Tag Archives: Deficits

March 29, 2011 · 7:02 pm

Democrats offer Boehner a lifeline to avoid tea party-forced shutdown

This is the most succinct summary of what’s going on regarding the budget I’ve seen…

The question is:  Is the Republican Leadership ready to act like adults and make a deal or are they going to play to their loud, angry and ignorant base…

I still fear most of these cuts are going to hurt the economy in the long run.

It can’t be said often enough:  You do not drastically cut the budget when the recovery is this fragile.  You need to focus on growing jobs…

Ask Herbert Hoover’s ghost- or FDR’s….

From DailyKos:

To recap, the issue here is that tea party Republicans in the House have made it clear they will not support any funding bill that does not include provisions such as a repeal of the health care reform law and a ban on family planning funding. Obviously, those are poison pill provisions; the Senate wouldn’t pass them, and even if it did, President Obama wouldn’t sign them into law.

Because the most recent stop-gap funding measure, which will keep government open until April 8, did not include those provisions, 54 tea-party Republicans voted against it in the House, forcing the GOP to rely on Democratic votes to prevent a government shutdown. (They needed 32, but got 85.)

Unless tea-party Republicans flip-flop, John Boehner is going to need Democratic votes to pass a funding bill that can pass the Senate and get President Obama’s signature, and Hoyer’s comments were designed to make it clear to Boehner that Democrats are ready and willing to achieve a bipartisan compromise to keep the country moving forward.

Boehner is facing enormous pressure from his party’s right-flank to refuse the Democratic offer for cooperation, even though that would force a government shutdown. Polls show that tea-party supporters are losing confidence in Congressional Republicans on budget issues and by significant margins favor a government shutdown. But while a majority of Boehner’s political base says they favor shutting down government for several weeks, nearly three-quarters of Americans say such a shutdown would be a bad thing.

So John Boehner needs to choose between satisfying his the extreme right of his party, or forging a compromise with Democrats to move forward. The choice is his. Whether or not we have a government shutdown is entirely up to him.

via Daily Kos: Democrats offer Boehner a lifeline to avoid tea party-forced shutdown.

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March 29, 2011 · 6:36 pm

The Real Story of Our Economy: Why Our Standard of Living Has Stalled Out | | AlterNet

These facts cannot be repeated often enough…

Especially since the Corporate media chooses to ignore them…

The average real wage of the non-supervisory production workers (which comprise 82.4 percent of total private non-farm employees) actually declined by 9 percent between 1975 and 2010.

Meanwhile the top 1 percent saw their share of national income rise from 8 percent in 1975 to 23.5 percent in 2005

More amazing still, the wage gap between the top 100 CEOs and the average worker jumped from $45 to $1 in 1970 to an unbelievable $1,723 to $1 in 2006

Today after the crash, financial incomes are so enormous that in 2010, John Paulson, the top hedge fund manager, earned $2.4 million an HOUR (not a misprint), and his tax rate is less than yours

via The Real Story of Our Economy: Why Our Standard of Living Has Stalled Out | | AlterNet.

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March 26, 2011 · 9:49 am

GE, World’s Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year | AlterNet

This is really nothing short of disgusting….

You know how we’ve been covering the efforts of U.S. Uncut, the growing campaign to stop corporate tax dodgers from exploiting overseas tax havens? Well here’s an excellent example of why such efforts are desperately needed, from the front page of the New York Times:

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

How can that be, you ask?

The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies.

Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm….The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.

If that doesn’t make your blood boil, I don’t know what would.

Corporations argue that the U.S.’s top corporate tax rate of 35% is prohibitively high and puts them at a disadvantage against foreign companies. But even if you buy that argument (and I do not, because I think corporations should be responsible for paying taxes in countries in which they reap huge profits), it’s hard to swallow when the corporation in question — and not just any corporation, but the biggest in the world — is claiming a tax benefit. Not only did GE not pay any taxes in the U.S. last year, it effectively got money back from the U.S. government.

via GE, World’s Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year | AlterNet.

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March 24, 2011 · 8:02 am

Warren Buffet: There is Class Warfare and the Rich Are Winning – MarketWatch

Per my previous column about the Rich being different…

Buffet is Wealthy, one of the good guys, not one of the Evil Rich…

Yes, “there’s class warfare, all right,” warns Warren Buffett. “But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Yes, the rich are making war against us. And yes, they are winning. Why? Because so many are fighting this new American Civil War between the rich and the rest.

Not just the 16 new GOP governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and across America fighting for new powers. Others include: Chamber of Commerce billionaires, Koch brothers, Forbes 400, Karl Rove’s American Crossroads, Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform — which now has 97% of House Republicans and 85% of the GOP Senators signed on his “no new taxes” pledge — the Tea Party and Reaganomics ideologues.

Buffett: Deals wanted

Warren Buffett said he is ready to make more acquisitions in Korea, the U.S. or the UK, and he said “the bigger the better”. Shira Ovide talks with Kelsey Hubbard about Berkshire Hathaway’s next move, plus Buffet’s positive outlook on Japan.

Wake up America. You are under attack. Stop kidding yourself. We are at war. In fact, we have been fighting this Civil War for a generation, since Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981. Recently Buffett renewed the battle cry: The “rich class” is winning this war. Except most Americans still don’t realize they’re losing, don’t see the prize at stake.

via New Civil War erupts, led by super rich, GOP Paul B. Farrell – MarketWatch.

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March 22, 2011 · 9:35 pm

“Tax, Tax, Tax the Rich!” Calls to Tax Wealthy Making Right Wingers Sweat? | | AlterNet

It’s about time….

The main driver of the Federal Deficit is the Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy.

End those tax cuts for the wealthy and get out of Afghanistan and Iraq and we won’t have any budget problems…

A simple but powerful chant is now starting to reverberate, all across the country, in protests against budgets cuts gone wild.

“How to fix the deficit?” marchers are shouting. “Tax, tax, tax the rich!”

That sentiment, unfortunately, hasn’t yet reached deep into many law-making chambers. Last week, in the nation’s capital, Rep. Jan Schakowsky from Illinois did introduce legislation that would up taxes on income over $1 million, from the current 35 percent to a range of new rates that run from 45 to 49 percent.

But the budget debate in Congress still revolves almost exclusively around questions about how much to cut, with no attention at all to the vast untaxed fortunes of America’s super rich. In state legislatures, largely the same story.

So why are cheerleaders for America’s rich starting to sweat? They’re hearing the rising drumbeat — from labor and community groups the nation over — for new “millionaire” taxes. And they’re watching the polls, too. Over 80 percent of Americans, the latest surveys show, want higher taxes on our richest.

via “Tax, Tax, Tax the Rich!” Calls to Tax Wealthy Making Right Wingers Sweat? | | AlterNet.

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March 15, 2011 · 7:39 pm

Daily Kos: Voters trending towards Obama, away from GOP on deficit, economy

More from DailyKos on today’s poll numbers…

Please click the link for their detailed analysis…

DemFromCT took a detailed look at the latest ABC/Washington Post numbers earlier today, but I think these numbers bear repeating:

Chart based on ABC/Washington Post polling data (Source)

Chart

So since their post-election honeymoon, the GOP has had something of a nightmare, dropping a net of 13 points on who voters trust to deal with economy and an amazing 17 points on the federal budget deficit.

Although it’s somewhat surprising to see their numbers fall so quickly, it was bound to happen: not only have Republicans failed to do a single thing to improve the jobs situation, they are way out-of-step with the public on fiscal issues.

If Republicans keep this up, Democrats might be able to seriously talk about retaking the House.

via Daily Kos: Voters trending towards Obama, away from GOP on deficit, economy.

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March 11, 2011 · 5:43 pm

Dem Senator: Republicans brewing ‘toxic tea’ that will ‘bring shame to our country’ | Raw Replay

All I can say is “Amen”…..

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) on Thursday excoriated Republicans for taking their cues from the tea party movement, which he deemed to be pushing “dangerous” spending cuts that will “create pain for our children” and “shame” America.

“Here in Congress, tea party activists have seized control of the Republican side of the aisle—and it is far from a tea party for lots of jobless people and those qualified to study in college but unable to pay the freight,” Lautenberg said.

“Now that they are in power, we see they’re brewing Toxic Tea—a dangerous concoction that will create pain for our children and bring shame to our country.  We know that cutting critical programs now brings sky-high prices later—in more illnesses and a less-educated society. So we look at the future and we say we must invest in our children, our environment and medical research. But every time, they say: ‘No.’”

The New Jersey Democrat tore into the slew of Republican spending cuts, which include deep cuts to education, medical research, and women’s health services.

via Dem Senator: Republicans brewing ‘toxic tea’ that will ‘bring shame to our country’ | Raw Replay.

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March 9, 2011 · 10:48 pm

ThinkProgress » Schumer’s Deficit Reduction Steps: Millionaires Tax, Prevent Corporate Tax Dodging, Cut Wasteful Subsidies

Of course this will fail…

It makes too much sense for Congress to pass it….

 

First, Schumer revived his proposal from last year to institute a surtax on millionaires and billionaires. “I must say I noted with interest that in last week’s Wall Street Journal-NBC poll, the most popular proposal to reduce the deficit — out of 23 options surveyed — was a surtax on millionaires and billionaires,” he said.

Schumer also promoted closing the tax gap by cracking down on tax dodging and income sheltering by big corporations. “There is much we can do in the tax code to crack down on cheaters and vastly improve compliance,” he said. “Any credible deficit plan should tackle the so-called ‘tax gap’ — the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid — which has gotten as high as over $300 billion a year this past decade.”

He also advocated cutting the wasteful subsidies that are handed out every year to industries, including the oil and gas industries, that don’t need them. Schumer expanded on these ideas in an interview today with ThinkProgress:

“All these kinds of subsidies should be on the table, but the one that sticks out like a sore thumb is oil and gas because the entire rationale for it is gone. It was passed, I think, when the price of oil was $17 a barrel, we had low production, and now of course, the price of oil is $100 a barrel. The subsidy, in economic terms, doesn’t mean anything other than to make some people wealthy who are already wealthy.”

via ThinkProgress » Schumer’s Deficit Reduction Steps: Millionaires Tax, Prevent Corporate Tax Dodging, Cut Wasteful Subsidies.

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March 9, 2011 · 9:47 pm

Top 10 Worst Things about the Republicans’ Immoral Budget | | AlterNet

Electi0ns have consequences…

People really need to understand what they are really voting for when they vote for Republicans….

From AlterNet and Move on:

The Republican budget would:

1. Destroy 700,000 jobs, according to an independent economic analysis.

2. Zero out federal funding for National Public Radio and public television.

3. Cut $1.3 billion from community health centers—which will deprive more than 3 million low-income people of health care over the next few months.

4. Cut nearly a billion dollars in food and health care assistance to pregnant women, new moms, and children.

5. Kick more than 200,000 children out of pre-school by cutting funds for Head Start.

6. Force states to fire 65,000 teachers and aides, dramatically increasing class sizes, thanks to education cuts.

7. Cut some or all financial aid for 9.4 million low- and middle-income college students.

8. Slash $1.6 billion from the National Institutes of Health, a cut that experts say would “send shockwaves” through cancer research, likely result in cuts to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s research, and cause job losses.

9. End the only federal family planning program, including cutting all federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood to support cancer screenings and other women’s health care.

10. Send 10,000 low-income veterans into homelessness by cutting in half the number of veterans who get housing vouchers this year.

via Top 10 Worst Things about the Republicans’ Immoral Budget | | AlterNet.

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March 3, 2011 · 7:42 pm

ThinkProgress : Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs

Well, the truth is starting to both come out and sink in to the country as a whole…

Another article worth reading in its entirety and seeing the actual poll results…

For months, Republicans have relentlessly promoted the Tea Party-driven message that the government spends too much, and that social welfare programs should be first on the chopping block. “To not address entitlement programs, as is the case with the budget the president has put forward, would be an economic and moral failure,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declared.

But a comprehensive new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll suggests Republicans significantly overestimated the public’s eagerness to tackle the federal deficit by cutting programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As reflected in the growing “Main Street Movement,” the poll, released yesterday, found sizable majorities of Americans prefer steps like eliminating oil company subsidies, enacting a surtax on the income of millionaires, and rolling back the Bush cuts. Only 23 percent think it’s acceptable to, for example, make cuts to Medicare, while 81 percent favor instituting a millionaire’s surtax:

AND

Reacting to the results, one GOP pollster told NBC’s First Read that Republicans may have gravely miscalculated in their headlong rush slash spending, as demanded by the Tea Party. “It may be hard to understand why a person might jump off a cliff, unless you understand they’re being chased by a tiger. That tiger is the Tea Party,” he said.

MORE:   ThinkProgress » Blog Archive » Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs.

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