White House 'cliff' offer gets GOP cold shoulder

[No Elephants]

Nov 29, 7:03 PM EST

White House 'cliff' offer gets GOP cold shoulder

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is seeking $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade and an immediate infusion of funds to aid the jobless, help hard-pressed homeowners and perhaps extend the expiring payroll tax cut, officials said Thursday as talks aimed at averting an economy-rattling "`fiscal cliff" turned testy.

In exchange, the officials said, President Barack Obama will support an unspecified amount of spending cuts this year, to be followed by legislation in 2013 producing savings of as much as $400 billion from Medicare and other benefit programs over a decade.

The offer produced a withering response from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, after a closed-door meeting in the Capitol with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. "Unfortunately, many Democrats continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement that will reduce our deficit," he declared.

Boehner added, "No substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the two weeks since Obama welcomed congressional leaders at the White House.

Democrats swiftly countered that any holdup was the fault of Republicans who refuse to accept Obama's campaign-long call to raise tax rates on upper incomes.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FISCAL_CLIFF?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-29-19-03-26


The payroll tax cut, like means testing, is just another way of killing Social Security. And one extension of unemployment is NOT worth losing this battle twice. Especially when a lot more is at stake this second time than just raising taxes.

Besides, an FDR federal jobs program makes a lot more sense as a stimulus.

I'm with Patty Murray.

Once we hit the kabuki cliff and the world doesn't end, we will be not be negotiating tax increases for the 2%. The Republicans will be negotiating tax decreases for the 2%--and they have almost zero leverage.

Wage earners will not be filling out their tax returns for January 2013 until at least January 2014 and estimated taxes for people in business aren't due until April 2013.

And part of whatever tax package is ultimately passed can include retroactive fixes for any tax damage done by having gone over the bogeyman cliff on January 1.

If the investor class panics over this, it will just have to take the consequences of its own actions.

[Enthusiast]

1. There's no need to compromise with

Grover Norquist. The Republican position is the unreasonable one. Two wars and a huge tax cut? Then waaaaaa, deficit! Duh. What happened to Dick Cheney's, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."? I guess that only applies when there is a Democratic President. Let all the tax cuts expire.

[No Elephants]

2. I think people are going to scream when the payroll tax cut expires.

That was the most insidious.

[Enthusiast]

3. Is that from the movie Troy?

I have never watched it. The reviews weren't so strong. Was it any good?

[No Elephants]

4. I never watched it either. I only googled "image Trojan horse" and picked one.