tax cuts

So now we've heard Barry's big "jobs speech" and it turns out to be the exact opposite of what is needed to rescue the crumbling nation. No surprise there. Read below the fold...

I just heard that shortly before his official announcement of the tax cut deal with Republicans Obama met with a group of "liberal" economists. Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, Jeffrey Sachs, Alan Blinder and Robert Reich. With Obama at the meeting were Austan Goolsbee and Jared Bernstein. The meeting was apparently less about them sharing their views with him and more about him trying to sell the tax cut compromise to them. Read below the fold...

It never stops. Tony Wikrent wrote a great piece on the disasters that lowering corporate and marginal tax rates has wrought upon the country. We have the evidence of both Reagan and Bush they don't work. Democrats got hammered in the recent elections because of their mismanagement of the economy and failure to create jobs. Everyone outside of Versailles hated the Cat Food commission. The commission couldn't even come up with the votes to endorse its own report. Read below the fold...

The dems in congress should reject this "deal" and let the tax cuts expire. If they do not they are making themselves irrelevant in 2012 and the whole government will once again go republican. Read below the fold...

During most of 2010, two issues kept coming up. The first was an extension of benefits for those unemployed between 26 and 99 weeks. The last extension of these died on December 1, 2010 due to Congressional inaction. The second was what to do about the Bush tax cuts which were set to expire at the end of the year. Things finally came to a head on both in the last days of the 2010 post-election lame duck session of Congress. Read below the fold...

From the BBC:

The tax cuts announced on Saturday are part of a $787bn stimulus plan that Mr Obama signed into law this week.

The plan, aimed at reviving the US economy amid a global economic crisis, is split into 36% for tax cuts and 64% percent allocated for spending on social programmes.

Mr Obama said the US treasury had already begun directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes claimed from pay cheques.

The savings will reach 95% of American families, he said.

"Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hardworking Americans," the president said.

Read below the fold...

Example A and the inevitable correction. I could say a lot about this, but instead I'll just say: I can understand John's frustration. Technically, he's not wrong, and we all will pay back the irresponsible "tax cuts," with interest. And what will the rich get, while we snap and snipe at each other about who is more poor? A bunch, I bet. Read below the fold...

Matt speaks for me. It's so good to know that even when I'm too tired or beat down to express myself, I've got friends in the blogosphere with the outrage and eloquence to do it for me. So good I'm posting the whole thing:
Read below the fold...

Tula, Mike and the gang run a great blog, and I need to link to it more often. As the minimum wage bill works its way through the halls of Congress, this post reminded me of a couple of points we need to talk about more:

Opponents of a clean bill to the raise the minimum wage—which is at its lowest buying power in more than 50 years—claim that without a multibillion dollar tax break lifeline, the nation’s business community faces economic disaster. We are not the only ones who say that is balderdash. Read below the fold...