“You can’t call yourself a Democrat and support Social Security benefit cuts. The president is proposing to steal thousands of dollars from grandparents and veterans by cutting cost of living adjustments, and any congressional Democrat who votes for such a plan should be ready for a primary challenge. Social Security is the core of the [...]
Tag Archives | taxes
Reagan Budget Chief: George W. Bush “Bankrupting the Nation” through Two “Unfinanced Wars”
This dynamic reinforced the Reaganite shibboleth that “deficits don’t matter” and the fact that nearly $5 trillion of the nation’s $12 trillion in “publicly held” debt is actually sequestered in the vaults of central banks. The destruction of fiscal rectitude under Ronald Reagan — one reason I resigned as his budget chief in 1985 — [...]
Paul Who? The “Anti-Palin” Fades
THIS IS a classic. Where’s Paul Ryan? Disappeared! Oh, but it’s all on his choosing… or maybe not. He’s very busy behind the scenes, which in politics doesn’t mean much if you’re not getting good publicity. From Politico’s Jonathan Martin: He seems to have fallen entirely off the radar of early state Republicans. Democrats bring [...]
Senate Passes Non-Binding “Budget” in “Vote-a-Rama” and Amendment-palooza
On Friday, however, Senate Democrats stood up and voted for almost a trillion dollars more in tax hikes — and that’s on top of the tax hikes in the fiscal cliff deal. That’s about $375 billion more in tax increases than even Obama has been asking for lately. Republicans always said Senate Democrats needed to [...]
Congressional Progressive Caucus Unveil “Back to Work” Budget *Updated*
WHILE EVERYONE is listening to the squealing talking heads on morning cable, none of whom know much about what a real budget looks like that doesn’t channel the disastrous notion of austerity, House progressives showed the Democratic party, the White House, and everyone else in Washington, how it’s done. You can read the Progressive Congressional [...]
Obama, the Grand Bargainer in Chief, Paul Ryan as His Foil
“We’re not gonna balance the budget in ten years because if you look at what Paul Ryan does to balance the budget, it means that you have to voucher-ize Medicare, you have to slash deeply into programs like Medicaid, you’ve essentially got to — either tax — middle class families a lot higher than you [...]
Paul Ryan Austerity a Good Target for Democrats
Second, health care. Our budget repeals the president’s health-care law and replaces it with patient-centered reforms. It also protects and strengthens Medicare. I want Medicare to be there for my kids—just as it’s there for my mom today. But Medicare is going broke. Under our proposal, those in or near retirement will see no changes, [...]
Republicans Unraveling Over Sequester
“We have moved a bill in the House twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something.” – Speaker John Boehner [The Hill] ROCK, HARD PLACE, meet John Boehner. President Obama here in Virginia, a state that’s getting slammed by sequester. “These [...]
News Desk: Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Koch Brother Billionaires
Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaires (via Desmogblog) A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene. Far from [...]
News Desk: CBO on Debt, Progressive Caucus Shows Obama & Democrats How to Get Out of This Mess
… If the current laws that govern federal taxes and spending do not change, the budget deficit will shrink this year to $845 billion, or 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), its smallest size since 2008. In CBO’s baseline projections, deficits continue to shrink over the next few years, falling to 2.4 percent of [...]
Obama’s New “Taxation Without Representation” License Plates
OBAMA’S PRESIDENTIAL motorcade consists of “three identical cars” with “three identical license plates,” which were unveiled this past Saturday. From the official pool report over the weekend, with the pooler explaining, with help from other journalists in the White House pool. CLARIFICATION on motorcade license plates: There are THREE vans in the motorcade with Taxation [...]
Fiscal Scheme Deal Done: 77% of Households Will Pay More Taxes, Corporations Get Subsidies
We have been subjected to a White House negotiating process that violates every standard of rationality and transparency. The public never once saw an integrated budget proposal that showed the quantitative and qualitative implications of various policy options. The public has not been told that yesterday’s agreement threatens the financing of crucial programs for education, [...]
New Year, Another Fiscal Scheme [Obama's Remarks]
…In other words, the financial markets responded as many of us non-insiders predicted. As long as it was clear that a deal would be forthcoming, they didn’t give a damn about the fiscal “cliff”deadline. Chalk this one up as yet another example of the experts – the people who report on the budget and the [...]
Top Story: Why President Obama and Democrats Shouldn’t Be Trusted Anymore than Republicans
Everyone is confused about the Fiscal Cliffhanger. Obama is struggling to make a deal to prolong most of the Bush-era tax cuts. The Republicans are holding back. Yet if a deal is reached, the federal government and the long-term purpose of the Democratic Party are both likely to be ruined for years to come. If [...]
Boehner Opens House on Sunday, Hoyer Invokes Child Hostage Being Shot on Debt Limit
SHOCKING! SHOCKING, I say. Speaker Boehner is bringing back the House on Sunday, because Republicans are looking really small in this and at the bottom everyone knows middle class tax cuts will pass at some point and they might as well appear in the game. But, yes, I still believe a deal will get done [...]
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