Axelrod refuses to rule out tax increases to deal with deficit

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama's senior adviser on Sunday refused to rule out tax increases as part of a solution to the nation's growing deficit. Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," David Axelrod said Obama supported having Congress set up a bipartisan commission that would come up with a plan to reduce the deficit. "We want to sit down in a constructive way and approach this problem," Axelrod said. He wouldn't speculate about possible solutions, saying, "Let's see what a bipartisan effort to deal with these deficits will produce." "Whatever the appropriate approach is, the president will be straight up with the nation," Axelrod said. Asked about the possibility of tax increases, Axelrod said: "If anybody has a plan to do this without raising any taxes on anybody, upper income or below, they should come forward with it because nobody wants to raise taxes." During the 2008 election campaign, Obama repeatedly promised he would not raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year.

If Obama has any chance at all for a second term, Axelrod must go along with Geithner and Summers. That is clear.

And, by the way, I HAVE A PLAN FOR CUTTING THE DEFICIT WITHOUT RAISING TAXES! Yes, me...I have a plan. It's called GROWTH!

If the deficit grows by $1 trillion as the government spent more on consumption, investment and employing people, we'd get at least $2 trillion in additional GDP (conventionally accepted ratio) and that would mean the deficit FELL as a percentage of GDP!