White House Concedes On Upper Income Tax Cuts

[TheSarge]

President Obama senior adviser David Axelrod insisted Thursday that comments he made to an an online publication conceding to an extension of tax cuts for all income levels are no different from remarks by the president over the weekend.

Axelrod, who confirmed to Fox News comments he made to The Huffington Post, suggested that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board continuation of current tax rates, marking a turnaround from the White House's pre-midterm election stance on impending tax increases.

"We have to deal with the world as we find it," he said. However, Axelrod made clear to Fox News the White House is not conceding a permanent extension for the top 2 percent of earners.

The president's top adviser also acknowledged that separating different categories of tax cuts now is politically unrealistic and procedurally difficult.

The current tax rates laid out by Congress in 2001 under the guidance of then-President George W. Bush included a sunset of 10 years, meaning rates are expected to rise on all income levels in 2011. However, economists and most lawmakers agree that raising tax rates during a recession will only prolong the pain of a fitful economy.

"We don't want that tax increase to go forward for the middle class ... But plainly, what we can't do is permanently extend these high income taxes," he told the online publication.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/11/white-house-downplaying-concessions-upper-income-tax-cuts/

[thundley4]

If they extend them at least through 2012, then there is a chance they could become permanent under the next GOP congress and president.

[Mike220]

Oh, the DUmmies are not going to like this.

[NHSparky]

I don't believe it...and if Obumbles ever DOES sign something like that, don't even try to tell me there won't be some SERIOUS strings attached.

[Chris_]

If they extend them at least through 2012, then there is a chance they could become permanent under the next GOP congress and president.

I wouldn't be surprised if Pelosi tries to piggyback her DREAM act on it. (That is one rule that definitely needs to change)

[thundley4]

I wouldn't be surprised if Pelosi tries to piggyback her DREAM act on it. (That is one rule that definitely needs to change)

I would like to see a rule where every amendment has to pertain to the original bill. 

[BlueStateSaint]

I wouldn't be surprised if Pelosi tries to piggyback her DREAM act on it. (That is one rule that definitely needs to change)

Or, alternately (or both), card check.

[DumbAss Tanker]

White House appears to be backpedaling on the whole thing today.

[Karin]

Why the hell can't people say what they mean and mean what they say??

And I agree a million % about that insidious practice of attaching shit to bills.  Also hiding things in bills. 

They did a funny parody about that in NR once, where interns were putting stuff in the Stimulus to extract revenge on girlfriends who had dumped them, make a boatload of money, etc. 

[ExGeeEye]

I would like to see a rule where every amendment has to pertain to the original bill. 

I would like to see a rule where every amendment merely changes the wording of the original bill.  I would also like to see a rule where every bill has to fit on one 8.5x14 page in 12-point double-spaced type and conlude with a cite of that paragraph in the constitution (screw mere clauses!) authorize the bill to exist in the first place.

[Tess Anderson]

If they extend them at least through 2012, then there is a chance they could become permanent under the next GOP congress and president.

Yes, I've heard this, but I don't think the GOP will fall into THAT trap - the one that has Obama extending the tax cuts this year on everybody, but only making the middle-class ones permanent. That would force the GOP to run in 2012 on a platform of "tax cuts for the wealthy". No no no.

[thundley4]

Yes, I've heard this, but I don't think the GOP will fall into THAT trap - the one that has Obama extending the tax cuts this year on everybody, but only making the middle-class ones permanent. That would force the GOP to run in 2012 on a platform of "tax cuts for the wealthy". No no no.

They could bump up the cut for the middle class while reinstating those tax rates for the top 2% or whatever.  OTOH, if the economy recovers under the extension, then conservatives can say that it did so with all the cuts being extended.

[true_blood]

I wouldn't be surprised if Pelosi tries to piggyback her DREAM act on it. (That is one rule that definitely needs to change)

She seems to be more for passing the DREAM act than for passing the extensions.

[Wretched Excess]

now he says he didn't concede.  although he may later.  or not.  or something . . . 

President Obama on tax cuts: I'm not caving in to GOP pressure to extend cuts for wealthy

President Obama was adamant on Friday that he isn't caving in to GOP pressure to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, despite a recent report claiming that he already has.

He told reporters at the G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea that his "number one priority" is extending tax cuts for the middle class

"I continue to believe that extending permanently the upper-income tax cuts would be a mistake and that we can't afford it," he said. "And my hope is, is that somewhere in between there we can find some sort of solution."

Obama's statements are in sharp contrast to a Huffington Post article published Thursday, where the President's senior adviser, David Axelrod, suggested his administration was ready to give into GOP demands to extend the cuts.

Obama has previously argued in favor of the tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year (which represents 98% of Americans). But those making more than that, he argued, should return to the higher rates before Bush took office.

More

[Wretched Excess]

 . . . says the guy that turned "trillion dollar expense" into a household phrase.

At the same time, Obama said permanently extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would be “a mistake” and called Republican support for the move “fiscally irresponsible.”

Link

[Wretched Excess]

it occurs to me that pelosi could have one boulder-sized chip on her shoulder.  she crammed all of that legislation through her chamber of congress, only to have cadaver-man harried reid drop the ball.  the senate didn't even take up cap-and-trade, and it was his senate that caused all of the complications with obamacare.  yet he kept his job (and a really nice job it is) while she lost hers.  and the president was no help to her, floating above the fray very deity like, refusing to jump in the trenches and get dirty.

I think she is vindictive and intemperate (and, judging from the last paragraph that I excerpted, delusional) enough to cause some good old fashioned "if I'm going down, I'm at least going to make your lives miserable" fireworks during the lame duck session.
 

Pelosi won't budge on expiring Bush tax cuts

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled Friday she is not softening her opposition to extending the Bush-era tax cuts for high income earners.

Asked whether she would accept even a temporary extension of all the cuts like some Democrats want, Pelosi said that it is time to let them expire for the upper income brackets and be extended for the middle class.

"The position that we have, and which is the position the president has put forth, is that everybody should get a tax cut in our country," the outgoing Speaker told NPR. "The problem comes," she said, "when an additional tax cut to the wealthy is two percent that will heap $700 billion in debt" upon the country's children.

Pelosi's comments indicate that Republicans and Democrats are headed for a stand-off on the tax cuts when Congress returns for its lame-duck session next week.
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"Those tax cuts have been effect for a very long time, they did not create jobs," she said, adding later, "From day one, President Obama and this Congress have been job creators."

Link

[true_blood]

Pelosi won't budge on expiring Bush tax cuts
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled Friday she is not softening her opposition to extending the Bush-era tax cuts for high income earners.
"Those tax cuts have been effect for a very long time, they did not create jobs," she said, adding later, "From day one, President Obama and this Congress have been job creators."

Really douche bag?!? How's that unemployment rate doing for ya? Not the one on the news all over the place, the ACTUAL unemployment rate, including under-employed and those given up looking for work. Funny how someone from Commiefornia wouldn't realize how bad the jobs picture is, especially in their own district. Goes to show the true disconnect.

[NHSparky]

Of course she will, WE.  She's got a job for life.  Harry barely kept his job, and at the current pace, Obama will be lucky to get elected dog catcher in Woodlawn at the rate he's going.

[terry]

it occurs to me that pelosi could have one boulder-sized chip on her shoulder.  she crammed all of that legislation through her chamber of congress, only to have cadaver-man harried reid drop the ball.  the senate didn't even take up cap-and-trade, and it was his senate that caused all of the complications with obamacare.  yet he kept his job (and a really nice job it is) while she lost hers.  and the president was no help to her, floating above the fray very deity like, refusing to jump in the trenches and get dirty.

I think she is vindictive and intemperate (and, judging from the last paragraph that I excerpted, delusional) enough to cause some good old fashioned "if I'm going down, I'm at least going to make your lives miserable" fireworks during the lame duck session.
 

Does anyone have the link to the video of Pelosi saying the democrats are winning on election day?   I wanted to share it with someone and I can't find it.

[Wineslob]

What's very interesting is Chucky Scumbag, on Dis-grace the Nation, mentioned keeping the tax cuts active for those making 1 million and under. However, after listening to that scumbag, if he represents Dumbocraps, they are delusional, and I mean really off their rocker. 

[Allentownjake]

Catch 22

The Federal Budget is a mess from 30 years of mismanagement.  Barack just got us where we would be in 2016 in 2010 by pursuing Keynesian  slush funds for campaign contributers. 

The budget is 75% three programs

Social Security

Medicare

Defense

The rest of the discretionary spending is minimal compared to these 3 items.

Barack's catch 22 is he is a Keynesian idiot (note not Kenyan).  As a Keynesian idiot he believes the government can stimulate the economy and in the current political environment he isn't getting anymore fiscal policy other than the Bush tax cuts.

Now if he would have worked to punish people who had committed fraud and find a way to increase interest rates thus deflating cost and input costs while investing in some large public works projects the country actually needed using the excess labor supply he might have had a chance and the UE rate would be declining significantly.

What he decided to do is put all the unemployed on Welfare after their 6 month benefits expired, hand out money to campaign contributers, and pass silly tax benefits like trying to re-inflate the housing industry and auto-industry with tax breaks.  The banks aren't the lenders in this case.  The government has solely been supporting the housing and auto industry with easy credit and has interfered with prices falling.

All of his policies have actually encouraged capital flight. Which is the opposite of what you want.

On the tax cuts, Barack as dumb as he is, knows that the combination of the stimulus expiring and tax cuts expiring will bring the economy to reality in 2011 and that isn't good for election prospects.  The Catch 22 is that he faces a base that is pissed that he is going through budget cuts at the same time he is implementing tax cuts for budget deficit reduction.

Frankly in order to get the budget back in balance there are going to be tax increases because no one really wants to touch the big 3 of Federal Government spending.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Barack's catch 22 is he is a Keynesian idiot (note not Kenyan). 

 

His balking on continuing the tax rates might be seen as a misguided attempt to get plunder from the upper brackets to keep his budget afloat, but it does not really make sense from either Keynesian or free market economics. 

Under either view, if lower tax rates for one class of taxpayers are beneficial to the economy, then they would logically be beneficial for all; or conversely, if higher tax rates for one group increased revenue and enabled the Government to fund more stimulation, then logically higher rates for all classes would be even more beneficial. 

His position is pretty clearly based on some kind of a bastard cross of Keynesian economic theory and Populist class warfare.

[Allentownjake]

His balking on continuing the tax rates might be seen as a misguided attempt to get plunder from the upper brackets to keep his budget afloat, but it does not really make sense from either Keynesian or free market economics.  

Under either view, if lower tax rates for one class of taxpayers are beneficial to the economy, then they would logically be beneficial for all; or conversely, if higher tax rates for one group increased revenue and enabled the Government to fund more stimulation, then logically higher rates for all classes would be even more beneficial.  

His position is pretty clearly based on some kind of a bastard cross of Keynesian economic theory and Populist class warfare.

The tax cuts are the only Keynesian nonsense he'll be able to implement.

A tax cut with a budget deficit is Keynesian nonsense as much as a stimulus program is.

Barack just prefers being able to determine who gets the Keynesian nonsense benefit.

He also really wants to create 600-900 billion out of thin air from the federal reserve because congress won't let him get away with borrowing 600-900 billion to do another stimulus.

[ToddWB]

Of course she will, WE.  She's got a job for life.  Harry barely kept his job, and at the current pace, Obama will be lucky to get elected dog catcher in Woodlawn at the rate he's going.

Obama don't care, with his cut from what Soros is stealing, he can buy the UN GS position.

[Allentownjake]

Bob Rubin.

Beck is to focused on Soros.  Rubin is the guy he should be talking about.