Will Democrat's cut entitlements?

The ball is now in the Democrats court. Will they cut entitlements? That's the big question as the deadline for the super committee resolution nears. Officially named the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, they have only until November 23rd to present their plan to Congress on how to cut $1.2 trillion in the coming years. The bill then must be approved both in the Senate and the House. Their official name is Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and is made up of six Democrats and six Republicans. The Republicans on the committee have already agreed to $250 billion in increased tax revenues. The ball is now in the Democrat’s court and Republicans want them to make cutbacks on entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. If they don't come to a resolution by November 23rd, they have the option to ask for an extension.  This extension would have to be presented as a bill to create a new committee.  No one said this would be an easy job. Democrats do not want to further cut back on Medicare spending. They are not budging, arguing that they already cut back $500 billion on Medicare spending as part of the 2010 health care reform bill. I found a video on www.moveon.org that was posted by Robert B. Reich titled "4 ways the super committee can actually help America if they want to."

Robert Reich says that the government cannot cut spending right now until the unemployment rate is at 5% or below.  Consumer spending makes up 70% of the economy but we don't have the money to boost the economy on our own.  He also argues that the president has to create a "big jobs program" which would help our infrastructure and have the super rich pay for this by raising their taxes.  Another way to cut spending is to cut back on military spending and eliminate corporate welfare which are in the form of subsidies and big tax breaks for big corporations such as oil and agribusiness.  We are spending billions of dollars on a war that is not our own.  Obama removed troops from Iraq only to move them to Afghanistan.  Meanwhile our national debt is at $15 trillion.  So we must to continue to pay interest on this massive amount of debt and our legislators can't come to an agreement on how to reduce our deficit.  Should they raise taxes or cut back on entitlements?  There are a few days left for them to come to an agreement before even bigger tax increases go into effect or more cuts on entitlements.