"Praise to President Barack Obama for his budget speech this week. While he did employ a cheap political tactic, waiting until the opposition had released their budget so that he could heap heavy criticism on it, especially Republicans John Boehner and Paul Ryan (this will do nothing to encourage either civility or compromise), he also filled in the missing piece of the puzzle: tax increases.

"When all is said and done, a way out of the national debt is not to be found through hacking at discretionary spending alone. The government has two levers to pull in to curb public debt. Spending is obviously one. The other is revenue, which means taxes.

"And while there are concerns that tax increases would stall employment, ultimately, American dollars, public dollars, stepped in to rescue the financial sector and the economy. And those at the top, whose empires were buttressed with public money, should play a bigger role in helping to alleviate the debt the country acquired to save them and their ilk.

"Everyone likes to act as if the American people are individual islands of self-sufficiency, but when the going gets tough, we cry for government aid. We did in 2008. Now it is time to start paying back.