In the past we saw that the deficits began to mount rapidly when Congress passed the outrageous tax cuts proposed by President Bush. It is clear that the nation cannot afford these lavish cuts. Yet most pundits predict that Congress will not have the courage to end them; President Obama has already proposed making some permanent; and he already raised taxes on the poor while extending extreme tax cuts for the extremely rich. This is intolerable. We face huge deficits, partly for excellent and long awaited programs like health care reform. This is no time to extend any of the tax cuts to the rich any more, let alone make their tax cuts permanent. I urge you to face up to the dire need for revenues and stop talking about extending any of the tax cuts for the rich, or making them permanent. We cannot afford them, period; especially not now.