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Subscribe to RSSAfter a weekend that generated skepticism about a possible deal to avert the 'fiscal cliff,' House Republicans presented a plan that includes $800 billion in new taxes, which is half of what the White House asked for. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
Updated 4:50 p.m. ET -- Republicans offered up their own proposal to avert the impending “fiscal cliff” on Monday amid Democratic demands that the GOP match the Obama administration’s plan with one of their own.
In a letter to President Barack Obama, House Republican leaders outlined the contours of a deal they said would achieve a net savings of $2.2 trillion. The plan, which is based on fiscal commission Democratic co-chairman Erskine Bowles’s proposal to the super committee, would achieve these savings through revenue from tax reforms, health savings and discretionary spending cuts.
Recommended: Income tax rates just one piece of Obama proposal
"Going over the cliff will hurt our economy and hurt job creation in our country. It’s one of the reasons the day after the election I offered a concession to try and speed this process up. Unfortunately, the White House responded with their ‘La-La-Land’ offer that couldn't pass the House or Senate and was basically the president’s budget from last February," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill at a briefing detailing the plan.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Speaker John Boehner speaks during a news conference, Nov. 30, 2012, on Capitol Hill.
"We could have responded in kind, but we decided not to do that. What we’re putting forth is a credible plan that deserves serious consideration by the White House and I would hope that they would respond in a timely and responsible way," the Ohio Republican added.
Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said the plan "does not meet the test of balance."
"Their plan includes nothing new and provides no details on which deductions they would eliminate, which loopholes they will close or which Medicare savings they would achieve," he said. "While the president is willing to compromise to get a significant, balanced deal and believes that compromise is readily available to Congress, he is not willing to compromise on the principles of fairness and balance that include asking the wealthiest to pay higher rates ... Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won't be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit our nation needs."
The counter-offer coincides with Democratic demands that Republicans produce their own proposal to match the deal offered last week by the administration. That plan, presented to Republicans by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, called for $1.6 trillion in new revenues, savings from entitlement programs and new spending on unemployment insurance and investment projects. GOP leaders rejected the plan out-of-hand.
Still, the GOP proposal on Monday appears to move no further toward compromise on Obama’s central demand that tax rates be allowed to increase on the wealthiest Americans. While Republicans have agreed in principle that richer Americans can shoulder a greater share of the tax burden, they insist this must be achieved through ending loopholes and deductions, rather than raising rates.
The Republican plan, which is also backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., achieves its $2.2 trillion in several steps.
rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., talks about the key points in President Barack Obama's fiscal cliff negotiation that are making Republicans wary.
As Republicans put it, they would raise $800 billion in new revenue through tax reform, $600 billion in health savings, $200 billion from changes to the Consumer Price Index, $300 billion in discretionary spending cuts, and another $300 billion in savings in mandatory spending. Many of the health savings track closely with the changes to Medicare first proposed in Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budgets.
Republicans say the plan, using the Obama administration’s math, would achieve $4.6 trillion in savings.
It’s unclear, though, whether the Republican plan would move toward ending the stalemate around the fiscal cliff negotiations, with less than a month remaining until the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts are scheduled to snap into place on Jan. 1.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pummeled his GOP colleagues earlier Monday afternoon, arguing that their failure to produce a counter-offer would only exacerbate the situation.
The new GOP plan reflects the posturing that has come to characterize these negotiations, separated just a month from an election which awarded Obama a second term and which kept Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate.
Also on Monday, the president continued his messaging offensive on Monday with a glossy campaign-style video highlighting the cost to families if the 2001 Bush-era tax cuts were allowed to expire at the end of this month. (Obama has argued they should be extended for all but the wealthiest 2 percent of U.S. households.)
Benjamin Myers / Reuters
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrives at Capitol Building before a meeting with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in Washington, D.C., Nov. 29, 2012.
The president also took to Twitter to make the case for his own plan, answering questioners who used the informal 140-character medium to ask about the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Asked by one participant why he insists on increasing rates on the top 2 percent of earners rather than limiting deductions in order to raise revenues, the president replied that capping deductions alone would not raise adequate revenue.
"Not enough revenue, unless you end charitable deductions, etc. [L]ess revenue=more cuts in education," he wrote.
The president also dismissed the GOP notion that lower taxes for the very wealthy have a trickle-down effect in terms of new hires and a larger tax pool. "High end tax cuts do least for economic growth & cost almost $1T," he wrote. "Extending middle class cuts boosts consumer demand & growth"
Obama also argued that his administration cut spending by $1 trillion last year and that he is open to further "smart cuts" as long as they don't affect education or job growth.
NBC's Frank Thorp contributed to this report.
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if we allow them unlimited spending. they will spend unlimitedly.
i know that's not a word. but it should be.
ENOUGH!!! What is the matter with you intransigent Republicans!?! Who is it that you think you are representing? I am a middle-class American and I am paying a greater proportion of my income to taxes than Mitt Romney does! ENOUGH!!! When did you go from being Lincoln's party to the lap dog of the Plutocrats!?!? THE RICH MUST PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE... THERE IS NO DISCUSSION ON THIS
You're full of crap... Mitt paid whopping taxes on his income when he originally earned it as income... now he's paying cap gains taxes on it again... you on the other hand pay no where near what he paid originally... only ignorant idiots like yourself don't know the difference between income tax and capital gains tax. Learn a thing or two and actually use a brain cell or two.
Hey Bert, we say "ENOUGH!" to you stupid wild-spending Democrats, going for your fifth year of trillion dollar deficits.
I'd sure like some very specific details on what deductions are going to be phased down. Increasing tax rates on those making over $250K (or $1M or whatever number they might agree on) would be signed into law if both sides could come to agreement. But, a promise to rewrite the tax code and phase-down deductions means that nothing will happen because every deduction comes with its protective lobby--and those lobbies will be in full force pushing Congress to neuter any implementing legislation. So, even if there is a way to collect enough taxes through deduction changes, it's unlikely it will actually come to pass. Tax hikes on the top 2% are the only way we can be certain we'll collect more revenue.
BTW: For those who say the top 2% are the job creators: Where the heck are the jobs? They've been paying less taxes since George W. Bush was president, and the job market is absolutely horrible. How much money do they need before they REALLY create jobs?!?!?!?
They are holding onto their money to absorb Obamacare.
The GOP is still caught in their time warp. Obama won on the premise of his tax hikes for the rich. Does their political donors have that much say in their thinking? These tax increases for the upper 2% WILL happen. But not until they get their heads out of their own cracks.
Dream on and keep drinking the retard koolaid.
How in the H are they going to change the consumer price index and save $200 billion?
Stan,
That just means no cost of living increases for Social Security recipients EVER!
Look at how self righteous you all are. Basic math, as has been demonstrated, shows that if you took every dime from every person making 150k or more you still couldn't balance the budget. I get it though, Obama promises a band aid and 4 more years of getting to put your head in the sand while waiting for the new iPhone to come out and you are glad to take him up on it. The government needs to be efficient, its not a revenue problem, its a spending problem.
With a name like Boner, you must be full of yourself. Seriously though, feels like the Republicans can't or won't listen to the people. We should have elected third party so we could put all of this crap behind us.
To all those who are commenting without having read his letter to the President, grow up. The letter merely rehashes some points in the Ryan budget, without a great many specifics. Yeah, let's give $6,000 Medicare vouchers to the elderly when the cost to get that insurance is $12,000.
The President should respond in kind with two words: Up Yours
Let's go over the cliff. Let's fix the filibuster rules. Let's fix the tax code once and for all. Contrary to the lies perpetrated by the wealthy, the wealthy in America do not create jobs. Trickle down was a grand lie from day one and has been exposed as such. If the wealthy don't like living in a country where the overall tax rates have been proven to be among the lowest in the world (seriously, a 40% tax rate is never a 40% tax rate after deductions), then don't let the door hit you on the way out.
More crap and partisan politics. they insist on driving us over the cliff with ryan economics. GOP economics were overwhelmingly rejected in the last election. Again this congress is not on board. but willing to drive the county over the cliff. Fire their sad asses!!!
Get This RINO scumbag John Boehner out of office! He's not going to cut anything and just cave to this Big Govt Pigs on tax hikes.
We have no rightwing party in office. We need the Tea Party to challenge Boehner in a primary in 2014 and get rid of him, because the cowardly Republicans seem to keep electing him in their caucus as speaker.
These "cuts" over 10 years are nothing. Obama said he would do 3 to 1 spending cuts to revenue, and this isn't even 2 to 1.
In America, we have the RINO Gop party who barely believes in any spending restraint at all, and the Hysterical Democratic Party who acts like even the tiny government cuts the RINO Gop wants means that the sky is falling.
what is the matter with repubs??? i mean seriously! wtf?! don't they know they LOST the election badly? get a friggin grip you lying, filthy, dirty, jackholes.
Unfortunately your political affiliations are preventing you from using good sense. Both parties are offering up good ideas but, because people can't look past their own party, they immediately discredit the other party. This is what is wrong with the political system -- people immediately discredit the other party entirely even if they have good ideas within their proposal.
Start using your brains people and stop basing your entire position on one party. If you want to be a member of the herd and be told what to think then by all means listen to everything that is fed to you. Otherwise use your brains and objectively evaluate the proposals and determine for yourself what merits each proposal has.
eph521 - when they are as dumb as most people on this post YUP, just ask my bosses, this is me and I tell it like it is. And if you believe Clinton had a surplus you are as dumb as the rest on this post who have done no research.
The GOP offers a purposal huh ?!? Let me guess what it is ...
#1 ON THEIR LIST!!!!!!!! NOPE its not us Middle class It's: Lets not Tax Millionaire and Billionaires any more (after all they're ONLy making record PROFITS like they have been for the last 2 Decades!!)
Lets SEVERLY cut Medicare and Medicaid (And let the Middle Class PAY make up for Republicans NOT Taxing the RICHEST!)
I could go on and on but it's ALL JUST THE SAME OLD TIRED, OUT OF DATE Republi-Dumbs BS they ALWAYS try to pull!!! MORE for their Rich Backers they work for and LESS for the Middle Class else!!!
Basically what you are saying is that everything in the Republican proposal isn't good? Everything they are proposing is bad?
Unfortunately you are letting your political affiliations blind you. Both parties have good ideas (and bad) but your political blindness is preventing you from looking at this objectively. Start thinking for yourself and look at the merits of both -- don't throw things out just because the other party has an idea.
Ok dems, the rep's have put a deal on the table (finally). Reguardless, it's a deal that does NOT raise taxes on the wealthy (a good thing), and preserves many of the "bush" tax cuts set to expire, which would damage this country's job market, as well as make unemployment worse.
Work together, and make it happen guys...
Sincerely,
A dis-satisfied customer and voter...
Nobody seems to understand that if they do nothing then the very thing the GOP screams about is going to happen. Taxes will be raised on every citizen and every business in this country both on their pay stubs and in the less tangible ways. Making the wealthy of this country pay a little more in taxes is no dilemma for me. They can afford it and should be absorbing some of the cost to pay for the milking of the rest of us that has gone on for decades! Yes, what they do in terms of loopholes and shelters is legal but it is only available to the wealthy because none of the rest of us have enough money to make use of those laws. Time they pay in cold hard cash! If we do go over the cliff, I blame Boehner and his wealth loving compadres 100% for whatever happens.
So Linda you are saying it is 100% a Republican problem? The Democrats have 0% blame for this? You seem to forget that Congress is elected -- if this happens then BOTH parties are to blame. Start thinking for yourself and open your eyes that neither party is a saint in this deal.
I do not contend that the Dems have no blame nor did I say that. However, my characterization of the GOP is that they decided from day one of Obama's first term that they were going to see to it that he would fail and paid no attention to the fact that would mean failure for their constituents as well. Yes, Congress is elected but I believe that all of them are elected to do what is best for the people -- not what benefits them individually in terms of campaigns or kickbacks or whatever. Truthfully, none of them in either party have done this job very well. But, I do blame the GOP more because of their obstructionist policies which do not benefit anyone.
Finally, my opinion is a result of my thinking for myself and doing the research into the issues I find important. My opinion is every bit as valid as yours. I respect the fact that yours differs from mine and would expect that same respect from you. I am 64 years old and I have watched politicians come and go--good, bad, and otherwise. The country always survives. I am really getting tired of everybody's whining and crying instead of getting busy and helping to make the solutions possible.
Obama has no intention whatsoever of compromising or negotiating anything, as he is still "campaigning" with videos and other smoke and mirrors facades that are designed to appeal to the liberal retards. Forward over the cliff and to hell with it as the inevitable will be reality, sooner or later. Get it over with.
Hallelujah!
The Repubicans have come up with something other than "make President Obama fail by any means neccessary".
Now, exactly what is their plan again?
It is make everyone but the top 5% fail and break the country with increased military spending and wars and no taxes on those who can afford it to pay for it all. It is starve the poor babies and elderly, all the vulnerable to give to the rich.
Remember all the people who signed thier little pledge?Also have voted themselves raises when our country was in recession quite a few different times.Time to cut thier salaries ,benefits and retirements" to the bone".While at it don't let the door hit you where the sun don't shine.Oh ,how it is to be so priviledged.
Remember when Obama campaigned on slashing the deficit in half??? How do you know what he's lying about and what he actually plans on doing. Oh, so he is serious about raising taxes. But not on the "RICH". On single people making 200K or more and couples making 250K or more. These aren't rich people. These are upper-middle class entrepeneurs, self-starters, risk-takers. These are ambitious people trying to follow the American dream. What is the point of trying to make 200K when you make 195K??? You try just a bit harder. Work just a bit longer. Only to have to pay WAY more in taxes and wind up making less after taxes??? How is that "FAIR". So, fair only applies when you are poor and lazy. When you decide to drop out of school. When you thought that drugs were a good idea. Or holding up a liquor store was smart. And now that you don't want a job or can't get a job, it is everyone's responsibility to support you. Penalize the smart, hard-working people trying to grow their business and hire people. Brilliant. And what does raising taxes do... brings in $85 billion a year. Obama spends well over $1 trillion a year. Good math. If democrats' concepts of budgeting added up, why did Obama tack on $6 trillion to the debt in 4 years??? And then you want to import people? Open the borders? Even our dumbest people can speak english. You want to import people that can't read or write in their native tongue. Brilliant. You can't support our stupid people. Now we have to support all the other stupid people. There are hundres of wasteful government programs and agencies that democrats want to shut down to save money. Why haven't they??? What are they waiting for? It isn't like Republicans will stop them. Sequestration was Obama's idea because he can't control his irresponsible spending. And now that it is here, he wants to blame Republicans? We will go over the cliff. And it will be his fault. Raising taxes has nothing to do with it. In fact, he wants higher taxes on everyone. Because his goal is to destroy America, not help poor or middle class people. He just wants to be able to blame someone else for his failure. Over the cliff we go, and then all of you Obama supporters will feel the pain and repercussions of socialism and fiscal irresponsibility.
The egotistical self centered president of this country should have followed the Simpson-Bowles recommendations from day one. But he would not have been able to keep spending money and increasing the debt like he did in the first four years. He cares nothing about the middle class and does not understand them. All he cares about is his liberal friends, his union buddies and his celebrity status. He will never change and thinks he does not have to compromise. He'll learn the hard way when the economy tanks again early next year and we go into a recession.
You do remember that the GOP members of the commission rejected the findings of the commisison?? There was nothing offered to the President.
Right on whole story--- the truth is that next time it will start with a D... D for Delusional, dumb, democrat driven D-f'ing-pression. Then he will turn the tables on everyone and go full out marxist and we'll see if his fascist minions will play along and start goose-stepping and knocking on my door and dragging me off for thought reconfiguration. Scary stuff.
yes eph521 this is how the knee-jerk, fascist liberals need to be spoken to... you are like spoiled little children who now think that just because your Clown in Chief got re-elected you get your way, no matter what and no matter the cost.
You may have received an A in econ but you have failed to "get it". You also must have failed english wherein the word retarded applies very well to your ilk. You are slow to realize that we are broke and taxing the income of the wealthiest will give us enough money to... pay one week's government spending. That's it.
So you and your other Robin Hood chuckleheads and most of all the chief chucklehead in the oval office need to stop seeking "revenge" or whatever it is and do some math... real math not your fantasy world ciphering. This partisan finger wagging is ridiculous and immature.
DISMAYINGLY IGNORANT. When will you Righties ever grasp the fact that one cannot be both a Liberal and a Facist. They are at oposite ends of the political spectrum which you apparently are unaware of. Try getting yourself an education before puking up more distortions and misinformantion.
Ozzie Boy- Did you support the auto bail-out? If you answered yes you are more of a fascist than you think. Do you support unions? If you answered yes you are more of a fascist than you think. Do you want to punish the risk-takers and successful entreprenuers who employ you and me? I know the answer and it is a yes and you are a fascist. Now here is the big question- do you support Obamacare? If you answered yes you are definitely a fascist- it hands over a huge portion of our economy directly to the Executive Branch. Please read below for an excellent discussion on fascism and sieg hiel!
As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer. The word
derives from fasces, the Roman symbol of collectivism and power: a tied
bundle of rods with a protruding ax. In its day (the 1920s and 1930s), fascism
was seen as the happy medium between boom-and-bust-prone liberal capitalism,
with its alleged class conflict, wasteful competition, and profit-oriented egoism, and
revolutionary Marxism, with its violent and socially divisive
persecution of the bourgeoisie. Fascism substituted the particularity of
nationalism and racialism—“blood and soil”—for the internationalism of both
classical liberalism and Marxism.
Fascism is to be distinguished from interventionism, or the mixed economy.
Interventionism seeks to guide the market process, not eliminate it, as fascism
did. Minimum-wage and antitrust laws, though they regulate the free
market, are a far cry from multiyear plans from the Ministry of
Economics.
Under fascism, the state, through official cartels, controlled all aspects of manufacturing,
commerce, finance, and agriculture. Planning boards set product lines,
production levels, prices, wages, working conditions, and the size of firms.
Licensing was ubiquitous; no economic activity could be undertaken without
government permission. Levels of consumption were dictated by the state, and
“excess” incomes had to be surrendered as taxes or “loans.” The consequent
burdening of manufacturers gave advantages to foreign firms wishing to export.
But since government policy aimed at autarky, or national self-sufficiency,
protectionism was necessary: imports were
barred or strictly controlled, leaving foreign conquest as the only avenue for
access to resources unavailable domestically. Fascism was thus incompatible with
peace and the international division of labor—hallmarks of
liberalism.
Fascism embodied corporatism, in which political representation was based on
trade and industry rather than on geography. In this, fascism revealed its roots
in syndicalism, a form of socialism originating on the left. The government
cartelized firms of the same industry, with representatives of labor and
management serving on myriad local, regional, and national boards—subject always
to the final authority of the dictator’s economic plan. Corporatism was intended
to avert unsettling divisions within the nation, such as lockouts and union
strikes. The price of such forced “harmony” was the loss of the ability to
bargain and move about freely.
To maintain high employment and minimize popular discontent, fascist
governments also undertook massive public-works projects financed by steep
taxes, borrowing, and fiat money creation. While many of these projects were
domestic—roads, buildings, stadiums—the largest project of all was militarism,
with huge armies and arms production.
The fascist leaders’ antagonism to communism has been misinterpreted as an affinity for capitalism. In fact, fascists’ anticommunism
was motivated by a belief that in the collectivist milieu of
early-twentieth-century Europe, communism was its closest rival for people’s
allegiance. As with communism, under fascism, every citizen was regarded as an
employee and tenant of the totalitarian, party-dominated state. Consequently, it
was the state’s prerogative to use force, or the threat of it, to suppress even
peaceful opposition.
Where socialism sought totalitarian control of a society’s economic processes
through direct state operation of the means of production, fascism sought that
control indirectly, through domination of nominally private owners. Where
socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by
requiring owners to use their property in the “national interest”—that is, as
the autocratic authority conceived it. (Nevertheless, a few industries were
operated by the state.) Where socialism abolished all market relations outright,
fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic
activities. Where socialism abolished money and prices, fascism controlled the
monetary system and set all prices and wages politically. In doing all this,
fascism denatured the marketplace. Entrepreneurship was
abolished. State ministries, rather than consumers, determined what was produced
and under what conditions.
Whatever the Republican plan, there's one thing you can be sure of:
The only people who AREN'T going to be hurt by it are the uber-wealthy.
Ho Ho tweetel Dumb and Tweetel Dumber, Boehner and Mcconnell after doing nothing for two years are trying to look important. REAL America hopes that President Obama vetos everthing those dummies send up and automatically let the current tax bill expire.As a disabled American veteran as a result of the GOP wars that they didn't pay for can live with a few more dollars in taxes as long as it puts the screws to the wealthy and the TWO GOP DUMMIES that were responsible for this debt.The NAVY quitter Boehner doesnt know what obligation means.Running away from tough decisions is Boehners specialty.Hope Mcconnell's next job is cleanning up Horse poop for a living in his home town.
They operate on their priciples instead of working for the american people. Why doesn't anyone see this. They need to have a boot shoved up there a$$ and told you "Work for the people" knock it off with your dam principles. "Do something" GOP is just Useless, this just pisses me off.
We voted for obama and what he is trying to do. Why isn't someone slapping boehner and mcconnell upside the head and tell them they lost and stop trying the same old crap from the last four years. Get with the program or leave.
Because we don't live in nazi Germany you clown...Dissent, freedom of speech etc. are their rights, my rights, your rights you scary fascist idiot. The other key component of this is that the House of Representatives is still controlled by the Republicans. The President is not the dictator. This whole country has gone crazy with this mandate mentality. Be careful you liberal morons or you will be goose-stepping and sending guys like me and Boehner to the gulag.
The GOP proposal would raise the Medicare eligibility age forcing seniors in their mid 60s to buy insurance on the private market and would change the CPI to give SS receipients less for cost of living increases. And the GOP still wonders why they lost the election. It's the messaging, Stupid!!!!!
They didn't conjur the painful reality of math and real numbers from the ether you stooge. There is only so much money to go around and after Obama bought the election with record setting entitlements and Obama phones etc. there is even less.
You can think getting after the rich will fix it but it won't. People in their sixties will live until they're in their eighties and we can't carry them or you or me for as long as we'd like. It is simple math. There is give and take and only so much to go around. Playing Robin Hood and exercising your revenge on the evil wealthy will cover us for about a week of government operations.
So everyone needs to tighten up the belt--- we're in for a rough ride. We're broke, in deep debt and the only way out is for EVERYONE to pay more taxes and to cut A LOT of spending. Stop the class warfare rhetoric and infantile jealousy of "the man" and be a responsible citizen with a basic understanding of economics and math... if not let's just throw Obama's image on the food stamp, make it the new currency and hang on until there is blood and fire in the streets as unemployment heads north of 20% and we all watch this once great nation go to hell...literally.
No one is wanting to get after the rich. However, they are the ones who can afford to pay the most for the trillions of dollars of added debt from massive military budget increases and the two extremely costly wars that the Republican-led congress and White House started and for the $100 billion and growing annual increase to the debt that Medicare D caused that was never funded in anyway by the repub congress and White House that passed it.
The thing that is totally amoral and wrong is the Republican proposal to rob seniors, especially future seniors, of the 15% of their income they have paid for over 35 years of work into the very necessary safety net called Social Security that they will desperately need when they are old, feeble and broke after the inevitable Medicare cuts and with the high cost of living in the USA. The thing that is even more amoral is starving poor babies and children to maintain EXTREME profit for the super-wealthy, especially for those rich who take advantage of incredibly low wages they can pay in extremely poor and communist countries when they send jobs there.
I agree with most of what you say citizensarethecountry... but to lament over how we got there (Mr. Obama stacked up $5 trillion in debt-record breaking pace) and turn to partisan finger pointing and targeting only the wealthy serves to bifurcate the citizens and exacerbate the widening chasm between the two party system (flawed) we now live in. This takes leadership, salesmanship and savvy politics.
The risk we run in targeting the wealthy is that they can weather most economic storms and I think they will hunker down in both their personal and business realms and essentially take their toys and go home. They will shrink up their businesses to insulate themselves from Obamacare costs or manipulate their work force to avoid participation. The trillions and trillions of dollars sitting in the bank accounts of corporate America will stay there instead of flowing into the economy.
Do liberal/Dems ever step back from the emotions of "winning" and look at the hard numbers? Do they ever ponder why Corporate America is NOT reinvesting in our economy? They are hedging against what they perceive to be a trend towards socialism and class warfare. I genuinely believe they are prepared to (in spite of the morality) to sit it out for another four years and run everything as lean and mean as possible. They have no incentive to open the purse and invest as if they are still operating in a free market economy... they doubt the investment will pay dividends. Like it or not businesses of all sizes must be profitable to survive.
I really think it is infantile and counter productive for our President to draw a line in the sand and blame. Let the blaming stop and leadership begin. Unfortunately he is not a leader and I don't know what his agenda is. At this point his legacy will be one of transformation... transforming this nation to a divided, weakened nation with 58% of the GDP controlled by the government!!!!! 18% of the GDP is healthcare alone and Obamacare will usurp control of that and place it under direct control of the Executive Branch.
Yes there is room for more morality and compassion within business and within all of our hearts but when the very basis of our affluence and overall way of life is threatened we tend to be selfish. We are a very generous people with good hearts and the ability to give and help. But if the system under which all of us have enjoyed such blessed and comfortable lives is dismantled then what?
What would those poor people in communist or other underdeveloped nations do without the low paying jobs they have? Starve! Steal! Kill each other. Maybe it is exploitation and lacking in integrity and compassion. But look at China and their ever increasing standard of living and increasing wages. And before you judge the companies that take advantage of lower wages take a look at the governments that run those nations.