Teetering on the Cliff

[Draggingtree]

The Wall Street Journal:

 

December 20, 2012, 10:42 p.m. ET

Teetering on the Cliff

Boehner's tax bill failure reflects Obama's failure to negotiate seriously.

Republicans pulled their Plan B tax bill from the House floor late Thursday, announcing that they lacked the votes to pass it and won't return to Washington until after Christmas. The White House may chortle that the GOP is in disarray, and it is, but this failure to govern also owes much to President Obama's failure to negotiate with any degree of seriousness. If Washington now goes off the tax cliff, Mr. Obama may not enjoy the plunge as much as some of his partisans believe.

Speaker John Boehner defaulted to Plan B as a last resort after weeks of failed negotiations with the White House. First he offered to raise revenue by $800 billion through tax reform, but Mr. Obama insisted on raising tax rates. When Mr. Boehner finally cracked on raising rates, at an income threshold of $1 million, Mr. Obama still said no.

The President also wanted more spending immediately, not less, and he offered no specific entitlement reform beyond a change in how inflation is measured

[Draggingtree]

The White House Blog

 

Congressional Republican “Plan B” Legislation: Cuts Taxes for Millionaires, Fails To Meet The Test Of Balance

 

Dan Pfeiffer

 

December 19, 2012

10:04 AM EST

 

Today, we released a statement on the Congressional Republican “Plan B” legislation:

 

The American people have been clear that they will not accept an economic approach that places too big of a burden on the middle class, seniors, students and the most vulnerable Americans while asking too little of the wealthiest Americans. The Congressional Republican “Plan B” legislation continues large tax cuts for the very wealthiest individuals - on average, millionaires would see a tax break of $50,000 - while eliminating tax cuts that 25 million students and families struggling to make ends meet depend on and ending critical incentives for our nation’s businesses. It would also cut off a vital lifeline of unemployment assistance to 2 million Americans fighting to find a job just a few days after Christmas, while deeply cutting Medicare. The deficit reduction is minimal, and perversely, given its authors, solely through tax increases with no spending cuts. This approach does not meet the test of balance, and the President would veto the legislation in the unlikely event of its passage.

 

The President believes this moment presents both sides an opportunity to reach a significant, balanced deal that is good for American families, the economy and for our nation’s future. He has put forward a proposal that meets the Speaker halfway on both taxes and spending, offering to work with Republicans to cut spending by an additional more than one trillion dollars beyond what he has already signed into law. The President urges the Republican leadership to work with us to resolve remaining differences and find a reasonable solution to this situation today instead of engaging in political exercises that increase the possibility that taxes go up on every American. The American people are watching closely and deserve no less.

 

In addition to the statement, the White House released a fact sheet detailing the harmful impacts of the Congressional Republican “Plan B” legislation. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/12/19/statement-white-house-communications-director-dan-pfeiffer-congressional

rant Just Remember what Joe Wilson said

[SrWoodchuck]

@Draggingtree!

 

Respectfully disagree with this:

 

His intentions were good but he misjudged the all-or-nothing ideological nature of this Presidency.

 

 

BTW: How can Reid or any Senate Democrap have a single thread of credibility with which to bash the House members? They haven't passed a by-law-ordered budget in 4 years & have no plan to do so, ever again.

I say politely to Obama & his pawns.....STFU!

[Draggingtree]

12/20/2012 @ 8:38PM |

 

Is President Obama Really A Socialist? Let's Analyze Obamanomics

 

President Obama says that income taxes must be raised on the rich because they don’t pay their fair share. The indisputable facts from official government sources say otherwise.

The CBO reports based on official IRS data that in 2009 the top 1% of income earners paid 39% of all federal income taxes, three times their share of income at 13%. Yet, the middle 20% of income earners, the true middle class, paid just 2.7% of total federal income taxes on net that year, while earning 15% of income. That means the top 1% paid almost 15 times as much in federal income taxes as the entire middle 20%, even though the middle 20% earned more income.

The answer is that to President Obama this is still not fair because he is a Marxist. To a Marxist, the fact that the top 1% earn more income than the bottom 99% is not fair, no matter how they earn it, fairly or not. So it is not fair unless more is taken from the top 1% until they are left only with what they “need,” as in any true communist system. Paying anything less is not their “fair” share. That is the only logical explanation of President Obama’s rhetoric, and it is 100% consistent with his own published background.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/12/20/is-president-obama-really-a-socialist-lets-analyze-obamanomics/