Seasoned budget and economic experts say that the proposal is not a realistic framework and it is not likely to achieve the goals supporters of the plan believe it will.
Cutting $380 billion is about 10% of total projected federal spending in 2012 and that would cause an almost immediate economic disaster.
Capping spending at a percent of GDP doesn't make allowances for recessions or financial crises and that amending the Constitution as a way to lock in a balanced budget can create more problems than it fixes.

Bottom line Conservative right wingers are destroying this country.

But evidently, to Parnell, it was ok for the Bush Administration to raise our National Debt by more than 4 TRILLON dollars during G Dub's presidency...

Hopefully, the Koch brothers are financing it because it takes a lot of money to "put the ball on the field".

Thank you Gov. Parnell for signing the pledge.

By the way, BO owns the economy now. Bring up Bush every chance you get, but it's just foolish now. Different time, same place. The country is broke.

And since we're throwing numbers around - Obama has added 4T to the debt in 2-1/2 years. That's more than the previous 43 administrations before him COMBINED.

Rules For Radicals says to create chaos and then to quote Rahm Emmanuel - "Never let a good crisis go to waste. You can get things accomplished that you wouldn't ordinarily beable to do."

This created crisis over the national debt ceiling is phony. There is money to pay the interest on the debt.

Obama only caused the debt to rise $2 trillion. And that was trying to get the deficit under control from the Bush wars and spending programs for war. Now Republicans want him to save the country on his own.

According to Steny Hoyer, Bush took office with over a Clinton $5 trillion dollar surplus and left with nearly a $12 trillion dollar debt. That is a swing of $17 trillion.

bottom line. The vast majority of our debt is caused by unfunded wars and tax cuts, and republicans refuse to either end the wars, cut military spending or raise taxes.

This means they're not serious about getting our debt under control. They're only serious about defunding programs and organizations that traditionally vote for democrats, like Planned Parenthood and unions.

How do the richest 10% make their money? Capitol gains-taxed at 10% and dividends taxed at 15%.

My lower middle class income from actually working-taxed at 26%. If the conservatives keep killing off the middle class, who is going to mow their lawns and wax the Bentleys?

"The vast majority of our debt is caused by unfunded wars and tax cuts."

That is a false statement. Entitlements are the cause of the debt.

alaskaguy - who pays 90+% of the taxes in this country? (cue Jeopardy music) That's right - the top 5% of earners.

In fact half of all wage earners pay no taxes. They have credits and deductions and often receive money from the government.

Give the class warfare a rest. That's not what America is about. We all should aspire to work hard and get rich because in America it used to be possible for everyone.

China doesn't even trust the US Dollar and they posses the majority of it. They are investing heavily in Silver and Gold....it is time we went back to the gold (and silver) standard. It's time to give our dollar actual value again.

So far in this comments section, here is what's been said about Parnell:

-"Sean Parnell is a foolish foolish little man"
-"Sean Parnell belongs to the self-serving, arrogant, and polluting turd club"
-"cannot understand why ANY of you Alaskans voted for anybody so stupid"
-"help those of us that did not vote for...Sean Parnell"
-"what a complete and total Idiot"

Yeah, I'd say those are pretty good descriptions of Parnell. He was a very personable fellow when I met him and his wife on Basin Road, only a week after he took office. Wish I could say something good about his views and policies, but his actions aren't giving me the chance. Sure hope he's a one-termer!

Sean Parnell and Murkowski are in Koch brothers back pocket. This is why Parnell has worked to silence the voice of Alaskans on development issues.

and Koch brothers donated 20,000 to Murkowski they own her and the Flint Hills Refinery etc...in Fairbanks this is why murkowski and parnell are pushing oil exploration in ANWR for these two pigs.

Koch brothers are the heart of the GOP

Alaskans do you want our state run by the Koch brothers?

RECALL, when?

Spoken like a true NeoTeaConGOP, Calypso:

-"Skip all the links [aka references] too, because no one reads them and most often they aren't from reputable sources"

Yeah, because who wants stupid things like reference articles, back-up research, and all those other wordy things that prove you wrong to get in the way.

And your exact words were, "Who pays no income tax? The bottom 50% of wage earners." C,mon, really?!?!? You're trying to tell me that half of America pays no tax whatsoever.....REALLY?!?! I know many, many, many, many, many people in the "under 50%" crowd that would sure like that income tax back that they never paid!

And before you start with the "You're wrong with your misinformed Demo, left, liberal views, and I'm right with my Right views", let me tell you that I'm neither Repub or Demo. I think political parties are stupid and are ruining this country. Sure wish politicians would put citizens before political party!

It's evident to all that Calypso is a right-wing hack, but where do you get off upbraiding Calypso for making unfactual statements and then follow up with more of your own? Under the gold standard, gold gave fiat currency value because it was backed by gold. Your opinion that the value of gold is just as artificial as that of any fiat currency is in error. Fiat currency is backed by nothing and will be worthless, not used for commerce - were an economic melt-down to ensue. By whatever criteria that sets the price or 'value' of gold, it is still gold, and will be accepted by all as a means of exchange, when fiat currency will be refused. Gold and silver were the standard for thousands of years, and will be again.

Currency backed by gold isn't fiat currency. Fiat currency is what we and most every other nation use today--a system of currency which we all decide has value, but has no intrinsic value of its own. Like gold, which is just a metal (and up until very recently, a useless metal except for ornamentation).

Were an economic crisis to occur--say, a catastrophic collapse of our petroleum infrastructure--we would likely work out a barter system for essential goods and services. Not gold. Gold is useless in an emergency. There isn't even enough gold to go around.

When money is valued according to the price of gold, the government can do very little to ease or encourage economic situations. It can't issue more money to ease economic conditions, because the number of dollars in circulation is fixed to the value of gold. It can't retire currency without replacing it. It has to keep gold on hand for exchange. And boy, if speculation or any kind of manipulation affects the price of gold, or if there's a sudden influx of gold onto the market, then there is absolutely nothing we can do to prevent a loss of value to the dollar.

Plus, our money supply is greater than the world's gold supply. As I said, were we to adopt the gold standard, you'd owe a LOT more on your house, car, credit cards, and any other kind of debt. The benefactors would be lenders and the rich.

Hi Calypso.

The bottom 60% (since I don't have figures for 50%) pays 22.2% of all taxes. The bottom 40% pays 10.6%. Once again, you aren't taking actual taxes paid into account--only what people owe come tax time. Federal payroll withholdings. We've had them since probably before you were born (just guessing). You should read up on them.

http://www.ctj.org/pdf/taxday2010.pdf

You just keep hammering that square peg into a round hole, though.

It's a goober!

First we have Frank Murkowski. (well not first, but...) ...after a long degrading term, he finally implodes altogether and we hear of a creative 'responsible government!' soundbite from elsewhere and we default from Frank to Sarah, SO relieved just to be rid of Frank, who made his daughter a Senator just to 'keep it in the family'... So - then we get Sarah and watch her ego inflate like a hot air weather balloon, until a time when we get to snicker and watch in awe over a glass of wine while she winks at us over the big screen during the V.P. debates. She eventually implodes altogether and then we gleefully default on to Parnell, SO relieved to be rid of Sarah. Then somebody (I don't know who, do you?) 'somebody' was so enamored with him they elected him for a term of his very own. Ya, I admit the electoral choices were not very gratifying, but who else in Alaska has a sanitary enough background to run for public office? Not me. Any one of my old girlfriends has enough spice to spoil the whole dish...

Anyway,

By the time Parnell is done making silly statements, telling the feds to 'shove off, and leave Alaska alone!' - and making goofy appointments, we will be SO relieved to have just about anybody else default into office, which is just what got us into this mess in the first place.

Sheesh!