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From Twitter 12-09-2010
Dec. 10th, 2010 02:02 amTweets copied by twittinesis.com
Dec. 10th, 2010
What "We" Got, What "They" Got
Dec. 10th, 2010 12:10 pmBen Smith reports on a chart being circulated by the White House in support of the great tax compromise.
Like so much else coming out of the White House, it's bullshit- not least because it defines "We" as Democrats, when Obama is trying his damndest to divorce himself from his political allies.
I would prefer to put it differently: what do THEY, the RICH conservatives, get, and what do WE, the rest of the country, get?
WE get:
* $900,000,000,000 added to the deficit over the next two years alone
* Extension of 99-week eligibility for unemployment benefits in only 43 states for only one year, with no benefits for those who have used up those 99 weeks
* Continuance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which Republicans supported anyway and would be in no serious danger had Democrats not seriously bungled things
* Replacement of the Making Work Pay Tax Credit for households making less than $80,000 with a 2% reduction of payroll taxes- meaning households under $40,000 see a net tax HIKE
* Continuance of the same Bush tax cuts which had null stimulative effect on the economy over the past ten years
THEY get:
* 900,000,000,000 more reasons to gut services to the poor, regulatory agencies, and basic legal protections for American citizens
* Continuance of the lowest taxation levels on the highest income brackets since before the Great Depression
* Democratic endorsement of the Republican talking point that tax cuts for the wealthy are stimulative and that the wealthy should always get tax cuts in preference to anyone else
* A 100% tax write-off of equipment expenses for big business
* Tax benefits for green energy that only the super-wealthy can afford to cash in
* A cut in Social Security taxes which destroys the solvency of that program and opens it wide open to being privatized or abolished
* The public image of having forced Obama to cave in to all their demands and then even to go beyond their demands and give them things they didn't ask for, like the weaker estate tax
And, last but not least:
* The ability to tell voters in 2012 that Obama wants to raise THEIR taxes, thus ensuring Republican party unity and major independent support for any Republican candidate in the general election.
On the whole, not exactly what I would call "win-win."
I really hope this "compromise" collapses. Go, Pelosi- hold out.
Like so much else coming out of the White House, it's bullshit- not least because it defines "We" as Democrats, when Obama is trying his damndest to divorce himself from his political allies.
I would prefer to put it differently: what do THEY, the RICH conservatives, get, and what do WE, the rest of the country, get?
WE get:
* $900,000,000,000 added to the deficit over the next two years alone
* Extension of 99-week eligibility for unemployment benefits in only 43 states for only one year, with no benefits for those who have used up those 99 weeks
* Continuance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which Republicans supported anyway and would be in no serious danger had Democrats not seriously bungled things
* Replacement of the Making Work Pay Tax Credit for households making less than $80,000 with a 2% reduction of payroll taxes- meaning households under $40,000 see a net tax HIKE
* Continuance of the same Bush tax cuts which had null stimulative effect on the economy over the past ten years
THEY get:
* 900,000,000,000 more reasons to gut services to the poor, regulatory agencies, and basic legal protections for American citizens
* Continuance of the lowest taxation levels on the highest income brackets since before the Great Depression
* Democratic endorsement of the Republican talking point that tax cuts for the wealthy are stimulative and that the wealthy should always get tax cuts in preference to anyone else
* A 100% tax write-off of equipment expenses for big business
* Tax benefits for green energy that only the super-wealthy can afford to cash in
* A cut in Social Security taxes which destroys the solvency of that program and opens it wide open to being privatized or abolished
* The public image of having forced Obama to cave in to all their demands and then even to go beyond their demands and give them things they didn't ask for, like the weaker estate tax
And, last but not least:
* The ability to tell voters in 2012 that Obama wants to raise THEIR taxes, thus ensuring Republican party unity and major independent support for any Republican candidate in the general election.
On the whole, not exactly what I would call "win-win."
I really hope this "compromise" collapses. Go, Pelosi- hold out.
What "We" Got, What "They" Got
Dec. 10th, 2010 12:10 pmBen Smith reports on a chart being circulated by the White House in support of the great tax compromise.
Like so much else coming out of the White House, it's bullshit- not least because it defines "We" as Democrats, when Obama is trying his damndest to divorce himself from his political allies.
I would prefer to put it differently: what do THEY, the RICH conservatives, get, and what do WE, the rest of the country, get?
WE get:
* $900,000,000,000 added to the deficit over the next two years alone
* Extension of 99-week eligibility for unemployment benefits in only 43 states for only one year, with no benefits for those who have used up those 99 weeks
* Continuance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which Republicans supported anyway and would be in no serious danger had Democrats not seriously bungled things
* Replacement of the Making Work Pay Tax Credit for households making less than $80,000 with a 2% reduction of payroll taxes- meaning households under $40,000 see a net tax HIKE
* Continuance of the same Bush tax cuts which had null stimulative effect on the economy over the past ten years
THEY get:
* 900,000,000,000 more reasons to gut services to the poor, regulatory agencies, and basic legal protections for American citizens
* Continuance of the lowest taxation levels on the highest income brackets since before the Great Depression
* Democratic endorsement of the Republican talking point that tax cuts for the wealthy are stimulative and that the wealthy should always get tax cuts in preference to anyone else
* A 100% tax write-off of equipment expenses for big business
* Tax benefits for green energy that only the super-wealthy can afford to cash in
* A cut in Social Security taxes which destroys the solvency of that program and opens it wide open to being privatized or abolished
* The public image of having forced Obama to cave in to all their demands and then even to go beyond their demands and give them things they didn't ask for, like the weaker estate tax
And, last but not least:
* The ability to tell voters in 2012 that Obama wants to raise THEIR taxes, thus ensuring Republican party unity and major independent support for any Republican candidate in the general election.
On the whole, not exactly what I would call "win-win."
I really hope this "compromise" collapses. Go, Pelosi- hold out.
Like so much else coming out of the White House, it's bullshit- not least because it defines "We" as Democrats, when Obama is trying his damndest to divorce himself from his political allies.
I would prefer to put it differently: what do THEY, the RICH conservatives, get, and what do WE, the rest of the country, get?
WE get:
* $900,000,000,000 added to the deficit over the next two years alone
* Extension of 99-week eligibility for unemployment benefits in only 43 states for only one year, with no benefits for those who have used up those 99 weeks
* Continuance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which Republicans supported anyway and would be in no serious danger had Democrats not seriously bungled things
* Replacement of the Making Work Pay Tax Credit for households making less than $80,000 with a 2% reduction of payroll taxes- meaning households under $40,000 see a net tax HIKE
* Continuance of the same Bush tax cuts which had null stimulative effect on the economy over the past ten years
THEY get:
* 900,000,000,000 more reasons to gut services to the poor, regulatory agencies, and basic legal protections for American citizens
* Continuance of the lowest taxation levels on the highest income brackets since before the Great Depression
* Democratic endorsement of the Republican talking point that tax cuts for the wealthy are stimulative and that the wealthy should always get tax cuts in preference to anyone else
* A 100% tax write-off of equipment expenses for big business
* Tax benefits for green energy that only the super-wealthy can afford to cash in
* A cut in Social Security taxes which destroys the solvency of that program and opens it wide open to being privatized or abolished
* The public image of having forced Obama to cave in to all their demands and then even to go beyond their demands and give them things they didn't ask for, like the weaker estate tax
And, last but not least:
* The ability to tell voters in 2012 that Obama wants to raise THEIR taxes, thus ensuring Republican party unity and major independent support for any Republican candidate in the general election.
On the whole, not exactly what I would call "win-win."
I really hope this "compromise" collapses. Go, Pelosi- hold out.
More on Obama's tax plan...
Dec. 10th, 2010 05:01 pmAbout 55 million workers will see their taxes increase under the compromise- all on the poorest end of the scale.
So, yeah- chalk the payroll tax holiday up not as a win for Obama, but another gift to the Republicans.
Of course, the article does also mention one important fact- the Democrats had been willing to let the Making Work Pay tax credit die, anyway. They didn't include it in any version of the budget or of their tax-cuts-for-non-rich-only plans. So- yet again- the Democrats are themselves to blame, more than anyone else, for dropping the ball yet again.
But Mark Penn, the man most responsible for crippling Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign, the man whose polling presented a funhouse mirror to anyone foolish enough to pay for it, the man who was absolutely wrong on virtually every topic known to man...
... Mark Penn thinks Democrats must support the tax compromise or else face a generation out of power.
Why? Because if Democrats oppose this, Republicans will call them "tax-and-spend," and thus they will lose the affluent voters Obama courted in 2008.
Yeah, got a news flash for ya, Jimbo... that ship sailed about a month ago.
The Making Work Pay credit gives workers up to $400, paid out at 8 percent of income, meaning that anybody making at least $5,000 gets the full amount -- and gets as much as anybody else. Its replacement knocks two percentage points off the payroll tax cut, meaning a worker would need to make $20,000 to get a $400 break. Of the nation's roughly 150 million workers, around 50 million make less than $20,000 and will see at least some increase as a result.
Additionally, roughly a quarter of 20 million state and local workers pay no payroll tax, because they have a separate pension system. Some of those workers with children will benefit from the extension of other tax credits, but overall will have less money in their pocket.
. . .
Senior White House adviser Larry Summers told reporters on Wednesday that the GOP wanted to replace Making Work Pay with the payroll cut. "It came out of the process of compromise with the Republicans who were more attracted to the payroll tax holiday concept, and that was a proposal that, as had been coming out of here, we had been giving considerable thought to in the context of the President's budget," he said.
So, yeah- chalk the payroll tax holiday up not as a win for Obama, but another gift to the Republicans.
Of course, the article does also mention one important fact- the Democrats had been willing to let the Making Work Pay tax credit die, anyway. They didn't include it in any version of the budget or of their tax-cuts-for-non-rich-only plans. So- yet again- the Democrats are themselves to blame, more than anyone else, for dropping the ball yet again.
But Mark Penn, the man most responsible for crippling Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign, the man whose polling presented a funhouse mirror to anyone foolish enough to pay for it, the man who was absolutely wrong on virtually every topic known to man...
... Mark Penn thinks Democrats must support the tax compromise or else face a generation out of power.
Why? Because if Democrats oppose this, Republicans will call them "tax-and-spend," and thus they will lose the affluent voters Obama courted in 2008.
Yeah, got a news flash for ya, Jimbo... that ship sailed about a month ago.
More on Obama's tax plan...
Dec. 10th, 2010 05:01 pmAbout 55 million workers will see their taxes increase under the compromise- all on the poorest end of the scale.
So, yeah- chalk the payroll tax holiday up not as a win for Obama, but another gift to the Republicans.
Of course, the article does also mention one important fact- the Democrats had been willing to let the Making Work Pay tax credit die, anyway. They didn't include it in any version of the budget or of their tax-cuts-for-non-rich-only plans. So- yet again- the Democrats are themselves to blame, more than anyone else, for dropping the ball yet again.
But Mark Penn, the man most responsible for crippling Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign, the man whose polling presented a funhouse mirror to anyone foolish enough to pay for it, the man who was absolutely wrong on virtually every topic known to man...
... Mark Penn thinks Democrats must support the tax compromise or else face a generation out of power.
Why? Because if Democrats oppose this, Republicans will call them "tax-and-spend," and thus they will lose the affluent voters Obama courted in 2008.
Yeah, got a news flash for ya, Jimbo... that ship sailed about a month ago.
The Making Work Pay credit gives workers up to $400, paid out at 8 percent of income, meaning that anybody making at least $5,000 gets the full amount -- and gets as much as anybody else. Its replacement knocks two percentage points off the payroll tax cut, meaning a worker would need to make $20,000 to get a $400 break. Of the nation's roughly 150 million workers, around 50 million make less than $20,000 and will see at least some increase as a result.
Additionally, roughly a quarter of 20 million state and local workers pay no payroll tax, because they have a separate pension system. Some of those workers with children will benefit from the extension of other tax credits, but overall will have less money in their pocket.
. . .
Senior White House adviser Larry Summers told reporters on Wednesday that the GOP wanted to replace Making Work Pay with the payroll cut. "It came out of the process of compromise with the Republicans who were more attracted to the payroll tax holiday concept, and that was a proposal that, as had been coming out of here, we had been giving considerable thought to in the context of the President's budget," he said.
So, yeah- chalk the payroll tax holiday up not as a win for Obama, but another gift to the Republicans.
Of course, the article does also mention one important fact- the Democrats had been willing to let the Making Work Pay tax credit die, anyway. They didn't include it in any version of the budget or of their tax-cuts-for-non-rich-only plans. So- yet again- the Democrats are themselves to blame, more than anyone else, for dropping the ball yet again.
But Mark Penn, the man most responsible for crippling Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign, the man whose polling presented a funhouse mirror to anyone foolish enough to pay for it, the man who was absolutely wrong on virtually every topic known to man...
... Mark Penn thinks Democrats must support the tax compromise or else face a generation out of power.
Why? Because if Democrats oppose this, Republicans will call them "tax-and-spend," and thus they will lose the affluent voters Obama courted in 2008.
Yeah, got a news flash for ya, Jimbo... that ship sailed about a month ago.