Election Central Morning Roundup
Today: Minnesota To Certify Franken's Victory -- But Lawsuit Awaits
The Minnesota state canvassing board will be meeting at 3:30 p.m. ET today to certify their results showing a super-thin Al Franken win for Senate, currently at 225 votes out of over 2.9 million. But Franken will not be able to receive an official certificate of election -- and therefore probably won't be able to take his seat -- because the Coleman campaign has indicated that they will challenge the result in court.
Report: Obama Economic Plan To Include Huge Tax Cuts
The Wall St. Journal reports that Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats are preparing a tax cut package totaling $300 billion over two years -- a larger dollar figure per year than anything George W. Bush ever did -- as part of his potential $775 billion stimulus package. The move could make it easier to win necessary support from Congressional Republicans.
Obama In Washington, Working On Economy
Barack Obama is meeting on Capitol Hill this afternoon with the Congressional leadership from both parties, with his economic plan expected to be the top order of business. He will also hold a meeting with his own economic team, at his D.C. transition headquarters.
Biden Speaking At Pell Funeral, Then Heading To Washington
Joe Biden will be speaking this morning at the funeral of former Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI) in Newport, Rhode Island. He will then head down to Washington to join Barack Obama's meeting with Congressional leaders. He will also be in Delaware tonight, for a "Salute to Governor Ruth Ann Minner" event, sending off the state's departing Democratic governor.
Burris Heading To Washington
Roland Burris is heading to Washington later today, as he seeks to be seated as the new Senator from Illinois against the backdrop of the Blagojevich scandal. "We are hoping and praying that they will not be able to deny what the Lord has ordained," Burris told a send-off event last night at the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.
Bobby Rush: Refusal To Seat Burris Is "Plantation Politics"
At the sendoff event for Roland Burris last night, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) continued to present the controversy around Burris' appointment in strictly racial terms. Rush declared that the resistance of the Democratic leadership to seating Burris was "the last bastion of racial plantation politics in America."
Obama To Hold "Neighborhood Inaugural Ball"
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has announced that Barack Obama will hold a first-ever "Neighborhood Inaugural Ball" at the Washington Convention Center, with a portion of the tickets set aside just for D.C. residents.
Tim Kaine To Be DNC Chair, But At First Only Part-Time
Barack Obama is expected to announce soon that he has picked Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who had endorsed his candidacy in early 2007 when it looked like a long shot, to be the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Kaine will only serve on a part-time for his first year, until his term as governor expires, with former Obama campaign strategist Jennifer O'Malley running the day-to-day operations.
No, too many tax cuts- middle class and lower only! No corporate tax cuts- no, none. Small business- okay. None of this money is going to stimulate anything, of course- that's why tax cuts are such a bad idea.
Also, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!!!! Yep, I'm yelling- you would too if you'd been unemployed since Thanksgiving.
I am in complete agreement with Krugman- this plan is starting from a point of weakness if this is, in fact, the plan.
Wiser investments can and could be made. How about government-sponsored day care? Free of charge. How about investing in the arts? Conservation? Wind-energy? Wiser investments O. team.
Make the Republicans into the villains they should be if they oppose this legislation- as well they would be- opposing assistance to real people, not wall street, or the auto corp.'s. REAL PEOPLE WHO NEED TO WORK FOR A LIVING!!!
I'm beginning to think Harry Reid has infected the whole damn party.
January 5, 2009 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bipartisanship's basically date rape in which the Republican rapes the Democrat and the Democrat's expected to like it and want more of it.
January 5, 2009 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, this is pretty irresponsible, especially given how difficult it is to raise taxes in this country. The stimulus is the one area where Obama can potentially steam roll the Republicans in terms of public support, and by draining revenue further, I don't see how can possibly plan to pass health care reform. I really hope the WSJ is just BS'ing, and given that it's now a Murdoch-run propaganda rag, I can see them pushing a fake report to put Obama on the defensive. But yeah, I'm still worried.
January 5, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Krugman says tax-cuts are not the way to go, but maybe it's a head fake by Obama to bring the Republicans on board. I'm suspicious, like Krugman, that the Republicans simply cannot be brought on board under any circumstances. They see their job as to obstruct. The one big worry I have is that the new administration really believes its post-partisan rhetoric. I think post-partisanship makes excellent rhetoric, but to expect it to actually come about under the present circumstances is the height of naivete.
Anyhow, if you're a Democrat and you get a tax cut, go buy a new car or TV or something with it -- that's the patriotic thing to do right now.
January 5, 2009 9:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
The repugs view government as something evil that must be fought at all costs and obstruction is the only weapon left in their arsenal. So until President Obama can figure out some way to get the repugs off their defensive postures, nothing will get accomplished, but voters will see who is responsible for the lackluster performance in Congress.
January 5, 2009 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's possible that the WSJ is pushing BS to put Obama on the defensive. We'll see. I really hope this isn't true. I didn't like Obama's tax cut platform during the election and this is the last thing I wanted to see expanded.
January 5, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Anyhow, if you're a Democrat and you get a tax cut, go buy a new car or TV or something with it -- that's the patriotic thing to do right now. "
Agreed. But try to keep in mind where the goods are made, so that the stimulus happens here.
January 5, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you want to cut a tax, how about a payroll tax holiday?
January 5, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Roland Burris thinks that "the Lord has ordained" his appointment to the Senate? That kind of thinking is enough to disqualify him as far as I'm concerned. Or is it Lord Blagojevich that he means? Heh, heh.
And Bobby Rush is still pushing the racial angle on all this? I'm beginning to wonder if all three of them haven't been partners in some kind of scam. Are they all crooked, or just stupid? Or has ambition merely taken control of every single brain cell?
January 5, 2009 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
" "the Lord has ordained" his appointment to the Senate? That kind of thinking is enough to disqualify him as far as I'm concerned. "
It didn't disqaulify Obama, why would it disqualify him?
January 5, 2009 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
All right, you arrogant fraud: Date, time, place and make it multiple citations. Where exactly did Obama say he was there by divine ordination?
Thought so. Frauds don't change their spots either...
January 5, 2009 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
“… a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany … and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote....”
"We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek."
January 5, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
You got nothin' - never had, never will.
And you think you're making a joke, while we know you are the joke.
January 5, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
"You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking."
Louis Farrakhan
January 5, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?"
-- Daily Kos
"I'll do whatever he says to do. I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."
-- Halle Berry
"This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament." | "I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event."
-- Chris Matthews
"We're here to evolve to a higher plane . . . he is an evolved leader . . . [he] has an ear for eloquence and a Tongue dipped in the Unvarnished Truth."
-- Oprah Winfrey
“I would characterize the Senate race as being a race where Obama was, let’s say, blessed and highly favored. That’s not routine. There’s something else going on. I think that Obama, his election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. . . . I know that that was God’s plan."
-- Bill Rush
January 5, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
You were asked for a quote from Obama himself.
January 5, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The top 2 quotes were from the messiah, the others were the interpratations of his prophets.
January 5, 2009 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
still nothing about him being divinely chosen. Those two statements focus on the audience. Whatever, I'm done. This thread is silly.
January 5, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
There may be something to this...he hasn't even taken office but his election has already retuned sea ice to pre-Reagan levels...
http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834
January 5, 2009 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
The extent of Arctic sea ice in the middle of winter isn't the significant measure, no matter what your wingnut pseudoscience site says. Or are you one of those who thinks it's really funny to point out that global warming must be a myth because you had cold weather?
I'm glad we're finally going to have a reality-based government that doesn't dismiss science as agenda-driven opinion just because it produces results that are inconvenient for their big-money supporters.
January 5, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We are the change . . ." suggests anything but divine intervention. It means "stop waiting for things to change and make it happen. Be the change!"
No problem. The cable news talking heads didn't get it either.
January 5, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Please cite chapter and verse where Obama said the Lord had ordained him for any public office ever.
Waiting . . .
January 5, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, come on guys. I he's clearly just riffing on the "Obama is the Messiah" canard. Maybe you don't think its funny, but its clearly just a joke.
January 5, 2009 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad someone gets it...
January 5, 2009 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bobby Rush is getting on my last nerve. How transparent can you be?
FYI, Bobby Rush endorsed a white candidate over Barack Obama in the 2004 Senate race. Something is definitely with this trio of Blagojevich, Burris and Rush.
January 5, 2009 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
There were TWO black candidates in the 2004 Democratic senate primary and Rush passed over both and threw his support behind the white millionaire!
Four years later, having a black senator is crucial to him. Yeah, right.
January 5, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not just good qualified Ill. reps...but 'black' ones. Is that really an issue for Burris or what?
Law states he should be seated but he still is a Blago pawn...intentional or not. Would he have been appointed if he wasn't black?...isn't that part of Blago's 'ha-ha, can't touch this'. Some people mange to get elected until people get to know them and I wouldn't be surprised if he would also make the same claims if he had been elected dog catcher four times. How much does anyone know about their state comptroller? Sit down Burris and STFU.
January 5, 2009 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Roland Burris thinks that "the Lord has ordained" his appointment to the Senate? That kind of thinking is enough to disqualify him as far as I'm concerned. Or is it Lord Blagojevich that he means? Heh, heh.
And Bobby Rush is still pushing the racial angle on all this? I'm beginning to wonder if all three of them haven't been partners in some kind of scam. Are they all crooked, or just stupid? Or has ambition merely taken control of every single brain cell?
January 5, 2009 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the Obama team is trying to do the combo of tax cuts to the middle class and small businesses to create jobs AND infrastructure building as first a quick jolt to the economy with the tax cuts as well as creating or saving 3 million jobs with spending in infrastructure building including roads/bridges/dams/schools,etc.
I think they are looking at history when one only did tax cuts particularly to the rich it didn't too much and when one only did infrastructure building as they did in Japan it helps but it isn't the end all. Remember Japan did massive infrastructure building to try and get out of their recession and it took YEARS to do that.
I think the Obama team is thinking the COMBO may do the trick.
Time will tell. NOBODY SAID THIS WAS GOING TO BE EASY.
January 5, 2009 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
With a new DNC chair coming in, this is a good time to say a big Thank You to the outgoing DNC chair, Howard Dean.
The election of Barack Obama is the result of a big change in the way we do politics in the USA, and nobody had more to do with making that change than Howard Dean.
Nice job, Dr. Dean. Don't be a stranger in the months and years ahead. We need your leadership.
January 5, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
here here.
i was an early fan of dean's though i was also an early defector. but his tenure at DNC has absolutely solidified my respect for the man. he doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves what with obama's celebrity putting everyone in his shadow.
January 5, 2009 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maritza, speaking as someone in the more affluent part of the middle class, I'd say that tax cuts could be useful to the stimulus if they go to the working poor rather than to people like me. And, yes, as Krugman says, the free-market trickle-down ideologues will say you can't give tax cuts to people who don't pay taxes, but of course you can -- income taxes aren't the only kinds of taxes. A cut in payroll taxes for workers making less than $50,000/yr would probably have a big effect on the economy. If you give guys like me that same cut, not so much, since I'm likely to save it or pay down debt. Though, as I said above, I'm willing to do my patriotic duty and buy a new car next year if I get a tax cut -- except that it's very likely to be a Japanese model.
January 5, 2009 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Payroll taxes ARE income taxes, so cutting income taxes will automatically reduce the amounts withheld.
Other withholdings are for Social Security and Medicare, so reduding the amounts withheld will reduce the benefits from those programs.
January 5, 2009 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
chicagobama, you haven't been paying attention to your pay stub:
Income taxes are calculated as a (variable) percentage of your gross income after pre-tax deductions (401k, etc.). Cutting income taxes would cut that amount (either cutting the withholding, or changing the total on April 15).
Payroll taxes usually refers to Social Security and Medicare, deductcions, which are also calculated as a percentage of your gross before pre-tax deductions. Cutting income taxes has no effect whatsoever on your payroll taxes.
Finally, your Medicare benefit after your retirement does NOT depend on how much you paid while working. Your Social Security does, to a limited extent, but of course, a Social Security tax holiday could compensate for this by legislation.
January 5, 2009 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I do pay attention, but thanks for the lesson.
The most significant deduction from payroll is the withholding for federal and state taxes, so a cut in the federal rate would add more dollars to each paycheck.
The Medicare tax is about 1.5% so there isn't much to cut that would significantly benefit taxpayers. Cutting the Social Security tax would require either a reduction in benefits or additional legislation to keep the benefits with reduced funding. It doesn't make sense to me to take on a re-design of Social Security just to reduce the payroll taxes - that's a significant effort and the need to get more money back to taxpayers is urgent. Far better to reduce income taxes so working people can have more dollars now.
January 5, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am very, very not down with screwing up the economic plan (which SHOULD be weighted very heavily to public investment- and there are plenty of places to do that immediately) in order to to court Republicans. This bipartisan mania is like a disease that Obama has. He has got to learn that those assholes will fuck up anything they get their mitts on, even partially. I hope he won't have to learn the hard way at the entire country's expense.
January 5, 2009 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
It will be the Senate and the House who will end up doing the bill.
If this was such an easy thing than we would have done it already.
%60 infrastructure building and %40 tax cuts to lower and middle income people and small businesses.
It may work.
All I can say is that Japan did HEAVY infrastruture building primarily when they tried to get themselves out of their recession and it DID NOT WORK.
Time will tell if this works.
January 5, 2009 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps President Obamais offering an olive branch to the warring repugs to bring them onboard. Of course I don't expect them to accept the offer so President Obama will then have free rein to take actions he sees fit without their input They were offered a berth and refused to accept the terms.
The repugs got to get it thru their thick neanderthal skulls they aren't in charge, don't make the rules and their input carrys little to no weight anymore - that's what being a minority party is all about.
January 5, 2009 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
"President Obama will then have free rein to take actions he sees fit without their input"
Thank you, Dr. Pangloss.
January 5, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama doesn't need many Republicans at all to pass a stimulus plan--just a couple in the Senate.
The vast majority of economists agree on what has to be done, including the most recent Nobel Prize winner--and it's not a capital gains tax cut or more huge cuts for the one percent that doesn't need it.
The notion that the poor and middle class don't pay taxes is one of many frauds perpetrated by the wingnut right. Bi-partisanship doesn't mean courting the support of the extreme wing of the opposing party.
January 5, 2009 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Krugman says there is a reasonable economic case for large tax cuts in year one because there are not enough shovel - ready projects to get the economy going NOW ( as in this year 2009). Yes, he's worried that the pecentage of the whole plan is too high, but he's more worried that the reports are saying that Obama is doing this to please Republicans - and this is where some of you will become blind with rage or mildly overreact, I'm sure, accuse Obama of pandering and being naive about post-partisanship. Obama made some big promises on the trail. Tax cuts rolled off his tongue like water out of a pipe and so did his "rhetoric" about working together. When is it going to sink in that he really is trying to keep his promises? That he has to keep those promises? Obama is no dummy, he knows that he can't get everyone on board, he knows there will be opposition and like Maritza said, "nobody said this was going to be easy." But, he has to try and the American people will see that and look at the Republicans as "politics as usual" and Obama as the one fighting for them. If anyone is upset about the actual plan (a work in progress), fine. If you are upset that the reports (we all know how reliable those are) say that this is about pleasing Republicans - well, I think you need to get your priorities straight.
January 5, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with this post almost completely.
I understand Josh's concern, and Krugman's, but I also didn't see Krugman's blog post as the table-pounding objections of a man who beliegves Obama has gone off the rails. Instead, I got mild objection to it in the shape of concern about bending over to Republicans' wishes. I interpreted it more as a cautionary comment, rather than a comment about the economic plan overall. Krugman thinks that 40% may be too high. That's the intellectual equivalent of my wife telling me that I am following the car in friont of me a little closely.
No need to run around with your hair on fire over this.
January 5, 2009 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Do you really this talk of Obama bending to the Republicans, or is this a PR thing like Krugman suggests? Or is this just journalists/news organizations using the same source (WSJ?, not sure) but worded differently.
January 5, 2009 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think that Obama wants a significant amount of support for the package, and if that means ratcheting up the tax breaks a bit, so be it.
I do not view this as Obama bending to Republicans. If you want to see what bending to Republicans looks like, look to Harry Reid.
January 5, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
ok.
January 5, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
The last "stimulus" check I got from the feds went to pay my quarterly estimate to the IRS.
So, those on here who are scared to death that some working people might get a tax break, relax. Some of us will just be using it to pay our taxes.
January 5, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
My stimulus check of $600 was down to $120 after the IRS took out the taxes I owed. At first I didn't think I would get anything - I'm single with no kids, I rent, and made a whopping $35K a year (watch out Donald Trump I might catch up)- I rarely get back anything from the IRS. When I found out that I might get $600, I made plans to go out and spend it. When I learned that it would be cut so drastically, I threw my wish list in the garbage and paid a few bills.
January 5, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
No one's saying that the working class shouldn't get a tax break--that's what Obama campaigned for, I just don't see why a single cent should go to the top one percent again, or for another capital gains cut--he most definitely did not campaign for that.
Who has any capital gains now anyway? I got the $600 rebate check--single, made under 30 grand last year--I didn't lose any to additional taxes, although I didn't go out and spend it on anything either--maybe some of you made too much or kept more up front, resulting in you owing money. I don't know. At any rate, rebate checks are not going to solve anything, especially this time around.
January 5, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
where does it say in the article that the tax cut is going to the one percenters? I'd like to know, seriously, because based on the reaction I feel like I read a different article.
January 5, 2009 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, but you also had $600 more in your bank account after that, because you didn't have to pay those taxes out of your existing funds. Money is money, and more is more. The more important question is, with those $600 extra in your bank account to save up for future tax bills or credit card bills, etc., or did you tell yourself, "Hey, my balance is better than I expected" and buy a new iPod?
January 5, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
How is this Bobby Rush talk playing in Illinois? Are people seeing it as baseless victimization race-baiting or is it working?
I get the feeling that most see it for what it is and Rush and Burris look the fools for playing "from the bottom of the deck".
January 5, 2009 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to have some resonance with the African-American community here (there have been demonstrations and the like at the State of Illinois building in chicago, for instance, and it looks like they drew several hundred people). The media cannot hide its scorn for Blagojevich and Burris, though.
January 5, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't folks realize that anybody Blago named would be rejected and that Blago planned to play the race card when he named Burris? Or if Burris, Jackson or whomever was named by whomever replaced Blago would have been accepted with open arms?
Anybody taking the bait on this issue lose any credibility on the issue in the future.
January 5, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I haven't seen anyone play the RACE CARD this heavily in a long time. Bobby Rush is an idiot.
January 5, 2009 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Off topic, but the US opened its new "embassy" in Iraq. It is one of the biggest buildings in Baghdad and dominates the skyline. Talk about horrible symbolism. I hope that one of the first things that obama does is shut it down and open a reasonable embassy. They could make a hospital out of the behemoth or something. It makes us look like perpetual occupiers and rulers of Iraq. How idiotic. Here's the report:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090105/ts_nm/us_iraq_usa_embassy
Of course, they don't have a big picture of the embassy, which is here:
http://whitenoiseinsanity.com/2008/01/23/cnns-wolf-blitzer-is-propagandizing-americans-about-the-104-acre-us-embassy-in-iraq/
Ugly and imposing and totally tone deaf.
January 5, 2009 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kind of representative of the entire Bush administration, don't ya think?
January 5, 2009 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, I hope obama puts the kabash on this nonsense. Turn the nightmare into a hospital/hospice/temporary shelter for iraqi civilian wounded and displaced. Shut it down. It's on 104 acres of prime real estate in downtown baghdad. How stupid are these people? And where was the "liberal" media pointing out the stupidity and outrageous expense of the monstrosity? Oh, that's right the "liberal" media is a complete fiction manufactured by republicans. Pathetic.
January 5, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone else glad we have a Vice President that speaks at funerals again?
January 5, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely. Biden can give a fireside chat every day as far as I'm concerned. I love the guy and his willingness to speak his mind.
January 5, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
True...After all, he was tthe first to point out how clean and articulate Obama was.
January 5, 2009 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, am I the only one who thinks that Burris is annoying as hell and needs to get the hell over himself already? I mean did he seriously just call Blago "the Lord"? And Bobby Rush needs to STFU:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2009/01/mr-burris-goes-to-washington.html
January 5, 2009 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, am I the only one who thinks that Burris is annoying as hell and needs to get the hell over himself already? I mean did he seriously just call Blago "the Lord"? And Bobby Rush needs to STFU:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2009/01/mr-burris-goes-to-washington.html
(Sorry if this posted twice, TPM gave me an error the first time)
January 5, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
While tax relief sounds like a good idea for lower income folks, across the board tax cuts seems risky.
Isn't the real problem, or one of the biggest contributors to the recession, the tightening of credit? Holding the banks that received bailout money accountable by forcing them to use the money as intended, seems like the first thing that should be on Obama's to-do list.
While the Obama team may have concluded that it's too late, an explanation as to why they are unable to hold the bank's feet to the fire, should be part of Obama's forthcoming economic statement.
January 5, 2009 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tom Hartman on Air America today explained that historically every time the middle class and poor get tax cuts, wages end up going down and the economy suffers from lack of buying power...except for the wealthy who end up with more money in their pockets.
When taxes went up, wages went up and the economy grew as a result...but the wealthy did not get as much money in their pockets.
Most of the media and congress are wealthy so of course they all see with the eyes of the wealthy who do really well with tax cuts and don't know enough about economics or our country's history to see that the rest of us don't prosper by tax cuts because wages soon after go down.
We know what the anti-labor republicans want but hopefully dems won't be so easily fooled this time and don't continue the Reagan/Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, while making sure wages stay up.
Poorer people get more from the stimulus checks since they don't pay taxes...they don't make enough. Small businesses will reinvest rather than pay that money in higher taxes by giving themselves bigger paychecks.
We are entering the republican great depression and I believe we should not listen to any of their input based on their proven failures...they merely stand in the way of an economy for anybody but the already wealthy. I would love a Krugman/Naomi Klein advisory team...one for direction and one for protection on our economic plans. I firmly believe that the less the republicans have to do with getting us out of this disaster the more successful and faster we will recoup.
January 5, 2009 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tom Hartman on Air America today explained that historically every time the middle class and poor get tax cuts, wages end up going down and the economy suffers from lack of buying power...except for the wealthy who end up with more money in their pockets.
When taxes went up, wages went up and the economy grew as a result...but the wealthy did not get as much money in their pockets.
Most of the media and congress are wealthy so of course they all see with the eyes of the wealthy who do really well with tax cuts and don't know enough about economics or our country's history to see that the rest of us don't prosper by tax cuts because wages soon after go down.
We know what the anti-labor republicans want but hopefully dems won't be so easily fooled this time and don't continue the Reagan/Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, while making sure wages stay up.
Poorer people get more from the stimulus checks since they don't pay taxes...they don't make enough. Small businesses will reinvest rather than pay that money in higher taxes by giving themselves bigger paychecks.
We are entering the republican great depression and I believe we should not listen to any of their input based on their proven failures...they merely stand in the way of an economy for anybody but the already wealthy. I would love a Krugman/Naomi Klein advisory team...one for direction and one for protection on our economic plans. I firmly believe that the less the republicans have to do with getting us out of this disaster the more successful and faster we will recoup.
January 5, 2009 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink