White House: Republicans block 'fiscal cliff' deal

[TheMadCap]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/08/white-house-republicans-block-fiscal-cliff-deal/1

 

Sabotaging the President, or standing up to a crappy bill? Discuss...

[DC Tom]

http://content.usato...al-cliff-deal/1

 

Sabotaging the President, or standing up to a crappy bill? Discuss...

 

They're all retards.

 

And reflecting on JA's frequent complaints about how it won't change because incumbents are too frequently reelected...I'm not sure that even matters. It's party loyalty over leadership that's the bigger problem, and unseating incumbents isn't changing that.

[Doc]

LOL! The "easiest" solution is to continue the Bush-era tax cut for everyone.

[DC Tom]

Oh, and there's real leadership for you. "The Republicans won't make it easy on me."

[Chef Jim]

Let me get this straight. Tax cuts will help the economy but only if we're selective with who we give these cuts to. WTF. Political pandering at it's finest.

[DC Tom]

Let me get this straight. Tax cuts will help the economy but only if we're selective with who we give these cuts to. WTF. Political pandering at it's finest.

 

It's not important anyway, because default is no big deal. According to the Tea Party morons.

[GG]

You either extend the current tax regime for another year or you institute wholesale tax reform. It's that easy.

 

Framing the bill as only impacting taxes for the top 2% is baloney, as it's pure political drivel, since there won't be material tax gains from taxing the rich more (it may have the opposite total effect). So WH is playing politics with the bill and then accuses the GOP of playing politics by recognizing the political nature of the bill.

[Chef Jim]

You either extend the current tax regime for another year or you institute wholesale tax reform. It's that easy.

 

Framing the bill as only impacting taxes for the top 2% is baloney, as it's pure political drivel, since there won't be material tax gains from taxing the rich more (it may have the opposite total effect). So WH is playing politics with the bill and then accuses the GOP of playing politics by recognizing the political nature of the bill.

 

You increase the tax rate on qualified dividends to 43.3% that sound you hear will be every person making over $200k selling every penny of dividend paying stocks they own. Who would want to own that? It's going to get real ugly, real fast.

[BiggieScooby]

Remind me again what prosperity the Bush era tax cuts gave us?

[B-Man]

Another opinion...................................from the Congressional Budget Office;

 

The CBO warns about Obama’s irresponsible tactics

 

By Jennifer Rubin

 

While the president and his minions play smear games against the GOP, the economy is figuratively burning down. The Post reports:

The nation would be plunged into a deep recession during the first half of next year if Congress fails to avert nearly $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit in January, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.

The massive round of New Year’s belt-tightening — variously known as the fiscal cliff or Taxmageddon — would disrupt recent economic progress, push the unemployment rate back up to 9.1 percent by the end of 2013 and cause economic conditions “that will probably be considered a recession,” the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.

But the president refuses to deal with that mess until after the election (by then, we’ll be well on our way to the recession). The irresponsibility is staggering.

 

The CBO contends that unemployment would go over 9 percent as the economy contracts another .5 percent.

 

Moreover, the economy is worsening, coming in below expectations. (“In addition, CBO analysts concluded that the underlying economy is weaker than previously predicted. In its latest budget outlook, the CBO predicts the federal deficit will be $1.1 trillion in the fiscal year that ends in September, marking the fourth straight year of deficits in excess of $1 trillion.”)

 

The Obama team seems convinced that it can win the election on smears and tactics. (Tie Akin to Romney! Holler ‘Bain’!) It is either in denial or oblivious to the fact that actual events — and real things like the economy — may motivate voters. And it seems never to have dawned on the team that it needs concrete policies (e.g., Social Security and Medicare reform) of its own

 

{snip}

 

Refusing to play on that terrain, the Romney-Ryan team has latched onto a smart “strategy” — talk about issues, point to evidence in the real world, offer actual policies and rebut forcefully the merits of the Democratic spin. That might not work. But it’s nice to think that facts and reality matter more than bile, despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent to bamboozle us. Really, if that isn’t the case, our democracy has bigger problems than the recession.

 

UPDATE (11:45 a.m.): House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wastes no time, putting out this statement: “This CBO report underscores why on August 1, I and other House GOP leaders urged the Senate to follow the House in passing legislation that would steer our nation clear of the fiscal cliff. Instead of threatening to drive us off the fiscal cliff and tank our economy in their quest for higher taxes, I would urge President Obama and congressional Democrats to work with us to stop the coming tax hike that threatens our economy and replace the looming defense cuts with common sense reforms.”

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/do-facts-matter/2012/08/22/9778e48e-ec66-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_blog.html#pagebreak

[Chef Jim]

Remind me again what prosperity the Bush era tax cuts gave us?

 

Record high on the S&P after the tech bubble, 9/11, accounting scandal, Katrina smack downs.

[Doc]

Record high on the S&P after the tech bubble, 9/11, accounting scandal, Katrina smack downs.

All Dubya's fault.

[Chef Jim]

All Dubya's fault.

 

Which, the smack down or the come back?

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

Let me get this straight. Tax cuts will help the economy but only if we're selective with who we give these cuts to. WTF. Political pandering at it's finest.

exactly. There are too many redundant offices. More than 500 U.S. government programs are redundant and could be are costing taxpayers billions of dollars!

 

The GAO reveals the existence of 80 programs for economic development alone across four government agencies.

[IDBillzFan]

You'd think if Obama was really interested in continuing the breaks for everyone but the top 2% of earners, he would have addressed this back when he had full control of both houses.

 

On the other hand, you'd think he would have done a lot of productive things those first two years with a full deck in his hands, but, y'know...governing is hard. Very hard.

[Doc]

You'd think if Obama was really interested in continuing the breaks for everyone but the top 2% of earners, he would have addressed this back when he had full control of both houses.

 

On the other hand, you'd think he would have done a lot of productive things those first two years with a full deck in his hands, but, y'know...governing is hard. Very hard.

Come on. He and he alone was the only one who could prevent the collapse of the US...and he did!

[Chef Jim]

You'd think if Obama was really interested in continuing the breaks for everyone but the top 2% of earners, he would have addressed this back when he had full control of both houses.

 

On the other hand, you'd think he would have done a lot of productive things those first two years with a full deck in his hands, but, y'know...governing is hard. Very hard.

 

You don't pander to 98% of the population unless you're looking to get re-elected.