Morna Murray

Public policy and children's advocate/consultant

It's not just about numbers. It's not just about programs. It's about a philosophy that is fundamentally opposed to the values and principles upon which our country was founded. Let's face it. We are not a polarized nation. We are a nation at war with itself.

David Coates

Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies, Wake Forest University, Department of Politics

Please, Mr. President: no grand bargains with the defeated. No toleration of their scorched-earth policies. Stop inviting Republicans to dinner. Start eating them for lunch. Democratic charm-offensives focused on Republican lawmakers can come at too high a price.

Greg Autry

Senior Economist, American Jobs Alliance; Economist,Coalition for a Prosperous American; Co-author 'Death by China'

For more than a generation the U.S. has been testing a self-destructive theory whereby we export enormous amounts of American capital, priceless technology and millions of jobs to other nations naively expecting them to reciprocate.

Christopher Bergin

President and Publisher, Tax Analysts

With the economy showing signs of recovery, it's high time that our federal lawmakers move beyond these self-induced crises and begin to talk about tax reform that can help taxpayers move forward with a clear understanding of how the tax code works and how much they owe.

Lawrence Wittner

Professor of History emeritus, SUNY Albany

Dear House Republicans: In the heated debates over the federal deficit, you have said repeatedly that you want to cut it without raising taxes and, therefore, that you must reduce government spending. If that is the case, I have a suggestion for you: Why not start by cutting the nuclear weapons budget?

Daryl Rowland

Director of Marketing and Communications for the Civic Commons

How about a trans-Atlantic task swap? Simply have the Cardinals hammer out a deficit reduction deal and let the U.S. Congress select the next pope. Remove the political context in both cases, reason and compromise prevail and everybody's home in one day.

Gavin Shulman

Writer, Producer

Here's something I've never understood about our federal deficit and the oft-flamed fear that we're going to force our children, or our grandchildren, to have to pay for it -- can't they just force their children or grandchildren to have to pay for it?

Sanjay Sanghoee

Banker, political and business commentator; author of 'Killing Wall Street' (www.killingwallstreet.com)

If the Democrats are seen as being unable to protect our economy, voters will lose faith in them and pave the way for Republican victories in the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Warren Mosler

Fixed income fund manager specializing in monetary policy; Founder, MMT

What do the president, the party leaders, all members of Congress, all the headline economists (both hawks and doves), the entire Federal Open Market Committee, and just about everyone else apart from Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) proponents agree on?

Jeffrey Sachs

Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University; Author, 'The Price of Civilization'

Spending is not spending. The U.S. needs productive public investments, not wasteful spending. We need to modernize our infrastructure, retool our energy system, make our cities more resilient, and help to train a new productive labor force.

Dean Baker

Co-director, CEPR; author, 'The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive'

When you have a billion dollars to throw around, you will have plenty of people willing to argue absurd positions. Therefore it is not surprising to see the Fix the Debt crew and various other Peterson derivative organizations pushing the line about generational conflict, but what is NPR's excuse?

Michael Farr

President and majority owner, Farr, Miller & Washington, LLC

These imperatives do not appear to be materializing as a result of aggressive monetary policy. Even so, Bernanke & Co. charge relentlessly ahead on their chosen course. We can only hope they know what they are doing.

Robert Klitzman, M.D.

Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Masters of Bioethics Program, Columbia University; author, 'Am I My Genes?'

The sequestration's full effects are not all clear, but it will severely impede scientific progress across the country, along with various public health programs.

Dave Johnson

Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Economics 101, Europe's austerity experiment and the experience of history all tell us that cutting government is contractionary policy. This is the time to invest, and the investment returns will pay for the investment and more.

Andrew Reinbach

Journalist

Want to straighten out the nation's finances, eliminate poverty, and end the income tax? Easy. Tax financial trades.

Clarence B. Jones

Diversity Visiting Professor, University of San Francisco; and Scholar Writer in Residence, MLK, Jr. Institute, Stanford University

Between President Obama and Congressional Republicans, it not a question of who is liberal, conservative, progressive or independent. The only issue is who lives in a fact-based world of existential evidence or only an opinion based world, totally devoid of reality.