I just saw on CNN.com that until the tax cut issue is solved, the GOP plans to filibuster all bills in the Senate. The DREAM Act? Repealling Don't Ask Don't Tell? Ratifying the START Treaty? Extending unemployment benefits? None of that will happen until the crybaby Republican Senators get their way and futher sink America into debt by extending all of the Bush era tax cuts permenantly. They won't even consider just extending the tax cuts to those making less than $250k, it's all or nothing. The GOP is so out of touch with the middle and working classes that it isn't funny. They're also out of touch with the millionaires they really represent because a group of more than 40 millionaires called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Responsibility (Link) recently urged the President not to extend their tax cuts. When some of the wealthiest people in America, including Warren Buffet, want to pay more taxes, it should say something. Furthermore, it's only a tax increase of 4%, from 35% to 39%! It's not like we're asking the upper class to pay the 1960 tax rate, which was upwards of 90%. If the Republicans have their way, we'll be $700 billion more in debt over the next 10 years. I'm beginning to find it increasingly difficult to understand how any middle or workering class American can be a registered Republican and actually support the idiots in Congress.
Now Democrats, all is not lost. Remember how we passed the Affordable Care Act? It was through budget reconcilation, which can be done again with these tax cuts because it will decrease the deficit. You have the votes for that, and if you had the guts to do it before, you can do it again. If you're going to go out, might as well do it with a bang because come January, it will be 2 long years of filibusters and finger pointing. Do this and you might actually regain some traction you had in 2008 going into 2012. Cave to the GOP and you will be out of power or face a serious challenger.
The unemployment thing really bugs me. Even more is that disability benefits have been threatened too. My mom is disabled. She can't work at all... A lot of people are going to get screwed because a couple of WASPs forgot that they're adults and want to act like angry toddlers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should be watching the Republicans like a hawk. but to think republicans are "angry toddlers" while the democrats are just saviors sent from heaven, well... that's about as childish as it gets. and its what is taught in academia. praise be the intelligencia!
ReplyDeleteThe reason unemployment extensions were not passed was because the Republicans asked that a way be found to pay for it, as to not add to the deficit (per Obama's PAYGO, which no democrat seems to give a damp shit about, including BO himself). the democrats refused to find a way to pay for it and that is why it didnt pass.
no one is stopping Warren Buffet and whoever else from contributing more money to an insincere and obstructive government. the US Treasury has an address were "gifts" can be sent, and i would welcome these privileged liberals to do so, if they indeed support such attributes of the federal government like sexual assault (btw- can you imagine the SCREECHING we'd hear from the college profs and the pop media if these pat-downs started under the Baby Bush? political bias amazes me) endless wars, victimless crimes, a bloated and narcissistic federal gov't, blatant waste and abuse of taxpayer money, a shocking lack of accountability, racist policies, nanny-state policies, etc.
RM, you once got personal with me and intimated my understanding of economics was slim, at best. however, our deficit problem is a problem of spending, not lack of revenue. the money that would come in from the Obama Tax Raises would not even be enough to cover the interest payments on our debt. our financial situation is a major problem, and tough cuts in entitlements are going to have to be made. this mentality most of us have that one does not need to contribute and yet can expect to live a more privileged life than most people in Africa do is going to have to end.
i have a hard time thinking of letting people keep more of the money they have rightfully earned as "costing the gov't $700B". this is where democrats and i fundamentally disagree- although some taxes are necessary, i believe in private property for individuals. the democrats think of you as property, and any income you earn as well. this mentality is for pussies.
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan and the Baby Bush all cut taxes, and guess what happened? the economy GREW. the gov't got MORE revenue over time because of the cuts. blaming the financial mess on just republicans is pathetic and plain inaccurate, as i've demonstrated in previous comments on this blog. Raising taxes on the people you depend on to create jobs during a recession? not the best idea. we need growth in private sector jobs. the federal gov't employees some 22 million people, which is not reason for us to jump up and fucking click our heels together-- those are salaries that the rest of us are on the hook for.
"ginger" is the new black, niggaz.
First off, please refrain from racial epitaphs. Secondly, tell me how the economy grew under Bush when we're in this recession right now, that started under Bush. And the pat downs, they didn't just magically appear. That's something the conservative media brought to our attention as another attempt to smear the president. The reason we didn't hear about them was because nobody really cared. Tax cuts on the rich don't work because they hoard the money instead of investing it in the economy. Obviously the Bush tax cuts failed, just as Reaganomics failed. The best boom was under Clinton when we had a surplus and were on track to pay off our debt in no time. The only time a Republican had a boom economy was Eisenhower because taxes were high in the 1950s, as high as 90%. Today the rich are complaining about a 4% increase to 39%. As for the spending, look to your buddy Bush on putting two wars and Medicare Part D on the Federal Credit Card and leaving the bill for the next president to worry about.
ReplyDeleteI would think that the computer/internet boom was the primary reason for the bustling economy in the mid-90s. Back then, we still had our manufacturing jobs, too. Where did all our manufacturing jobs go? Overseas, thanks to Clinton and Bush. Globalism is not good for our country. We were on top, but with globalism, we've no place to go but down. If you don't like this recession, then you don't like jobs going overseas. If you don't like jobs going overseas, then you don't like globalism, and if you don't like globalism, you sure as hell don't like Obama.
ReplyDeleteNot to be smart, but i've already addressed your questions previously. The 2001 tax cuts grew jobs for 52 straight months, a record. It's pretty obvious that they DID work. I've already addressed that Clinton's repeal of Glass/Steagall, NAFTA, and increased trade with China contributed our problems as well. Bush wasn't a great president, he did plenty to be upset about, but I don't believe the tax cuts are one of them, nor is it accurate to blame him entirely for the recession; its downright absurd, actually.
Obama and Bush both unnecessarily increased the size and scope of the government. The gov't fails to effectively perform the basic functions it was designed to do, like issue currency, secure the borders, protect citizens from crime/fraud, and keep business competitive. Yet while simultaneously leaving us high and dry in those areas we need them for capitalism to work effectively, the gov't over-extends itself unnecessarily into all other areas, creating unneeded bureacracy and burden, encroaching on our liberties while lining their own pockets and living like royalty.
The answer to our woes is to let business boom. Here, in America.
Explain this graph then:
ReplyDeletehttp://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/TVNews/MSNBC%20TV/Maddow/Blog/2010/10/benen_chart.jpg
It shows job losses increasing almost every month under Bush. You might claim that there was job growth, but it was offset by the continuation of job loss. Then you look at the flip side and that Obama has decreased the number of jobs lost almost each month, to the point where we are now in the positive, except for November when the unemployment number increased. The rich already have enough money to add jobs, the problem is they are greedy and will outsource. The president needs to get tough on big business and start penalizing them for outsourcing out jobs overseas. Again, I point to the tax rate only being 35%, with a proposed increase back to 39%. It's not a huge jump like the GOP is making it out to be. It's not like the 1950s (which was a boom period by the way) where the top tax rate was 90%. The rich only represent 2% of our total population but they control a large majority of the wealth. The middle class needs the help more than the top 2%. We need to rid ourselves of the mindset from the Eisenhower era that "What's good for General Motors is good for America."
Well, ok, that graph starts in Jan '08, so i'm not sure how its relevant to the 2001 Tax Cuts discussion. In 2000, we were in recession. Bush cut taxes, and the economy subsequently grew for a record length of time.
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