtrust.com can do just that without government intervention. Legacy Will And Trust can subsidize our heirs incomes, create a taxable income stream that can be used to rebuild social security, fund ... Read Morecharitable organizations, pay for socialized health care without costing our heirs and leave the world a better place. I challenge anyone with financial intelligence to disprove my theory.

The solution to our fiscal mess is re-instating birthrights and establishing a propagating taxable income stream for an eternity. www.legacywillandtrust.com can do just that without government intervention. Legacy Will And Trust can subsidize our heirs incomes, create a taxable income stream that can be used to rebuild social security, fund ... Read Morecharitable organizations, pay for socialized health care without costing our heirs and leave the world a better place. I challenge anyone with financial intelligence to disprove my theory.

Sean and David, I think you both make valid points. I don't fault The Heritage Foundation for advocating a position politically. I do attribute my interest and possible full support of the Peterson Foundation for exactly the type of independent analysis that Sean in particular references.

My only concern would be that there is risk of muddying ... Read Morethe message. There are more than enough “us versus them” arguments happening out there already and not enough responsible, sober, adult conversations on any given number of subjects. My opinion of course.

I was glad had the opportunity to attend the conference in Denver.

The solution to our fiscal mess is re-instating birthrights and establishing a propagating taxable income stream for an eternity. www.legacywillandtrust.com can do just that without government intervention. Legacy Will And Trust can subsidize our heirs incomes, create a taxable income stream that can be used to rebuild social security, fund ... Read Morecharitable organizations, pay for socialized health care without costing our heirs and leave the world a better place. I challenge anyone with financial intelligence to disprove my theory.

I wish I could be there but stuck in the desert training, hope everyone my age and even younger pays attention to this, it is the most important situation our country faces, my buddies and I will protect the country here in the marine corps, we need all of you here at home to wake up and handle the financial crisis this country faces and we will help with that too when we are home and able to. Please spread the word.

@Kevin - the video of the events will likely be posted at http://concordcoalition.org by Monday. Guy and Chad thanks for the support.

The Documentary was great.

Will you be in Europe one day,.. pres. Tour?

Kudos to Mr. Henigen for pointing out that obesity is a symptom, not a disease.

Jordan, ~20 grams of fructose/day is unlikely to be problematic, but Americans eat an average of >80 grams/day. Nutrition journals typically have horrible quality research and editing, instead follow endocrinology journals. It's all about the hormones. Fructose causes liver dysfunction which leads to whole-body insulin resistance which over time ... Read Moreturns into diabetes. Omega-6 fats also cause liver dysfunction, leading to the same outcome, as well as various other problems, eg heart disease. I do not back off of my belief that you could vastly reduce diabetes and heart disease by limiting consumption of fructose and omega-6 fats to levels consumed prior to ~1800.

Amanda!!! Check this out....you'd really get into a cause like this. It affects YOUR GENERATION!!!

I am really glad that there are other folks paying attention. I'm almost certain they are youngerpeople - and that's good because THEY are the ones really getting hosed!

If people actually had to start writing checks for their taxes, we'd see more public outcry.

When it comes to saving, you've probably heard people say, "Pay yourself first! You'll learn to live without that money when you don't even see it!"

Same goes for taxes.... Read More

You earn $1,000, but you get to put your hands on maybe $600 of it, and you learn to live with that $600. But if you had to write checks -- REAL checks -- for federal/state/FICA taxes, you'd see a "tea party" the likes of which you never imagined.

Thing is, most people have no idea what the debt it, or how it's forecast to grow, or what their "share" is. I like to look at it in terms of dollars per tax-paying household -- and the number is frightening.

We really do need to get the word out -- and fast.

how about instead of hoping china will change its economy, we shift away from a consumer based one ourselves? hmm.

FYI, it's Newt, not Knute. Norma, I'd recommend you watch I.O.U.S.A. It would be a good place to start.

Start Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoYUqojYgME

..in trouble.

Together we can create change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoYUqojYgME

I'm sorry Maggie, but wrong. The health-care situation is undeniably tied to the solvency problem in an irreversable way. The two must both be addressed in order to solve either one. You should know this, or learn about this if you do not know this, and so should the rest of our great nation. Its not choice we can make....deficit OR health-care. ... Read MoreThey are inextricably linked. But they can be successfully addressed Maggie. But you are here on the Pete Peterson site so I know you can learn about this; and a good start would be reading Petersons book "Running on Empty." Their are choices, tough choices, that must be made. But they are not the one you state. This is a large and complex issue with many facets. But right now I'll start by mentioning one example. Maggie the amount of money spent on health-care is way too much for what we get. Much of the money is wasted or consumed by greed and also inefficiency. Their is no way to address the budget crisis, or health-care, without addressing.

...Maggie, that fundamental fact. But Maggie, with a few changes to the way we do things in our health-care system, we could cut down on the spending enormously, like at least 30%, without even affecting outcomes or lowering the qualitity of care. In fact we could do this while raising the quality of care. So this is where solutions should start; ... Read Morethe most obvious solutions, and the most bang-for-our-buck, forgive the pun. We should start with Medicare and Medicaid, and of course the private health insurance industry as well. Maggie, I'll give you some essential reading on this topic, that is very eye opening to those who are unaware.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande