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First it was the “Buffett Rule.” That morphed into the “Reagan Rule” yesterday. And today, Vice President Biden tried to inform a crowd of supporters in New Hampshire about the “Romney Rule.”
According to Biden, the Romney Rule is about doubling down on “tax cuts for the wealthy.” He expanded on his definition:
“Let’s take a look at what the Romney Rule values. What the governor values and his colleagues. He values Bush tax cuts to be made permanent for the wealthy, the ones that are intended to expire this December, he wants to extend them permanently. That will cost one-trillion dollars over the next 10 years -- $800 billion of that trillion going to people who make a minimum of $1,000,000. And to add insult to injury, the Romney Rule proposes to give another $250,000-year tax cut to the average millionaire on top of maintaining the Bush tax cuts.”
The vice president said his argument was about economic fairness, but the speech -- much like President Obama’s speeches earlier this week -- was set up to strike a contrast between the well-off Romney and the middle class.
“To put it bluntly, we think it's out of step with basic American values,” Biden said of Romney’s economic plan. And he took it a step further when he joked, “Gov. Romney calls the president out of touch and anti-woman, by the way... Hey, how many of y'all have a Swiss bank account?”
Continuing on the theme of "everybody vs. Romney," Biden also said, “We believe in a fair shot and a fair shake. Gov. Romney and those who share his philosophy, believe in no rules, no risk when you fail taking a risk and no accountability.”
The vice president summed up the administration’s position, “If we put the Buffett Rule in place. Let the Bush tax cuts expire for the—for the very wealthy and reject Romney’s additional trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthy. America will be able to do the things we need to do to grow the economy.”
And when a crying baby threatened to steal the limelight from Biden, he even turned that into an apparent dig at Romney. Speaking again about the so-called Romney Rule’s tax cut plan, Biden acknowledged the baby and said, “I don’t blame her for crying. She is going to inherit it. She’s going to pay for it. That’s one smart baby.”
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Good one Joe. I think this tired message that You'all are poor cuz someone else is rich is going to run out of steam before to long. Sooner or later Obama is going to have to get in front of smarter Americans than the liberals and poverty lobby and explain how some one else paying more taxes benefits them....
Smarter-...
Don't more democrats hold graduate degrees than republicans?
I might be wrong there, but I remember reading something about that.
Also the 90% scientist-bias...as in, 90% of scientists are liberal/very liberal.
So um...wouldn't that make it the republicans standing in front of people smarter than them, and then railing because they're going to lose the next election?
Maybe I should have used the term "people with more commonsense". As Obama has proven a college degree does not necessarily qualify you to be a leader....
No, that's a judgement call you just made.
You went from a factual statement to a judgemental statement.
That would dock your team points in any high-school debate team.
You didn't even string them together in a sentence. If X then Y, and try to get me to agree to the premise.
You just went from fact, to judgement, and didn't blink an eye.
This is why Republicans get brutalized in debates since George H.W. Bush who, btw, believed in Science. And Climate Change. And was, yanno...pretty much a smart fellow who listened to scientists and didn't dismiss them out of hand because their findings were at odds with his narrative. He shifted his narrative.
That's a trick I'm still waiting for the Republicans to re-learn. Shifting a narrative following factual evidence against it. They haven't done it in 20 years now.
Speaking again about the so-called Romney Rule’s tax cut plan, Biden acknowledged the baby and said, “I don’t blame her for crying. She is going to inherit it. She’s going to pay for it. That’s one smart baby.”
And that is the very basic difference between those of us who want America to thrive long after we've passed on and how the GOP is acting. The GOP seems bent on doing what they can to insure the wealthiest people in the country will keep what they have today with little to no regard for anyone else at any other point in time.
We need forward thinking people holding elected office who not only want to make life better for everyone today, but every tomorrow as well. The clear choice to accomplish this is to rid ourselves of the current GOP holding office in the House and preventing them from ever having the ability to hold us hostage in the future as they are now.
I don't know...
this site is proving pretty valuable.
I'm noticing a very distinct way of thinking by the two parties.
Republicans can't seperate emotion from fact.
And democrats seem willing to argue either one, but get confused when trying to blur the line. Either they argue facts, or they argue judgement, but not in the same argument.
On the Reagan/Buffett rule:
Over 20,000 households with over $1 million in income paid less than 15 percent in 2009.
Backhouse, Until they eliminate the waste and inefficiency, they don't deserve a penny more. Otherwise, it just leads to more waste and inefficiency. Get rid of the over 200 billion of waste through duplications within Governmental agencies and we'll talk.
The problem is one side wants to lower the deficit by reducing the revenue and cutting spending the other side wants to cut some spending and raise revenue. The key to reducing the deficit is to both cut unnecessary spending across the board while raising revenues.
Ben Franklin, "The only thing for sure is death and taxes".
'Waste' has nothing to do with tax fairness and common-sense reality:
Folks with incomes over $1 Million per year, can easily afford to pay and should pay - the same effective taxes as 98% of all Americans.
And you don't need to re-invent the wheel on waste. A great deal has been accomplished in this area.
In March 2010, the President on Waste and Fraud, and Fact Sheet:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-new-effort-crack-down-waste-and-fraud
Not a tired message at all. People are mad because of INEQUALITY.
This country was founded on principles of equality and freedom. The wealthy classes are artificially advantaged in this nation. Once you have money it is a simple matter to insulate it from taxation while you continue to consume the resources of the commons.
It is not socialist to employ a bargaining agent to negotiate for good wages and benefits. It is Democracy in the workplace. Republicans pass laws that quash the ability of Unions to negotiate.
If you work hard, save, and make smart moves in this country you are supposed to be able to move upward on the income ladder, put healthy kids through school and better your life.
Policies embraced by republicans cannibalize the middle class in order to abet the rich. I don't mind someone getting ahead. I mind them getting ahead built on a pile of middle class corpses: i.e.- republicanism.
Backhouse, assuming you are correct, since Republicans and Mitt Romney like math:
20,000 x $ 1,000,000 = $ 20,000,000,000 x 10 (years of the Bush tax cuts) would be $200 billion of taxable income x 15% would be a $30 Billion reduction in the national debt (at a minimum) PLUS interest, compounded over 10 years.
If GW Bush and the Republican Congress had not pass these useless tax cuts and instead had left the spending and tax levels where they were, we would have greatly reduced the national debt and would now be able to spend what is needed to repair the infrastructure of our country without having to borrow from China. Yeah, it is all Bush's fault.
Yep, keep supporting someone who loves America so much that he puts his money in a Swiss bank account and also has used Cayman Island tax havens.
Keep supporting Romney who loves his country so much that he went on missionary work in France.
My family who has fought proudly for this country considers Romney's claim of "missionary work" in France to be laughable and reason he should not be allowed to lead our military.
GOP/Norquist/Koch spends $millions/billions on defamatory and lying Ads to obscure the facts.
The fact is wealthy Americans can, and should pay the same effective rate as middle class Americans.
They've had a good innings and amassed their wealth.
The top 1% saw their incomes increase by 275% since the mid-1980's, while middle class incomes lost ground. 93% of all U.S. incomes went to this group last year.
It is time for them to help put the US back on track in gratitude to consumers.
From memory on a sheet of paper write down how much your "tax refund" was this year. Now on the other side of the paper from memory write down how much you actually paid in taxes. The majority of you will not know how much you actually paid in taxes. Yet you could probably spout off exactly what your last 5 years worth of refunds were. That is a sad comentary on the middle class.
We would live in a better country if withholding taxes were outlawed and everyone filed and paid thier taxes on April 15 and all elections were held on April 16......
http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/buffett-rule
Approx 55,000 millionaires pay a lower effective tax rate than middle income Americans. We can see where we fit into that picture here.
The Republicans sold this country out many many years ago and they intend to keep it up. Lots of people in the media are even part of this dissembling of America.
Pay attention people. Romney is running for the presidency because he can. He has the money and the network.
But he's missing something very very imporant-
principles, integrity and intelligence.
Big time.
Pat, perfectly said!
I do enjoy VP Biden's no holds barred punches not to mention his quick ability to take a distraction and make it a positive part of his comments.
The president needs an attack dog against the republican wolves. He has a good one in Biden.
Only if you consider a yapping poodle an attack dog.
Biden is a mindless jackal
Telin' it liike it is, Joe. GREAT!
For sale to the highest bidder - the presidency of the United States of America. (And its Congress)
And look who won in 2008. Not the guy who took public financing but the guy who took every dollar he could.
Alan,
Really doesn't matter about party anymore. Just money.
Gotta disagree...
a lot of people jump into politics at the local level because they care a lot.
The system is just brutal and it's easier to win if you are willing to 'compromise' on thing you really shouldn't.
You 'compromise' with wall street for those millions of campaign contributions...promising not to eat them while in office...
because you need that money to win.
That's the root cause of the evil.
Let's get some mandatory public financing for ALL offices. "Wannabe president? Here's one thousand dollars, you get an hour of television time. Good luck!"
Teknishan, I couldn't agree more.
It's ALWAYS about money
As for the Swiss thing....does chocolate or cheese count?
As a fan of Jason Sudeikis, I am thrilled by Romney's nomination.
Me too - which is why I was sad to read this week that he, Kristen Wiig, and Andy Samberg may all be leaving SNL at the end of this season.
The only thing sadder than that is that SNL won't be running live shows all this summer. How can they possibly pass up such a wealth of material?
They must do something with the dog soon.
Well, there was this one:
http://www.dogsagainstromney.com/2012/02/saturday-night-live-makes-fun-of-mitt.html
You may have something there phinephancy; but who is supporting campaign finance reform and who isn't? Who struck down the fairness doctrine at the F.C.C.?
Our government has the framework to change that, if more people cared about it than say...Dancing with the Stars, American Idol or Survivor.
But nope, they's got to watch their stories and can't be bothered.
P.S. Meet the bad cop...Joe Biden.
ForePlinger -
Bad cop? A year and a half ago, when my step-mother was dying of lung cancer, Joe Biden found out about it through another relative and called her personally to cheer her up and to thank her for all the years she worked with the Farm Workers union. As a lifelong Democrat, I can't even begin to tell you how much that meant to her. I always liked Joe Biden anyway, but after that, I'll just always love him. Even when he's playing "bad cop" he's a really nice guy.
How many of Y'all have given more to Charity than Biden...
And your point is?
And Biden's point is?
Romney gives to tons of charities! LDS charities, behind a lot of bigoted legislation. So Romney knows how to give back.
Romney may give donations to charity (like most citizens) but he also hides a lot of his money away in other countries so that he doesn't have to pay taxes on it. How's that for being patriotic. Most citizens donate to charity AND they pay what they owe in taxes.
And what's his plan if he becomes president........... he just wants to give himself another tax break. I don't call that very charitable.
And you got your (ahem...) facts from where? How's he hiding money? Does anyone, dem or repub, make that claim? If he were, I am CERTAIN that Obummer and his dog in the JD would be all over it.
Rambo, If Romney was hiding his money, how come it is widely known that he has oversea's accounts? And you do know he pays taxes on that income generated from them don't you? Do you even know how overseas accounts work? Or are you just trying to display your lack of knowledge about them.
The whole issue with Swiss bank accounts is that EVEN HAVING ONE demonstrates how out of touch with reality Mitt Romney really is. Yes, it is a good investment strategy to have some of your money in a foreign bank account. However, for most people, even those in the upper middle-class range, having cash stashed in a Swiss Bank account is not possible.
Switzerland also had a policy for many many years of not revealing who owned which bank accounts or how much was in them, even under a warrant. While this has changed, the reputation of being a place to hide your ill gotten gains has not.
Mitt Romney is not a stupid person, he just truly does not understand that even having a Swiss bank account gives the impression that you made your money illegally. They are not illegal, and there is nothing wrong with having them. Being a stripper in a night club is not illegal either, but I don't think anyone would vote for a stripper to be President of the US or a US Senator either.
When given the choice of fighting for the US or missionary work, Romney choose missionary work.
Missionary work in a 3rd world country is admirable.
Romney chose missionary work in France. Sorry, but my church does not believe France is poor enough to warrant missionary work. Instead, my church believe missionary work should be in poor countries.
Missionary work happens where it needs to happen. You don't have to live in a shack and eat grubs to be a missionary.
Laws allow Romney to store his money in offshore accounts. If Congress had any guts they would change that. This isn't likely to happen as many, if not most, of Congress does the same thing.
RMoney's Prescription for the USA - look at his business model!
Sell all of the Federal Government Assets to Business so that they can start charging user fees. Every time you want to drive on a federal interstate highway, cross a bridge, visit a federal park, request a passport, you can expect to pay more money so that the corporate entity that bought it from RMoney and his Republican Money Friends can make more MONEY!
Privatize Social Security so that all of RMoney's Republican friends on Wall Street can start charging fees to advise folks on how to invest their retirement funds. How's your IRA doing lately?
Provide vouchers for Medicare and Medicaid so that private insurance companies can decide which medical procedures they want to pay for - anybody ever hear of Republican Death Panels? Where's your spokesperson Sarah Palin?
Provide more money to Private Defense Contractors.
Provide lower taxes to higher income brackets. The federal government doesn't need any money.
Raise taxes and fees for the services that all of the people who might tend to vote for the Democratic Party Candidates - just to show them how wrong they were.
Close schools, fire departments, public hospitals, follow Scott Walker's example in Wisconsin. What a way to go!
Check out those far left talking points...you forgot about throwing grandma off a cliff and killing kids with autism.
I agree with you Ramboet. I also think Romney having off shore bank accounts is so unpatriotic! The Republicans are always criticizing the Democrats for being unpatriotic over petty things, but I think this is a MAJOR issue for Romney to explain. Does anyone know if Romney is the first presidential candidate to have money off shore?
Do any of you have any idea how much the "Buffet Rule" will raise and how this will effect the deficit? Using the teleprompter's own numbers, applying the "Buffet Rule" will add $47M in 10 years, that's $4.7M per year. With the President running a deficit of $6.7 TRILLION over the same 10 year period, this means the "Buffet Rule" would generate 0.05% of the NEW debt. Do you get it now?
The teleprompter wishes to use Buffet as an example of one who wishes to pay his "fair share" in taxes. Do you folks realize the company that Buffet owns is now in court to get out of paying back taxes owed? If he was genuine in his belief, he would order the case withdrawn and pay his corporate taxes.
This is just another way the teleprompter is trying to divide the country. You Libs keep blaming the Republicans for trying to do this, but this is nothing but calss warfare brough on by a dirth of ideas. Mr. Biden and the teleprompter can scream it fro the rafters, but it doesn't make it true, or even do-able
The rail that interest income is "only" taxed at 15%. This is also misleading. The money is taxed when earned. The money is taxed when invested. The money is taxed when it makes more money for the company. Then it is taxed again when the risk taker removes it from the company to invest some where else. This means the Government gets to tax the same money 3 or 4 times, then calim they want more because the "righ guy" doesn't pay enough. I heard an easy way to explain it to the math-deprived: Say you take a ride on a toll road that has 3 tolls. You pay $3.50 when you enter the road, $3.50 at the mid point and $1.50 when you leave. The media and the teleprompter would claim you only paid $1.50 in tolls, but you wallet is $8.50 lighter.
By demanding more, this new attack on wealth will remove money from the economy that could and normally is used to hire new employees. All they can do is demean anyone who has more than they do (which is also a falsehood as neither the President nor VP had ever seen a food stamp until the put so many new families on them). They take and take and then want more. They get folks hooked, then demand even more to support their habits If this was crack, the country would demand and intervention to get them into rehab.
They wish a "fair" tax system, let them go to a flat tax. Every person in the US would pay a fair share, from the most wealthy to the Democratic base, the sainted poor. If a person make $5M per year and pays 30%, then it will be 10 times more that the person making $500,000 and 100 times that which is paid by one making $50,000. What could be more fair?
So a lot of folks are are seemingly envious of the rich or wealthy, many in this small group here included. This is not new, the Ten Commandments -- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife ... or anything that belongs to him.
Governor Romney appears to be breaking no laws. In fact Governor Romney has never served in the US Congress where bills are written that may become laws. President Obama and Vice President Biden each served as United States Senators and had the opportunity to propose changes to the tax code if they had the desire to do so. They apparently did not feel the need and now they are complaining that someone is not doing their fair share.
And then they have the audacity to name the bill after a man who is CEO of a Corporation that has been fighting the IRS for years over hundreds of millions of dollars that the IRS claims is owed to the United States.
I assume Buffett, too, is following the law, like Romney, but it is interesting to see that a CEO making millions of dollars, a bit more than $62,000,000 (2010), is being praised by those on the left. How can this be? He is a rich CEO, He took more than $20,000,000 in deductions to reduce his tax burden. And then complains he pays too little.
And yet President Obama is falling all over himself to promote this guy as what? A common man of the people that wants to pay his fair share? Hardly, in my opinion. Buffett is like all Americans that do pay federal takes. We all look for ways to reduce the amount using deductions that the US Congress has deemed appropriate.
James, Unfortunately you are looking at this with facts and logic and with out envy as opposed to pure emotion and the misleading statements from the teleprompter. Facts rarely out do oft repeated and reported rhetoric from the teleprompter, even when such rhetoric is false.
Fact is Buffet, like Romney, derives most of his income from investments which are taxed, for the 3rd or 4th time, at a lower rate. His secretary may not be in the same condition. However, lets say Buffet's income is taxed at the "income" rate for his bracket. If your numbers are right, he would be taxed at a rate of 29% on $62M, showing a tax liability of $17.98M. This amount would only be just under 22% of his pre-tax income, as happens with most people, even Buffet's Secretary. So, the teleprompter uses the 22% and compares it to the secretary who should be in the 25% bracket, if Buffet pays her what she is probably worth. The media jumps on it ans we have a campaign strategy.
My question to you is why are you suprised Buffet is the poster boy for this campaign? Obama put a known tax cheat in charge of the IRS, so why not us another to promote his economic plan?