[quote=paramount]But Obama has to appear that he really fought to keep whatever program the middle class depends on.[/quote]

I am supposedly “middle class” and don’t depend on ANY government program. Like most of my middle class?friends I neither qualify for nor depend on any program. By middle class I assume we are talking about government workers and social security recipients rather than middle income Americans?

On a more serious note, we should be clear that when we talk about the national debt reduction and balancing the budget we are discussing Social Security and Medicare cuts. Everything else is nice a million here and there, but if we are to continue paying current and projected Medicare and Social Security then we MUST hope the Chinese continue purchasing US Treasuries and care as much about our elderly as we do. Even with tax increases the government faces dwindling taxable incomes across the board and we must prepare for a future where tax revenues are substantially lower than today’s. I am not suggesting we not pay “granny”. We just need to be prepared to borrow like there was no tomorrow.