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Subscribe to RSSThe Washington Post on the deficit-reduction proposal the president will unveil today: “President Obama will announce a proposal on Monday to tame the nation’s rocketing federal debt, calling for $1.5 trillion in new revenue as part of a plan to find more than $3 trillion in budget savings over a decade, senior administration officials said. The proposal draws a sharp contrast with Republicans and amounts more to an opening play in the fall debate over the economy than another attempt to find common ground with the opposing party.”
The New York Times says that $3 trillion in budget savings consists of tax increases, entitlement cuts, and war savings. “The plan … is the administration’s opening move in sweeping negotiations on deficit reduction to be taken up by a joint House-Senate committee over the next two months. If a deal is not struck by Dec. 23, cuts could take effect automatically across government agencies.”
More: “In laying out his proposal, aides said, Mr. Obama will expressly promise to veto any legislation that seeks to cut the deficit through spending cuts alone and does not include revenue increases in the form of tax increases on the wealthy.”
“Administration officials said Obama will not offer any proposals to reduce long-term spending in Social Security, such as reducing cost-of-living adjustments. That idea drew wide criticism from Democrats when the president pitched it to House Speaker John Boehner in July,” the Boston Globe reports.
John Harwood sees the proposal as a way for Obama to reverse the income inequality in the country. “In 1979, when Mr. Obama began his freshman year at Occidental College, the highest-earning 20 percent of American households received 45.5 percent of all income before taxes. The middle ‘quintile,’ according to Congressional Budget Office figures, received 15.8 percent. The poorest 20 percent took in just 5.8 percent.” Now: “By 2007, as Mr. Obama sought the presidency, the share of pretax income received by the top 20 percent had risen to 55.9 percent — while Congress had chopped their maximum income tax rate in half, to 35 percent. The share of income for every other group went down.”
“Republicans on Sunday accused President Obama of inciting "class warfare" by proposing a new millionaire tax,” the New York Daily News reports.
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MSNBC quotes the NY Times, The Wash Post, the Boston Globe..
The liberal media reinforces its own biases.
Bob-1887910==
MSNBC quotes the NY Times, The Wash Post, the Boston Globe..
The liberal media reinforces its own biases. And so does Bob-1887910. But Bob is allergic to facts most of the time.
good morning Seattle. we enjoyed watching the stevedores in your state being allowed to attack citizens, and threatening the lives of police.
its nice that the union thugs are continuing their basic training skills. they and other union criminal leaders will be very instrumental in the coming riots, looting and worse being set up by the class warfare being trumpeted by your messiah and his disciples. the libs will need thugs with skill in these matters.
Hey Libs, Go to Greece now, you can get there before the riots are over. If you're still here, when the govt. money runs out, you'll need gas masks for when the police begin to contain the crowd.
Ha that's nothing Leona we throw better riots here just for SuperBowl. When we have riots here in the US you will need a gas mask and full body armor, after all republicans keep urging us to make sure we are locked and loaded so we can exercise our second amendment rights when we finally have had enough of our government. We are an extremely well armed nation, and we are encouraged to keep those guns right in our pockets at all times, our riots won't look anything like Greece.
A phony statement for the phony to stand on. Typical republican tactic. Koch bros dictate. Honor left the party when our president took office. "F" the unhonorable republicans, Obama 2012!
Trying to "find common ground with the opposing party” hasn't worked in two years; I think the new strategy should be to campaign for a Democratic House and get the President a partner who will work with him to solve the country's problems. The Republicans have shown no interest in doing that so far.
very true Amy, tell us again why the President did not accomplish all he wanted while he had a super majority in congress for 2 years?
mitch j prefers to ignore the reality, that for that two year period the super majority was held for three months, twice, for a total of six months.
Ignore the GOP filibusters, too, mitch j, and tighten up those blinders.
They seem to be keeping you on a straight and narrow path.
We've had SIX YEARS of Democratic control. From 2006 thru 2010 Democrats Controlled Congress; and
a Democratic President since 2008.
thanks for correcting me Richard. please look at Amy's original question, and tell us why the libs did not accomplish all they wanted while they had total control for 6 months.
Secret 'holds' spark any memories?
Filibuster?
"My focus will be on making Obama a one term president." ~ M. McConnell
mitchell j,
[...tell us again why the President did not accomplish all he wanted while he had a super majority in congress for 2 years?]
Oh, mitchell...liar, liar pants on fire...you've been beaten back on this little Fox "news" tidbit numerous times before...time to man up and confess that you are spreading bull@!$%#...
...simply put, you are a liar and a coward.
it is embarrassing that our President apparently does not know the difference between the tax on capital gains, and personal income taxes.
either he is ignorant, or thinks we are all stupid.
take your pick libs, take your pick!
Democrats use Buffett as an example of tax disparity. However, Buffett "chooses to pay taxes on capital gains" instead of on his international income, which would be higher.
Buffett is gaming the system. Democrats don't get it.
OK, I have this song stuck in my head. It's by the Puppini Sisters.
Woke up this morning with a strange sense of dread
Brewed my own coffee, made my own bed
No breakfast laid out, no freshly baked bread
I had a pop tart instead
Fished through my closet to find a clean dress
Nothing’s been washed, the place is a mess, mmmmmmm
Look for my limousine, once more it’s not there
I can’t believe I’m not a millionaire
Where is the room that hosts my shoes
The snooty butler and private mews
My invitation to Elton’s bash
But most of all, where is my cash?
Awwwwwwww
Dinner from Asda, no lobster in sight
Marcella: Tears at the check out, this don’t feel right
And as I lug my bags up three flights of stairs,
I can’t believe I’m not a millionaire
Aaah-uh
I can’t believe I’m not a millionaire
Aaah-uh
I can’t believe I’m not a millionaire
ahh Amy B., I knew there had to be a reason I liked you, despite your misguided politics! I'm a big fan of The Puppini Sisters.... listening to Tu Vo Fa L'Americano now.... Heebie Jeebies is good when I consider what's happining to us with the current administration and I Will Survive reminds me that America will so so in 2012!
Can someone please explain to me how it is that we can't equalize taxes on millionaires because it will hurt job creation? How long does it take for the millionaires to CREATE jobs -- it doesn't seem to be working so far, and these people have been getting breaks for years!
fedmom==well said!
sure fedmom. begin with the fact that no poor person has ever hired anyone. the current environment is instability. for example, companies do not know what their tax rate will be within the next 2 years. typically business make decisions on hiring, expanding, etc on a 5 year plan. in addition, many employers provide health insurance to employees, they are unsure as to what the ramifications will be, as a great deal of discretion on implementing obamacare is left to the dept of health and human services. in addition, penalties experienced by Boeing recently for expanding into south carolina imposed by the national labor relations board reduces corporate America's ability to know what any interstate expansion will result in.
so basically, domestically, high/unknown taxes, over regulation by agencies unaccountable to the voters have reduced the likelihood that "rich" people will hire, expand, start-up, etc.
its pretty simple really.
Instead of discriminating against specific groups, and "picking & choosing" who you increase taxes on... Republicans want to reform the tax code.
Reforming the tax code is a problem solving way to ensure that everyone pays federal income tax; it will eliminate loopholes, etc.
The Republican Plan is better and solves a problem.
Anyone who works in private industry has a pretty good idea of how job creation works. It must be based on "demand", customer demand for a product or service -- is what drives our economy.
You can't just create a job if there's no demand. And you can't just add people if they have nothing to do. (we know there are a lot of government jobs that do that, but in private industry you'd go out of business if you have more people than you need).
Democrats will NOT win if they continue to Divide this country. all they do is turn one group against another: white vs black; religious vs non-religious; male vs female; rich vs poor; educated vs uneducated... Legal immigrants vs Criminal who sneak into this country....
Good grief
no poor person has ever hired anyone. But "poor people" (60% of the American population) create demand for goods and services which leads to hiring, which leads to a healthier economy for everybody. What's your point?
paul 440967
Democrats will NOT win if they continue to Divide this country
DEMOCRATs divide the country? What Party has made union busting a cornerstone of it's agenda?
What Party has set taxpayers against teachers, firefighters and snow plow drivers? The Republicans have waged war against the middleclass, students, seniors, uninsured people, environmentalists and Hispanics in every state where they won a govenorship and state legislature in 2010. Look at Wisconsin, Florida and Maine for starters.
mitch j
'sure fedmom. begin with the fact that no poor person has ever hired anyon...'
You are very likey right. Poor people don't hire other people. But, I suspect they DO consume things and services where other people DO work and get paid.
And Fedmon- millionaires don't create jobs on their own, but D E M A N D does, though.
It's a shame GOP are trying to turn US into a fertile land for the rich and corporation to come and cart away wealth while going elsewhere to invest their largess. How despicable is it that fairness is a missing word when it comes to taxes in this country. What are they trying to entrench.......a reformed slavery? Turning US into a place where we MUST appease the rich so they can drop crumbs to the rest....all in the name of job creators. I guess saint Regan must be a spend and tax libbie, stupid or a job killer for raising taxes 11 times.
DBO
Well said.
Demand create jobs when the poor and middle class have money in pocket to spend......not just the rich.
No fedmom nobody can explain it I have asked that question repeatly, all you get is some sillyness about poor people don't hire you. Actually the question has been asked for about thirty years now, it has never worked yet but we are told it someday it will. It won't, because business hires when they have customers to sell to, or service, and tax breaks for the wealthy does not cause customers to walk in their door. Look around your town do you see a lot of hedge fund managers shopping with your local merchants, do you have a Rolls Royce dealership, is there a yacht builder, if not it wont help the businessmen in your community, and they will not be hiring just because some guy on wall street has an extra $100,000 in his pocket. A hundred people with a $1000 to spend would help, but not an extra $100,000 grand for a guy who already has millions, chances are he is not coming to your town to spend a nickel of it.
The Repub/Tea-baggers give us the same garbage that if we give the rich more money it will trickle down to the middle class and poor!
fanning the flames of public discourse thru class warfare is irresponsible.
mitch - OMG - takes one to know one. Whiney I know, but a comment like yours just makes me want to slap you. What do you think the Republicans have been doing since before the president was sworn in? And what have they promised to keep on doing until next November?
mitch j
"fanning the flames of public discourse thru class warfare is irresponsible."
AND- it makes the middle and lower classes that the warfare is being waged against damned mad, to boot.
pay no attention to mitchell...he's "angry" because he thinks the president called him a "terrorist" and "the enemy"...
...right, mitchell? Isn't that why you're "angry"?
Why should we believe anything he says in this his latest speech.
It appears that he is waging class warfare to create a claste system in America.......
Remember that November 2012 the voters will not be voting "FOR" a canidate but voting"AGAINST" Obama.
The caste system has already been created, thanks to the redistribution of wealth to the upper tiers. If this leads to class warfare, it will be because those upper tiers have failed to follow through on the commitment that the right have made on their behalf, to supply jobs via trickle-down. Of course that commitment was a fallacy all along, since demand through spending creates the need for the jobs. The caste system that has been put in place has strangled the lower- and middle-classes' ability to drive demand and removed the incentive to create jobs.
Viktor, Since Obama has "friends" like Jeff Immelt who send jobs to China, shouldn't you ask this President some questions? Obama criticizes the "millionaires and billionaires" , all the while he has them as his czars (Immelt). Also, find out why Obama thinks it's OK to go after Boeing for trying to create 1000 NON Union jobs in So.Carolina! He is Mr. "Anti-Business" President! Put the blame where it belongs. Go GOP 2012 !!!!
Leona. Have you been paying attention to the class of NO? Did you learn anything in your US history classes about how corporations used thugs to push back against organized laborers so they could keep their greed-gains? You want us to feel sorry for Boeing? The citizens of right to work states have been the victims of their own ignorance and leaders who have been in the pockets of business for generations. Those states never created anything, no industry, now they want to steal it from other states with the offer to businesses of benign neglect (of oversight, regulation, worker rights.) How un-American.
Dina - class warfare? The wealthy have been wwaging it since the 19th century. The Unions fought bacjk with gains that built the middle-class. Since Reagan, the wealthy have been waging class warfare. And they are winning. Look at S.C.
Just so you know, in Novemebr 2012 I, and center-left independent, will be voting FOR Obama.
As is typical they are bold, arrogant and stubborn and it is completely amazing that they can do it with a straight face because their argument is really neither reasonable nor honest. The Bush Tax Cuts were extremely weighted in favor of the very wealthy and were like that multiple times. To now “cry foul” and say Obama is picking on the wealthy instead of just going back to a previously more realistic status, is not only ridiculous but it is actually attempting to be, once again, obnoxiously manipulative. The Republicans, Tea Party included, have continually drastically favored the wealthy, their strong supporters who dictate to them, and just as constantly they have taken the majority for granted while giving them nothing but subterfuge to rationalize and con. It isn’t Obama who is waging “class warfare”, it is the Republicans who have consistently pushed “class favoritism” for the wealthy and “class neglect” for everyone else, especially the total middle-class. And it should be vividly remembered that Bush-Cheney, with their actions, proved beyond any doubt that the “trickle down” theory is a complete fraud that only makes the wealthy wealthier and is intended to solicit political support. It would be refreshing to see the Republicans honestly seek fairness instead of just always deceptively rationalizing favoritism. The reality is that Obama’s efforts are not stalling the economy but the Republican’s are as they totally focus on their political ambitions at any cost to the people. Lets cut the BS, get real and deny rewarding those who arrogantly and consistently block and fault all efforts to solve the problems.
hey RGiles, since you mentioned "Lets cut the BS, get real and deny rewarding those who arrogantly and consistently block and fault all efforts to solve the problems."..........Yes. Let's REALLY cut the BS........
If the 9.2%+ had jobs, all the talk of taxes would be a mute point. I REPEAT, Since Obama has "friends" like Jeff Immelt who send jobs to China, shouldn't you ask this President some questions? Obama criticizes the "millionaires and billionaires" , all the while he has them as his czars (Immelt). Also, find out why Obama thinks it's OK to go after Boeing for trying to create 1000 NON Union jobs in So.Carolina! He is Mr. "Anti-Business" President! Put the blame where it belongs. Go GOP 2012 !!!!
Let me clue you in Leona moving jobs from one location to another is not creating jobs, but hey if you want to have some fun and feel richer take the money in your right pocket and put it in your left, TA DA you just created more money for yourself.
...especially when the motivation for such a movement of jobs is to pay other workers less to do the same work. It's effectively outsourcing within the US, continuing the race-to-the-bottom of US wages. This kind of wage-reducing competition benefits only the corporate bottom-line, not the lower- and middle-classes.
Interesting that obama speech this morning is still charged even more so in driving America apart. He talked about a fair share but refuses to acknowledge that the top 1% pay 14x the income taxes that the lower 50% of wage earners pay. If you take into account all the other taxes paid the top 50 % are still contributing more in all taxes than the lower 50%.
http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
Not to diminish the affects of more discretionary income, but shouldn't we all have the ability to decide how we spend our discretionary income?
If obama was really sincere about our nations debt and "fairness" he should be promoting to allow the expiratyion of all of the tax cuts he signed into law last decembere. After all, why just go after the wealthy with the prospects of raising $800 billion in revenue over 10 years when you can go after $3 trillion plus in increased revenue by treating everyone fairly by cutting across the board?
If it drives folks apart, why do a great majority of Americans find it fair?
There has been class warfair against the middle class ever since Reagan introduced tax breaks for the wealthy. It was supposed to create jobs in America. What it did do is the money trickled up and made to wealthy even more wealthy while the middle class lost jobs, unions, benefits and thier salaries shrank. Trickle up did not create any jobs. The money went in banks, investments and in creating foriegn jobs. The middle class has been declining ever since and it continues today.
Every time someone whats to alter this uneven playing field the GOP cries class welfare. This is simply BS and the wolk crying the sky is falling. In relaity the whole scheme has simply been welfare for the wealthy paid for by working people. Washington better get a clue at how disatisfied we are with congress and it's failure to act for the middle class. Even Democrates have let let down our President.
Your "let them eat cake" attitude is remenicent of old King George of France. People got fed up with him and soon he didn't have a place to rest his crown. It's time to show some sincere concern for the middle class and the unemployed. There are alot of folks who are really hurting but Washington continues to play games. Get of your asses and do something for someone other than your wealthy cronies.
Exactly right JohnnyB, Hell even twenty year old kids have figured it out.
Don't piss off the rich, and if you do, you will go hungry.
Obama has been pissing off the rich from day1, and this is why America is going hungry...
is your post serious? or satirical?