During the past four years, conservative blackmail tactics have severely crippled Congress. It is very unlikely Republicans will meet the President halfway before the end of the year. We need to have the courage to accept a tax increase in order to break the tyrannical hold of conservatives in both houses who are committed to only protecting the interests of million and billionaires.

We do not have a spending problem in this country; we have a revenue problem. In addition to letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the top bracket, we should add at least one higher tax bracket for those earning over one million dollars.

To eqaulize the tax base of the american people. To find a balanced approach to raising revenue & cutting taxes for the middle-class, To find a balanced approach to raisng taxes & cutting out tax loopholes from the current U,S. TAX CODE. To Save the Middle-Class.

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, it's time we show support by backing his decision to raise taxes on those households earnings over $250,000, and retaining the tax cut for the rest of working American middle class families.

My adult son called me last night. His job has been out-sourced to India. However, he has a temporary freelance job in down town Chicago. He walks home every evening. But last evening he was especially disturbed at the number of homeless young adults that he saw. Many had backpacks or a piece of luggage and were huddled in doorways with no place to sleep. Now unemployed and unable to keep up their rent or mortgage payments they are on their own in the now freezing Chicago elements. There are thousands of other “more seasoned” homeless people who have been without work for much longer who are now sleeping in boxes on mattresses under the via ducts. At the END OF DECEMBER the unemployment extensions end unless there is legislation passed. This is the United States of America! Do we not take care of our own people who need our help? Is it the vulnerable: the unemployed, the poor, the mentally ill, and the children who are always the first to get cut from fiscal consideration when there is a “cliff?” This is URGENT! Please give this action priority during December.

I have been personally affected;. I have been barred from refinancing my home since 2009 because I refinanced before May of 2009. Freddie Mac rules, with no explanation of why, will not allow me to refinance. If I and others were allowed to do so, we could reduce mortgage interest rates on existing loans and save thousands of dollars per year. In my case, I would save about $5000 per year. I have already done a petition you can view here by copying and pasting thiks link in your address bar: http://wh.gov/IjfU

In July, Washington State’s community college system imposed a year-long 3% salary reduction on all classified employees. Since then, WPEA – one of the unions representing classified state employees - has secured a commitment from several colleges to “mitigate” the salary reduction by offering overtime opportunities. To date, Cascadia has NOT agreed to mitigate, ignoring the financial hardship being imposed on the lowest paid employees in our community college system. Please sign this petition to show your support for Cascadia’s classified staff in seeking mitigation of the 3% salary reduction.

The Bush tax cuts were designed by the wealthy for the wealthy. When Bill Clinton was president everyone did just fine without these tax cuts. There were 23 million jobs created under Bill Clinton in an expanding economy with government budget surpluses becoming the new routine. It's time we return to those years by allowing the Bush tax cuts to just expire.

The person most responsible now to get a deal before the end of the year is Speaker John Boehner. He must be informed that the people of the United States have spoken clearly and we want him to compromise and raise the tax rates to 39% on people earning in excess of $250,000.00.

Top military brass enjoy outlandish free services, entertainment, travel and other perks. No Secretary of Defense has proven powerful enough to cut them, including the officers' clubs. Unlike social and entitlement cuts, there is little recessionary impact from eliminating them.

NJ has the highest property tax in the country, and it is affecting families across the state including myself. Plus since governor Christie came to power the people of NJ making less than $250,000 a year have not received their tax rebate back on top of paying those high property tax which is also affecting middle and working class families in NJ.

If we can stop the one term, full benefits rule for our leaders just think of the savings.