Franken wants wars to be paid for

Hey Al,

What a great idea….for that matter why not include everything else that comes down the pike….all spending for thqat matter! Why Not? Do not implement until it is within the Budget, and then of course the budget will have to be capped..right?

Pay as you go might work with smaller wars, even the size of Iraq and Afghanistan, but both at once seems like a stretch, and a really major war can’t be paid for that quickly. Remember that the massive debts we ran up to pay for World War II took a short time to pay for with a healthy economy. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make a point of paying for wars however. In prior wars, we had war taxes, which ended when the war debts were paid off. That’s what we should do now, a tax with revenues earmarked to pay for war expenses, to end when the war debts are paid off.

http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/diary/8752/war-tax-by-ericf

[...] video appears at MinnesotaIndependent.com [...]

Deficit spending, for whatever purpose, is inherently unethical. The borrowing today requires repayment tomorrow by people not responsible for incurring the debt. Sen. Franken is on the right track but I believe we need a Constitutional Amendment banning deficit spending.

Seriously, Mr. Franken???? This coming from a man who doesn’t know enough about accounting to make sure his accountants are paying his taxes???? You expect the citizens of the US much less Minnesota to beleive you are concerned about the deficit? If you are concerned about adding to the deficit, why not increase taxes the old fashioned way by putting US citizens to work who will pay taxes thus increasing the tax revenues which in turn reduces the deficit without having anyone pay higher taxes. Put people in the US to work rather than proposing legislation that means we as citizens, we will have to worry that if we have another county attack us, there will first have to be a debate to decide if we can afford to defend ourselves. Bring jobs to Minnesota like a good senator! Figure out how to keep essentials like food, shelter, clothing and GAS costs down, not in some artificial spending support program way but in a real actual put people to work way. If you knew your US history, you would know that as a country we came out of the great depression because of World War II. Our need to protect ourselves and the rest of the world from fascism as part of a global team created a demand for goods and services that put people to work in an unprecedented way. That war was paid for with deficit spending but after it was over the economy was such that so many people were working that the revenue supported paying the debt off quickly. Stop using smoke and mirrors so you can pretend you are for Minnesota and start actually doing something like adding jobs for Minnesotans. Please rest assured these smoke and mirrors will come out in your re-election bid should you choose to run again.

Hell no! I’m not going to pay for their f*&@ing wars! Nobody asked me if we could start any of those wars. Senator Franken, this is the first truly BAD idea that you’ve had so far. I say, if we have to pay for the wars, then the American people should be given a referendum regarding whether or not to have the damn wars in the first place! I bet you’ll find that a lot fewer wars take place and wouldn’t that be nice?

This is an awesome idea.
This is also close to how the Civil War was paid for. Google the term Greenbacks for history lesson goodness.

Silly Democrat, fiscal responsibility doesnt belong in Congress!

“This coming from a man who doesn’t know enough about accounting to make sure his accountants are paying his taxes?”

Apparently, what this guy knows about accountants comes only from right wing talking points.

Also, taxes WERE raised during WWII, mostly on working people despite Roosevelt’s efforts against a right wing congress, along with deficit spending.

Cute little hot-air diatribe, though.

[...] Sen. Franken’s Pay for War Resolution! Sen. Al Franken introduced legislation on Wednesday that would require Congress to pay for future wars and ensure that they do not add to the federal budget deficit. [...]