Charlie Dent has put party discipline above representing his district. We are a swing district in a swing state. He needs to represent all his constituents. Call him and urge him to sit down with Democrats and come up with a bill that is balanced and fair--that addresses the debt ceiling issue without ruining the lives of the middle class Americans, without removing regulation from greedy Wall Streeters, and without abandoning environmental protections it took decades to put in place.
In this last regard, consider one indisputable fact: cancer is caused by pollution. If Congress removes environmental protections it will increase the death rate from cancer. Is that the solution we want to the funding of social security and medicare?

I want our spending cut period. The cut, cap and balanced budget would for the first time in Obama's regime, that there would be no more spending, enough is enough, we can not afford to keep on spending money.

The spending came from the Bush tax cuts--which led to no job growth. And from two unfunded wars.
In a tanking economy you have to spend or the economy will sink. That's the lesson from the Depression. A 1% growth in the economy would do more to lower the deficit than all the cuts to social security and medicare that the Tea Party wants. And stop defending corporate interests. A corporate accountant sees a tax liability and realizes the corporation can either pay the money to the government or to its executives. Which do you think it chooses to do?
Billionaire hedge fund managers pay lower rates than their secretaries--not because it's fair but because they can influence the tax code. Instead of thoughtless cuts to satisfy an angry ideology, consider reforming the tax code to make it fair so government and business can both do their proper job.

Republicans like Dent are dismantling half of our Government by following the tea party lead. Responsible Republicans like Evrett Dirksen and Barry Goldwater are rolling over in their graves. During Regan's admin debt cost us much more and the ceiling was raised 18 times!

I love the tea party! No other organized group has been as successful in getting people interested in politics.

Have you had tea yet, or are you still drinking the Obama kool-aid?

Actually, what's remarkable about the tea party is how few new voters they have brought into the electorate, for all the talk of a "movement." (http://bit.ly/n8VT6D) It looks like tea partiers are just regular Republican base voters who have traded in their elephant hats for tricorne hats.

I'll be curious how much MoveOn has to pay people to show up at Dent's office for this.

Jon Geeting
Have you ever been to a tea party meeting? I would wager that you haven't By way of full disclosure, I was a member but left though I still work with some members on issues that are near and dear to me,

I'm against Dent signing the Boehner (sp?) bill too but for a different reason...because it DOES NOT address our SPENDING problem well enough.

It is giving a trillion dollars right away to increase spending and then the "cuts" in spending will take 10 years (maybe). Keep in mind that the cuts only come if the house members for the next 10 years agree to abide by those cuts. History has shown that the "cuts" routinely get pushed to the side when both parties have compromised before. It is basically the same old thing and I think people have to start voting out ANYONE who deals with the American people in such a manner.

If I vote for you because you say you will be responsible to cut spending in a REAL manner and then you don't...you have just lost my vote. This definitely includes Charlie Dent...he won't be getting my vote next time. He doesn't have enough backbone to stand up against those who would spend our country to death.

FYI as a member of the tea party, I can tell you first hand that we come from all parties who just want the spending to stop. That is our focus.

Sherry
You are correct with regard to the Boehner. We really should be talking about baseline cuts so that we get true cuts in spending. We cannot have an immediate 1 trillion in spending.We also need to go to zero based budgeting instead of just adding on 20% on last years budget. This is a common tactic in our school districts. Build this year's budget on last year's proposed budget that was more then was actually spent and now you have a slush fund.

Gerry
Their union or you and me as taxpayers are probably the folks who see to it that these people get the day off.

I find this entire debate if far removed from reality. Political ideology is impractical. Threats and blackmail are not legislation. Puffery and hyperbole do not help solve problems. Logic, reason, and compromise do.

Chris Miller - no, I have not had the pleasure of attending a tea party meeting. That is because I do not support the low tax, small government agenda that you described above. I think such a weak safety net puts the cost of failure too high for individuals and businesses, reducing social mobility and making our economy less dynamic.

It's not true that we *can't* afford these programs. Maybe you don't think the level of taxation it requires is worth it, and that's not a crazy view. My view is that we should all pay higher taxes to fund more and better public services. I'd like the US to move toward Medicare for all, spending about what other developed countries do on health care. I hope to see full federal funding of education, universal pre-K, and universal childcare in the US sometime before I die.

All this will require a higher level of taxation than we've had historically. I agree with you that everyone needs more skin in the game, and that is why I support a carbon tax or a VAT. These are regressive broad-based taxes, but the distribution of services would be progressive on net.

Now that's a true socialist agenda!

Indy
How do we truly benefit from these programs. Are you telling me that the people of this country are unable to buy medical and life insurance on their own and they are too stupid to invest their money in a retirement program given that we spend tens of thousands of dollars per year on public education. People buy homes, cars, investment properties, all large ticke items and they do it daily. Why can't we form coop health care community groups that would include pre-existing conditions? Why can't the folks in the Lehigh Valley or Slate Belt interview health insurance companies and create health insurance options for the group? Why can't we buy insurance across state lines? As to refusing these plans keep in mind that many people were told to include Social Security, a major Ponzi plan, in their retirement investment plan. Now it and the IRA or stocks are in trouble and Social Security, a government slush fund, is on its way out. Don't you think we should be able to take cae of ourselves and do a better job of it.

Carter Lansing
It is really quite simple, when close to 50% of the working population no longer pays Federal Income tax, trying to be mommy and daddy for the nation causes an unsustainable debt. Lots of parents are saying no to their kids and to themselves.We are way beyond sligtly progressive.

Indy 1
You ,might want to mention that the EPA regs have cost the industry thousands of jobs to the point there are only"15,000 high-wage jobs" in the industry and 2009 showed a revenue of $6.5 billion. You can bet that both those numbers will go down. Meanwhile we continue to macadam our roads with an oil based product and at a higher price because of the games played by those in the macadam industry. China is also shipping cement to our shores and their priduct will be used right here in the Valley.Of course, China is not affected by the EPA regs.. Let's all go into the backyard and cut off yet another apendage

The articles on Patch about the meeting at Rep. Dent's office Friday do not make clear the main reason for this meeting. In just 48 hours Easton Democrats, led by Anne Lauritzten, gathered 434 signatures on a petition urging Charlie Dent to work with mainstream Democrats to come up with a compromise that is fair and balanced--one that our President can sign. The group will present another 500 signatures on Monday--emphasizing a point made emphatically by Carol Halper, Dent's District Director, that constituents overwhelmingly want a compromise worked out. Democrats plan to add an additional 500 signatures to the petition on Monday.

Chris, you are right on the money. Thanks for having some common sense, we are not to be the government's children, where is the idea now that you do things on your own. Send more money to the govenment if you think they deserve it, no one stops you, the liberals only want to spend our money, not their own. Love all the celebs who tout more taxes, but they don't pay them, rather spend 25 million on a private plane, if you want sacrifice, then send that money to the government, I don't want to pay any more. We are all free to gain anything we want, but not at the expense of others. That famous experiment was good, in college, kids were asked to share their A grades with someone who had a D, wow, no way, they worked hard for that A, apply that analogy to money.

Mr. Gerard
Do you know why the average working man no longer has investment money? Government taxes and union dues. My dad sent my brother and I to Moravian college back in thhe '60's. He built the house i live in today. He owned Chevrolet cars, and when my grandfather retired my dad built a motel. How did he do that. He brought home 95-97% of every dollar he earned. Inflation, a tax, and funny money were not issues. That is not the case. Alexis de Tocqueville warned us that when we found a way to collect from our government we would cease to exist as a nation.Jefferson and Franklin warned about over whelming debt and that it needed to be paid off by each administration before it left office--truly unique today. But no we are wiser then these great men that is why the nanny state must take care of us. As to the inability to organize I would disagree with you. it doesn't take a lot of effort or money to get a letter writing campaign to your representative or a phone campaign to him organized. How much time and money did you spend on this recent endeavor to the Congressman's office? And as to Marx, well we aren't there yet thank goodness. As for the poorest among us, did you see the picture of the little baby I believe from Somalia, in the Express-Times? Don't recall seeing an American child look like that. Don't get me wrong here but I truly belive that the sooner we get rid of the Nanny state the sooner we will all prosper.

Mr. Gerard
Look at your first sentence, I want, i want, i want. Are you willing to pay and why do I have to pay for your wants. When I want something I go to the store and get it or wait until I have the money. We have way to many people who want. If you indeed want the government to take care of you I am fine with this just so long as I get the same choice women do when the can opt to have or not have an abortion. If I want to be able to take care of me and mine I should be able to make that decision.
I don't blame Obama for Bush's deficits I blame Bush for telling people to go shop after 9/11. I blame him for not stopping the spending Republicans. I blame him for not getting a declaration. I blame Obama for making fools of all of us when he sits there laughing and telling us that "shovel readiy was not as shovel ready as we thougt it would be" Did you not see that. I believe the man is evil. I believe he is living high on the hog om my dime. I believe he is a communist and I can speak ill of him and more importantly his policies due to thhe First Amendment. You can do the same with Bush if you wan to do that. I really don't care. As to the obvious I am not opposed to roads being built but look at what we did there. Eisenhower initiated the interstate highway system and we have the burden of it. Where is public transit across the nation.Are earliest trains were build by private business men.

You are not being serious or thoughtful. The "I wants" were my answer to your question--not my life philosophy. It's obviously a waste of time responding to you.

Mr. Gerard
You and I are in different places.Obama took TARP money and when he found out that the shovel ready jobs were not ready.he gave the money to the National Education Association and to the governors who funneled it into local teachers' unions. Governers used that money to cover their budget problems. Obama is causing the banks to hold onto their money. They don't know what is going to happen via taxes and Obama care. Meanwhile the Fed is considering a Q3 where they will print more money making your money more worthless since it is backed by nothing.
I want you to do me a favor. Do some research and find out about baseline budgeting found in the government at all levels. They have been discussing this while debating the debt-limit matter. Come back and talk to me and tell me if you approve. This has been going on for a long tme. We need to stop it. And keep in mine that I am critical of government officials at all levels from president own down and I really don't care what party or who they are. I look at their policies and let them know my thoughts on the issues.

Rosemary
Great response to indy1.

You all might want to take a look at where they intend to make the first cuts on the front page of today's Express-Times. They ae social security, medicare and medicait. No cuts to the baseline thus business as usual. And keep in mind that inflation will go up so you will pay more taxes when you buy things.

Where's the inflation going to come from? Wages certainly aren't rising. Capacity utilization is pathetic. Seriously, where's it going to come from?

If you're asking where inflation is 'going to come from' I can tell you haven't been grocery shopping or bought gas in the past year. It's already here and it's crippling families.

Inflation will continue to come from commodity price increases, food price increases, market reaction to trillions in new US Treasury debt issues still required even after this deal, the fact that when you start adding in costs for unfunded mandates the US Government's fiscal house is still a disaster, etc.

I'm talking about core inflation. Food and fuel price increases are the result of supply and demand for oil. They are decidedly not the result of an overheating economy or too-loose monetary policy, which is what we need to watch out for. Your claims about the bond market bear no resemblance to what is actually happening in the bond market. Right now the bond market is screaming for us to issue more debt, accepting negative rates for shorter-term bonds. It's now cheaper for the government to borrow than to spend cash.

Need to watch out for both, but to say that headline inflation doesn't matter is just wrong. Must be nice to be rich and not have to care about food and fuel prices. The rest of us have to and are getting hammered.

The Bond market is screaming? That's just an inane statement. The smart investors aren't buying bonds at all, the downside risk is huge. When you take out the effects of QE2 and flight to safety, it's a big long term gamble to buy treasuries today.

I just don't understand what you would do about headline inflation that's caused by increased demand for oil? Would you have the Fed raise interest rates? Whole lotta good that would do!

Again, the story you want to tell about the bond market does not reflect what is actually happening in the bond market. Tell us, what is safer than American debt?

Jon Geeting
Take a look at all the items the Federal Goverenment does not count, gas and food just two items, and you will see that by taking out these heavy duty items there is no inflation. But tell me, you haven't seen food and gas prices go up along with everything elset . I know you are not blind. More importantly is the printing of money that makes the dollar weaker and more worthless.The first thing that Volker did during the Reagan administration was to cut the MS or money supply. That cut inflation. Bernenke actually hinted at a Q3 and then backed off it. That is temporary. I will tell you right now that come 2012 Obama will find inflation so he has an excuse to increase COLA's for the seniors who hopes to have in 2012. Keeo in mind that in 2010 our state legislators found a spot in PA that was a little slice of inflation that was big enough to get them their wages. As to debt, well no dept personal of government is good. Read Franklin and Jefferson on the issue. You might also look at the Constitution and additional restrictions on the government.

So I guess you would have the Fed tighten interest rates because increased demand from the developing world is pushing up oil prices? Come on, that's insane. The reason you look at core inflation is because that tells you whether we're going to see the dread wage-price spiral that happened in the 70's. That is not happening now. Rising commodity prices are not feeding back into wages. And that's because we're still not using all of our capacity. Additional monetary stimulus would soak up all the cyclical unemployment before it created inflation. Ben Bernanke can and should set an NGDP target and print money until we hit it.

And no, it's not our debt levels that would lead to a downgrade, it's the political dysfunction.

Jon
You need to keep in mind that wages are being inflated within the ranks of the unions across the nation. Take a look at the teachers unions. Not only are their salaries up this year so are the benefits. They are being paid, as we all are, with funny money that has no backing. It was not that long ago that you could buy gold at $30 for an ounce. Now it takes over 1600 of those worthless dollars to get an ounce. You keep the interest rates down by cutting your spending. There are people all over this nation who paid off credit cards and car loans and not only maintained there credit rating they got their rates lowered because they cut back. This is coming your way. I would like to know what you are talking about concerning our capacity. if you mean people are not being hired you are correct but with 99 days of unemployment why work. if you are already on the dole what changes that. And Ben should not get an NGDP. As to why we are getting a downgrade I have not heard anyone from S&P or Moody's say that it was political dysfunction. What I heard was a report that the cuts were not deep enough and even if a deal was struck the downgrading was going to happen. We will have to make a special badge for Obama.

When I say our capacity utilization rates are low, I mean that we could be producing much more with the inputs we have available -labor, capital, land and infrastructure. Too much of our capacity is idle because there isn't enough money in the system to create the demand that would put mobilize it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacity_utilization

Here's S&P telling Ezra Klein that it's political dysfunction that would cause the downgrade. Moodys says we need to get rid of the debt ceiling because it's become a vehicle for political gamesmanship. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/11-days-until-disaster-three-options-to-prevent-it/2011/07/11/gIQAjRWEUI_blog.html

Also, I would love to know what you want to do about fiat currency? Should we return to the gold standard?

Sorry you're wrong on the downgrade issue as well. It's a combination of current debt levels, the likelihood of significant increases in debt levels both for current operations as well as unfunded mandates, as well as political dysfunction.

As to inflation, the last thing we need are huge tax increases that will hit everyone. As you're finally admitting on your blog, there is not enough money out there to just take from the rich to pay for all this, which is why you advocate a carbon tax and VAT, regressive taxes. I assume you'll continue to pay for the poor through government gifts - er, income redistribution. How in the world can an average middle class family, already getting hit hard by rising food an fuel bills, take on those burdens as well? Your plan would hardly impact the rich (they'll still be rich) but crush the middle class into oblivion.

Finally, Washington has been out of touch with reality for decades. Making statements that core inflation doesn't matter only shows how out of touch they are. At least they could fake giving a crap about the middle class.

I disagree with the ratings agencies on the debt levels, and so does the bond market. As for projected increases in the deficit, it's all health care. And there's only one political party who's put forward a plan to control health care cost inflation.

I'm for the redistribution of consumption, not income. You can't redistribute income. I'm for progressive taxes, but I do care more about a progressive *distribution* of services than I do about how the money is raised. The future priorities I listed will be affordable when the ACA brings our health care spending down into line with international averages.

Again, what's supposed to be the policy response to rising oil prices? You and Chris Miller don't seem to want to get caught saying the Fed should raise interest rates, which is understandable since that would obviously choke off job growth.

You discuss things on such a cursory, superficial level that it's tough to argue points.

In reaching decisions on acceptable levels of returns, the markets take into account hundreds of variables. In your "analysis" you're excluding the most major impacts - QE and QE2, the flight to safety that has continued due to European markets, and China playing nice - all to assume that because rates are low there is huge appetite for more paper. What you're forgetting is that could change, and change rapidly. What happens when all this debt reprices higher? What happens when Treasury holders (like China) decide to liquidate? What happens when economic growth is choked off by the massive tax increases you propose? What happens when you finish crushing the middle class?

You are correct, there is only one party willing to act on healthcare - and it isn't your party. All the democrats did is create a model that generates trillions in additional revenue to cover the increased costs. There is no cost control in it at all.

There should be a governmental response to rising inflation. Most importantly, a significant expansion of domestic energy exploration because the simple fact is we need oil to bridge us into renewables that are cost effective. This will help by bolstering supplies, but more imoprtantly the shorter term create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs. For evidence look at North Dakota and PA (Marcellus Shale has resulted in 140,000 new jobs in PA).

I'm a generalist political blogger, not an expert. And yet it seems pretty straightforward to me that the conditions underlying the flight to safety are going to continue for the foreseeable future because of the chaos in the rest of the world. It's also not clear why anyone would expect China to liquidate its Treasury holdings. (http://www.npr.org/2011/07/28/138754315/china-fears-u-s-debt-default-but-has-few-options)

So under the circumstances, we should take advantage of these bargain-basement borrowing costs to pay for useful projects like repairing decrepit schools and bridges.

So in the short term, we need a bigger deficit and lower taxes. In the medium term, we need a smaller deficit and higher taxes. Over the long term, we need to spend less money on health care.

On health care, the Republican Party's plan is a cruel joke. Their "plan" is to shift health care costs off the government's balance sheet onto individuals. This is cost shifting, not cost control. We need the underlying *prices* for health care services to come down, and the best way to do that is to use Medicare's monopsony powers to set prices.

On oil prices, you are dreaming. There is no option to reduce oil prices through domestic drilling. Oil is sold on a global market. Even if we drilled in all the protected areas, it would only reduce oil prices by a few pennies by 2030. Doubling down on our oil addiction is not an option. Let's see some proof on those Marcellus job numbers.

Yes Chris and please be sure to ignore the fact that health care costs are rising at a rate that is out of control. Do something about that problem and more people would be able to afford it on their own.