Thursday, December 23, 2010
Being Republicans
Republicans care most about money. Issues of morality and ideology are by far less significant. These are means to the end: money. Republicans are content to give in to Democrats so as long as hundreds of billions of dollars are given in tax cuts to the likes of the Waltons, and hundreds of billions more are given to the likes of Halliburton in war contracts. DADT? No problem. Money matters most to these.
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Only 10% of the 900 billion goes to the very rich. Granted its a small number of people getting that money, but the middle class cuts and the cut in the payroll tax is the biggest part of the cut. And that is the problem. Without the 2001 cut, we could trim 4 trillion of the debt. Most of that is the middle class tax cut.
Republicans suck. But, if the tax plan had not included cuts for the wealthy, the cost would have only been reduced by 10%.
The point of a ten year temporary tax cut was to create the discord. For example, anyone who is thirty will not see this as temporary. They have had it most of their working lives. Your anger over what Obama did is exactly what the GOP was hoping for 10 years ago.
What's $700 billion dollars? Chump change, right? There is no stimulus in this bill. Trickle down does not work.
It is not just that Republicans suck, but in this regard Democrats suck too. $700 billion is $700 billion, especially for a non-stimulus capitulation that probably has more to do with campaign finance that increases the deficit by $30 billion alone for the likes of the Walton family.
Donna Brazile puts it well: "Fast forward: it's Dec 2011 and the Dems are on the stump: 'I made a deal with the Devil and all I have is this lousy deficit.' Hmmm." So we increase the deficit by $700 billion dollars based on a Republican notion that trickle down works. Tax rates are low. They are, in fact, at the lowest. Why is unemployment still high? Will this tax bill stimulate the economy for the middle class and working poor? I'm not interested in this right versus left stuff that you seem embroiled in.
A good Republican friend who is worth some $15 million could care less about all of the policies Obama has worked through during this lame duck session. They have very little money value. As I said in the post that has gone unaddressed, the hundreds of billions in war contracts and the hundreds of billions in taxes matter most. One other thing, please respond directly to the post and leave all of the "you" are doing this and "you" are like this or that pundit behind. After all, I don't even know who "you" are.
The vast majority of the increase is in the middle class cut. The total cut since 2001 is 4 trillion - most of which went to middle class. No Democrat has advertised the tax on the upper 2% as trickle down. Obama has said this several times that the cut on the upper 2% does nothing for the economy - the choice was no tax cuts for anyone and no unemployment insurance extension unless the top 2% get the cut.
The Senate tried to pass the cut on only the middle class and could not get it done. Thats it.
Unemployment is high because of the economy, but also many influential people have, for 30 years, been selling the idea that we don't need to make stuff any more. Andy Grove pointed this out in his recent article. The factory in China that assembles Ipods, Ipads, Iphones etc. hired 320,000 people this year. This is one factory in China that hired more people than the US economy created in the same time period. Many people are to blame for the situation we are in and not all of them are politicians. The people who make a living hawking well crafted talking points to justify outsourcing play a big part in this.
The advertising of the tax cut is irrelevant, but the policy is.The point here is not about the causes of unemployment, but what we are doing to get us out of it. The $700 billion would have been better spent on a national jobs program for the middle class and working poor.President Obama spoke of taking Rep. Boehner at his word during his press conference. I wish he would have taken him at his word when he said that HE would do what was right for 98 percent of Americans.
Here are a few corporate gifts in the new tax bill and a lump of coal for homeowners:
Among the provisions in the new law:
_A tax break that allows profitable companies to write off large capital expenditures immediately – rather than over time – giving some companies huge tax shelters.
The tax break, known as bonus depreciation, benefits automakers, utilities, heavy equipment makers like Caterpillar Inc., and John Deere, air freight companies like Fedex Corp., and wireless companies like Verizon and AT&T, said Anne Mathias, director of research for the Washington Research Group, which provides research to institutional and corporate investors. It will save companies nearly $21 billion over the next decade.
The tax break is also available to people who buy race horses and farmers who buy cattle for breeding or dairy, according to a depreciation list produced by the Internal Revenue Service.
_An exemption that allows banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to shield foreign profits from being taxed by the U.S. through 2011. Cost: $9.2 billion.
The tax break is important to major multinational banks and financial firms, such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and to the financing operations of other international companies, Mathias said.
_A tax credit for research and development, benefiting a wide range of industries, including pharmaceutical and high tech companies. The law extends the tax credit through 2011, at a cost of $13.3 billion.
"The House and the Senate are in the holiday spirit and giving US companies a present of $13 billion in potential R&D Tax Credits!" says a press release by Braithwaite Global Inc., a firm that advises companies on applying for research tax credits.
_Increased tax rebates to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands from a tax on rum imported into the United States. The U.S. imposes a $13.50 per proof-gallon tax on imported rum, and sends most of the proceeds to the two U.S. territories.
Previously, the rebate was $10.50 a gallon. The new law extends a more generous rebate of $13.25 a gallon through 2011. Cost: $262 million.
_Extends a grant program for the production of wind, solar and other renewable energy through 2011. Cost: $3 billion.
The provision, which has saved homeowners about $1.6 billion a year, expired for 2010 and was left out of the new tax law.
"A lot of Americans don't make so much money that they itemize their tax returns. But those same Americans own property," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who sponsored the original tax break. "It seems to me that they, too, should have the ability to deduct it. It's a matter of equity."
Taxpayers who itemize will continue to be able to deduct local property taxes. About two-thirds of tax filers don't itemize.
The above is taken from this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/24/tax-cut-bill-signed-by-ob_n_801171.html
The Democratic House (no more after jan 4th) voted to
raise taxes on people over 250,000 dollars a year and the Senate got 54 votes to do the same. Obama is not a dictator. He just signs bills. The GOP sucks because they filibustered against it. Any liberal pundit or Senator or congressman who relentlessly dumped on Obama over the past 2 years (mainly to get to get on cable TV, which is a form of corruption because it is self serving) has some (a lot) responsibility for the democratic loss. They added to the confusion.
The 700 billion would never have been spent on a national jobs program - the successful GM bailout and TARP program are, ironically, part of the reason for the losses in the house and Senate- the GOP would never have let it- if they waited until after jan 4th, there might have been no extension of unemployment benefits.
Equating the GOP and the Dems is the most destructive thing anyone can do. And it is exactly what the hard right wants.
2001 - article by Tom Peters praising Enron.
Mr Peters is worse or as bad as any person in congress. And he is never held accountable.
quote from article - His buzz word back then was 'fuhgeddaboutit!'
"Leaders are good at forgetting. Peter Senge's brilliant insight 10 years ago was that companies need to be learning organizations. My campaign 2001: Companies need to be forgetting organizations. Enron Corp., which has repeatedly been tagged as the nation's most innovative corporation, is exhibit A as a world-class forgetting organization. It's not wedded to what it did yesterday. Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling have figured out how to operate like a band of pirates. Got an idea? Don't dally. Go for it while it's an original! Doesn't work? Try something else. If that doesn't work, fuhgeddaboutit!"
link to article.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/44/rules.html?page=0%2C3
Wow. No prejudice or misinformation here. Don't even know where to start. Money knows no party, no politics, but you've got a Democrat who has slammed us with trillions of debt and you're whining about Republicans?
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