How is paying the rich 14 times as much as the cost unenjoyment insurance any different . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . from paying protection money to a thug? Or bribe money to a corrupt government official?

[midnight]

1. Yes..... I would love to hear an answer to this unbalanced approach

to the citizens in this country that have been waiting for this transfer of wealth to be stopped....

[DJ13]

2. Or bribe money to a corrupt government official?

Thats what it will end up as, isnt it?

The wealthy keep the low tax rates, so they funnel more money into the GOP coffers for 2012, which gets passed on to the same corrupt officials who passed the tax bill.

We really need a publicly financed election system.

[eridani]

3. Indeed. Give me your lunch money, and I won't microwave the puppy

Your lunch money is now gone for the rest of your school career.

[dkf]

4. So you let them microwave the puppy?

Poor puppy.

[eridani]

6. You call the bully's bluff and forcibly intervene n/t

[rhett o rick]

9. Do you live in a cave? Just because you give them your lunch money doesnt guarantee they wont still

microwave the puppy. YOU CANT NEGOTIATE WITH BLACKMAILERS OR REPUKES.

[dkf]

17. What are we going to do when they run the house?

[rhett o rick]

18. Apparently they run the Congress now. nm

[niceypoo]

5. Its ransom

In 13 months they will demand more ransom.

[polmaven]

15. So we may as well

let the unemployed die now and decrease the surplus population!

[jbnow]

7. Not sure what you are talking about?

the deal as Ezra Klein reported on on Countdown breaks down this way:

$130 billion for the rich and the estate tax

$300 billion are for the middle tax cuts
$120 billion for a payroll tax cut
$40 billion for the tax extenders(earned income tax credits and education tax credit)
$56 billion are for jobless benefits
Then "either $30 billion or $180 billion for a tax break to help businesses invest"

I hate that the tax breaks for rich go on but what is this 14 times as much thing?
And out of this 900 billion dollar deal it is 130 billion going for rich. Too much but 130/900 means that is about 14% of this deal going to rich. The other 86% is not.

I keep being perplexed at what I am to scream about.

[Selatius]

8. My fear is the SS tax cut is going to be extended indefinitely over and over again.

In two years, people will forget what happened, and the Republicans will chime in at that time and say that we can't afford the tax hike; extend the tax holiday another two years and then two more and so forth. The actuarial picture of SS would drop radically if it is done.

[jbnow]

19. They will try to extend it over and over, I agree.

But I also think the effective fight we can have over it comes before an election, not right after one like we had. Of course it will be harder with a republican house but if we do nothing now we know the republican house will move to extend it with no extras.

I wish we had seen this uproar before the election because what they are saying about the tax staying cut on the rich and the estate tax is true true true.
What they are bitching on Obama about is not. He was fighting for it before the election, slamming the republicans hard on it. Congress didn't want that fight then- or the vote. I'm sure many of them did want the vote, just enough were against it that neither Senate nor House brought it up. Too many were afraid of republicans calling them names.
But oh if they had a big angry debate and fire about it then it might have helped.

Anyway if this passes hopefully it will all start much sooner next time. I've heard Obama fighting it every campaign stop he made this year and he was fiery. I think he handled it badly recently though even though I get he wanted to get the best deal he could and move on to other important issues that have the best chance with this Congress. He got better than expected but I think the good stuff should be extended as long as tax break is.

The actuarial picture of SS shouldn't be affected by the payroll tax break, the government is going to "put in" missing share. At least the IOUs which is all that is there, never having gotten Gore's lock box.
But there is some reason republicans have wanted this so I am suspicious too. They did this instead of continue the Obama tax break in stimulus. Continuing that would have been better and would have averted the slight rise in taxes for lower income people. It is the end of that tax break causing it.

I hope they can make this better though. republicans are disgusting

[Selatius]

20. You honestly think the Republicans are going to fill the funding gap in Social Security? nt

[jbnow]

21. It is part of this deal, not a hope for later. (New congress will be all no)nt

[aquart]

11. Sigh. What money are you talking about?

The money that the rich have seized and are holding on to was supposed to come back to the Treasury. But now it won't. THERE'S NOTHING IN THE DAMN TREASURY BUT A PILE OF IOUs.

So whatever anybody thinks they're getting out of this, it ain't enough because we won't be able to pay for anything with our worthless dollar and insolvent economy. NO ONE WANTS TO INVEST IN AN INSOLVENT NATION. The greedy unpatriotic rich are putting their money in nations that weren't so STUPID.

They stole us blind and now you refuse to see.

[polmaven]

16. Will you PLEASE stop

messing up the griping with FACTS? Facts don't solve anything!!! They just get in the way of really good bashfests! Sheeesh!

[laughingliberal]

10. K & R nt

[unblock]

12. bribe money to a corrupt government official has a much better return

ask any republican.

[JVS]

13. protection money is generally a smaller cut than 14/15

[Mortos]

14. Okay, aside from the fact that your assertion is wrong (14 times as much)

How is keeping the existing tax rate in place for 2 more years "paying" anyone? They are not taking money out of the treasury and giving it to the rich, they are just not taxing them at a rate 3% higher than the existing rate. You make it sound like the treasury is giving out money hand over fist to the rich. The plan would just let them keep a little more of what they already earn. I think the rich should pay more but your phrasing is deceptive and designed to gin up anger at the Obama administration by using false terminology.

[lunatica]

22. Actually they're being rewarded for continuing to pay politicians bribe money

Every once in a while some politicians need to get taken down for being so obvious that they put this bribery corruption dangerously in public view. Blago is one such example. Mustn't be too obvious about it lest the public gets a clue.