For republicans, 2025853881. For democrats, 2025853880. For independents, 2025853882. Remember, also, send us it twitter message, the analysis is that americans need to embrace sacrifice again. He says that any outcome of this is going to require sacrifice and pain from the American Public. In the peace he writes that the problem is not washington, that it is us. No longer are we willing to pay for the things that we know that we need. Boaters that demand something for nothing will demand otherwise. Politicians who fear for their jobs will comply. We want to turn to all of you and ask you, what are you willing to sacrifice . Are you willing to change medicare and Social Security as republicans say is needed . Are you willing to increase taxes, as democrats say is needed . First we show you, from yesterdays face the nation, erskine bowles, who had this to say about spending. [video clip] if we are going to raise revenue in any form, we had better cut spending. That is the biggest part of the problem. The biggest part of that problem is the fact that health care is growing at a faster rate than gdp. Host there it is, he says that it has got to be on the table for both sides to reach some kind of deal. This is yesterdays the Washington Post. The right that the fresh tax revenue generated by raising taxes on the wealthy as obama wants Additional Savings set to hit in 2013, the sequester host so, dayton, ohio, dolores, you are the first. What are you willing to sacrifice . Caller i think that they are going about it wrong. Put everything on the table. I think that entitlements should be the last thing that they attack. Those of the things about the budget, to meet, i am not saying that we do not need it, of course we do, but they need to be looked at. If we do not look at it and we get things like rock star generals with biographers, that sort of thing, somehow the economists, specialists, and experts never mentioned the Defense Budget. Host you are the perfect first phone call, that is what we are focusing on today on the washington journal. For the whole part of the show we will be talking about defense, sequestration, and what it means for the pentagon. We will develop the entire show to that discussion. Stay with us for the rest of it. The Washington Post reports on military contracts. It says here over 250 contracts with a combined value of 21 billion, a 44 drop from october. It shows here the top five contracts in november by value. Boeing was at the top of the list with a 4 billion contract for the air force. Delta dental got a 6. 2 billion contract for retiree coverage. Then that is followed by battle space. Those are some of the top defense contracts in november. That overall no. 4 defense contracts is down 44 . Republican line, alaska arkansas . Where are you from . Caller hold aligned. Off a cliff. The fiscal cliff goes. Take the pension away from the politicians that gave us in this place. Host what does that solve . Caller give us back our country. Pioneers, those people in south chicago, detroit, oakland, houston, many parts of florida, atlanta, washington, d. C. , they are in trouble. Host why are you going to do fine if we go off the fiscal cliff . Caller i live on the beach. I live a lifestyle where i cut my own fish, raise my own garden, hunt my own game, i do just fine. Host code no sacrifice from you, then . All right. Jerry, ohio, independent caller. Go ahead. Caller they should let it go. Let the bush tax breaks expire and go back to the clinton taxes. It will hurt people a little bit, but it will hurt the wealthy more. I believe that jobs will come back if we do that. Host what about automatic spending cuts . It is not just the Defense Department that gets cut. Nondefense, education, health care, across the board getting cut . Caller it would probably only be cut for a short time. Host so, a sacrifice by letting tax rates go up . Caller right, they will start working together if they wind up going off the cliff. Host what do you think about addressing medicare spending . Caller the biggest thing the government has to do is all of the waste in everything. Defense, medicare, everything. Just go after it. Host is that enough to get through our deficit and debt . Caller and raise the taxes. Host all right. Mike come massachusetts, note mike, massachusetts. Go ahead. Caller i am x military. The only reason i say that is that we have spent 2 trillion on these wars over the last 10 years, which is a whole lot of money and they say they are going to review their approach to these in the future because we get so much money. As far as the entitlements go, what they should do is agree on the taxes for people making under 250,000 per year first, then come back and fix the rest of it. That would probably be the best way to go. That way the republicans can save face and say that they refused to bend on taxes and that that is what they will have to go back and do later, for sure on that note. Host also on the sunday talk shows yesterday was senator bob corker. Here is what he had to say. [video clip] realizing that we do not have a lot of cards when it comes to the tax issue before the end of the year. It will leave the presidency and the senate in the hands of the democrats. Many people are putting forward a theory that has merit where you go against the president with a 2 increase on the top 2 . All of a sudden the shift goes back to entitlements. All of a sudden once you give him that tax rate, lesser that what he has been talking about, the focus shifts to entitlements and puts us in a place where we can actually do something to save this nation. I am actually beginning to believe that that is the best route for us to take. Host senator corker, saying that there are more republicans willing to do that. You heard him lay out the strategy there. Lots of debate in washington about who should give and how much. We are asking you to weigh in on that conversation and tell us what you are willing to sacrifice. This comes from a piece from a few days ago, from National Journal magazine. It is about americans not willing to sacrifice any more. What happened to americans ability to sacrifice . The idealistic children of the greatest generation host roy, colorado, independent caller. What do you think . Caller i think the American People sacrifice everything they have for this country. If these people would quit the wars and rebuilding other countries, they could rebuild this country. Host no sacrifice from you . Caller the American People sacrificed everything they have for this country, going to war. Why should we go blow up another country and then rebuild it . Host this twitter message from old white guy host then here is cindy, excuse me, jim on twitter host finally, Joseph Ramirez host jennifer, louisville, kentucky, democratic caller. Caller i just wanted to say that even though we are sacrificing, we have already sacrificed enough but like the gentleman said before, i do not think it is a couple of trillion, it is more than that the we have spent on the war that has been going on. America has just gone down the drain. Everything is just pitiful. Also, one thing, the business, the small business, they should have a small a higher rate than 250,000. That is it. Thank you. Host here is the Kaiser Foundation with their facts about medicare. They say that it is for 50 million elderly and disabled americans that pays for prescription drugs, hospital visits, and acute and post acute services. In 2012 it accounted for 15 of the budget. Host so, that is what medicare is expected to cost in 2012. We are asking you all what you are willing to sacrifice. Scott, good morning. Scott, you have got to turn down the television. I will put you on hold. Larry, independent caller. Go ahead. Larry, syracuse, new york . You are on the air. Turn down your television, ok . Caller yes, basically i am willing to give up i think that the people who get benefits who are wealthier should actually be along the strip. Host all right, steve, haymarket, virginia. Caller i used to make 3. 5 million per year in gross and it usually only cost me 3. 6 million to do it. I paid over 1 million per year in 20 years. You know what happened . I got put out of business by the irs. I do not think people understand what riches. By the way, i kept 35 families supplied with money, health care, and everything. In gratitude, the government put me out of business. The fiscal cliff is something that we need to go over, that way we can enhance our military to special forces and get us some better weaponry. Lose the people who are vacationing in all of these foreign countries, limiting the military to doing what it absolutely has to do. Host you are probably the fourth person here who has said we should go over the cliff. The headline from november in the Financial Times was that the fall in consumption would be 200 billion if we go over the cliff. That the u. S. Consumer is crucial to growth, they went on to say, because it made up 70 of gdp. Some are predicting a recession, a downgrade of our rating for the country. You think it would be ok to go over the cliff . Caller put it this way. Only in the last 2000 years of human existence, every time a country goes above 20 tax rate, they failed. Rome, babylon. Go throughout human history. We are saying it is a 50 tax rate now. What about an 80 tax rate . We cannot survive as a Government Entity by having so many man hires attached to the host. Host another item attached to the table for debate is whether or not to extend the payroll tax holiday. This headline states that there is little interest in renewing the tax holiday. It is now 4. 2 . The average annual savings for employees earning about 60,000 per year is 1200 thousand dollars well hundred dollars more in your savings account. 1,200 more in your savings account. There is not much interest on capitol hill in saving this. We are talking about getting access to the pockets of 160 million workers. John, independent caller, go ahead. Caller if americans would just stop allowing themselves to be fooled by this dog and pony show. These parties are in it together. You have a 35 federal rate tax. Property tax, town, county, school. You are already paying 85 of your money. How much do they want . This bailout of 787 billion was a commitment to the bank that held 30 trillion of your money, america. Until you learn what these people are doing to you, they have been doing it for 70 years. Democrats in charge, republicans in charge, this train goes forward no matter who is running the show. Host what is the alternative . Caller get rid of every last one of them. Our founders fought a war over it. They are already taking 85 of our money. Americans are too busy watching football and drinking budweiser. Host sarah, democratic caller, seattle, washington, you are next. Caller hello . Host you are on the air. Good morning. Caller i know a lot of people is talking about the 1 . I do not think a lot of americans notice that. I used to work for that 1 . They pay you 60 per week, they pay out the difference and give you cash so that they do not have to pay taxes. People shopping at bloomingdales and all of these stores, they buy it before it hits the rack. The way that they perceive us is as dweebs. They do not like us and never have liked us. You think we are talking about the 74 . The 37 . They do not understand that we work hard. Americans are the hardest working people. We have to jobs, three jobs, many of us are going back to school. We are not sitting around doing nothing. Host this prediction from facebook. These comments, democrats host from bragg on facebook host let me give you some other headlines as we continue this discussion this morning about the fiscal cliff. This is from the Washington Post. Egyptian opposition confused over next step. Host also from of the Washington Times this morning Hillary Clinton will testify on the hill. And no date has been announced for her testimony, either in open or closed session. The state department has put forth and accountability review board and that is investigating the attacks. Host burke, new orleans. What are you willing to sacrifice . Caller code good morning. I think that we are spending way too much on this drug war. It is costing the nation way too much at the end of the day and we need to reevaluate ourselves on it. I am for reducing revenue. We should adopt a poll tax in this nation or a transaction tax on security. I do not know. The lancelot. Host all right. Thanks a lot. Host all right. This headline, the u. S. Knew for years about the benghazi extremism. Front page of the New York Times has this story, mortgage crisis brings a new reckoning to banks. In the worst case for the industry, the bill is near 300 billion. This is from the money section of usa today. Future possible, the Federal Reserve is expected to take another step tuesday to stimulate the lackluster recovery with more Treasury Bonds to push down longterm Interest Rates bahut Interest Rates. Host also sticking with housing, from the wall street journal this morning, high earners dropping scrutiny. Hundreds of senior managers that earned more than 200,000 last year host charleston, west virginia, democratic caller. What are you willing to sacrifice . Caller i would not mind paying a little extra in taxes if i thought it was really going to help. One thing that people have to remember, the current tax burden on the American Public right now is the lowest it has been since 1959. That is the year i was born. One friend of mine who makes over 250,000 per year, which entitle him to the bush era tax cuts, he is now complaining about the tax cuts expiring, meaning that his annual taxes would go up by 4,000 on his salary. If you divide 400,000 into 200 fit 4,000 into 250,000, is 1. 6 . If 1. 50 per day magically appeared in my pocket every day, i would not complain, but at the same time i would not really miss it. I would not mind sacrificing that little bit if i thought it would help us to get out of this mess. When people say that over 250,000 people are worried about the bush tax cuts expiring, i am thinking what are they trying about . Host take a look at entitlements from the washington journal this morning. Host what do you think about that . Caller when it comes to entitlement cuts, they do not bother me that much as long as you are applying those to future participants in the system. But people, i am 53 years old and had been paying into the system my whole life. Paying into Social Security and those other programs all my life, paying my fair share. If suddenly my fair share, the amount i paid into it would be cut back, that would bother me. If you were to apply those cuts to future employees, it would make it a lot easier for people to swallow. Host here is the analysis from the wall street journal. About 72 billion would come from increased tax revenue. Not a huge number, but if the index were approved caller i would be willing to i do not have any problem i only make 34,000 per year. My line of work is hiv prevention. I do hiv testing and counseling. I teach other Healthcare Professionals how to do this work, it is important work, but i realize it will never make me rich. It is still very important work. An anesthesiologist might make 10 times as much for your as i do. Does that mean . He works 10 times harder . No, but i understand how jobs are marketed in this system and i accept that. I just think that people in these very high income brackets really ought to be able to pay more into the system as a result of them being able to take advantage of how those jobs are marketed. Host we will hear from a republican next to get their take on it. First, this is from the Washington Times. Democrats have already made compromises on entitlements and spending cuts. Host john, asheville, north carolina. You are up. What do you think . Caller people like chuck to just called a minute ago are part of the problem. They are not willing to realize that they are robbing future generations, my kids, my grandkids, their kids, their grandkids of their prosperity. Everyone says that they paid into Social Security all these years. You paid a tax. Go look at the facts. The Supreme Court said that Social Security withholding are a tax. You are not entitled to money from the government based on that. Yet people say that this is my money, i paid into it all of these years. What youre doing is contributing to the debt for more than military spending and you are robbing my kids, my grandkids, your kids, your grandkids, your great brand kids, great great grandkids, of future earnings. That is a fact. So many people think they are entitled to a handout from the government. I tell you, i have worked all my life and right now i am making far less money than i used to and i did not make a whole lot now. I hear people saying that i do not pay enough in taxes. I should be able to retire at 65, but that is not going to happen. Why . The money that everyone is taking now is not going to be there for meet. I have lost that money paying into Social Security. I cannot get it back. I cannot plan for my own retirement. I have been unemployed for over two years and am working really hard to find a job that will keep me paying for my kids college, keeping my kids in food and clothes you are robbing me as well. Clothes. You are robbing me as well. Host this from this headline over the white house urgency over talks increase. Host we will have live coverage of president obama as he heads to michigan at 1 30 p. M. Eastern time. He will be making those remarks in michigan, pushing for his case in the socalled fiscal cliff talks. Back to your phone calls. Democratic caller, the vienna. Caller i have one thing to say, probably two. There should be a fair tax on everyone. That man who was running for president , i cannot think of his name right now, he had the 999 plan. The rich, the poor, they would be taxed 999. I think that that should go into effect. As far as welfare, we should bring back or bring in the u. S. Collecting welfare and go ahead and put drug testing in their. People testing positive for drug