[Leon]

I let this one thread go and so far so good. What I don't want is political debate falling into other threads and I will put a stop to it if it goes there.

I truly believe that in order to curb the debt problem it does have to be a many pronged approach. We MUST cut out the fraud in the system. We MUST cut out the subsidies to people that make a lifetime of using the system. Some of them work harder at not working and letting the govt. support them than if they were to go get a job. It makes me sick.

As most know I do volunteering every week at the Salvation Army. I teach life skills to homeless veterans. My new angle for them is NOT letting them use the perennial crutch of "I can't work or my XXXX entitlement will go away".....whether they think they are disabled, underprivileged, or whatever. Just because they are in some stupid program *(not the one they are in at the Salvation Army, but the one they hope to get money from) doesn't mean they have to stay in it. Just because a quack doctor says they can't work, doesn't always mean they can't. I make sure I am not giving them bad advice but just another way of thinking about things. Not one of them has ever prospered while being "in" the system. You have to get out of the system to prosper. Cut out all of the waste, and the losers that don't want to work, and you probably cut entitlements by 30% or more. Then we need to cut the loopholes for the richest Americans. When Warren Buffet says he pays less percentage of his taxes than his office workers it should make the idiots in Washington take notice. I doubt it does. Also, we should really look at helping other countries less until we get our house in order. Let's take care of ourselves before we take care of others. There are some of my rants......