"McCain's tax plan, Gordon and Kvaal said, would cost more than $2 trillion over the next decade, delivering 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of taxpayers and just 4 percent to the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers." http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/21/the_new_hyde_park_project.html The New Hyde Park Project By Juliet Eilperin Since Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) are so busy beating up on each other, somebody has to do opposition research on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) nowadays. That would the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which Friday morning unveiled the first installment of its "Hyde Park Project." The center's president, John Podesta, said his think tank has been working for months to come up with a way to "both defend progressive ideas and also provide an informed critique of where conservatives are going in the wrong direction" during this presidential year. It just happens, he added, that McCain is already the presumptive GOP nominee while Democrats have yet to wrap up their race. During a breakfast with reporters a quartet of CAP fellows -- Robert Gordon, Peter Harbage, James Kvaal, Jeanne Lambrew -- provided a detailed analysis of McCain's tax and health care proposals. They didn't like them. McCain's tax plan, Gordon and Kvaal said, would cost more than $2 trillion over the next decade, delivering 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of taxpayers and just 4 percent to the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers. "Once you get beyond the headlines, you have a really unappealing plan," Gordon said, adding that there is no way McCain can cut government spending enough to compensate for the cuts' cost to the Treasury. "You have tax breaks for Exxon, for corporations and millionaires." Lambrew and Harbage questioned whether McCain's health care agenda would increase Americans' access to insurance, arguing it resembles President Bush's approach to providing health instance and would actually undermine individuals' ability to obtain high-quality coverage. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's senior policy adviser, said it was unfair to judge McCain's health care plan by Bush's record because McCain is offering a refundable tax credit, which is more progressive. On the question of tax cuts Gordon and Kvaal had a point, he conceded, though he added voters should wait until the senator fleshes out his tax proposal before passing judgment. "It will make deficits expand up front, no question," Holtz-Eakin said, adding that helping corporations ultimately helps workers because it ensures their employer remains internationally competitive. "That place has to be economically viable, otherwise they have a problem." Beyond just ribbing McCain, the Hyde Park Project -- which will address national security and climate change in the months to come along with health care and economics -- has an added bonus for Democratic wonks. Noting that Gordon, Harbage and Kvaal and the center's spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri had all worked on John Edwards' presidential campaigns in either 2004, 2008 or both, Podesta noted in an interview, laughing, "Besides, all these Edwards people need someplace to work." And while some might wonder whether the progressive think tank is paying homage to Obama by invoking his neighborhood's name, Palmieri assures The Trail this is not the case. "'Hyde Park Project' is secret code referring to the great progressive traditions of FDR's policies and of speaking out at London's Hyde Park's speakers' corner," she wrote in an e-mail. "We know that Obama is from Hyde Park, but it is not meant to be a reference to him. Plus, I think he plans to move to Lafayette Park."
Not exactly an objective source... I'd discount the results due to extreme bias. Lock this one up, mods...
Lock it up? Just this post of your sounds bias hahaha.... For heaven sakes this isn't coming from someones blog sitting at home.. This is coming from the Washington Post.. Albeit maybe not the holy grail of news reporting but it's better than someone from a bbs board posting stuff without any reference. Like get this " Obama will raise taxes" Yet nobody will post any references on how? No matter how many times I post can someone please post how Obama will raise taxes? What exactly will he do that will effect me?
I was going to post about basic math and about how if you have a proportional tax cut, the majority of the cut goes to those who pay the majority of the taxes, but what's the point? The Democratic talking points sound way too good for that. If you had a system where the lower 25% get most of the cut, then you'd have 25% of the taxpayers all of a sudden not only paying no taxes, but getting huge checks from the government. And the Dems say they want to balance the budget.
lock it up? does anything ever get locked in this forum? even the crap that basso posts passes muster.
I agree - what would be the point of saying that the top 1% of taxpayers pay 35% of the taxes and would get 58% of the taxcut and that the bottom 99% of taxpayers pay 65% of taxes but would only get 42% of the taxcut (if the number from the article is accurate)?
Bush didn’t know about the Sunni/Shia/Kurds sects in Iraq, and now McCain thinks that Iran is training Al-Queida…..he stated this twice, before he was informed about his error, guess he can blame on it being a senior citizen moment. McCain Gaffe: "Common Knowledge" That Iran Is Training Al-Qaida Sen. John McCain is taking this week to travel the Middle East (as well as stop of in London for a fundraiser). Today in Jordan, he falsely claimed that the predominantly Sunni terrorist organization Al-Qaida was receiving training from predominantly Shia Iran: Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda." Continue reading here. UPDATE: McCain made these statements yesterday on Hugh Hewitt's radio show: As you know, there are Al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq. Listen to the audio here. UPDATE: The McCain campaign has offered a statement acknowledging the mistake, and saying Democrats are making mountains out of molehills: "In a press conference today, John McCain misspoke and immediately corrected himself by stating that Iran is in fact supporting radical Islamic extremists in Iraq, not Al Qaeda -- as the transcript shows. Democrats have launched political attacks today because they know the American people have deep concerns about their candidates' judgment and readiness to lead as commander in chief." The statement does not address his mistake from yesterday. UPDATE: The DNC Communications Director Karen Finney released this statement: "After eight years of the Bush Administration's incompetence in Iraq, McCain's comments don't give the American people a reason to believe that he can be trusted to offer a clear way forward. Not only is Senator McCain wrong on Iraq once again, but he showed he either doesn't understand the challenges facing Iraq and the region or is willing to ignore the facts on the ground."
I am starting to despair over the simple concepts that appear to be too much for the American People as a whole. Secular Sunni Government like Iraq under Saddam wouldn't be working with radical fundamentalist Sunni like al-Qaeda...but we went to war with Iraq under the idea it was. I don't see why we expect the populace at large to know much more about the differences between Shia and Sunni. Just like they all they want to hear in the way of an economic plan is "TAX CUTS" specifics about how much and for who and who plays for it now and for future generations just makes their heads hurt.
