There are probably more people in a recession who need LIHEAP. But tax cuts for the wealthy are OK?

[originalpckelly]

Or maybe I'm just stupid.

I don't care if you increased it, it was probably too low to begin with under the Bush administration.

Even with a reduction in energy prices, there is more need now because more and more people are out of work and cannot find a job.

BUT HEY, I'm just a moron, right?

And with Egypt in distress, energy prices have started to rise again! So even under his own logic, it's not logical. Although, it should be said that we're talking about futures, but people will eventually have to pay for this in the shorter term.

[katnapped]

1. Not on this planet

Even with a reduction in energy prices

Dunno what dreamland Obama lives in but a drop in crude oil prices doesn't result in a commensurate drop in everything made from it.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. You're just not paying attention to all the GOOD things that were proposed!

Light rail! Ending oil subsidies! Why can't you paupers warm yourselves with that?

[Bonobo]

3. There has not been a reduction in energy prices though. Look:

MTH/YR	COST/GALLON	COST/GALLON	
	EAST COAST (PADD 1)	MIDWEST (PADD 2)	
	(CT,MN,MA,NH,RI,VT)	(IL,IN,IO,KT,MI,MN,NE,OH,WI)	
OCT '07	2.847	2.845	
NOV '07	3.208	3.166	
DEC '07	3.302	3.092	
JAN '08	3.38	3.065	
FEB '08	3.389	3.144	
MAR '08	3.731	3.564	
AVG 	3.31	3.14	3.23

OCT '08	3.348	3.2	
NOV '08	2.896	2.576	
DEC '08	2.554	2.123	
JAN '09	2.445	2.02	
FEB '09	2.365	1.899	
MAR '09	2.229	1.775	
AVG 	2.64	2.26	2.45

OCT '09	2.615	2.378	
NOV '09	2.761	2.51	
DEC '09	2.788	2.471	
JAN '10	2.955	2.583	
FEB '10	2.894	2.532	
MAR '10	2.715	2.604	
AVG 	2.79	2.51	2.65
			
OCT '10	2.969	2.648	
NOV '10	3.092	2.86	
DEC '10	3.277	2.966	
JAN '11	3.433	3.065	
FEB '11	3.606	3.199	
AVG 	3.28	2.95	3.12

[pnwmom]

4. No. Which is why Obama's budget raises taxes on the wealthy.

It would return income and capital gains taxes to pre-2001 levels for the wealthy and return estate taxes to 2009 levels. It would also include a new reduction of the charitable and mortgage deductions that can be taken by the wealthy -- down to 28% from the current high of 35%.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/144073-presi...

SNIP

The White House budget for 2012 would end the Bush tax cuts for income above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families at the end of 2012 and bring the recently enacted estate tax figure back to its 2009 levels — just weeks after a compromise brokered in part by the administration put those policies into place.

In a message accompanying his budget, the president said that those tax policies “were unfair and unaffordable when enacted and remain so today” and that he was forced to accept them for two years to stop a tax increase on the middle class.

The president also proposed paying for a three-year “patch” to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) by reducing the amount wealthy taxpayers can take in itemized deductions — affecting, among other things, mortgage and charitable deductions.

And, as he has in previous budgets, the president suggested limiting corporations’ abilities to defer income tax on income raised overseas.

SNIP

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-14/rejected-tax-i...

The proposal also would bring back pre-2001 tax rates on income and capital gains for individuals earning more than $200,000 annually and married couples making more than $250,000. The estate tax would return to 2009 levels with a $3.5 million per-person exemption and a 45 percent top rate. Under a law Obama signed in December, lower rates expire at the end of 2012.

SNIP

The budget plan would limit itemized deductions for top earners to 28 percent, curbing the value of tax breaks for charitable contributions, home mortgage interest and state and local taxes. That proposal has been included in every budget of Obama’s presidency and was rejected as a revenue-raising provision to fund his overhaul of the health system last year.

SNIP

[Lorien]

5. It does not. Those tax breaks that he just gave them expire in 2012

that isn't "raising taxes on the wealthy".

[pnwmom]

7. If the Rethugs succeed, those cuts will become permanent.

Under Obama's plan, the rates would return to the old higher levels.

And you are deliberately ignoring the new cut to the mortgage and charitable interest deduction.

[originalpckelly]

6. That's not possible, they already voted to keep the tax cuts last year...

and Obama's budget does not go out far enough to cover the fiscal year in which the tax cut extension will expire.

And any tax hikes will be dead on arrival in the House, because it is now controlled by Republicans.

Republicans only want spending cuts and want to keep the tax cuts for the rich, and Obama's such a poor negotiator, that that's what's going to happen.

[pnwmom]

8. They can always vote to change their minds. Obama's budget sets that up

as a possibility, but he can't force them to vote. It will put on sharp display their budget balancing hypocrisy.