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Subscribe to RSSIn an interview with NPR, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talked about tax cuts, moving forward from an unsuccessful election, and why she’s running for minority leader.
On main reasons for running as minority leader:
Pelosi: I’m running to put together the strongest plan to work with the Republicans to solve problems. The biggest problem is unemployment. I hope we can work together to create jobs. And I do so with the overwhelming support of my caucus, not the unanimous support.
The Republicans have demonized you. How do you prevent that from hurting your party more than it already has?
Pelosi: Well, let me say this – when you say “more than it already has” – the reason the election results are what they are is because we have 9.5 percent unemployment in our country. We didn’t lose the election because of me. In any circumstance, when you have 9.5 percent unemployment, any party that cannot turn that into political gain should hang up the gloves, I said that before the election. The reason they had to try to take me down is because I’ve been effective in fighting the special interests in Washington, D.C. I’m also the most significant attractor of support for the Democrats. So I’m not looking back on this. They asked me to run, I’m running, and, again, our members understand that they made me a target because I’m effective.
On extending Bush-era tax cuts:
Pelosi: The position that we have, and which is the position that the president has put forth, is that everybody should get a tax cut in our country. The problem comes when you give an additional tax cut to the wealthiest 2 percent that will heap $700 billion in debt onto our children and our grandchildren.
What about a temporary extension?
Well, our position in the House has been that we support the tax cuts for everyone, but not an additional tax cut at the high end. It’s too costly. Those tax cuts have been in effect for a very long time. They did not create jobs. In fact, with the tax cuts that President Obama had in the recovery package, we have now 10 straight months of private sector job growth. So from day one, President Obama and this Congress have been job creators, at the same time giving tax cuts to the middle class, which do create jobs.
Is there an advantage to being less visible in the minority?
Pelosi: This isn’t about – it isn’t about me. Maybe the Republicans will take a course of action that will solve problems. God bless them if they do. But maybe they will pursue what they have said, which is to privatize Social Security, to make Medicare a voucher, to resist our initiatives. So it’s – the opportunity that is there is to have clarity. Maybe they will be more eloquent in defining themselves than we could have ever been in defining them.
Listen to the full interview here.
Leave a Comment:
The Truth is, that the whole damn republican party can't handle the truth. This little lady has more balls and conviction that the entire leadership in the republican party. That why they want her gone, good luck in doing so, ha ha. She has her best days ahead of her making the teapublicans pay for all the lies and stupid BS that they have done to the American people. This is going to be an awsome specticle to see during this lame duck time. Then we will see if the teapuiblicans really has a plan or BS as they have eluded to all along. Time to pay the piper after January 1st. Studip is as stupid does, we will wait for the new bail out of the savior teapublican party. Can't hardly hold back my enthusium. Wow. Lets just say lets pray for leaders to get some common sense and leadership for the people and not for wallstreet and selfgreedy bastards.
Hey Dave we could have used that prayer 18 months ago.
She's got balls alright, inside the Presidents cheeks. And that's where she should keep them if she wants to retire rich and famous. Just let's not see her screaming crap on U-Tube while she's making her fortune. Yuck.
First off there is no Tax increase, merely an expiration of cuts enacted by Bush allegedly, to create jobs.
The numbers say they were a complete and utter failure and represent the single worst path toward job growth and stimulus for our dollar invested.
To rant on and on about the deficit and then the very first thing the GOP want to do is add nearly a trillion dollars to that deficit and then tell America you are the party of fiscal responsibility is absurd.
If the GOP are going to put their money where their mouth was, they will deny tax cuts to all, enact the most credible and sensible budget cuts possible and work within the the fiscal confines they inherit.
No increase of the debt ceiling
Doing any less is a rejection of the mandate given to get them in and will most certainly turn the tea party and the independents against them in 2012
This administration is prof that tax and spend doesn't work. This is not tax money it is our money.
Small wager on that, Sean?
Her stated positions are fine.... I hope she can make it work.
Effective at getting the wrong things done in the wrong way. She should be jailed along with Frank, Dodd, Waters, Rangle. Congress is supposed to do the will of the people not the party.
Soooooo, let me put what you libs are saying in plain english. You want the government to raise taxes on the people who earn more money and turn around and give it to you who did not earn it. Either directly or in benefits (union pensions, welfare, and such). Correct? You do understand what this reads like don't you? It would more honest if you used a gun and a mask. In the end, stealing is stealing no matter how you spin it or if the gov does it for you or not.
Aw come on Jed, what would you do with all that extra money? Pay off your beloated credit cards? Buy out your mortgage so your kids could have a place to live? Or just have enough to get by finally. Gas for the Hummer, day care, couple of nights out a week. You're killing yourself just worrying. And I'm not a lib or of any party.
Hey Gunny! I'm not a lib or of any party? Usually the disclaimer is exactly what ground the tree is growing out of. So lib, what is wrong with working folks fed up with buying meals for non-working folks? Some tub of lard surrounded by 6 smaller tubs of lard with the tub of lard producer or producers, no where to be found, while all the tubs of lard eat tubs of lard paid for by us. Why should we be pissed? Hell even after they eat all of that lard they will probably out live us. No I guess there is no reason to be upset is there? What would I do with the extra money? Giving it to my favortie anti tub of lard charity would be a good start.
It's called, Birth Control.
Thank you Walter.
In 2012 if employment is still high Republicans can do as Obama blamed Bush, blame it on Obama!!!!
In 2012 all the Republican's have to do is blame Obama. That is what he did when he had trouble, blamed Bush.
Yeah Edward,
And Mitch McConnell is MY favorite. He's got a face that resembles a horribly carved out jack-o-lantern with eyeballs!! Nope...can't make this stuff up...can ya?
It seems that still some inhabitants of the United States cannot understand that marxism/socialism is not wanted.
She and Obama are a pair of jokers. They couldn't care less about America and the people. They think they know better than anyone. However, both are card that are always excluded fron the deck because real poker doesn't have jokers. She abused her authority, and enabled him to abuse his.
I know the left are worried about "teabaggers" because they are the tea bags being thrown overboard. They want something for nothing. They whine about how the wealthy are destroyng the country, but they are the wealthy and are the wealthiest people in politics. They want you to believe they care about the masses while they rob them.
I am a democrat and always have been. unfortunately they are few democrats that really care about the country. They continue to pass legislation that they are immune to. Stick it to everyone is their policy. Pelosi is a sticker, and the people who vote for her are stickers. Something for nothing crowd.
You guys should stop complaining because, one the health care we have now isnt as good as it was supposed to be. also the law has just been signed so give it some time. so if u want to say u have the right to choose tell that to ur congress men or state official. If you do not have insurance and need one You can find full medical coverage at the lowest price check http://bit.ly/bandYw .If you have health insurance and do not care about cost just be happy about it and trust me you are not going to loose anything!
Speaker Pelosi is someone who can never admit when she was wrong. She now says that lack of jobs were the problem. How and when did she become enlightened? Why did she insist Congress spend all of their time and effort pushing an agenda that did not focus on creating jobs in the private sector? People say that she is bright. Condoleezza Rice is bright Nancy Pelosi could be more accurately described as slick (in an underhanded way). It certainly was not just Nancy Pelosi who brought the Democrats down on November 2nd. but she played a huge part in their undoing. Her arrogance, underhandedness, and lies are legend . . . legend that she herself created. Was she effective? Yes. Was she good for the country? No. Should she take some of the blame for the worst defeat of the Democrats since 1947? Absolutely! She has probably done more damage to this country than any Speaker of the House since our country was founded.
Someone should ask her why she refuses to place herself and the rest of Congress under the healthcare package she insists the rest of us fall under. She is most assuredly a do as I say . . . not as I do person who needs to learn that there is a difference between leadership and dictatorialism . . . not that she would care!
Hey jbo52-2259929, look at the Thurday (11 November 2010) edition of the USA Today, it was right on the front page. And I would like to correct Paul F, it was $150,000 not $100,000. The total now is over double what it was when this administration took office.
Elect me first , then you can see what I will do and say.
She is a wrinkled old bag who is hungry for power and is still in denial that she was swept aside like the trash she is. Wake up Nancy, stop the botox and face reality. The rest of you poor pathetic libs should accept the fact that you are in a minority and let the real Americans run the country now.
A disheveled blonde host I did not recognise on MSNBC Live has in it for Nancy Pelosi. She referred to her as "tainted with negativity", and implied the Democrats would thus have to dump her.
With friends like her, who needs enemies?
Granted Republican attacks ads focused on Pelosi, but they had no scandal, nothing improper to taint her with. They just said she was evil without presenting any evidence. Their argument was nothing but unflattering and doctored photos.
It is a badge of honour to be smeared by the likes of Glenn Beck, and Jim de Mint, not a taint.
ROEDY GREEN ,OMG ! Now you (Liberal) is blaming beck and demint for Pelosi and her Failures . Please doesent anyone in this Administration take any responsibility for what they have done. You sound like a 2 year old . Grow-Up !
Please Pelosi. Go back to your rich sugar daddy and tend your massive winery....instead of whining.
Of course republicans have "demonized" Nancy Pelosi. That is a big strategy of the "MOUTH" party.
Or maybe she is a demon.
Yes Pelosi the Democrats lost because of you and Obama.
For those who don't know what the majority leaders job is, it is to listen to her co-senaters ideas for a bill, bargain with them to get a consensus which fits fits in with the agenda, and hold them together in a block to vote for or against a on the bill. It is not to set the agenda. as such Nancy Pelosi did her job well.
What will be more interesting will be to see how well the repubs. can do this with the tea party involved.
For the tea party: watch as your elected officials change from tea to regular rebubs. This has already started, with paul stating the will try for pork for his area, others going for the tax break for the rich while promising to cut the budget deficit (700 bill increase). ETC.
Also for those for privatising S.S. How much of your money would you have left had left had you invested last week? Athough it would be a long term investment, do you not know that when retirement time comes the market could be in a down turn, and then where would your money come from? Would you not be able to retire, or would you be coming to the taxpayers asking for help.
For how long? and do you honestly belive that tho market will return to the golden years of the 80's
For how long? and do you honestly believe that the market will return to the golden years of the 80's
Every economist I have read of and every adviser I have talked to has told me not to expect this for a very long time. and remember your S.S. is supposed to last a lifetime. I also have invested for a long time, but I do not now of any annalist that suggests of a return to the days of a new microsoft, ebay, oil company surge or housing boom in the foreseeable future.
Hnoon get real. SS is an unfunded liability of the government and will be long busted by the time we retire. Unlike an IRA which is yours and doing fine if you put it in the bank, the Gov't takes your weekly FICA contributions and blow it away - SS is a sinkhole and don't count on one nickel of it unless you believe our largest US Govt Debt holders -the Chinese govt - will fund it.
FLUX
Do your research
The S.S. system is currently fully funded to pay all current and future expenditures for the next 40 years. Will they have to male some reforms? YES. Will they increase the age eventually? probably. Will they let it fail, no way in h##L. no congressman or our government would stand up to this. I'm not saying not to fund IRA'S. I do so and strongly in favor others to do the same. So far I have fairly good results, but to risk your retirement years on just the stock market is very unwise. keep S.S. as it is. also invest what you can with a knowledgeable investment firm. It is a good base point for your retirement if and when the stock market takes another dump. At least you can eat and not depend on others to feed you.
The primary fact is our government is insolvent and can only honor current obligations if the Chinese and Japanese governments continue to buy US government bonds. What congress does is irrelevant - there are no other buyers for US government debt, there is simply too much of it outstanding for the global market to support. One hiccup in China or Japan ...if they pull the plug, we are toast - including any future SS payment obligations.
"Pelosi comments on tax cuts, running for minority leader, and crying that she is 'demonized'" ????
This is a perfect example of "THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK !"
The most EXTREME LIBERAL in politics cries FOUL when she is treated in the same manner she treats others...
1. Calling innocent, independent free-thinking Americans... "NAZI's WITH SWASTIKAS"
2. Calling independent thinking voters...."HATEFUL AMERICAN EXTREMISTS, AND MINDLESS ASTRO-TURFERS"
Liberals such as Pelosi literally HATE IT when they get a dose of their own medicine.... They will always live by the rule of DOUBLE-STANDARDS.
Put her out to pasture.
Did you like the framing of the NPR question...."The Republicans have demonized you.." It's way past time to pull government money from NPR.
Keep deluding yourself Pelosi.... you, Obama, your back room deals and NOT LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE are the very reasons many folks did not vote Democrat this time. It is because Americans are fed up and sick of old school elitist politics and broken promises! It is because Americans realize that absolute power corrupts no matter which party is in office. It is not just because of the unemployment rate. The Republicans don't have to demonize you because all you have to do is open your mouth (as you have done on many occasions) and spew out your arrogance for all Americans to see. You are no representative of the masses.
Soros funds N
Thank Soros for all his funding to NPR.
Everybody here is blaming things on either Republicans or Democrats. When will you people actually use your brains and think about the government in general. When was the last time somebody stood up and said "it is the government's fault. We are all part of the government and the government is failing the people."? Everybody here seems to think it is either the Republicans or Democrats that are causing the issue. Well folks -- I hate to break the fantasy you are playing in your heads -- it is the government in general that is failing us.
Now -- for those of you who feel that we should have only one party in power whether it be Democrats or Republicans -- you guys must not be able to think deeply enough to understand how it affects the country. When we have one party in control of House, Senate, President then the country suffers as the idealism of that party (which is generally extreme left or extreme right) takes over. America doesn't shift to the extremes -- Americans are generally moderates whose beliefs are not on the extreme of either side.
Now..onto Pelosi's article...my take on the article is this -- Pelosi is blaming EVERYTHING on the fact that we have such high unemployment. She is not taking responsibility that the Democrats have floated too far to the left and the government spending\deficit has surged to record levels. She is also not taking into account that she is a rep of a state that is on the verge of bankruptcy due to too many years of being too far left (and most people agree that California takes things to extremes -- remember the official who wanted to tell people how to raise their kids?). This is the issue with both parties -- they are delusional in thinking they understand what America wants. America wants moderates -- we don't want people who are so far left that the government is taking over our lives and making decisions for us and we don't want a government so far right that corporations make all the rules. We want common sense to prevail. We want a government where representatives have ethics and stand behind their words. When was the last time we elected a president that didn't lie to us during the election process (not Obama or Bush)? When was the last time we had an elected official that understood what America wants rather than putting his own ideals and goals in front of the ideals and goals of the people?
I truly believe that our legislators have to make hard and unpopular decisions. But those decisions have to be justified. The current government has put every tax paying American $40,000 in the hole and they are not looking at ways to cut costs (actually have increase spending). Everybody here is blaming it on Republicans or Democrats. Truth be told -- they are both responsible. Stop your petty whining about Republican vs. Democrat and actually look at this more holistically and understand that the whole government is to blame and not just one party.
And for the people that think spending money on infrastructure projects is "good" for the middle class. Let me understand this -- if I graduated from college with a 4 year degree in Computer Science, Business Admin, etc. how is this going to help me? The only group infrastructure projects really help are blue collar workers. How much of the unemployment is white collar? How will building roads and bridges help white collar workers get their jobs back? It really doesn't -- peripheral jobs at best. So keep dreaming that spending more money we don't have on infrastructure is going to save America. When I see cities and states spending this money on projects that don't need to be done (building a road that wasn't planned to be built for 10+ years when growth required it) it doesn't make sense to me. They say "we have to spend it or we lose it." The only people losing are the taxpayers
Trickle - I believe you have just articulated the thoughts of half the country. Thank you. Well done.
I enjoyed reading your comment and agree with you on some points...its not always Democrat- Republican issue per se. There is, however, a great deepening philosophical divide in the country regardless of the affiliation. I'm a fairly educated individual as well...currently working on my Master's thesis...business/HRM. I made a couple long winded rambling comments earlier that probably sound a little more radical than I really am, mainly because I didn't take the time to cite the sound references to substantiate my views and the topics were too broad to give justice in a short piece. I tend to think the budget issues are being blown way out of proportion. Current score on deficit: Last 3 republicans-10 Trillion debt, everybody else 3 Trillion debt. If you are buying into the everybody just has to buckle down and make sacrifices to get this beast under control, then you are buying into a common notion being pushed right now.
I believe in fiscal responsibility. Certainly far more than Dick Cheney when he said deficits don't matter. However, these problems do have a very simple fix. A fix that many Democrats and Republicans would have deemed acceptable 30-40 years ago. Roll back all tax rates to pre-Reagan brackets and the deficit would vanish. Very simple. Yes, about 15,000 Americans would be screaming socialist takeover from the roof tops and the other 299 million or so would be much better off. We had no problem being the strongest economy in the world, with the heyday of the greatest middle class in history, and an infrastructure and educational system the envy of the world, all with a 93% max tax rate with income over 3 million.
Want to save Social Security, as if it really is in trouble, eliminate the SS tax cap on incomes over 106,000 so that everyone pays the same percentage. If that were done, senior's benefits could be immediately doubled and the program would be viable indefinitely. The problem is that our Federal and State revenues are not keeping up while taxes are lowered, 2 wars funded, jobs are shipped overseas reducing the number of those paying taxes, social benefits expenditures are going up inversely due to these factors. Corporations are still heavily subsidized with federal grants and contracts, while many pay almost no tax and many have moved corporate offices overseas just to avoid taxes. Sports teams, as much as I love them, are subsidized beyond belief. The ownership of the Washington MLB baseball team was paid more out of public funds than they paid to buy the team. In net terms, they were paid to buy the team. GW Bush had a lot to do with all these new stadiums being built for teams out of tax money instead of owner money, while allowing stadium revenues to go to the teams. This is one of the newer big steals from tax money that most people never notice. What I find amusing out of all of this, is that the tone of the discussion keeps moving more and more towards the American people having to just suck it up and make some sacrifices. That's directed at the everyday working class. There's plenty of money out there, its just all getting sucked out of the system into the hands of a relative few. If we don't come up with ways that provide opportunity for the working class to make living wages, there will be ever decreasing demand for products and services, unemployment will get worse, tax revenues will decrease, the state and federal governments will go bankrupt, infrastructure will collapse, schools will shut down, etc, etc, etc. Stimulus in infrastructure does help the big picture. First of all its needed, as our roads and bridges are outdated. It puts more money in the economy creating more demand for products and probably saving a few jobs. Its just like unemployment provided 1.63 in stimulus for every $1 paid out. Putting extra money in the hands of those that have plenty will stimulate nothing as hiring is only done when it is necessary to meet demand. Putting money in the hands of the working class/unemployed with better wages or UI insurance, puts money directly into the economy impacting demand and creating jobs. If people keep getting laid off, and overall demand decreases, it just gets worse and worse and no tax cut is going to change that. Supply side economics is a fairy tale. It doesn't work and it was termed appropriately under Reagan as voodoo economics.