The extreme pressure in my brain today was a result from the rabidly foaming at the mouth Democrats and liberals who have pronounced that President Obama's proposed compromise on the retiring tax cuts extension is an indicator of that he is weak willed and desperately wants to be liked by the Republicans. As I struggled to determine how to say with civility and intelligence that such opinions were just plain f**k**g stupid, I came across a post by a blogging friend, Beth Riches.
Beth blogs at Nutwood Junction and I've been reading her blog for four years. She always makes me think and often makes me laugh. She's got a razor sharp wit! Her recent post, "Shades of Grey," says everything that was rolling around in my head! It brilliantly sums up why the President is neither a wimp nor the devil for promoting a compromise on the tax cuts extensions. No matter what you think that you know or believe on this topic, please follow the link and read Beth's blog post. Leave her a comment and please stop back by and tell me what you think. I copied the chart below from Beth's post.
The bubble chart you see ... is a representation of the numbers in the tax deal currently being negotiated in Washington right now. The blue is what the Democrats got, and the lone red one is what the Republicans got.--Beth RichesFor her brilliant analysis, you have to visit her blog.
The trouble is the whole tax bill is a 900 billion dollar package and this graph only depicts 599 billion dollars worth of the total bill...
ReplyDeleteSomeplace we lost 301 billion dollars.
Seems like politics as usual to me. I really didn't expect tax cuts to the rich to expire - that would effect just about every member in Congress!
ReplyDeletePresident Obama has a tough road and I think he's doing the best he can. He has certainly made some mistakes but I think he is still our best hope in 2012.
Love Beth's blog.
Thank you for your kind words, Sheria, and thanks to those of you who visited at her behest. Love and Hugs!
ReplyDeleteTAO - Someplace we lost 301 billion dollars.
ReplyDeleteAhem! Is it here (looking under chair)? Nope.
How about there (looking under desk)? Nope.
How about here (looking inside drawer)? Nope.
Shucks! Where is it?
Have you asked GWB lately?
Lest we forget why we voted for Obama in 2008, here is a brief reminder.
Tao, nothing has been lost. The estimate is $900 billion over a two year period. When constructing a biennial budget, it's not uncommon to include only the committed expenses thus far. The additional $301 billion will be used to make necessary budget adjustments in the second year based on actual spending costs of year one. I keep up with stuff like this because my state (NC) always functions on a biennial budget and part of my job at the legislature is writing an annual summary of the budget that includes a current analysis of spending and a projected analysis.
ReplyDeleteEven the Daily Kos has changed its perspective on the compromise deal [http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/8/926896/-Obamas-Tax-Deal:-A-GOOD-Deal]. The point is that the tax cuts for the wealthy are disturbing but the consequences of blowing the whole deal are way more severe. It seems that people love an issue over which they can wring their hands and wail. With health care reform it was the public option, which was never defined in any tangible way and which had about as much chance as that snowball in hell of being passed by Congress or accepted by the American people. This nation loves its capitalism and wasn't about to wholeheartedly embrace any health care reform that even hinted at socialism. It was always up for sacrifice.
Here's what we get with the compromise:
Working families will not lose their tax cut. A typical working family faced a tax increase of over $3,000 on January 1st. The framework agreement includes a mutually agreed upon solution to the impasse over taxes by extending the 2001/2003 income tax rates for two years and reforming the AMT to ensure that an additional 21 million households will not be hit with a tax increase.
$56 billion for unemployment insurance extension. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, passing this provision will create 600,000 jobs in 2011 alone.
$120 billion payroll tax cut for working families
$40 billion in tax cuts for our hardest hit families and students
100% expensing for businesses next year
Child Tax Credit: The $1,000 child tax credit will be extended for two years with the $3,000 refundability threshold established in the Recovery Act. This extension will ensure an ongoing tax cut to 10.5 million lower income families with 18 million children.
Earned Income Tax Credit: The Recovery Act included an expansion of the EITC worth, on average, $600 in additional assistance to families with 3 or more children. It also helped working married families by reducing the marriage penalty in the EITC. Continuing this tax cut for two years will benefit 6.5 million working parents with 15 million children.
American Opportunity Tax Credit: The Recovery Act included a new, partially refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 to help students and their families cover the cost of college tuition. This deal fully extends AOTC for two years, ensuring that more than 8 million students will continue to receive this tax benefit to help them afford college.
A 2-year extension of the R&D tax credit and other tax incentives to support business expansion.
I voted for Obama in 2008 because I thought that he had the intellectual qualifications and the ethical character to make the decisions that were beneficial to the people of this country. I still do and all of this wailing and gnashing of teeth is getting old.
Sheria: I commented on "Shades of Grey" as well. My concern is that the Dems and Obama have not been communicating this to the people, so unless one follows some obscure blogs, the misconceptions will continue in the public mind and the Republicans will continue to make advances in their disinformation campaign. I would like to see a nationwide presidential address, with charts and graphs, so the president can tell the real story. If he does not, the media message will continually be undermined by the conservative disinformation machine and weaken Obama's presence in the public eye for 2010.
ReplyDeleteRobert, I share your concerns about messaging, and Robert Reich does a bang up job atriculating the case here. What I find incomprehensible is that Obama understands this too; but, for some reason, he seems incapable or unwilling to craft the kinds of memorable phrases that change the political culture as Reagan had accomplished 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, there is also a tendency among the American people to harbor unrealistic expectations, as if our presidents are not only CiCs, but also saviors of the republic delivering us from all evils. No single human being can possibly meet such expectations … especially in this divisive political environment. Also, keep in mind that the Republicans have a 4:1 dominance in partisan think tanks and oodles of special interest cash to fund their politics.
Whether we like it or not, all of us on the progressive side of the aisle will be forced to shoulder a share of the political burden with our campaign contributions, in our blogs, and in our communities. The President cannot do this alone, and all of us will have to contribute according to our means.
Robert, maybe I've just lost all patience with the public but President Obama has addressed why he believes the compromise to be necessary, stating that he was unwilling t allow the American people to be collateral damage in a political battle. The press conference has been in the news and the sound byte regarding collateral damage has been played and replayed. I don't thin the public listens, nor do they read. They wait for some hysterical pundit to tell them what to think. The more bizarre the information, the more likely the public is to believe--birther conspiracies, death panels, Obama is a Muslim,etc. The truth is never as exciting as the voice that shouts, "The sky is falling."
ReplyDeleteSheria and all,
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree that the "deal" was probably pretty much what the President was going to get from the pack of cynical plutocrats with whom he now has to deal, thanks to those geniuses the voting public.
I thought the most stunning thing about the press conference was indeed Obama's reference to the GOP as "hostage-takers." As I commented in my own recent post about this whole tax-rate affair, it's remarkable to hear a president referring so blatantly to the opposition as criminal thugs -- and to find oneself in agreement with the characterization! Anyone who cannot see by this point what our contemporary "conservative" movement is all about is a flaming imbecile. There's no point in sugar-coating the pronouncement for civility's sake, either. Of course, the trouble with the "criminal" analogy is the unavoidable inference that we ought to be cutting deals with these people at all: since when does law enforcement treat "hostage-takers" with deference and give them exactly what they demand? Talk to them, stall them, try to deceive them, sure -- but give them what they want?
All that said, I suppose the trouble with the way the Admin has handled the so-called negotiations has something to do with their not having consulted with the Democratic leadership before simply announcing how things were going to be. That move (if the reporting on it is accurate) obviously didn't go over too well, and I can't say that I blame the House and Senate Dems for being angry about it: they no doubt feel as if they're being treated with contempt and only the Republicans matter.
PS -- to be as clear as possible, I wouldn't really disagree that Obama has done the best he could here. I also think that we have arrived at a sorry point in our history. Thomas Carlyle was more correct than not to suggest that "In the long run, every government is the exact symbol of its people."
ReplyDeleteThe GOP feels a large slice of the American People's stupidity, and returns the stupid-love in equal measure, and more. "Back at ya!" they say with a sharkish grin. Too bad we all have to suffer along with the ignoramuses who voted to give these schmucks a stronger hand to play against Obama and the Democrats.