Beneath all of the Republican and Tea Party grumbling about taxes, one key fact continues to be ignored. According to the Tax Policy Center, Federal taxes are lower than at any time since 1955. Obama has now reduced taxes by more than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
According to the Orange County Register, “For the past two years, a family of four earning the median income has paid less in federal income taxes than at any time since at least 1955, according to the Tax Policy Center. All federal, state and local taxes combined are a lower percentage of per-capita income than at any time since the 1960s, according to the Tax Foundation. The highest income-tax bracket is its lowest since 1992. At 35 percent, it’s well below the 50 percent mark of much of the 1980s and the 70 percent bracket of the 1970s.”
The problem is that the tax cuts have not promoted economic growth and have caused the federal deficit to explode, “Those lower taxes have helped give the U.S. government the lowest revenues as a percentage of gross domestic product of seven industrialized countries surveyed in 2010 by the Congressional Research Services. (The other countries were Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France.) The U.S. also had the lowest spending as a percentage of the GDP. But with the biggest gap between revenues (31.6 percent of GDP) and expenditures (42.2 percent of GDP), the U.S. also posted the largest deficit as a percentage of GDP – 10.5 percent.”
The answer to America’s revenue shortfall is to raise taxes. The US revenue gap could be closed immediately with a tax increase, but Republicans and tea partiers go insane as soon as the prospect is mentioned even in the most delicate manner. The Tea Party set believes to their core that they are being overtaxed, but reality doesn’t match their perception.
In fact, most Americans have no idea that Barack Obama has lowered taxes. According to a 2010 CBS News/New York Times Poll, only 12% of Americans knew that Obama has lowered taxes. 53% thought that he kept taxes the same, and 24% believed that Obama has raised taxes.
Not surprisingly, only 2% of Tea Party supporters knew that Obama had lowered taxes. 44% of them thought that the President has raised their taxes.
The right believes this because they got the idea from Fox News and talk radio. Four days ago, Fox News.com ran a story claiming that Obama is going to raise taxes. The tax increase boogeyman is a favorite of the right, because it is easy to put out there and it motivates their base every time.
The Republicans’ insistence on defining Obama as a tax and spender combined with the President’s own reluctance to take credit for his accomplishments has resulted in many Americans being misinformed about where their money is actually going.
What many on the right don’t understand is that the people who benefit most from their protests are the super-rich. The AP reports that, “The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.” Meanwhile the average rate for everyone else dropped from 9.9% to 9.3%.
While the Tea Party takes to the streets to keep tax rates low for billionaires, Barack Obama has lowered their taxes to historically low levels.
The bottom line is that beneath all the GOP spin the fact remains. Barack Obama, not Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush is the greatest tax cutter in American history.
PoliticusUSA
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Reynardine
Apr. 17th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Yeah, and who’re the voters going to believe, FOX or the lying facts?
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Space
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:10 am
Fox…Definitely Fox.
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Space
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:11 am
Please now I am kidding.
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VikingLS
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 9:38 am
They’re not endorsing the Obama tax cuts. They’re just pointing them out.
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Laura
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Yeah, the tone is not one of taking credit. Cutting taxes this much is a bad thing.
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brothersean
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:21 am
What do you mean by “lying facts”?
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 17th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
1. The banks dont need to loan moneys, nor do they care if jobs are created as they are making money in other areas. I would not be surprised if they get out of the money lending business.
2 The wealthy are wealthy and paying far lower taxes. If they feel they dont need to increase their wealth, then they dont need to invest in anything except safe investments. Not start up or current small business’s.
3 The country was incredibly prosperous when the wealth and corporations were paying taxes. That ended with Reagan. Taxes must be raised. Tariffs put on any company with offshore accounts. If they wont create jobs then let hundreds of small town industries grow back up, which is what really built America.
We can do without the wealthy. They intend on taking over the country. Tax them till they leave.
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Sukebe9Akuma
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:26 am
YES!!!!! This is so true!!
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Owl Logic
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Brilliant and succinct. Everyday we are losing the quality and expertise of the American workforce. When did we allow companies like Wal-mart to run away with all of our hard earned business? Free Market works well when 100% of the Goods and Services our country resources, crafts, manufacturers, purchases, and sells come directly from and to Americans and American resources. The breakdown occurs when large corporations ship in everything that they sell to consumers. Wonder why everything is more expensive? Maybe because the fuel to get it from the other side of the world is becoming more scarce. While foreign goods are cheaper to produce, they will become more difficult to ship as we become more aware of the impending energy crisis. When the costs of import to domestic goods finally flips and we are able to produces local goods competitively will we still have the infrastructure and know how to do so?
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
I was brought up in Michigan. All of the towns around us were supported by at least one factory. It may not have been a big factory but generally they were factories the supplied the car companies or supplied the steel industry. Now all of those small factories are gone. Bought up by companies like Lear Sigler, who is famous for buying companies and putting them out of business to prevent competition. I am 100% behind the free-market, but there is no free-market in the United States. All of the small industries, well I shouldn’t say all, but many of the small industries are disappearing the same way that the small farmer disappeared. I was also brought up on a farm and today even though my dad worked in the factory while I pretty much ran the farm, There is no way we could afford it. My dad finally had to start releasing his land and we quickly found out that they would not plan on it in order to control the prices of food.
But I digress. Large corporations are buying up or forcing companies to sell to prevent competition. No competition, no free-market.
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:47 pm
I disagree. My husband was brought up on a farm, as well. He started his own business from scratch and worked very hard to succeed amongst other competitors. Just because one business doesn’t succeed, doesn’t mean that the American Dream is not obtainable.
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Jack S.
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Respectfully, while I agree that the rich should be taxed higher than the rest of us, we do NOT want them to leave…if the rich person who runs the company you work for is forced to leave the country, where will you work? Rich people DO provide jobs.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
No one said they should be forced to leave. Face it,if they did it wouldnt be long before there were more of them
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Ron Harper
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Please explain you comment about “it wouldn’t be long before there were more of them”. That makes no sense at all.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
It should follow that with the growth of small business that are not bought up by the ones who arnt there anymore, we will have new millionaires in time.
Now I am, not advocating that millionaires all leaves, but I do want them taxed accordingly. All the loop holes closed
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Alex
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 10:51 am
Shiva, I don’t understand your sense of complacency with simply doing away with the wealthier people of the US. You stated: “We can do without the wealthy. They intend on taking over the country. Tax them till they leave.” Mind you, if you tax the wealthy until they leave, there will simply be a new class deemed the wealthy or such a wealth will never be attainable and everyone will be stuck in what we now view as a middle or lower socioeconomic class.
I firmly believe one of the great things about our nation is simply our right to do as we please, so long of course as it does not infringe upon another’s rights, which includes our pursuit of prosperity! If this country were a country where luxury or wealth were never attainable, I’d venture to say very few people (or businesses about which you’ve complained are continually outsourcing), wealthy or not, would see merit in residing here.
You must bear in mind that among those wealthy individuals are successful business persons, such the aspiring business persons who owned establishments in your hometown of which seem so fond.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 11:38 am
my statement was rhetorical. Right now there are so many tax loopholes that a great amount of the taxes that they should be paying are not getting paid and this is reflected in our deficit or our ability to pay down the deficit. It was also her response to the Republicans who do not believe in taxing the wealthy at all ( if they had their way). I do not begrudge anybody becoming wealthy.
I do begrudge the fact that 80% of the wealth is concentrated in 20% of the people in out of that 20% probably 1% hold the most wealth of all. This country cannot survive in that fashion. If the wealth is not somewhat equally distributed throughout the classes there is no buying power and no way to keep the wealthy wealthy. Of course unless they move overseas. From the 1950s to the 1970s , all of the classes in this country were pretty much equally represented and we were very prosperous. We are not now anywhere is near as prosperous as we were then.
I also agree that if we tax them until they left that it would not be long before another class of wealth they showed up. But it would be people who are wealthy because many new companies would spring up and create competition. There is very little competition in this country in my opinion
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jim
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
my only question is why I saw a 9% decrease at the high end but but less than 1%
at the low end?
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brandon blake
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
no problem as long as he taxes cigarettes and alchol more.that’s all the greatest first world country on the earth needs which we call the land of the free.to get us better health care and education is to add the dream of socialism to us.like what the taxes are in our # 1 city the big apple.i’ve never heard them complain.
a country can’t prosper if our peolpe aren’t first healthy and then educated.
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:45 pm
So, you don’t believe in the American Dream? You don’t believe that the small businessman should work his fingers to the bone and try his hardest to succeed – that he should give everything back to his country, simply because others are not succeeding? Tell me, what is your definition of Socialism…or communism for that matter?
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:41 pm
My taxes went up. I don’t know what you are talking about. What about the small businessman who worked day and night to succeed, only to have to close his doors because of the current socialist administration? I disagree with this article, and I don’t see any facts that are true, only opinion.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:47 pm
socialist administration? Talking points. Nothing but talking points. Half the country says he sold out to the corporations. Can you name anything he’s done that is been socialist?
in 2001 I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and went to work in an industrial park that had 12 factories in it. Before 2008, eight of those factories had closed due to the socialist administration of President Bush. You might want to take a wider look at reasons for closing businesses
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Well, we can start with health care and move from there, if you would like.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:56 pm
there is absolutely nothing socialist about the current health care reform bill. It’s a giveaway to corporations. The government is not administrating any part of the healthcare. All it did was change some of the rules like you cannot be dropped whenever they feel like dropping you and a few other things such as taking away the low lifetime limit on what they will pay
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 8:01 pm
Apparently, you have not read this bill. Not only is it unconstitutional, but it is socialism at its best. The government is trying to control health care.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 8:05 pm
. I’m sorry. I have read the bill and I am a recipient of Its benefits . There is nothing unconstitutional about it, and there is absolutely nothing socialist about it. As the government is not distributing the healthcare. It is not controlling it. Nor does it tell you what drugs you can take our what treatments you can get. That is still all up to the healthcare providers who are dropping people whenever they might cost them some money. Please tell me what is socialist about it
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 8:13 pm
I assume you are on Glenn becks site or Fox News looking for socialist news items or claims.
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:43 pm
I would hardly compare Reagan and Obama. Reagan was one of the greatest presidents of this century. Obama, thus far, has been a complete failure and has done nothing but hurt Americans financially since he took office. You shared your opinion. I am sharing mine.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:46 pm
I made no comparison to Pres. Reagan. I said that during the Reagan term is when corporate taxes were dropped and you lost most of your deductions on your income taxes. I guess if you like a guy that tripled the deficit and raise taxes 11 times then shouldn’t you love Obama too?
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Look at the last line of the article.
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Oh, and I didn’t say anything about Bush. This conversation wasn’t about Bush. I am not Republican, but I still think OBama is not a good president, in my opinion. Why is it that whenever someone dislikes Obama, the conversation goes to Bush? Tell me, what good has Obama done so far? I don’t see any facts. Just opinion.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:59 pm
you don’t catch on very quick do you. You talked about businesses closing as if it they were just starting to occur. I gave you an example of other businesses closing under a different administration.
If you don’t agree with the article, then please give some reasons why you don’t.if you don’t think that Obama is the biggest tax cutter in modern history give some facts to disprove it
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:58 pm
If you tax them until they leave, there won’t be any jobs for anyone left. Tell me, what do you think a fair tax rate for the wealthy is? If you want to tax the wealthy to cover the deficit, they would have to pay more than 134% of their income in order to bring the deficit down. I would not DREAM of starting another small business until Obama is out of office. He has killed the American Dream as we know it.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 8:02 pm
That’s absurdly silly. First of all, you don’t rely on the wealthy to totally cover the deficit. Obama has given tons of loans to small businesses and he has done nothing to hurt them. For certain small businesses he has even given them up to a 50% subsidy to pay for their part of the healthcare they have.
I don’t know where you get your talking points, but they’re not very good ones. You don’t want to tax the wealthy but you seem to be just fine with throwing what you don’t get from the wealthy onto the poor the seniors and the middle class
by the way if you had read down a little bit or I said that was a rhetorical statement might’ve understood it better. When president Reagan came into office they were paid over 65% in this country was truly prosperous. When he left office. They they were paying 35% tax and we were well on our way to choking revenue out of the government.
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Realist
Apr. 17th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
Anyone with half a brain (a group which clearly excludes Obama) could have figured this out. Our nation is going to have to complete the purge, and feel the pain which many feel shouldn’t have been visited upon them also, before sanity can return.
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Meredith
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:38 am
I’m sorry, but you’re accusing Barack Obama of not having half a brain and you’ve posted something which apparently includes parts of an inner dialogue that the rest of us are not privy to. Your post makes NO sense. The problem with raising taxes, which clearly needs to be done, is NOT the president, it’s the rabid right-wingers. Frankly, most of us should NOT need to be taxed more, the multi-national corporations and their billionaire heads are the ones whose taxes should go up because, frankly, they’re the ones who haven’t been paying them to begin with. I pay my taxes, despite never having made much over $30k annually, but GE paid nothing and I’m sure Donald Trump didn’t pay much more. Barack Obama has not done what I believe he should on many issues, but he’s MUCH smarter than George W. Bush, and apparently you too.
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Laura
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Needlessly attacking much? Obama has in fact lower taxes. many Dems supported it. The fact that the GOP and Tea are the ones always crowing about it don’t change the fact that Obama is supporting and signing off on these tax cuts. The post makes perfect sense. Clearly, the Dems AND the GOP and the Tea are all about tax cuts, in spite of rhetoric that says otherwise. Where does that leave us?
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Chad
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
The federal tax rates have not been changed; the tax brackets have been adjusted by .002-1%. The federal tax rates have been exactly the same since 2003 and every year they have had bracket adjustments based off of inflation. Since inflation has been worse for the last 2 years, they bracket adjustments have been larger. The adjustment in the tax bracket is in anticipation that the population’s income will adjust with inflation, however, for the last 2 years that has not been the case. With higher unemployment and companies cutting back on employees and wedges, the income for the median family of 4 will lower, meaning that their tax burden will lower also.
The average household income for 2007 was $50,397, 2008 was $50,768 and 2009 was $49,856. Here is where I got my numbers:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/statemedian/index.html and select the Median Household Income by State – Single-Year Estimates [XLS - 98k]
I used Excel to calculate the average income per year back to 2000 and there was in increase for every year up to 2008, in 2009 it went down. So if the average income goes down, so does their tax burden. That is not a tax cut.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
taking back part of the stimulus money that was not spent has absolutely nothing to do with the tax provisions in that plan. At least a third of the stimulus bill was tax cuts. Money given to corporations was totally separate although was in the same bill.
Speaking of fuzzy math, how about not including two wars in the deficit, and then having the next president come along and added into the deficit because that’s where should’ve been to start with and it shows that he increased the deficit
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Dorothy Rissman
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Meredith, As I remember, Obama promised a tax break for middle and low income households. He did follow up on that promise. Those people deserved a tax break.
We live in a country that gives the rich huge tax breaks, and our corporations do not pay taxes.
It is way past time for rich to start paying more.
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BobK
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 8:41 am
Did you actually read the blog? So…how or better yet..when did President Obama “Cut” taxes? I know that he signed the tax bill that extended the current tax rates…and then he complained that the Republicans were screwing the middle class for giving tax breaks to the rich…He cant have it both ways…He cant blame the Republicans then take credit for the actaual act…and i know he didnt actually take credit..but those “defending” his actions can’t have it both ways either…
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 8:44 am
the 09 Stimulus Bill. Look it up
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SobawRF
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Info from http://trackthestimulus.com/Economic_Stimulus_Plan.aspx
Congress passed the $787.2 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1), also known as the economic stimulus plan, on February 13, 2009. President Obama signed the bill into law on Tuesday, February 17. The final bill was close in size ($$$$) to what the administration had asked for though some of its priorities, such as school construction funds, were eliminated. The vote was cast along partisan lines – no House Republican voted for it, and only 3 GOP Senators supported it. The bill calls for $308 billion in discretionary spending with the rest spent between tax incentives and direct aid to states and individuals.
This is full of tax INCENTIVES and CREDITS. Not tax cuts! It lowers the taxes a
person/family owes by giving them credit for one thing or another. The problem
here is that if the credits they are allowed add up to more than the taxes they
owe, they are getting a check back. Now to be fair, I recieved an refund from
the IRS for my federal taxes this year. But where the problem comes in is when
the check going out are not refunds but payouts.
A simple example: If I pay $1000, and I get a refund of $350, I am happy to get soem back and the government makes money. If, at the same time, Johnny pays $200 and because of the
credits get $300 back, he is happy and the government LOSES money. Think about it!
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
It lowers the taxes of anyone working
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brothersean
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:31 am
Are you saying we should destroy everything that has made America great in order to balance a budget that the republicans have spent years creating by overspending trillions of dollars, not for the people but for their own personal agendas?
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Ingarose
Apr. 17th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Unfortunately, the Obama administration and most of the Democrats have absolutely no idea how to communicate. How many tea party people would actually read that article about taxes and Obama? Not many and if they did they would still not believe it since it is dry and avoid of emotions.
I used to watch CNN, MSNBC and Fox for some balance. After a while I could no longer digest Fox because of their highly emotional, lying, screaming broadcasts, yet that is what connects with many people.
I realize many here love Obama and I voted for him as a Democrat, but he has caved on so many things and is still unable to really communicate. Even VP Biden fell asleep.
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Jfg
Apr. 17th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
I hear you. And I agree. Yet, it’s in our hands to put pressure on the media and politicians. We can be active bloggers and make knowledge available through alternative means. We can canvass for local leaders that we believe in and do real grass roots, not corporate funded, movements. The presence of discontent with walker’s big government (forcing libertarianism gone mad) agenda in WI is so strong that FOX has begun to embarrassed itself when trying to embarrass us demonstrating in Madison. We have a great opportunity. And we don’t live, at least not yet, in a country where we’d be afraid of being activist for the working class in our communities….
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brothersean
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:41 am
You are so right, but maybe if half of the people could communicate themselves, then they could understand some of Obama’s messages. It seems as if everyone has to be told what is going on by the very people who twist the truth, instead of having the ability to figure facts like 2+2 out for themselves. It is sad that most Americans would rather listen to others (ranting and raving) rather than figure the solution themselves.
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Dorothy Rissman
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
That last remark is a cheap shot. Did it make you feel good? The feeling seems to be that if we still support the president we are “in love” with him.
I have some issues with Obama, but I am not a purist. I did not think he would lasso the moon and give it to me.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 17th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
2/3rds of the 09 stimulus bill were tax lowering items.
Grow up and do your own research.
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Dorothy Rissman
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
It was indeed to help stimulate the economy in this near depression period.
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BARBBF
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
My tax bill went up to 10.5%…and that doesn’t include the state tax bill.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:41 am
No, you smelled yourself, unable to face facts. Your taxes right now are lower than they have been in your lifetime. Due to the 09 Stimulus bill.
Now, if you can grow up and think straight, I will let your posts stay. Censorship is up to every website. Especially when morons are concerned.
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Space
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:12 am
GO AWAY!
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AnonAtown
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 6:08 am
You will be censored if you do not make rational arguments and use Caps Lock as if it was a club you were beating over our heads. You’ve already proven what you’re capable of. I will not insult you or your beliefs, just make sound arguments and keep your typing embellishments to the standards of grammatical English writing.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Are you sure you posted? There is no post from you in spam or the trash
I just ran a search. There is no post from you other than the one I am responding to.
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Redshift
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
You are a self-proclaimed “log cabin republican,” so I’m glad to know that you support equal rights for ALL Americans, including gays and lesbians.
I may be interested in what you have to say, if it goes beyond name calling. Where is the propaganda in this article? Can you support your beliefs or are you just a troll?
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brothersean
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:46 am
Right, this great country had nothing to do with your success. You could have been in any country and succeeded, say Iraq!
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 7:45 am
you have pretty much proven that you are silly. Censorship is dependent upon any website. conservatives for Palin censor people, does that make them socialistic communist? Why do you continue to prove that you have no idea what a socialist and communist’s are how the terms do not agree with each other? The last part of your paragraph is incredibly silly. Who is taking a money?
you do not understand why you are censor do you? Why don’t you read your own post? It had nothing to do with your disagreeing as much as your delivery of your disagreement. I am going to leave your post here so that people can see exactly how uneducated you are
had you made any attempt to address facts, such as the fact that your taxes are now lower than they have been in your lifetime. Your comments would’ve been received whether they were in agreement or not. instead you refuse to talk about that subject and just went on a rant about how his propaganda. You are censored due to year own lack of ability to discuss issues.
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Laura
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Talk sense or kick rocks. What about lowering taxes for the rich cries socialism. You were given a mind made for deconstruction and analysis. Use it.
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Barbara
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 7:39 pm
I disagree with this article. I am neither Democrat, nor Republican, but Independent. I believe our current president is causing more pain and not fixing anything at all. Will I be censored too, simply because I highly disagree? Hmmm… Let’s see. I would like to see actual facts supporting these opinions. I have seen many facts which support the theory that our current administration is similar to the Carter administration.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 22nd, 2011 at 8:14 pm
I think it’s funny that certain people come here and go right to Patryk Strait. Will you be censored too? You will be if you are a silly as he was. I think I’ve got you pretty well figured out. Have a nice life
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brothersean
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:59 am
Why does the tea party believe that destroying the core services, that set this country apart from the rest of the world and created the wealthiest citizens in the world, will fix America? Don’t forget that America helped you achieve your dream and now you have the audacity to think America is yours and you can dictate Her graces to only those you see fit? This is beyond sad it is brain dead.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 7:40 am
“Progressives also result to censorship or omitting the important part of the facts”
Really? I am banned from posting on Conservatives for Palin. I guess they are a progressive bunch
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 8:00 am
the stimulus money was not wasted. In fact, right now. President Obama has created more net jobs in two years than President Bush did in eight years. Your taxes were dropped considerably in the 09 stimulus bill.
80% of the wealth in this country is concentrated in 20% of the people. This is not a formula for a successful country. There is absolutely no buying power in this formula. 20% of the people are not out purchasing enough products to keep this country running. You ignore the amount of people out of work are taking jobs for less wages to protect the wealthy who do not care one drop about you. Before Gov. Reagan became president, the tax rate on these people was almost 65%. The balance of wealth in the country was good in this country prospered. Beginning with Reagan, who drop the taxes on the wealthy this country started taking in less and less revenue. And since the 1980s has consistently lost jobs. You like your friend Patrick are proving that you know nothing. The healthcare system that was proposed and passed will drop the deficit. But it doesn’t seem that Republicans are really interested in that.
I will tell you exactly what I told your girlfriend Patryck. It’s not whether or not you disagree, it’s how you present your disagreement. If you hop on board and just go on about how something is propaganda, then you’re not doing your job to present your side of the facts. If you are simply abusive you’re going to get abuse back. Patryck never addressed one single fact or issue he had with the article. you must understand what censorship is. You do not have the right to just come on someone else’s property and act foolishly
As far as you’re going on about progressives use censorship, there is hardly a website or a blog that will not do the same thing that is done here. And the rest of your rant about homegrown or grassroot uprisings because we are running out of union thugs proves that you have absolutely little education. There are no union thugs, and union labor in this country makes up less than 10% of the workforce. You may notice by all of the protests over Gov. Walker, Gov. Snyder that progressives or liberals are not becoming less in numbers. And as for grassroots uprisings, there are none in this country. The tea party is financed and was created by some very rich people.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
of course you cannot document any of the untruths. and that’s why I have no doubt that you wouldn’t know where to start.
The unused stimulus funds were not counted as a tax cut. The tax cuts are part of the stimulus bill itself. The stimulus bill is just not one big thing that throws money out it is made up of many sections and it would be nice if you read it. How the stimulus funds were used is absolutely non sequitur to the subject of tax cuts.
I am sorry that your brokenhearted. But your continual comments about the stimulus and tax cuts show that you know nothing about it.
Genuine hate? Nobody hates Sarah Palin. She is a source of tremendous amusement. I was banned on the conservatives for Palin website. Not because I said anything bad, simply because I didn’t say that Sarah was a goddess
I await your documentation of my untruths
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Sarah Jones
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
Kindly ask Ms Palin to stop insulting entire groups of people, sowing divisiveness and fear and hatred, and attacking Mrs Obama and I’m sure you’ll find people more amenable to her. I don’t usually start off by calling conservatives “asinine” in press releases and blaming Republicans for things my own party is doing to me and then bashing Mrs Bush and expect kindness in return. Ms Palin blames Democrats for her own party attacking her in Alaska (ethics complaints, etc), she calls liberals all kinds of nasty names and puts cross hairs on Democratic representatives, she suggests Obama is palling around with terrorists (FALSE and a projection) and she takes nasty diggs at the First Lady for NO REASON. If she wants kindness, she should do as our kindergarten teachers taught us, and try being kind first.
Also, she says it’s fair of people to ask for Obama’s birth certificate – so why couldn’t we ask about her degree, see her medical records, ask about her AIP associations, and why are you defending someone who was deeply tied to a secessionist movement? The founders are rolling in their graves. What is her problem with the union of this great country?
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Dorothy Rissman
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Well informed and accurate account of what the stimulus accomplished. Thank you.
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Jake
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Too bad he redefined what a tax cut is. Obama and his cronies from Chicago are the best at it, makes the Enron books look legit.
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Roger Blazic
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
I have my issues with the Republicans, but this article is pure spin based on mathematical ignorance – a liberal stronghold.
First, Obama renewed the Bush tax cuts. This was not policy the messiah created. Obama is lauded above. Then, the right is bashed because the taxes are too low. Which way is it? Jason Easley is like a bi-sexual… he wants it both ways. PICK A HOLE!
Do you want to know why Americans are paying less taxes per capita – THEY ARE NOT WORKING… And many have had their pay and benefits cut. If you are making less, you pay less taxes.
This is piece is completely laughable. Learn math. Tell the truth.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
09 stimulus. Look it up
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Patryk.
I do not remove your posts. As of yesterday your post go straight to spam simply because you could not present anything in an adult manner. Had you read the things I left besides the fact that I said your girlfriend, you would’ve figured it out by now
.
I will tell you that I am not satisfied with the current tax rate. It needs to be higher for this country to survive. Secondly are very current tax rate system is because of the 09 stimulus where your taxes were dropped.
you did not post any facts. You posted anger. Keep trying.. I will review your posts prior to either deleting them or allowing them the show here. You will find many people here who disagree with my opinions are the websites opinions, but you will also find that they present their disagreements in a manner that is adult like
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Alan
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
“No one has been called a name in this post…”
Not true, unless you consider “union thugs” to be something other than name calling. What it does is show your ignorance. Not all Democrats are union members, and the vast majority of union members–as is true of all Americans–are not “thugs”. The fact that you have to resort to such name calling shows how intellectually bankrupt your argument is.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
and even more to your point, many of the union members in Wisconsin are Republicans. How incredibly inane it is to call Democrats “union thugs” the most wonderful thing about the Wisconsin protesters it undoubtably turned a great many Republicans against the Scott Walker administration of doom. When people think unions they think Democrats, but that is a totally untrue statement
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Why does it make him look worse?
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Paul if you are ready to post maturely I will let you back in. You know where to answer
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
My you certainly have all the talking points down pat. Fortunately none of them are right.
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Sarah Jones
Apr. 18th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
Your property taxes are determined on a local level. Your taxes as an employee couldn’t have gone up if your income went down, unless you itemize and had less deductions this year. That has nothing to do with the tax rate, capiche? This is a fact. How is it that you are in the top 5% but you are an employee of the government? Since you brought it up, you’re going to have to be more specific if you want any sort of legitimacy given to this claim. It sounds to me like you have no idea how your taxes work. Your FEDERAL income taxes could not have gone up if you made less money. Your property taxes are your own problem – we all pay them, and it’s not the govt “confiscating” money from you unless you don’t have indoor plumbing — which, hey, would make you a super smelly hippie. If you don’t like paying them, why did you buy a house? Were you uninformed about that as well? Is this your first house or something?
By the way, I have never heard of a govt employee in the top 5% – not even the President. Please elaborate, because I’d love to work 55 hours instead of the 80 I do now.
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Name
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
I’d like to offer a little international perspective to the tax discussion. I’m an American living in the Netherlands. I was amazed when I came here how the taxes (by American standards) are SKY high. And yet, the economy is very strong, and unemployment is low, especially compared to the states. When US economy tanked recently and sent economies around the world reeling, nobody even suggested that the super-high taxes (and services) needed to be eliminated to stabilize things. Sensible policy and lack of political drama prevailed, and things stayed pretty good for the average Dutch citizen.
I’m very happy to be moving back to the States soon, but for personal and cultural reasons, and because I love my country – not because I prefer the American government.
I was required when I came here to purchase some of their very affordable health insurance. Nobody goes without insurance here, as this is illegal and would be considered socially irresponsible. Of course, the government does regulate the insurance industry, so it’s very affordable, and my Dutch friends look at me in disbelief when I tell them that in the USA you can be DENIED health insurance. They usually say something along the lines of, “That’s totally unethical!”. The quality of care is excellent, of course.
Contrary to what some American conservatives suggest should happen, the Dutch wealthy don’t all leave the country to avoid paying the high taxes. Instead, they continue to invest in their country — because the well educated workforce is worth the high wages they demand, and because they’ve always done so since they invented capitalism in the middle ages. They’re well educated of course, because University is practically free for Dutch citizens, and this investment pays back severalfold as the highly skilled graduates will thereby pay even more taxes for the next several decades.
I wish a few more Americans could let go of their petty nationalism for long enough to realize that if we want to find solutions to our problems, we could start by looking to other countries which are managing similar problems FAR more effectively. Certainly when considering the merit of various tax proposals, we can look at how tax policy affects economies elsewhere, and see the plain fact that most Americans are suffering for our own reluctance to legislate government services which are taken for granted in most wealthy countries.
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Ron Harper
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Please give us details on exactly how Obama cut taxes. You keep saying he cut taxes, but give no details or examples of exactly how he cut taxes.
I assist the low-income and elderly in filing their tax returns. I saw no tax cuts on their returns. I did see tax bill increases as discribed below.
Every year there is an increase in the standard deduction. There was no increase for 2010. In fact, we lost the additional $500 increase in the standard deduction for a single person paying property tax on their home, ($1000 increase for a married couple) that George W. Bush gave us. Not giving us the annual increase in the standard deduction and cutting the property tax increase in the standard deduction amounted to a tax increase for everyone.
Every year there is an increase in the personal exemption. There was no increase for 2010. That amounted to a tax increase for everyone.
I have given a couple examples of how the tax bills increased for the low-income and the elderly. I saw no cuts in the taxes they owed.
Please give some examples of how Obama cut taxes. I did not see any for the tax season that just ended.
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Cheryl Rounds
Apr. 19th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
I started paying taxes in the 70′s. At that time all interest including consumer debt was fully deductible, unemployment pay was not taxed and waitresses did not need to report tips or pay taxes on this money. Social security and medicaid were taken out as one deduction and were substantially lower than today Since that time the government has continued to find more ways to tax the people on the bottom and give more breaks to corporations and people with the most money
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Wack Nobama
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
What a load. Just because he signed the extension of the Bush tax cuts doesn’t mean Obama actually cut taxes. Why does this article only speak generally about broad statistics? Oh wait its probably because if asked to give specifics regarding tax cuts that actually originated from Obama there would be none. I’m a little surprised at the ease with which the author is able to misrepresent statistics in order to pull wool over the eyes of many liberal lemmings.
Blame the Unions for joblessness. If you lost your manufacturing job its prob. because your company was forced to make an inferior product that it had to sell at a higher price in order to meet pay, benefit, and retirement requirements set by greedy union officials. Work for less, or not work at all. Union members, in their lack of intelligent foresight, chose for their members to not work at all.
The best way to rectify our economy is for everyone to drop the dollar, have the government invest directly in and subsidize commodities, and continue to print money. That way, as our currency continues to be devalued, our debt and debt expense to china et al is effectively reduced (the amount we pay in interest is less because the dollar is worth less) while our commodity investment will continue to gain as inflation runs rampant. Then, after the resulting currency war where the rest of the world goes into ruin, we peg a new North American currency to gold and move forward.
Let’s screw china, not ourselves (with higher taxes leading to greater unemployment).
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 20th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I find your comments on the unions not working simply means that you have never really had a job in your life. Nor do you know anything about unions.
There is a little thing that you do not understand, and I do not find it surprising. A union negotiates with a company for a wage and/or benefits. The union has access to the company’s books to determine how much they can ask for. They cannot ask for more than the company can give for one reason. The company has the right to take any negotiation that cannot be agreed upon to a mediator that will settle the dispute. So any time you want to whine about the wages that union members get, think about the fact that this was agreed upon. While the union has the right to strike and the company has the right to lock the workers out they still both have the right to mediation.
I was a representative for my company for 20 some odd years which required me to visit GM and Ford plants. Under no circumstances did I ever find people just laying around or not working. those people are very much into their jobs and in doing them correctly. In many cases the people that paid according to how many jobs they can do or have learned.
When the CEO of a company makes over 400% more than the average worker, are you saying that the workers do not have the right to ask for more wages? especially when that CEO 20 to 25 years ago made less than 20% more than the average worker?
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cheryl
Apr. 28th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
why is it Shiva you have a picture of Barney Fife? You allowed one bullet also? I do not like Obama, did not vote for him… He lacks substance, he is only a good orator. I love this country, and he is taking our country down the toliet. I pray for him daily, but I also pray that he is out sooner than later because he is pitiful. Anyone who disagrees with him, is either Ignorant, or racial… I am neither, but I do so pray he is voted out of office. Just my opinion, for what it is worth. I do not mind helping our fellow countrymen get a hand up, but the “handouts” must stop, those that actually work can not afford his “breaks”, “credits” and cannot afford his socialized health care. PS about the unions… I am in one, and thanks to my union reps, we have had “furlough” days, and also have an upcomming pay cut of 3%, of which I did not vote in favor for- why? Because the dem we have in office can not control her spending. So, being a state worker, I have had to sacrifice further- and yet the higher ups, who also are state workers do not… no they got a pay increase. So much for taxing the “wealthy” my income is less than 42,000 $ a year. I actually wanted either Romney or Huckabee for President. I’m not into “fluff” and Obama is fluff. Again, that is just my opinion.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 28th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
I guess all the spending started on Jan 20th 2009 huh?
Whats wrong? Obama not murdering enough people for you?
We have no socialized medicine in this country, if you know nothing about the healthcare bill you should not reply on someone elses talking points.You say the same silliness every con says
BTW, you too can have a gravatar that follows you around on any site you comment on. www.gravatar.com and upload a pic of your choosing.
Also, President Obama is a far better president that Bush was. He is far smarter and you obviously never take the time to look. He has saved hundreds of thousands of jobs. Stop relying on others to say your words for you. Beucase I can almost recite your post word for word. Be kind to yourself
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