We think there are no magic puddings ... any new spending and tax cuts will need to be paid for by cuts elsewhere or at the expense of the bottom line.

I think the Bush tax cuts should be made permanent.

The council's debt levels in the near term are likely to remain at levels consistent with the current ratings, despite rising.

The negative outlook reflects the potential for the rating to come under pressure if the council achieves or exceeds those levels.

The rating factors in the expectation that the consolidated net debt to operating revenue is likely to be lower than that implied by council's long term plans. The negative outlook reflects the potential for the rating to come under pressure if the council achieves or exceeds those levels.

A lot of Americans think they got a tax cut, and they didn't because their local property tax went up, their excise tax went up, their sales tax went up, and their prices went up and everything else, because we failed to invest in some of these other things we ought to be doing. ... We are squeezing the middle class, we are losing the middle class, and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing wider and wider, not closing as it used to be.