Thompson sounds like he is going to support tax increases and spending cuts

[trispear]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081501925.html


But he says he thinks the public is looking for a different kind of leadership. "I think a president could go to the American people and say, 'Here's what we need to be doing. And I'm willing to go halfway. Now you have to make them [the opposition] go halfway.' "


"Nobody in Congress or on either side in the presidential race wants to deal with it," Thompson said. "So we just rock along and try to maintain the status quo. Republicans say keep the tax cuts; Democrats say keep the entitlements. And we become a less unified country in the process, with a tax code that has become an unholy mess, and all we do is tinker around the edges."

The last time we went halfway was the Bush 41 tax increase, in which the deal was raised taxes in returned for an equal reduce in spending. The tax increase happened. The reduction in spending didn't.

I wholeheartedly suppport FT in spreading his stupid message. Anybody with any political experience knows that when revenue increases, so does spending and government.

[Kregener]

Thompson is not going to run if his cancer is back.

And by the looks of current photos...it is.

[trispear]

Well, I don't wish that on anybody and would hope that isn't the case.

But I do recognize a consistent theme throughout Thompson's rhetoric: the platitudes about being different and implying he is an outsider, a maverick. I do hope he would recognize that he isn't the one who is different nor a maverick. You aren't different than the rest just because you are outside the system or have been on temporary hiatus from the sytem. That is as disingenuous as Bush telling people he was a Washington outsider in 2000. Someone is different when they are in the system and still haven't been corrupted by it; when someone has proven their mettle. I would hope FT sees that in the past he hasn't been different than the rest and would endorse someone who is truly different.

[LibertyEagle]

He's a member of the CFR. What do you think? He'll never endorse Ron Paul.

[john_anderson_ii]

I'm no economist, but I think I can at least see where Thompson is going with this argument. He's trying to reverse inflation by paying down the debt. Increase taxes, cut spending, drop the surplus into the reserve and pay off some of that debt.

While I agree with the sentiment it's just attacking the symptom not the root cause of inflation in the first place.

Whenever I hear some career politician's half-baked idea I can't help but think back to when Ron Paul said something to the effect of: These politicians in Washington aren't experts on the economy or foreign policy. They'd like to let you believe that they are, but they are really don't know much more than the average person about things they are making decisions on most of the time.

Unlike this average person, it seems none of them bother to find out anything before making a decision either.

[Oddball]

I believe that the Fred supports increasing taxes.

I don't believe, not for a moment, that he supports cutting spending.