FROM 2012 INTO 2013 POLITICS THREAD

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

/But a lot of the anti-Obama criticism is not race related. It's all about politics.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Carter, Clinton and Obama all had Republicans in key administration positions.

Republican presidents never had Dems to key positions even for "liberal" cabinet departments such as labor and education. They'd rather have someone who will work against the department's mission.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

"Hi, everybody. Over the past year, as I traveled across the country campaigning for this office, I told you that if I was fortunate enough to be re-elected, I’d work to change a tax code that too often benefited the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

This week, we did that. For the first time in two decades, we raised taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans in a bipartisan way, while preventing a middle-class tax hike that could have thrown our economy back into recession.

Under this law, more than 98% of Americans and 97% of small business will not see their income taxes go up one dime" / Barack Obama

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would allow the payroll tax cut to expire at the end of this year, an aide in his office told The Huffington Post. That would save the government an estimated $110 billion over 10 years, his office projected.

Because the payroll tax cut was already scheduled to expire at the end of this year, that $110 billion saving isn't counted by House GOP leadership as contributing to the $800 billion in revenue that it projects will come from its fiscal cliff proposal.


www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/john-boehner-fiscal-cliff_n_2233936.html

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

The payroll tax cut was among the dumbest ideas of all time.

Its sole reason was to cut the taxes of folks who paid nothing in income taxes. They wanted to cut the taxes of people who didn't pay income taxes. That's how dumb it was.

And, it goes against everything Al Gore lectured us about -- the "lockbox".

But, of course folks loved it. Just like cash for clunkers, or other dumb ideas, it was free money. Frankly, I'm shocked the "temporary" cut was ever allowed to expire.

So, while Republicans shouldn't act like they wanted this cut to remain, I think it is fair to criticize the President for raising it/letting it expire.

Why? Does no one remember the previous fight to extend it? Democrats, including the President, demagogued the issue like crazy. They beat republicans up over it. They recruited testimonials from folks describing what the "$40 dollars" meant to them.

They even set up a website. Remember www.whitehouse.gov/40dollars ? (And, it was set up by the WH, not political operatives.)

But, of course that was during an election year, and the President had to pander. Now that it's over, he wants your money.

But, is the $40 any less important to folks?

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

President Obama this morning called on Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance upon which millions of American rely -- renewing a public campaign that began in December when tens of thousands of Americans took to email, Twitter, and Facebook to say what they would have to give up without the extra money from the tax cuts.

Currently, 160 million Americans benefit for the tax relief that's set to expire at the end of the month. The typical family saves about $40 with every paycheck.

Surrounded by individuals who had written to the White House to say what they would give up without $40, the President said:

Last December, when we had this same fight, your voices made all the difference. We asked folks to tell what it was like -- what it would be like if they lost $40 out of every one of their paychecks -- because we wanted to make sure that people understood this is not just an abstract argument, this is concrete. This makes a difference in the lives of folks all across the country in very important ways.

The President told the story of an entrepreneur named Thierry -- who was in the audience. Thierry wrote the White House to say that if he had to give up $40 with each paycheck, he'd be forced to make the choice between gas money that helps him get to his day job and paying for the Internet service that he needs for his small business. "Forty dollars," Thierry said, "means a heck of a lot."

There were hopeful signs yesterday that the message from people like Thierry might be resonating with lawmakers. But the President pledged to take nothing for granted -- to continue the fight until a bill was on his desk:

[We've] got to keep on making sure that the American people's voices keep breaking through until this is absolutely, finally, completely done. Until you see me sign this thing, you've got to keep on speaking up. Until you see that photograph of me signing it at my desk, make sure it's verified, certified. If it's not on the White House website, it hasn't happened. And I'm going to need to make sure that your voices are heard.

Rest assured that when the President signs the legislation to extend the payroll tax cut, we will indeed write up the details and post a picture on WhiteHouse.gov.

Until then, keep on speaking out: http://www.whitehouse.gov/40dollars

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Sole "porpoise"? I'm now going to refer to the payroll tax cut as lonely dolphin legislation.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

I don't know what you're talking about.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Come on, YF ... you know the working class needs to save for its retirement. The good news is that this is going directly into that Social Security retirement plan. So it's not like it's really a tax. It's an investment ... [/bluefont]

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Now, if you’re a family making about $50,000 a year, this is a tax cut that amounts to about $1,000 a year. That’s about 40 bucks out of every paycheck. It may be that there's some folks in the House who refuse to vote for this compromise because they don’t think that 40 bucks is a lot of money. But anyone who knows what it’s like to stretch a budget knows that at the end of the week, or the end of the month, $40 can make all the difference in the world.

And that’s why we thought we’d bring your voices into this debate. So many of these debates in Washington end up being portrayed as which party is winning, which party is losing. But what we have to remind ourselves of is this is about people. This is about the American people and whether they win. It's not about a contest between politicians.

So on Tuesday, we asked folks to tell us what would it be like to lose $40 out of your paycheck every week. And I have to tell you that the response has been overwhelming. We haven't seen anything like this before. Over 30,000 people have written in so far - as many as 2,000 every hour. We’re still hearing from folks - and I want to encourage everybody who's been paying attention to this to keep sending your stories to WhiteHouse.gov and share them on Twitter and share them on Facebook.

The responses we’ve gotten so far have come from Americans of all ages and Americans of all backgrounds, from every corner of the country. Some of the folks who responded are on stage with me here today, and they should remind every single member of Congress what’s at stake in this debate. Let me just give you a few samples.

Joseph from New Jersey talked about how he would have to sacrifice the occasional pizza night with his daughters. He said - and I'm quoting - 'My 16-year-old twins will be out of the house soon. I'll miss this.'

Richard from Rhode Island wrote to tell us that having an extra $40 in his check buys enough heating oil to keep his family warm for three nights. In his words - I'm quoting - 'If someone doesn't think that 12 gallons of heating oil is important, I invite them to spend three nights in an unheated home. Or you can believe me when I say that it makes a difference.'

Pete from Wisconsin told us about driving more than 200 miles each week to keep his father-in-law company in a nursing home - $40 out of his paycheck would mean he'd only be able to make three trips instead of four.

We heard from a teacher named Claire from here in D.C. who goes to the thrift store every week and uses her own money to buy pencils and books for her fourth grade class. Once in a while she splurges on science or art supplies. Losing $40, she says, would mean she couldn’t do that anymore.
For others, $40 means dinner out with a child who's home for Christmas, a new pair of shoes, a tank of gas, a charitable donation. These are the things at stake for millions of Americans. They matter to people. A lot.

And keep in mind that those are just the individual stories. That doesn’t account for the overall impact that a failure to extend the payroll tax cut and a failure to extend unemployment insurance would have on the economy as a whole. We've seen the economy do better over the last couple of months, but there's still a lot of sources of uncertainty out there - what's going on in Europe, what's going on around the world. And so this is insurance to make sure that our recovery continues.

So it's time for the House to listen to the voices who are up here, the voices all across the country, and reconsider. What’s happening right now is exactly why people just get so frustrated with Washington. This is it; this is exactly why people get so frustrated with Washington. This isn’t a typical Democratic-versus-Republican issue. This is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. How can we not get that done? I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things we can't do it? It doesn’t make any sense.

So, enough is enough. The people standing with me today can’t afford any more games. They can’t afford to lose $1,000 because of some ridiculous Washington standoff. The House needs to pass a short-term version of this compromise, and then we should negotiate an agreement as quickly as possible to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for the rest of 2012. It's the right thing to do for the economy, and it's, most importantly, the right thing to do for American families all across the country.

This is not just my view. Just a few hours ago, this is exactly what the Republican Leader of the Senate said we should do. Democrats agree with the Republican Leader of the Senate. We should go ahead and get this done. This should not be hard. We all agree it should happen. I believe it's going to happen sooner or later. Why not make it sooner, rather than later? Let’s give the American people - the people who sent us here - the kind of leadership they deserve.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Very Ruckus of you, YF.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Not a tax cut.

If your boss gives you a Christmas bonus, do you bitch about a reduction in pay when you get January's check?