underpaidgenius:

Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Yet their preference for spending cuts, even in programs that benefit them, dissolves when they are presented with specific options related to Medicareand Social Security, the programs that directly touch the most people and also are the biggest drivers of the government’s projected long-term debt.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans choose higher payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security over reduced benefits in either program. And asked to choose among cuts to Medicare, Social Security or the nation’s third-largest spending program — the military — a majority by a large margin said cut the Pentagon.

While Americans are near-unanimous in calling deficits a problem — a “very serious” problem, say 7 out of 10 — a majority believes it should not be necessary for them to pay higher taxes to bridge the shortfall between what the government spends and what it takes in. But given a choice of often-discussed revenue options, they preferred a national sales tax or a limit in the deduction for mortgage interest to a higher gasoline tax or taxing employer-provided health benefits.

Americans’ sometimes contradictory impulses on spending and taxes suggest the political crosscurrents facing both parties as they gird for debate over how to address the fiscal woes of a nation with an aging population, a complex tax system and an accumulated debt that is starting to weigh on the economy.

Americans aren’t totally crazy, although their most general answers to the question of whether they want to increase taxes or cut spending doesn’t demonstrate Tea Party ideology but simple unawareness of what is causing the deficit, which are entitlements.

It’s not that people are unaware that entitlements—or social safety nets—are major drivers of the national debt. I don’t think there’s a political drum that has been more effectively beaten in the last decade. People assume, however, that there’s this massive amount of money within those entitlements that could be cut without affecting those parts of the programs that they support. And specific cut questions fare poorly because people do not want those parts cut.

Hang on. Just going to roll in toxic waste.

Hell yeah!

fuckyeahjournalism:

In related news, a Nebraska man fended off a mountain lion with some arugula. No one wants to eat that shit.

I suppose okra must contravene the Geneva Conventions or animal cruelty laws.