With less than a week to go until our nation defaults - it’s looking more and more likely that IF a debt-limit deal is struck this week - it will be almost entirely on Republican terms.

That means massive spending cuts targeting working and middle class families - and not one shiny penny of tax increases on corporations, millionaires or billionaires.

So now is the time that we ask the Republicans a question - a question that I guarantee they can’t answer.

And that question is… ”Can you name one thing - just one thing - that millionaires and billionaires will have to sacrifice in this debt-limit deal as part of a “shared sacrifice” approach?”

That’s all - what will millionaires and billionaires have to give up like the rest of us?

I’ve asked this question to several conservatives on this show in recent weeks - and I have yet to get a real answer:

Thom Hartmann: Can you identify for me one, just one, cut that will effect millionaires and billionaires in the proposals that are being forward by the Republicans?

Phil Kerpen: Well, I think ideally that we should cut almost every program that exists in the federal project.

Thom Hartmann: Can you name one thing that the Republicans have proposed in debt limit negotiations that would require millionaires to make sacrifices like the rest of us? Just one thing?

David Selig: Well, I think the issue here is the Republican Party is strenuously opposed to the spending that's going on.

Thom Hartmann: Please name one thing that the Republicans have offered in all of these negotiations with the president regarding the debt that qualifies as "shared sacrifice".

Conservative : Balanced Budget Amendment.

Thom Hartmann: That's not going to hurt the Republicans.

Thom Hartmann: Can any one of the three of you name one shared sacrifice that the Republicans are offering that they have put on the table?

Jamie Weinstein: In the Ryan budget they're means testing Social Security and Medicaid which will mean that wealthy people would not get the money that they put in for those programs.

Thom Hartmann: Awww. So the wealthy people will lose a thousand dollars a year.

According to the Tax Foundation - the richest 1% of Americans have seen their incomes TRIPLE over the last 30 years since Ronald Reagan moved into the White House - and that’s NOT because they are working three times harder than the rest of us.

It’s because Republicans - and a few Democrats - have dished out some of the most generous tax breaks to these guys in the history of our nation.

Tax breaks that allow billionaire hedge fund managers like Warren Buffett - one of the richest men on the planet - to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Tax breaks that have allowed the richest Americans to enjoy paying the fewest taxes in the last 50 years.

And the tax breaks that have bankrupted our government - tax breaks that as this chart shows are the real driving force - this gold part is the tax breaks - of our soaring national deficit.

In fact, this [gold] is the tax cuts and this [red] is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is what's bringing about, you know, and this [medium blue] is the recession which would go away if we did away with these things.

So now - when it comes time to do something about this massive tax-cut-fueled debt - Republicans aren’t asking the people who have benefited the most for a shared sacrifice.

Instead - they want poor people, students, working stiffs, and senior citizens to pick up the tab.

In his speech last night - President Obama - himself now a millionaire from his book sales - phrased the question another way:

Most Americans, regardless of political party, don't understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask a corporate jet owner or the oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don't get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don't need and didn't ask for?

Yet that's exactly what Republicans are doing - not asking the rich to sacrifice anything.

Republicans attempt to answer the shared sacrifice question by pointing out that these very same rich guys are “job creators” - and then they say it’s insane to ask job creators to sacrifice ANYTHING in a bad economy.

But that’s a lie - and you don’t have to look any further than our current economic situation to figure that out.

Corporations are sitting on $2 trillion worth of cold hard cash - rich people haven’t been taxed this low in the last half-century - and government regulations are sparse - in other words - It’s the perfect economic climate for job creation according to Republican ideology… SO… where are the jobs?

Here's the truth that hasn't much been spoken since Jude Wanniski invented the phrase "supply-side economics" back in 1978 and it became an article of faith during the Reagan administration and for a generation of so-called conservatives since then: Supply doesn't create jobs.

I could have a warehouse full - a store full - of buggy whips, but those damn customers, they want car stereos.

It's not "supply" that creates jobs and never has been, never ever in history.

Demand creates jobs - people spending money stuff out of their pockets, taking money out of their pockets and demanding stuff. That's what creates jobs - rich people with their magic wands made of hundred dollar bills, they don’t create jobs.

They never have - they never will.

The “job creator” myth is spread by Republicans just to hide the real reason why they're not asking millionaires and billionaires to sacrifice like the rest of us.

And that’s because the Republican Party is wholly owned by millionaires and billionaires - that's who pays for their campaigns and, like Paul Ryan and his hedge fund buddy, buys them $600 worth of fancy wine over dinner - that’s the only constituency they care about.

If the American people found out that Republicans ONLY care about the richest 1% of Americans - then the jig would be up - and the Republicans would all be kicked out of office.

We need to expose that truth about today’s Republican Party.

Last night - President Obama encouraged us all to call our Members of Congress and demand action on a debt-limit deal.

I agree, but I'd take it a step further.

Call your nearest Republican Congressman and ask him the very simple question - “What sacrifices should millionaires and billionaires make in the name of deficit reduction?”

If they can’t answer the question - then you know it’s true - Republicans only care about the rich and special interests.

As Harry Truman said in 1947 at the Democratic National Convention:

The reason is that the people know that the Democratic Party is the people's party, and the Republican Party is the Party of special interest, and it always has been, always will be.

Some things never change.

That's The Big Picture.