The Republicans $700 billion dollar bailout to the wealthy

[Chris]

Washington (CNN) -- Senate Republicans promised Wednesday to block legislative action on every issue being considered by the lame-duck Congress until the dispute over extending the Bush-era tax cuts is resolved and an extension of current government funding is approved.

All 42 Senate Republicans signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, vowing to prevent a vote on "any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers."

"With little time left in this congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate's attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike," the letter said.

The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted by former President George W. Bush will expire after December 31 if Congress fails to reach an agreement on their extension. Top Democrats and Republicans disagree sharply over whether the current tax rates should be extended just for families earning $250,000 or under per year, or should be extended for everyone regardless of income.

Republicans contend that a failure to extend all of the tax cuts would hamper an already-sluggish economy. President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders argue that the roughly $700 billion price tag attached to an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would be fiscally irresponsible.

Senate GOP pledges to block all bills until tax dispute resolved - CNN.com

 

[Truthmatters]

But the best stimulus is cut.

Unemployment benifits.

 

[Chris]

The Republican Party is evil.

Pure evil.

The Reagan mythology of lowering taxes for the rich and doubling the deficit will destroy America if it is not stopped.

 

[elvis]

You lost. Deal with it. It's what you said in 2008.

 

[Truthmatters]

Um asshole there are still more dems than Rs in the gov.

You are the loser.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

We're in a sad state of affairs when the best our intellectual leaders can offer is to raise taxes.

 

[elvis]

Um asshole there are still more dems than Rs in the gov.

.

I know that, dumb bitch. you lost the 2010 election. now you and chrissy are crying.

 

[sangha]

Wingnuts will balance the budget by increasing the deficit.

 

[Stephanie]

December 1, 2010 12:00 A.M.


SNIP:
Demagoguery Unanswered
Do Republicans understand that “demagoguery beats data”?




Guess who said the following: “It is incredible that a system of taxation which permits a man with an income of $1,000,000 a year to pay not one cent to his Government should remain unaltered.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt? Ted Kennedy? Nancy Pelosi?

Not even close. It was Andrew Mellon, secretary of the Treasury under conservative Republican president Calvin Coolidge.

What was Mellon’s point? That high tax rates do not necessarily result in high tax revenues to the government. “It is time to face the facts,” he said. Merely having high tax rates on large incomes will not bring in more tax revenues to the Treasury, because of “the flight of capital away from taxable investments.”
This was all said in 1924, in Mellon’s book, Taxation: The People’s Business. Yet here we are, more than 80 years later, still not facing those facts.

It is not just a question of what Andrew Mellon said. It is a question of hard facts, easily checked in official documents available to all — and ignored all these years.

Internal Revenue Service data show that there were 206 people who reported annual incomes of one million dollars or more in 1916. But, as the tax rate on high incomes skyrocketed under the Woodrow Wilson administration, that number plummeted to just 21 people reporting a million dollars a year in income five years later.

What happened to all those millionaires? Did they flee the country? Were they stricken with fatal diseases? Did they meet with foul play?

Not to worry. Right after Congress enacted the cuts in tax rates that Mellon had been urging, there were suddenly 207 people reporting taxable incomes of a million dollars or more in 1925. As Casey Stengel used to say, “You could look it up.” It is on page 21 of an Internal Revenue publication titled “Statistics of Income from Returns of Net Income for 1925.”

Where had all the income of those millionaires been hiding? In tax-exempt securities like state and local bonds, among other places. Mellon had urged Congress to end tax exemptions for such securities, even before he got them to cut tax rates. But he succeeded only with the latter, and only after a political struggle with those who made the same kinds of arguments that are still being made today by those who cry out against “tax cuts for the rich.”

Still, one out of two is not bad, when it comes to getting Congress to do something that makes sense economically, rather than something that looks good politically.


read it all here.
Demagoguery Unanswered - Thomas Sowell - National Review Online

 

[Hot Wire]

The Republican Party is evil.

Pure evil.

The Reagan mythology of lowering taxes for the rich and doubling the deficit will destroy America if it is not stopped.

lol,Your a total idiot!!Class warfare will get this nation no where.The rich already pay most of the taxes.I bet you voted for that fascist pig obama.That proves what a total idiot you are.Your welfare check late?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

The Republican Party is evil.

Pure evil.

The Reagan mythology of lowering taxes for the rich and doubling the deficit will destroy America if it is not stopped.

Stop pretending that you care about the deficit. Hypocrisy is an ugly thing.

 

[BlindBoo]

I hope the Democrats don't cave in, again. Let them expire on everyone and the onus will be on the Republicans.

 

[Stephanie]

LOL, I hope the Democrats don't cave on this either.

Let them RAISE the peoples taxes, then we can CLEAN out the REST of the commies sitting in our Congress come 2012 like we started with this LAST ELECTION.

go Democrats go.

 

[Moon]

LOL, I hope the Democrats don't cave on this either.

Let them RAISE the peoples taxes, then we can CLEAN out the REST of the commies sitting in our Congress come 2012 like we started with this LAST ELECTION.

go Democrats go.

That would require them to stand on heir principles, something that's extremely rare in Washington DC.

If people are worried that extending the tax cuts will "cost" $700 billion, there's an easy answer. Cut spending by the same amount. Problem solved.

 

[Truthmatters]

How about we do what best for the economy and the vast majority of people in the US?

No tax cuts for the 2% and extend the unemployment benifits.

Then we can also cut spending and do even better than your plan of just cutting the rich peoples taxes.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

How about we do what best for the economy and the vast majority of people in the US?

No tax cuts for the 2% and extend the unemployment benifits.

Then we can also cut spending and do even better than your plan of just cutting the rich peoples taxes.

I am hoping the Republicans finally show some back bone and stick with this pledge. Exactly how many YEARS should States ( not the Federal Government) have to pay people to do NOTHING. No more extensions to unemployment at ALL. In fact roll back the time paid to pre Obama days.

The bullshit claim that letting people keep money THEY EARNED is somehow taking money away from "the Government" has got to be the STUPIDEST claim I have ever heard. In effect what you retards are claiming is that no citizen has any rights to his own earned income UNLESS the Government decides to let them have it.

Further you dumb asses are ignoring historical and monetary facts. One does not get out of recession or depression by RAISING TAXES.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

How about we do what best for the economy and the vast majority of people in the US?

No tax cuts for the 2% and extend the unemployment benifits.

Then we can also cut spending and do even better than your plan of just cutting the rich peoples taxes.

How about we side with the people and lower EVERYONE's taxes even more and let the govt make necessary cuts on itself for being so irresponsible?

 

[sangha]

How about we do what best for the economy and the vast majority of people in the US?

No tax cuts for the 2% and extend the unemployment benifits.

Then we can also cut spending and do even better than your plan of just cutting the rich peoples taxes.

How about we side with the people and lower EVERYONE's taxes even more and let the govt make necessary cuts on itself for being so irresponsible?

If wingnuts didn't lie, they'd have nothing to say

If we cut the rate on the first $250k, even the millionaires get a tax break on the first $250k that they earn

 

[kiwiman127]

When the Bush tax cuts were passed, they weren't made permanent. The reason was in order to make a tax cut permanent, how the tax cut is being paid for must be shown. Well, there was no answer, so the GOP tax cut legislation put a expiration date on the tax cuts.
Can these tax cuts be made to be permanent? No. The GOP isn't offering to make these cuts permanent because they can't show how these tax cuts will be paid for.
In other words, the GOP knows that the tax cuts don't pay for themselves and will increase the deficit.
How is it that folks on the far right (who I can't claim to be fiscal hawks) want to blame the Dems for a tax increase, when in fact that the GOP set up this situation because they have no solution to pay for the tax cuts in the first place? That's like blaming a relief pitcher for losing a game, even though the team was way behind before he ever stepped on the pitchers mound.

 

[rightwinger]

No tax cuts should be given unless there is a corresponding cut in spending