US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

xpost

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo0teb9tYi1qz4sr8o1_500.jpg

lol

-Neither the Bush tax cuts nor their extensions have a had an appreciable effect on employment or the economy. ...

it's up to supporters for tax cuts for the rich to prove otherwise. this should be the message all day, every day.

ding ding ding ding ding ding fuckin ding

how are the questions? Are reporters still Not Getting It either?

i actually can't hear most of the words in the questions and obama's answers aren't sufficiently different from each other in any way that might give me any kind of clue

-Due to a variety of loopholes, the 400 richest earners in the USA pay ~17% in income tax.

I'm at a point in my life where this REALLY fucking galls me because I make just enough to get completely killed by taxes. Like I don't mind paying my share but the fact that people who really wouldn't feel having to pay theirs...don't...pisses me the fuck off

how often is our president referring to taxes as "revenue enhancements"

If only he would say over and over again that Reagan and Clinton used them...

Of course I saw another letter to the Washington Post from a Republican whining about those folks who do not pay any income tax--- those too poor to do so. I saw Orin Hatch quoted on this over the weekend as well (and George Will frequently whines about it also). The nerve of those poor lucky duckies(only paying sales taxes and payroll taxes and state taxes and such)

O's still pushing for a big deficit cutting package, according to the W. Post summary of the press conference.

Eat your peas, prez says.

peas are among the most delicious vegetables, I give this metaphor a 2.9

Yeah, man. He should have picked something more contentious, like Brussels sprouts.

oh fuck that – I love Brussels sprouts more than my mother.

peas are gross unless they are fresh snow peas straight from a garden

he should give peas a chance /obvious groaner

Even my picky little kids eat peas. I can't get them to touch a b. sprout, though we did find one good recipe that combined them with grapes.

worst are lima beans for sure

-Neither the Bush tax cuts nor their extensions have a had an appreciable effect on employment or the economy.

really annoys me that Obama does not point this out

i think this is a can't prove a negative thing?

I dunno, the Republicans have no problem using that exact argument re: the stimulus, seems to be working pretty well for them

let's just say that eight years of cutting taxes under bush resulted in zero gains for most people, even before the recession

roasted brussels sprouts are godlike in their deliciousness

he should have said "you don't always want to huff the farts of a bedridden patient, but sometimes you just gotta huff those farts and move on"

universal metaphor, there

ok hating you now

"we've had a chance to see the republican tax philosophy in action, and it hasn't worked. let's not return to the failed policies of the past."

or the fart thing, toss-up really

let's not return to the failed farts of the ass

lol

biblical, that

what is a failed fart? an accidental poop?

let's just say that eight years of cutting taxes under bush resulted in zero gains for most people, even before the recession

Obama doesn't want to piss off his hedge fund/i-bank supporters. plus, as i've said before, if he or anyone else really were serious about closing the deficit he'd propose ending all of the Bush tax cuts (including those that benefit the middle class).

more mushy peas it appears to be, then.

this is why treating hedge fund profits as ordinary income as opposed to capital gains (subject to lower taxes) is a non-starter.

the more i read about the debt ceiling negotiations and hear the public statements being made the more it seems to me that politicians, maybe obama in particular, have abandoned trying to talk to/convince anyone besides the very rich and the very serious.

-Neither the Bush tax cuts nor their extensions have a had an appreciable effect on employment or the economy.

really annoys me that Obama does not point this out

Maybe because he doesn't mind the tax cuts? Let's look at the voting record.

Self-fulfilling/self-perpetuating prophecy: the rich direct the message and ergo decide elections. The plebes have been cut out of the equation because they don't vote with enough numbers/force and are prone to supporting silly people rather than serious policy. In a purportedly representative democracy, electing selfish, short-sighted idiots to defend our interests is an all too apt habit.

And going out and saying "Oh Republicans are dangerous and crazy look at what they are doing with this debt ceiling thing" is a pretty good way to lessen the blow of cutting SS and Medicare and other programs which your constituency favors. Shifts the blame from weak-kneed Dems to wreckless Republicans.

By talking about eating peas he makes it sound like he truly is going for a compromise adult deal when in fact he start off weeks ago with a plan that was 83% spending cuts and 17% 'revenue enhancers.' The Bernie Sanders 50/50 split and the Senate Dems plan were better than the initial Obama plan.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/91703/mcconnells-tell

hmmm

The only question is whether the business lobby can and will exert serious pressure on Republicans to lift the debt ceiling. This, too, is hard to game out. Most of the pressure will be exerted out of the public eye. And the business lobby obviously wants the debt ceiling lifted, but it would be happier to do so in conjunction with cuts to social spending. So business may well hang back and let Republicans exert their leverage now, while swooping in to demand a deal as the deadline nears. We don't know, but the answer is a key piece of the puzzle.

I noted this months ago

fwiw

congrats

somebody call the times

haha sorry i'm having a dumb argument abt this stuff on fb and i think i'm transferring some of my "argh"

well yeah, mcconnell mumbling about a "contingency plan" is interesting news.

btw:

“Nobody is talking about not raising the debt ceiling; I haven’t heard that discussed by anybody,” the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said

you lie!

tpm quote of Obama at the press conference:

"It's not an option for us to just sit by and do nothing. if you're a progressive that cares about he integrity of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid ... then we have an obligation to make sure that we make those changes required to make this sustainable in the long term."

Sorry, but these are not the changes needed.

“Nobody is talking about not raising the debt ceiling; I haven’t heard that discussed by anybody,” the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said

haha yeah this was the biggest lie of the weekend. i should have taken a screenshot of twitter there was this tweet and then right above it someone talking about michelle bachmann saying "dont raise the debt ceiling" that same day

the $4tril deal collapsed because boehner couldn't get his caucus to go along with any of tax increases contained in it. as far as i can tell conservatives are pissed today because that's exactly what people are saying about it.

"worst are lima beans for sure"

gotta cook w/ pork fat

Actually I do believe McConnell; to some extent this nonsense is Kabuki. If there were no Tea Party, Mac and Boehner would have yielded long ago.

^^^OTm

let's not return to the failed farts of the ass

you are history's greatest human for this