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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Domenico Montanaro reports that although some Republicans have changed their tone on a new-no-taxes pledge, they aren't putting tax rate increases on the table.
Some Republicans appear to be softening what was once a hard stance on their no-taxes pledge as the end-of-the-year deadline on the so-called “fiscal cliff” approaches.
But it’s not clear how far they would go – if they would raise rates on the wealthiest, as President Obama wants, or if they are simply willing to go along with eliminating some loopholes and deductions to raise revenue. And those who have been outspoken on the topic thus far are not seen as the key players in the ongoing negotiations.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Select Committee on Intelligence ranking member Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) gets on the Senate subway as he leaves after a hearing on the Benghazi attack November 16, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
“I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia told a local TV station from his home state. “If we do it his way then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that.”
Chambliss is one of several congressional Republicans who have indicated they might break with an anti-tax pledge pushed by activist Grover Norquist.
NBC's Chuck Todd tells Savannah Guthrie that House Republicans are stalling a compromise in the "fiscal cliff" debate, unlike the Senate, where members are more keen to strike a compromise.
On the Sunday shows and Monday morning TV, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bob Corker (R-TN), as well as Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA) -- the House minority leader -- and Peter King (R-NY), joined Chambliss in downplaying the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” Norquist’s 58-word pledge has been a mainstay in Republican politics since 1986. In 2011, every GOP presidential hopeful, including Mitt Romney (and excluding Jon Huntsman) signed it.
NBC's Domenico Montanaro reports on the increased number of pledges that Republican presidential candidates are being asked to sign in this campaign. One pledge stands apart, a no-new-taxes pledge, whose creator has influenced day-to-day legislation and is vowing to fight any effort to get find revenue in the new congressional supercommittee charged with closing the national debt.
“I agree with Grover — we shouldn’t raise rates,” Graham said on ABC, “but I think Grover is wrong when it comes to we can’t cap deductions and buy down debt.” Graham added, “I will violate the pledge, long story short, for the good of the country, only if Democrats will do entitlement reform.”
Corker told CBS on Monday: “I’m not obligated on the pledge. I made Tennesseans aware, I was just elected, the only thing I’m honoring is the oath I take when I serve, when I’m sworn in this January.”
King, of New York, said on Meet the Press Sunday: “I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss -- a pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress... I think everything should be on the table.”
Norquist, in fact, says the fact that no House Republican has voted for a tax increase in 22 years is directly a product of his pledge. Norquist does not just mandate that lawmakers not vote for tax increases, but also that any bill they sign onto has to be “revenue neutral.”
In other words, cutting deductions and loopholes, for example, would also be out if not offset by further tax cuts. But Republicans and Democrats face an end-of-the-year deadline to try and figure out a way to avert the steep military and domestic spending cuts and taxes going up for everyone when the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year.
USA Today's Susan Page, American Bridge 21st Century President Rodell Mollineau, and YG Action Fund Senior Adviser Brad Dayspring join Chuck Todd to talk about the impending fiscal cliff.
That some senators appear ready to talk revenue is not as significant as what House members say. It is widely believed that a deal would be struck between the White House and the House GOP, not with the Senate.
House Speaker John Boehner has said that “revenue” is on the table, but the president wants to raise rates for the wealthiest. Obama campaigned on the idea, but it’s not at all clear whether the House Republican rank-and-file would sign on to any rate increase.
Cantor, who wields some influence with the GOP conference’s more conservative members, is seen as more of a keystone, and he, too, seemed willing to go along with at least some revenue increases.
“There has been a lot said about this pledge,” Cantor said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday. “When I go to the constituents, it’s not about that pledge. It’s about trying to solve problems. House Speaker John Boehner went to the White House and said, ‘Hey, Republicans in the House are willing to put revenues on the table.’ That’s a big move.”
House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., sits down with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, John Heilemann, and Mike Barnicle to talk about Israel, Egypt, the Grover Norquist tax pledge, the future of fiscal cliff negotiations, and why not everything is on the table in tax talks.
“We were elected to fix problems,” Cantor said, before adding, “Even if you raise all those taxes, it doesn’t fix your problem.”
In a follow-up interview, Cantor’s office stressed that he remains against raising tax rates.
“Republicans aren't against tax rate hikes because of any one man or pledge,” spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said. “We are against hiking rates, because they're bad for the economy and hurt jobs. We've put ideas on the table that bring more money in while keeping tax rates where they are to produce job growth. It's now time for President Obama to put his ideas on the table for spending cuts and entitlement reform if he truly embraces a balanced approach.”
For his part, Norquist isn’t backing down. In a statement to NBC News, he took shots at the GOP senators and expressed confidence that no one would violate the pledge.
"Chambliss has been pushing this line since he joined the Gang of Six,” Norquist said. “Lindsey Graham has for two years said he would raise taxes if he got a 10:1 ratio of spending cuts through entitlement reform that could not be undone. There is no news in these two 'changing.'”
And he added, “They have not voted for a tax hike. They have had impure thoughts on present. Their impure thoughts did not change a single GOP vote in the 2011 fight over the debt ceiling which had a real deadline looming. One might have argued that the pledge died in 1990 when a sitting president and many in House leadership broke the pledge. However, the opposite happened, the pledge became more powerful when breaking it was seen to have very real consequence in 1992. After the 1994 election a majority of the House and Senate had signed the pledge."
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as a hard-working middle class worker (I'm not in that bracket Obama wants to screw) I want major welfare/medicaid/foodstamp reform before you start taking more money from people who earn it!! I also want major reform in monies sent to other countries (it's time we screw them) instead of our own people.
Umm Dorothy, no one is getting "screwed".
Dorothy - So collecting profits from companies is considered "earning it now? The 1% don't actually "earn" anything...they take.
Dorothy, Chip says no one is getting screwed (LOL), just look at all of the new taxes BO-DUMBO has created just for his BO-DUMBO-CARE:
$123 Billion: Surtax on Investment Income (Takes effect Jan. 2013): A new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single).
$86 Billion: Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Takes effect Jan. 2013): Current law and changes:
Bill: PPACA, Reconciliation Act; Page: 2000-2003; 87-93
$65 Billion: Individual Mandate Excise Tax and Employer Mandate Tax (Both taxes take effect Jan. 2014)
$60.1 Billion: Tax on Health Insurers (Takes effect Jan. 2014): Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. Phases in gradually until 2018. Fully-imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,986-1,993
$32 Billion: Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Takes effect Jan. 2018): Starting in 2018, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($10,200 single/$27,500 family). Higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,941-1,956
$23.6 Billion: “Black liquor” tax hike (Took effect in 2010) This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105
$22.2 Billion: Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Took effect in 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980
$20 Billion: Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Takes effect Jan. 2013): Medical device manufacturers employ 360,000 people in 6000 plants across the country. This law imposes a new 2.3% excise tax. Exempts items retailing for <$100. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,980-1,986
$15.2 Billion: High Medical Bills Tax (Takes effect Jan 1. 2013): Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction for medical expenses to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). The new provision imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. Waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994-1,995
$13.2 Billion: Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Takes effect Jan. 2013): Imposes cap on FSAs of $2500 (now unlimited). Indexed to inflation after 2013. There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,388-2,389
$5 Billion: Medicine Cabinet Tax (Took effect Jan. 2011): Americans no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957-1,959
$4.5 Billion: Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Takes effect Jan. 2013) Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994
$4.5 Billion: Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Took effect in 2010): This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 108-113
$2.7 Billion: Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Took effect July 1, 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,397-2,399
$1.4 Billion: HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Took effect Jan. 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,959
$0.6 Billion: $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Takes effect Jan. 2013): Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,995-2,000
$0.4 Billion: Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike (Took effect in 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,004
Freaky - This bothers you personally why?
You people don't get it the game is over ( both political parties have equal blame)- we are 16 trillion in debt and we will add another 4 trillion at the end of his term to 20 trillion ( can you spell Greece). At present we spend $360 billion a year just to pay the interest on the current debt let alone any additional increases to the debt and if interest rates rise (which they will) then the interest payments will be in the 400-500 billion a year. That's more than we spend on education and other programs just to pay interest on previous money spent. Taxing the 2% is a drop in the bucket 48 billion per year yet we will go another trillion in debt just in this year alone. So we look for 1.4 trillion more in tax revenue over 10 years yet we will increase the debt another 10 trillion over the same time frame. Who are you kidding. I say let just spend and party like their is no tomorrow, for eventually the bond vigilantes will say no more ( i.e. Greece) and we, I'm sorry your children will be kissing the feet of their Chinese masters for money to save them. But that's your kids problem not mind, as long as I get mine who cares your kids- let's party and ejoy the ride while it lasts!!!
I won't be voting republican again if they in any way support the dems. Have the dens reached over to the other side. Oh no-they passed the health care without even reading it....what a joke....go right ahead republicans and you won't get my vote again. Your all destroying this country with your compromises.
richard all of your efforts to rewrite the history of the left not reaching over the aisle will not make it the truth.
Ms. Pelois "We'll just have to pass the BO-DUMBO-CARE bill to find out what's in it"!! LOL, just some more ways to spend-it-all and then some!!
All of the republicans who signed this pledge should be impeached. How dare they put their commitment to this pledge above the welfare of the country as a whole. They had their chance to get deficit reduction and entitlement reform with the 4 trillion grand bargain that was on the table in 2011 and they spit in the eye of the president and the American people who supported it almost 3 to 1. Even with their tails tucked between their legs they are acting like they have control and can dictate what they will and won't accept. I say let the Bush tax cuts die. I am sick and tired of hearing about them. Then put a new plan on the table for the middle class only. Let the republicans refuse to pass it and see their party lose every election for the next 100 yrs. Let them refuse to raise the dept ceiling out of spite, and see them lose power for the next 200yrs. Everyone is tired of their BS. Any hit to the economy would be temporary and the benefit of shutting up the anti-tax morons in the republican party would be well worth the pain. Besides their job creators still aren't creating any jobs. Only creating lame excuses as to why they aren't hiring. I say give them a good excuse by going over the cliff and taking our country back from the greedy, non job creating tax avoiding scum buckets in the republican party. Then we can rebuild our economy from the ground up as we should have done in 2008.
The GOP would do well to tell Grover Norquist to "bite the big one" regarding this "no new taxes" pledge. Mr Norquist holds no elected office and his attempts to influence public policy border on treason, sedition at best. And that goes for the GOP lemmings who signed on to this pile of cr@p.
While I am certainly pleased that the GOP is at least willing to discuss in theory the concept of raising revenues (especially on the evil rich), that is only window dressing for the real story. Even assuming we go "BIG" on tax increases, maybe to the tune of another $200-250 billion a year in new revenues (a wildly optimistic number which assumes the increases don't themselves throw a wet blanket on the economy), we will still be running deficits of $750-800 billion each year.
We've been running trillion dollar deficits for quite some time now. Tax increases are part of the solution, but they are not the solution alone. Not by a long shot. So if the GOP was wrong about tax increases and has finally seen the light, it is now Mr. Obama's turn to get out his machete and start hacking away at the federal budget. And he won't be able to do it without alienating just about every Democrat in his party.
ChrisMck we'll see about hacking the budget Bo-Dumbo's are the largest ever:
2013 United States federal budget - $3.8 trillion
(submitted 2012 by President Obama)
2012 United States federal budget - $3.7 trillion
(submitted 2011 by President Obama)
2011 United States federal budget - $3.8 trillion
(submitted 2010 by President Obama)
2010 United States federal budget - $3.6 trillion
(submitted 2009 by President Obama)
2009 United States federal budget - $3.1 trillion
(submitted 2008 by President Bush)
2008 United States federal budget - $2.9 trillion
(submitted 2007 by President Bush)
2007 United States federal budget - $2.8 trillion
(submitted 2006 by President Bush)
2006 United States federal budget - $2.7 trillion
(submitted 2005 by President Bush)
2005 United States federal budget - $2.4 trillion
(submitted 2004 by President Bush)
2004 United States federal budget - $2.3 trillion
(submitted 2003 by President Bush)
2003 United States federal budget - $2.2 trillion
(submitted 2002 by President Bush)
2002 United States federal budget - $2.0 trillion
(submitted 2001 by President Bush)
For all the people who think money grows on trees. Please get off this blog and check out the website FISCALIQ.NET
It's run by an independant,David Walker. This will show you exactly what this country is up against
This country is up against people like you! You are too blind to understand that the budget was balanced until Bush got those two wars and tax cuts you demanded!
It's time to go back to the policies that gave us those balanced budgets and the hell with that tax cut for billionaires!
I always get a kick out of that Clinton/Obama comparison. Clinton said the days of big government are over
Now byparty affilation alone thatObama is a fiscal conservative. what a joke
You want to go back to a balanced budget ask congress to pass a balanced budget amendment!
I li=ove you republican morons. We need to eliminate every program that benefits the working class. Social security, medicare, collage loans, mortgage deductions, payroll tax cuts, etc... But lets give billionaires more tax cuts. Better yet... Billionaires shouldn't have to pay any taxes at all! We love them!
O I C Y -
If you are looking back to the Clinton years with a gleam in your eye, DON'T.
The Clinton years aren't coming back. Clinton had a lot of factors in his favor. First, the Cold War was winding down, so he had a bit of a peace dividend to work with. Second, gas was cheap; it will never again be as cheap. Third, the Baby Boomers were in the prime of their earning years (paying in); they are all now approaching or in retirement (taking out). Fourth, China was a nascent and fairly remote threat; China is now a major competitor. Fifth, the tech boom helped rally the economy; it is now a mature sector of the economy.
Going back to the good old days of Clinton is simply impossible, whether we raise taxes to Clinton era levels or not.
Same old Liberal-Maddows posting their hate and magooness just as before. They won and yet the anger and hate goes on and on...
There is no end in the battle against republican ignorance!
Democrat = Fool me once my fault, Fool me twice = STUPID!!
How many times did Rush Limbaugh fool you with the less taxes = more revenues nonsense?
The problem with you OICY, (one of them) is you don't know what you don't know. With that in mind it makes sense that you think of yourself as being superior to all. Do you have many friends?
We had record corporate profits in the last two years and that is a fact that Jim just can't understand. For example, read his posts and will see he is of that republican bubble person belief that anyone who supports President Obama doesn't have a job.
You have to admit, anyone with half a brain knows that belief is non-factual and CRAZY!!!
Mitt Romney doesn't have a job,Jim problably hasn't acknowledge that yet either.
And my question has always been, if the wealthy people and corporations create jobs, then where are all the jobs they were supposedly creating?
And I have a job and have been working for the past 40 years. No hand outs and I support Obama. Gee am I the exception?
But Catthepat... Just give the rich another tax cut and the jobs and wealth will rain down on us. Republicans promise! Again!
OICY, I will have unemployment at 5.4% in my first term, I will reduce the DEBT in my first term, I will reduce the deficit in my first term, BO-Dumbo's unkept promises!!
How did he know that the only goal the GOP would have would be to sabotage the economy to make Obama a one term president?
OICY, You must live on the East Coast. It's not happy hour yet, anywhere else.
We will need to raise taxes 1.3 trillion just to balance the budget. What they are talking about is raising taxes enough to pay for 10 days of the federal governments budget. Were about 1.25 trillion short or their about. What will be the democrats excuses when the deficit grows to the point of bankruptcy. Can't wait to hear the screams of all the leaches and watch them burn their own homes to the ground. I have plenty of Popcorn and lots of ammo.
Why don't you start shooting people now rather than just threatening us! Or better yet... Move out of America if you hate it here so much all you can do is fantasize about shooting Americans!
You are an idiot to speak like that. Don't you know America is up on your BS> Should there be riots, the masses will go to the upscale neighborhoods and target opulent mansions. No upside in burning the Ghetto
OICY Needs a time out.
God help this country if Obama the Bully wins this one. He'll be insufferable and go on another spending spree until he runs this country into the ground for his Muslim friends. Not to mention, we'll be looking up his snooty nose forever. Yuh. Don't weaken Republicans.
Obama is NOT a Muslim and if you keep saying, it won't become true just because you want it to. Saying the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of... I'll let you fill that out.
Right... we can't let Obama go back to the same policies that Clinton used to balance the budget and create 22 million jobs. That would prove everything Rush Limbaugh and FOX News ever said is pure BS! And it would spoil all the fine work of those republicans who have been sabotaging the economy ever since Obama was elected!
OICY, let's go back to the Clinton tax rates, how does that sound? Raise the rates for ALL back to what they were! How many democrats will agree to that?
I would agree to pay more if it will help America. Why won't you?
OICY, your ignorance of history is pathetic. President Clinton had a huge increase of tax revenue because of one big thing, the internet. When that bubble collapsed, guess where all the money went? Into the next bubble, the housing one. Remember that one? President Obama doesn't have a "next great thing" coming up to dramatically increase tax revenue like President Clinton had.
All our politicians have now is to take what we have, and keep spending like the money will never stop rolling in.
Well... Lets give the millionaires another huge tax cut and see if that works. You people are a joke! The solution to everything is more tax cuts... Even after you seen what a disaster Bush caused by doing exactly that!
OICY, You really must hate yourself. You are one angry old dude.
No, the solution is increase revenue, and STOP SPENDING MORE THAN WE TAKE IN!!!!!!
Is that clear enough for you?
All we need now is to put the Chamber of Commerce in its place and the country can move forward.
OBAMA 2016! Sign a petition to amend the constitution to elect him again!
Yeah LOL, really want a BO-Dumbo as a Monarch don't ya!!
If election Obama to a third term would help drive you republicans nuts... I can accept that! Lets do it!
"Bo-Dumbo" outsmarted your dumb asses as well as that of the Bain Capital Supreme Commander/Lord of the FLies
Uh---No. That's why Congress is so screwed up -- no term limits. Founding fathers never envisioned the job of representative or senator being a career; it was supposed to be about serving your country and your constituents.
Who is Norquist? Someone please tell me why he has a hold on Republican politicians. I thought people elected these politicians to work for the best interest of the country and if they were to make a pledge, the pledge should be to the people that elected them.
All this talk about cutting costs---is anyone suggesting cutting the cost of Congress? I doubt it!!!
80 Billion Dollars a year for 'doing nothing'------great gig!!!------ Notice, they even have their own subway and God knows how many other perks!!
So Grover Norquist is proud as a peacock that he owns the GOP. I can't see why Republicans whole-heartedly sold their souls to him with no consideration of their country or constituents. Forget the Clinton tax rates lets go back to Eisenhower rates and deductions to get this recovery and debt under control. Ever since the wealthy have started getting huge tax breaks the country has been spiraling out of control. Put some sense and ethics back in our government.
They are starting to distance themselves from him. His poor reaction and continued sputtering election night showed the GOP what he really is - an economic domestic terrorist. Senator Graham from South Carolina (R) just about skewered him in effigy on the Sunday morining talk shows.
Yea thats right we are just one big tax increase away from prosperity. Hey why not make it 90% with no deductions then watch the ecomomy go .... what a simple fool you are
JJD, I have never seen anyone panic as much as you at the possibility that we might go back to policies that balanced the budged and created jobs.
If thats what you truly want why r u backing the Dems. Honestly where is their plan and don't say raising taxes on the rich. that dosen't come close to solving the problem, which is structural in nautre.
They didn't pass a budget let alone any bill the GAO could score. The reps have done so, it might not be what u want but there is nothing to compare it to on the other side because THEY DON'T HAVE A PLAN!!!
The real issue is why in our country a major Party would make an anti Tax pledge to a non elected official and think that the public would accept that kind of behavior when we should NEVER have had taxes that low on the wealthy elite at a time when we need more revenue? We should be angry at any official that would make his pledge to our Constitution secondary to a pledge to an UNELECTED person. They along with Norquist should be shamed in public. Signing that pledge was an act against our Constitution and made their oath to office a mockery. They should all have had "expulsion" proceedings against them.
Noladude do have anyhting contructive to offer instead of nonsense?
Muslim firends indeed... That's so 2010.
Obviously Noladude doesn't. Maybe he waiting for his handout check.
Barney Franks= good gay man.
Grover Norquist=bad gay man
Yhbua you forgot to mention that he doesn't even come close to pulling off that half-beard thingy he's sporting. <smirk>
What the heck IS that???
Too many House Republicans exhibited extraordinary immaturity and meekness in pledging allegiance to the UNELECTED, SELF-ANOINTED tax-maven Grover Norquist. Note that the form Norquist has these foolish politicians sign looks remarkably similar to the sort of thing teachers create for their elementary or middle school students to sign, pledging they will do their homework, pay attention in class, get along with others, etc. These politicians were elected to go to Congress to do the right thing for the American people; but instead they allow ONE GUY, who NO ONE ever voted for, to call the shots when it comes to their working within their chamber on anything related to taxes. Dictator-teacher-Norquist hovers at their shoulder, never trusting them to handle the job on their own, ready to whack them with his ruler if they get out of line.
Their covenant should be ONLY with their constituents, not with Supreme-Tax-Leader-Norquist. How greatly they insult themselves in this allegiance to Norquist, as he clearly has no respect for them at all, writing (in 2009) that "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." Their prostrating themselves at his feet is utterly shameful.
It's about time these children in congress stood-up to a bully.
We have real problems to solve and i assure you that Mr. Grover has NO INTEREST in trying to solve them.
We have to have the simple dignity as a nation that a family has when living within its means. If we provide the government with more money it will spend it, and not on debt reduction.
The new tax is supposed to be on the wealthy--millionaires and billionaires. How does an individual making $200,000 ora couple making $250,000 get in that category? Want to tax the rich? OK, let's start with people who make millions per year, not thousands!
Right... Whatever we do... Lets no go back to the same policies that let Clinton balance the budget and create 22 million jobs. That would disprove everything Rush Limbaugh ever said and just ruin the efforts of those fine republicans who have been sabotaging the economy ever since Obama was elected!
OICY, I will admit that I thought we were heading to economic ruin when Clinton was elected but his record does speak for him. It's true that it was right in the middle of the DotCom expansion but he did it with the help of the then Speaker Gingrich. The two crossed the aisle and lead the country onward to a better day and then we p--ed all away on war. Sad.
OICY, Just curious how many of the 22 million jobs were in the housing boom after he and the dems lowered standards for loans. Nice little bubble that turned out to be! Also, pretty easy to balance the budget with all that Social Security money.
You mean not hundreds of thousands right? Sorry Procrustes, but to my 50K a year, any one making 200K+ is rich! And I'm getting by pretty good! I'll go this far though, Raise my tax rates back where they were along with the rich before Dubbya changed them. I'm willing to do that if it means getting this country back on it's feet!
What kind of disaster did the Bush tax cuts have on the economy? Lets try that again! Maybe we can use more tax cuts for the rich to destroy all hope for middle class America! Go Grover! Romney needs another tax cut!
?
What???? Republicans honoring their pledge of office to this country over their pledge to Grover??? Is it possible to actually teach a dog new tricks?? We may actually have a chance to get this country moving a long a bit faster if the GOP are actually ready to work!
Rush Limbaugh will whip those Norquist deserters back into line.
For some reason the words Rush Limbaugh and whip sends chills down my spine....
Norquist and any Congressman who signed his pledge should be tried for treason.
I second that!
OICY,
Clinton had the same false economy as Bush - He had the internet bubble that popped which resulted in a recession no different than Bush who had the housing bubble which resulted in a recession. The big difference between both is that Bush had 9/11 which start two unfunded wars where Clinton had the attack on the USS Cole in the Gulf which he responded with a couple of crusie missles to afganistan
Bush did not need to spend trillions on Iraq. Condi Rice was lying when she said that Iraq had nuclear weapons and she knew it was a lie at the time!
Actually, the dot-com bubble was not an official recession because there were not 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth.
It certainly wasn't anything close to the Bush Great recession, which was the worst downturn in the past 70 years.
But, re-elect Obama... Those were Obama's policies that Bush used to destroy America's economy with. And the only way to fix it is to go back to Bush's policies.
At least that's what I heard on FOX News.
OICY, let me get this straight Bush destroyed BO-DUMBO's policies?? How did he do that since he was president before BO-Dumbo was ever elected?
I guess sarcasm is wasted on you republicans.
It's kinda funny to see how badly the GOP got out maneuveredon this issue. It's almost like they had a total lack of foresight. It's not optimal, but all Obama has to do is let deadline expire. He gets mostly everything he wants - along with a metric ton of cuts he doesn't. However, at the same time the Dems will be waiting on the sidelines with a tax cut deal that the GOP can't refuse!
Will this really hurt? Yep, it will be painful on both sides. The GOP will take the fall for almost all of it though and look REALLY bad if they try and prevent a vote on a middle class tax cut back to pre fiscal-cliff levels.