That Liberal Media Volume XVIII: Tax cut = Tax Increase

Double plus good.

 

What I find amusing about this is that the reason the increase was voted to expire in 2011 is because republicans used RECONCILIATION to get the cuts passed in the first place to circumvent the filibuster.

 

The headline is repeating the Republican claim. It is not the AP making that claim.

 

Doubt any conservatives will be responding with anything legitimate in this thread.

 

Fixed it for you.

 

That's a decent point. And I don't disagree that they should be using a more accurate headline and statements in the story itself. They're just repeating the line as is without doing enough to clarify its accuracy.

 

If the Republicans prevent the tax cuts sticking around for the middle class for the sake of those making over $250K....

I predict it will go poorly for them, politically.

 

If the Republicans prevent the tax cuts, I predict that it will somehow be blamed on the Democrats, and many ignorant Americans will believe it.

 

Why raise taxes on anyone nowadays? Especially those that probably employ as opposed to are employed?

We need to keep taxes lower on EVERYONE now days.

 

exactly

 

Because our country has a huge ****ing deficit.

Falsehood.

No, we don't.

 

If anything we should tax less and limit the growth in government spending as the multiplier of government spending has historically been less than that of private consumption/investment.

With the $750 billion dollar stimulus is equivalent to around $2,500 for EVERY person in the United States! With the inefficiency of the government it would have been more efficient just to mail out checks to everyone and bypass the inefficient government employees and the wealthy businesspeople that supported some congressman's election and therefore got the bridge contract and all the corruption that goes on in a bureacracy.

Instead we just grew programs that we won't just fund today but have to continue to fund them in a perpetuity when all we want is to give people debt relief and let them spend to get revenue to businesses to push them to hire people, bring down unemployment and get us out of this cycle.

 

If congress does nothing, doesn't all of the tax cuts expire? This is the best option for all of us.

 

So is it better to create immediate stimulus and give money to people which will result in sales tax, investment gains tax and a multiplier effect of revenues?

Or is it better to come up with government programs that need to be continually fed and fed year after year when we're beyond these tough times?

It is impossible to stop these programs once they start and they will continually cost more and more and increase our deficit without the benefit of investing in future revenues.

 

If we're going to blow money to "stimulate" I'd rather we built useful things for the country instead of letting Joe the Moron buy a new LCD TV.

All really moot to the discussion. I support raising taxes on the rich and drastically reducing spending, particularly on the military.

 

Great recessionary economic policy!

( Psst...they tried it in the 1930's and it didn't work out too well though I do agree with cutting the growth in spending and the military is pretty bloated.)

 

Timing is not great for cutting spending, in that regard I agree.

Krugman does a good job explaining the problem, although it really does not change my stance much.