DCPolitics

Careening “Forward” Over The Cliff

BARACK OBAMA RETURNING FROM “CLIFFMAS” VACATION U.S. President Barack Obama is returning to Washington, D.C. this week from his latest Hawaiian vacation – purportedly to try and avert a plunge over the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Wait … doesn’t Obama want the country to go over the cliff?  Absolutely … which means…

BARACK OBAMA RETURNING FROM “CLIFFMAS” VACATION

U.S. President Barack Obama is returning to Washington, D.C. this week from his latest Hawaiian vacation – purportedly to try and avert a plunge over the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

Wait … doesn’t Obama want the country to go over the cliff?  Absolutely … which means he’s really returning to manage the “blame game” associated with this latest high stakes political drama.

For those of you who haven’t been following this goat show, tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 are expiring on December 31.  There’s also a $109 billion spending cut set to go in effect as part of a 2011 deal to raise the federal government’s debt limit to its current level of $16.4 trillion.  Not surprisingly, neither Democrats nor “Republicans” want to see that $109 billion cut take effect.  Yet as they keep the gravy train flowing, both parties also want to give the impression that they are serious about reducing the government’s skyrocketing debt – even though deficit spending will climb by at least $7.7 trillion over the coming decade no matter what deal is struck on the “cliff.”

Against this backdrop Obama initially proposed $1.6 trillion in tax hikes over the coming decade – the vast majority of which would go to fund government growth.  “Republicans” in the U.S. Congress countered with an $800 billion tax hike proposal – and have since upped their tax hike plan to $1 trillion.

Obama has rejected both of those proposals – while at the same time insisting Congressional Republicans grant him the unilateral authority to raise the nation’s debt ceiling moving forward.

Where do negotiations stand now?  Nowhere … which means all American taxpayers are likely to see their taxes go up in 2013.

And while pundits point to January 1 as a day of reckoning for the U.S. economy, we may already be feeling the impact of the “cliff.”  According to data released earlier this week, the 2012 holiday shopping season appears to have been slower than analysts expected – with the stalemate over the “cliff’ cited as one of the contributing factors.

What happens now?

Well, even if the clock ticks past midnight on New Year’s Eve with no deal in place, the new Congress could take action to rescind some of the tax hikes associated with the “cliff.”  But will they?  And can anyone in Washington (well, all but a small handful of free market supporters) really be trusted to do what’s in the best interests of citizens and taxpayers anymore?

America is fundamentally out of balance, people … struggling to sustain a massive federal government that has veered wildly into a host of speculative endeavors and non-core functions taxpayers have no business subsidizing.  Yet rather than address these excesses with long-overdue cuts, both parties are debating over how best to stick taxpayers with the bill …

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41 comments

BigT December 26, 2012 at 11:37 am

Obama has the White House and the Senate…but the media says it’s the GOP, and they actually care who it is balmed on…

Meanwhile: Obama has it set up to where he Raises Taxes NO MATTER WHAT…

If we can CRASH the country…but Rob Entitlements, and make the Theives and Takers STARVE…I’m all for that….I’ll eat rice and drink water from a stream…

I’d Do anything to Punish the Obam-ites for Forcing that Lazy, Lying pop Culture-god on us…

And until the 53% Racist Idiots, and the Yuppie dumb@$$#$ who buy into their stupidity, have to get off their Lazy @$$#$…This Failure-in-Cheif will continue to Destroy our country…

Somethimes you have to suffer to win…I’m ready to Suffer if it KILLS liberalism…

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Andy December 26, 2012 at 11:43 am

Did the mother ship drop you off here forever or is it coming back to pick you up?

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Liberal Trash December 26, 2012 at 11:46 am

Pity the millionaires.

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BigT December 26, 2012 at 11:53 am

Insults…but no defense or answers…

You ARE the Epitopme of a F%^ked up Obama voter…
Parents, who actually believe they are RESPONSIBLE for their children, cannot find jobs…

And as long as Dumb@$$#$ like you can cajole enough RACE-Hate VRobot to put your clueless Loser back in office…you don’t Give a $#!*…

But: Make Sure you obey your idol-Obama and turn in any weapons you have…because if he crashes it before Adults can fix his mess….I want to be armed…and I want to Stupid (like you) to be Defenseless…

You worship a Trash god…and I want to make sure you feel the wages of your faith in him…

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Andy December 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm

I have nothing to defend myself for. I don’t come on here and rant and rave like some psychopathic Spanish inquisitor. As for the insults, you leave so much low hanging fruit it’s impossible to resist.

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Thebeachisback December 26, 2012 at 3:59 pm

Wow, are threatening people? Scary! that means you’ll have to get out of your lazy boy, put down the pork rinds, unwrap the confederate flag from your fat ass and do something! Don’t see it happening because you’re a lazy SOB wo works from an armrest!

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djk754 January 1, 2013 at 9:50 am

FORWARD, comrades!

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Jan December 26, 2012 at 11:44 am

And yet Republicans sit back and refuse to extend the tax cuts for 98% of all Americans. Even though they contend this will increase revenues to the government and decrease the deficit.

Further, on a more local note SC Republicans in Washington refuse to vote to extend the tax cuts for 99.5% of South Carolinians.

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Liberal Trash December 26, 2012 at 11:53 am

It is difficult for them.After all, this is a party dedicated to assuring that the wealthy pay less taxes.Without adhering to this mandate,there is little reason for the party to exist.It is who they are.Take away that identity and what is left?

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Andy December 26, 2012 at 11:54 am

Correct. And come next election, 60% of South Carolinians will vote to send them back.

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BigT December 26, 2012 at 11:59 am

The rich got rich because they know how to MAKE, and KEEP, Their wealth…

You god-Obama is government do-nothing job, Community Organizer.

The samrt and industrious will F%^* that idiot up the @$$ before it’s over…That’s how it should work…it’s a fact of human nature…no matter if liberals can delay natural law for a short period..

You are Beggers and government ddependent beciuase you are Weak and Stupid…

The Romneys will be fine, because they are smarter than people like Obama, who depends on the whim of the Ignorant pop culture to live like a king…

When it crashes on him, and you…you will feel the Stupidity you invited…and I will LMAO…not out of revenge, but out of Sweet Justcve comimg home to roost on you…

Again: The ignorant are the ignorant for a reason..and you will figure that out soon enough…

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? December 26, 2012 at 12:09 pm

If you taxed all income over 66K you still couldn’t get the budget under control. It’s an impossible situation:

economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/12/government-insiders-true-us-debt.html

Everybody’s worried about the “fiscal cliff”(which we went over a long time ago), but not actually worried about issues already in play.

There’s no admission that we are bankrupt…surviving on money printing alone and hoping for a non-existant growth fairy to fix everthing..lol..it’s pure lunacy.

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2 December 26, 2012 at 12:21 pm

Let’s just cut government spending to Clinton levels…BTW, why is the Obama Administration spending millions advertising US government benefits to Mexicans in Mexico? Additionally, why are we giving 20 F-16 jets to Muslim-dominated Egypt, where persecution of Christians is sky-rocketing since Morsi was overthrown?

Dontcha’ think that money would be better spent providing job training programs for the Unemployed in America?

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Jan December 26, 2012 at 3:45 pm

So why don’t you ask your Republican buddies in the House why they choose to spend more money on foreign aid and nation building in the middle east, than they do on worker training in the US. After all they have to approve the amount of money given to Egypt and other countries.

By the way while you are at it, ask them why they let the Bush Administration forgive Iraq’s debt to the US after the war. Didn’t they originally say the war would be paid for through Iraq’s oil profits?

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BigT December 26, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Until people are MADE to FEEL Economic Reality…They will Stupidly follow Obama and Idiots like him…

Save what you can…so you’ll be OK when the Stupid has the bottom fall out on them…

PS: Get all the guns you can (w/ ammo) too….(and let Obama take theirs)…

Ignorant Takers are immoral and lawless. And all they will understand is brute force when they figure out their god is a liar…

So be ready to defend against them…

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scmajor December 26, 2012 at 12:42 pm

How about you T? Do you feel the economic reality of living in a backwater republican state like SC?

SC has been run by republicans for 30 years yet our state is last in just about all quality of life issues.

Please enlighten us as to what sort of magic the republicans will use to save the country?

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Thebeachisback December 26, 2012 at 4:02 pm

I don’t think T can define enlighten! He’d have to actually make sense!

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Long Dong Silver December 26, 2012 at 12:33 pm

Congress will do nothing – they will let the tax rates return to Clinton era rates – and let the spending limits (not “cuts,” btw -spending increases even under the sequestration rules) happen as planned.

This will cause another recession. The pols in DC will point fingers at each other, the MSM will spin it in Obama’s direction, and 2014 will usher in a Democrat majority in the House and Senate. Taxes will remain high, and deficit spending will increase.

By 2016, we will be in a deep do-do depression, for which Obama and the Dems will at LAST be blamed – unemployment will be at 15% – black unemployment will be at 30% – and interest rates will be high. Maybe, just maybe, if we have not disintegrated into chaos and totalitarianism, at long last, responsible Republicans like Rubio or Christie will win the White House and Congress.

By 2018 we could be headed out of the woods.

Five years of economic pain to fix Washington DC. Worth it? Yes.

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Joe Wilson Is A Very Smart Man December 26, 2012 at 1:04 pm

Perhaps Joe can be VP on the ticket with these “responsible Republicans?”

He is a very smart man!

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Long Dong Silver December 26, 2012 at 2:14 pm

Joe Wilson is a dipshit, but he knows a liar when he sees one.

How about Alvin Green?

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Joe Wilson Is A Very Smart Man December 26, 2012 at 2:36 pm

I dont think Green is a very smart man,plus he has never been elected to anything,unlike Joe.

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BigT December 26, 2012 at 1:43 pm

Obama has been re-elected for close to 2 months…

I’ve YET to hear ONE new proposal the KING of the Left has put forth…other than n the failure he offered in the first term…

Looks like FOUR more years of misery, w/ a Clueless Dolt in charg. Obama’s plan is tojust laugh at the Fools who put him in, while trying to Destroy the true Americans who Earn a system so padded, that we can afford an incompetent of Obamian proportions….

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Econ 101 December 26, 2012 at 2:11 pm

Obama simply doesn’t have to take GOP shit anymore and the American people know it too. Most Americans want the rich to pay their fair share. Why the fuck do I have to pay a higher rate than Romney?

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Edmund Burke December 26, 2012 at 2:38 pm

Dear Econ 101 – you don’t pay a higher rate than Romney, you pay a lower rate.

If your income comes exclusively from investments of YOUR capital, like Romney’s does, along with the corresponding risk that these investments may earn money or not, then your government taxes the gain at a lower rate than ordinary income -but for lower income earners, like you I assume, you pay a lower capital gains tax rate than Romney does.

If you don’t like that, then move to Venezuela, which is one of the only remaining Marxist regimes that doesn’t treat capital gains differently from ordinary income.

If Romney earned ordinary income, he would be taxed on it at an effective rate of %53.3 (Fed – 36%, state of Mass 5.3%, other federal taxes averaging 8%, other state and local taxes averaging 4%.) That’s more than half – but not his “fair share” – right?

But hey, you made a good point – even if you did not intend to -everyone should pay the same flat rate – say 18% – that is fair, and would generate far more revenue for your beloved government than what we have now.

But I guess that isn’t covered unil Econ 102.

Dumbass.

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Joe Wilson Is A Very Smart Man December 26, 2012 at 2:44 pm

Big T already has answered that( see his post @11:59)

The rich(Romney) “know how to MAKE and KEEP their wealth.”

Apparently,you dont!(im using Big Ts logic here).

If you did,Joe Wilson(a very smart man)would help make sure you didnt pay much tax too,like he has done for Mitt and others in his income bracket.

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Jan December 26, 2012 at 3:17 pm

Econ 101, regardless of what Mr. Burke says. You almost certainly do pay a higher marginal rate than Mr. Romney, and you probably pay a higher percentage of your total income in taxes than Romney. Mr. Burke chooses to speak in typical Republican double speak.

There is no reason someone who invests in a low risk stock that pays dividends should pay less in taxes on their income than a person who works to earn money to support himself and his family. Investing your future in doing a good job for a company is certainly as risky as investing in the stock of that company. Both require commitment to an enterprise that might fail, and the odds are the result of failure will be far more devastating to the finances of the worker than the investor.

Also, did Mr. Burke tell you that when the Republicans enacted the Bush Tax Cuts, to lower the tax on capital gain income and dividends, they excluded capital gains and dividends earned in Retirement Plans, 401ks and IRAs from the cuts. They knew when they did this that virtually all of the Capital Gains and Dividends earned by everyone except the very wealthy were in retirement plans. So you could be invested in stock with a higher risk than the stocks or bonds Romney is invested in, and pay more in tax on your capital gains and dividends than Romney.

Finally, how convenient that Mr. Burke chose to add together all of Romney’s “potential taxes” if he had to pay at ordinary rates to imply he was paying his fair share. Strangely when Republicans talk about middle income tax payers, they ignore all the state and local taxes they pay. So do this experiment add your fed. income tax, your state income tax, any local income tax you pay, your sales taxes, your payroll taxes, and your excise taxes. Then divide by your total income. I am willing to bet you pay a higher percentage of your income in taxes than Romney does.

Also as to what is “fair”. Some people benefit far more from living in this country than others do. Romney is one of those people.

Finally, Mr. Burke says “If you don’t like that, then move to Venezuela….” Or in the alternative elect someone who will do something about it. Oh, wait, you did.

Maybe Mr. Burke needs to move to the Grand Caymens, or Pakistan, or the Congo, or some other country with a tax system more to his liking. I.E. where the rich pay no taxes.

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Econ 101 December 26, 2012 at 4:08 pm

Yes, I do Mr. Ed. Thanks for the name calling…easy to do under a fake handle and firewall. You and the whig (Tory) party seem to have the U.K. booming, so why don’t you worry about that instead meddling in U.S. politics, or as Jan suggests, just move your shit to the Caymans?

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Edmund Burke December 26, 2012 at 5:20 pm

Well, the empire was booming when I was alive, thanks to free market economics.

But hey, sorry about the name calling – seriously, what do you think Mr. Romney’s or anyone’s “fair share” should be? Over half of what they make, taken by force and redistributed to others by a government who knows better about how to spend and invest your money than you do?

Is that really what you want? Must be, because that’s what you apparently voted for.

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Liberal Trash December 26, 2012 at 5:52 pm

Wasnt the highest rate 70%under Eisenhower,a Republican?

The John Birch Society said he was a Communist.

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xx chromosome December 26, 2012 at 8:29 pm

@Econ101 – Did you actually take Econ 101?

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Econ 101 December 26, 2012 at 8:41 pm

Yes, but instead of one liners that you’re so catty with, why don’t you try and give someone like myself some higher education on the subject since it wasn’t my major?

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xx chromosome December 26, 2012 at 8:56 pm

@Econ 101 – Sorry I don’t have 4 yrs. to teach you basic Econ. If you’re over 65, you can audit Econ classes at your local univ. Until then, my heartfelt sympathies to your lack of education.

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Econ 101 December 26, 2012 at 9:01 pm

Meow.

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Smirks December 26, 2012 at 3:47 pm

Concede the revenue hikes and focus on spending cuts. Saving tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires isn’t going to happen.

Both sides are wasting time. The real deal is probably already worked out and all of this shit is just charades until the last minute. Neither party cares about the deficit, they just want to make sure their respective masters are cut in on the “deal”.

Just think how awesome this country would be if politicians worked as hard for us as they do for themselves?

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BigT December 26, 2012 at 3:59 pm

Ruling out of HATE and Revenge..as Obama has admitted…leads to ruin…

The democrat party is no different than the democrat Slave-owners of the 1850s. Riding the backs of others for your wealth, crashes upon itself…

Obama is smart enough to play pop culture for power..but he is STUPID about life and reality…

Ride high now…but your day is short…and thank God fail-safes are built in by God to smite the ignorant and immoral…

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Thebeachisback December 26, 2012 at 4:04 pm

Because you are the poster child for morality! You hate anyone who disagrees with you! HYPOCRITE!

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xx chromosome December 26, 2012 at 9:13 pm

@Econ 101 – love ya Girl!

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Uncle Remus December 27, 2012 at 7:54 am

I can smell Obama from here

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fred December 27, 2012 at 12:48 pm

Sorry folks if the repubs did their job there would be no problem. The “5 AMIGOS” plus 2 from South Carolina are excused, as they are members of the Tea Party not the Republican Party.

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LEWINSKYNEWS.CUM December 28, 2012 at 2:58 pm

‘Talking politics’ on this site is almost as bad as an orgy at a Baptist church.Almost.

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djk754 January 1, 2013 at 9:52 am

We are all socialists now, comrades.

Support Comrade President Obama, equality, and social justice.

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