Most of us were expecting Obama to cave-in on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, and I feel thoroughly disappointed that he did. At the same time, I want to be fair and examine the problem from all sides. In his capitulation speech, Obama said several things that were true. It was clear that Republicans would not give ground. Republicans care nothing for the suffering of middle class workers. Had Obama held fast, as he said, millions of workers, whose real wages have gone down, over the last ten years, because of Bush/Republican policies and current Republican obstruction would get a pay cut next month. Republicans used the unemployed as a human shield. Republicans care nothing that many workers their policies displaced will lose their homes, be unable to provide for their families, or have their Christmas dinners in soup kitchens. Had Obama held fast, as he said, these things would take place. Obama was also correct, when he said that, if he held fast, the economy would lose over a million jobs, threatening the bare beginnings of a recovery. So Obama had reasons for making the choice he made. I believe he thinks he is doing the right thing. I also believe he is wrong. Let’s start with his speech.
And here is the breakdown of the deal:
BREAKING DOWN THE TAX CUTS
Highlights of the proposed bipartisan agreement:
Rates: Extends all income tax rates for two more years for all taxpayers.
Estates: Applies a 35 percent tax on estates worth more than $5 million.
Unemployment: Extends unemployment insurance for 13 months,
providing benefits to 2 million long-term unemployed workers
in December and 7 million over the next year.
Payroll: Cuts payroll taxes by 2 percentage points for 2011.
Credits: Extends increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit,
the child credit and tuition credits adopted in 2009.
Businesses: Allows businesses to write off 100 percent of their capital investments during 2011. The current write-off is 50 percent.
Inserted from <San Jose Mercury News>
The cuts for millionaires and billionaires remains totally unacceptable, as does the estate tax provision. Extending unemployment is key, buy why only thirteen months? When this issue comes back a year from now, what will Republicans want when they use the unemployed as a human shield again? The payroll cut and tax credit extensions are positive elements. If I understand it correctly, the business write-off just accelerates the deduction of 50% of capital investments by one year, so I don’t think it will matter much at all. I have heard it said that this is the best deal he could get, and I agree that it was, but in this case, best just isn’t good enough. Though he may save many hostages from Republican terrorism, it will serve only to encourage more of the same. I’ve heard buzz that the next Republican hostage will be Doc Fix, attempting to gut Medicare and Medicaid.
The biggest consequence of this cave is the total shredding of Obama’s waning credibility. The touch stone, around which Obama centered his campaign, was the promise to end the Bush/Republican policies that have created an ever widening gap between the super-rich and the rest of us. I don’t consider this a betrayal. I think of it as spinelessness. This issue will return in the 2012 campaign. Obama will run, once again, on ending Republican tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. How can we believe him after this?
Although, it may be futile, we must oppose the passage of this deal. Fortunately, my favorite Democrat, who isn’t one, has stated his intent to filibuster.
I urge you to join me. Tell your Senators to oppose the tax cut deal!
18 Responses to “Editorial: Exploring the Cave”
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Well, the claim that we will now all benefit due to the new jobs the rich bastards are going to create for us only begs the question of why – since those same tax rates have been in place the last ten years – they are not spurring fantastic job growth right now.
Do Teapublicans actually want us to believe that job creation has been stymied by the unbearable crushing uncertainty the rich bastards have been living with about what their tax rates are going to be next year? What a load of crap!
And so now Obama is going to head to the Hill to try to convince Democrats this is the best he could get. I missed that memo where a Democratic president is the go-to marketing guy to sell Teapublican plans.
Without a doubt, America is absolutely the greatest country in the world to live in … IF you’re filthy rich – and have no conscience.
I don’t think that Obama’s position was the tax cuts for the rich would create jobs, but rather that losing the stimulative effect of the tax cuts for the rest and unemployment would cost jobs.
It is thoroughly depressing. I have so much admiration and respect for Obama and I can’t blame him entirely for giving in. The Democrats have sat on the sidelines since the election, not telling their story or not telling it well. The conservatives and TPs have hijacked the press and the minds of the rich and even those of people who would benefit most from Obama’s initiatives. You can’t just move from the arguments, the rationale, straight into solutions when you’ve got a large group of obstructionists to deal with. You have to get your story out and get it heard above the lies.
Jean, the biggest person who has the opportunity to tell the story is the President. He is the one with the bully pulpit. Why wasn’t he in Maine or Massachusetts stirring up pressure from the liberal majorities there? Why was the only thing coming from the White House capitulation signals? Sadly, the two sides in this fight have been bold Republican villains and spineless Democratic cowards.
Jean is right. Obama had the obstruction from his own party two. But if Bush passed these cuts with 51 votes why in godsname don;t dems do the same? They are incompetent to the point of stupidity, which is where my anger lies. Plus if this legislation is filibustered what happens to the unemployment extension? This is where the GOP should shoulder 100% of the blame but I’m afraid it won’t happen that way.
Bush passed them under reconciliation rules as part of the budget, Sue. Due to Republican obstruction, budget consideration is so far behind schedule, that we’ll need a continuing resolution just to keep the government funded. If this deal is filibustered, unemployment benefits will not get extended. However, it Democrats keep bringing it back after the 1st, I think Republicans will cave in, because they will fear going into 2012 as the party who kept blocking unemployment. With the deal, they can say that the never intended workers to lose unemployment, that the previous blocks were just part of the negotiation process, and since unemployment was extended, no harm was done.
So you think the dems should filibuster like Bernie Sanders is threatening? I have a hard time believing republicans will eventually cave, even if it has to do with the unemployed. If that does happen I’ll faint, flat out….LOL
Several Republicans come from states with high unemployment. In the past, they have opposed extending benefits five times and caved each time.
It’s better to keep my mouth shut and show no ignorance than to open it and leave no doubt. In other words, I’m not sure what I think. I’m numb with disappointment but the bottom line is he ain’t a magician. And we have a lot of spineless wonders on both sides of the aisle. It’s up to us to let them know what we think – even if they do have selective hearing.
That’s why I keep posting Action Alerts. 🙂
I think this is the best he could get out of them; I’m worried that my unemployment will run out soon along with all the others who’s UE has already run out. Let the teabaggers scream about the deficit now since they are the ones contributing mostly to it with the tax cuts for the rich. I just don’t see another way around this.
Lisa, I can certainly understand why someone on unemployment would consider the extension a number one priority.
The tax cuts were a big deficit builder no matter which side won. Roughly, 3 trillion over 10 years for those under $250000 and 1 trillion for those over $250000. However, tax cuts at the low end, just like unemployment benefits, have a much greater economic stimulus than tax cuts at the high end, and it is stimulus that we need. Only through creating demand, will we get jobs going again. So, while I don’t like the high end tax cuts, as far as the deficit goes, 3 trillion or 4 trillion, they both greatly increase the national debt. 😥
Well said, Jerry.
Not much else to write other than, President Obama (Republican).
Gene, I wouldn’t go that far. Consider the differences between Justices Sotomayor and Kagan versus Alito and Roberts.
There is a name that Obama should have his nose rubbed in as often as possible – Neville Chamberlain! For those of you too young to remember, he was the British foreign minister who thought that the way to deal with Hitler was to appease him. It is only coincidental that I might be equating the republicans with the Nazi party – I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. Make no mistake – for progressives, the republican party is the enemy! To think of them in any other context is delusional.
I don’t remember Neville, but I am a student of history so I know him well. Well said!