The ongoing public negotiation among Manchin, Biden, and progressive Democrats has made clear that Manchin has been trafficking the same old stale misinformation fiscal conservatives have been peddling for ages.
Traditional Republican policies do not put country over party but rather turn back the clock on the American Revolution.
Kansas' Republican legislators are all but admitting their precious trickle down experiment was not only a failure, it is a scam. In fact, although not quite stating "our only economic policy is a scam to enrich corporations and the wealthy," just admitting they have to raise taxes to plug gaping revenue holes and more recently, that income inequality is a problem in America, is just as good.
Some people may errantly conclude that Republicans, as typical conservatives, are so set in their ways they are naturally unwilling to change, but although that is a very accurate conclusion, it is not the case when it comes to the nation's deficit.
In his first proposed tax reform legislation as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, deficit hawk Paul Ryan's tax plan benefitting big business and the wealthy will increase the deficit by $100 billion over ten years.
President Obama's proposal to give middle class and working class Americans a tax break has the GOP on the defensive.
There is nothing as evil, mean-spirited, and pathetic as a mature adult who sees firsthand that something is inherently dangerous to other human beings and should be prevented at all costs, and yet wishes they could do the same thing.
Last year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, like all Republicans, witnessed the complete economic devastation Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and the Republican legislature wrought on the state budget, schools, government, and social programs and told Brownback that “this is exactly what we want to do here in Washington, but we can’t yet until we control Congress.”
Before even being sworn in just five days ago to control Congress, Republicans took the first major step necessary to repeat, exactly, what Brownback did to Kansas’ economy. Something several high-ranking Kansas Republicans complained will “bankrupt the state in less than two years.” It is also something the proponents of Brownback’s devastation admitted openly was for the sole purpose of “chopping the government down to size” by starving it of revenue. Remember, Mitch McConnell pledged to the Koch brothers last June that if they bought Republicans control of Congress, the GOP would “go after the federal government; all of it.” Anti-government champion Grover Norquist must be cheering wildly and trickle down god Laffer is celebrating that Congressional Republicans are embracing his trickle down scam to decimate America based on his Kansas trickle down model.
Brownback brought Laffer to Kansas to prove to Republicans that by using what is known as “dynamic scoring,” the state could take a healthy budget surplus and add in a billion or so dollars for give the tax cuts for the rich and the state would be awash in revenue and a job creation boom. The results are that Kansas’ credit has been downgraded several times, the state is hemorrhaging revenue, and the state’s schools are broke. In two courts have ruled against Brownback’s education cuts he made to partially fund the tax cuts for the rich. The details of Brownback’s trickle down disaster have been reported here, here, and here for a rough idea of the economic ruin Congressional Republicans are about to wreak on America by using Laffer’s failed “dynamic scoring” to justify trickle down tax cuts for the rich.
Dynamic scoring is a conservative economists’ scam that predicts the magical impact of trickle down fiscal policy changes by forecasting the beneficial economic reactions to incentives for the wealthy created by slashing their taxes and domestic programs. Before this week, when the Congressional Budget Office published a piece of tax or spending cuts “score,” it offered an official price tag to make it perfectly clear what a tax cutting or spending proposal will cost, how much it will affect the deficit or cost the government, how much it will reduce revenue, and how it adversely affects unemployment. Any American with a memory could tell the CBO exactly what trickle down tax cuts do to increase the deficit, adversely affect the economy, or failed to create jobs for thirty years, but that entails acknowledging reality; something Republicans are ill-inclined to accept.
Republicans, particularly math-challenged Paul Ryan, absolutely hated the way the CBO has calculated its scores on tax cuts for the rich using real data and real mathematics. Likely because, until this week, all non-partisan economists disagree with Republicans’ magic and lies that trickle down tax cuts for the rich create millions of jobs and increase government revenue. For the past three years the CBO used real mathematics to score Paul Ryan’s outrageous tax cuts in the Path To Prosperity budget as killing jobs and blowing up the deficit due to the loss in revenue inherent in Bush-like unfunded tax cuts. According to the CBO and real economists, Ryan’s math in projecting that slashing taxes for the so-called “job creators” was off-the rails errant, a guaranteed recipe for economic disaster, and an unsustainable deficit driver now and long into the future.
So Republicans being Republicans, they changed the Congressional Budget Office rules to fit their magical concept that slashing revenue streams with unfunded tax cuts for the rich will automatically produce more federal revenue and create millions of jobs. Something that has not happened in 30-plus years of trickle down “magic.”
Republicans insist, and passed a new rule on the day they were sworn in directing the CBO to verify, that epic tax cuts for the wealthy will produce incredible trickle down economic growth, create millions of jobs, generate mountains of federal revenue, and will not cost anything; ten years of Bush tax cuts for the rich belie the “trickle down” magic. What makes the Republican directive that the CBO use faulty dynamic scoring to approve tax cuts for the rich more despicable is a provision banning the CBO from scoring anything proposed by Democrats; particularly any measure remotely related to “economic stimulus such as infrastructure improvements that really create jobs and increase revenue.”
America is finally done clawing its way out of the economic morass caused by “trickle down” tax cuts enacted by Bush-Republicans and is on the road to a healthy recovery; with an increase in taxes for the richest Americans. The country is enjoying a four-plus year monthly job growth, increased revenue is paying down the debt and deficit, and GDP growth is leading the entire world. In fact, a similar situation is under way in California where voters approved a small tax increase and the state is rapidly paying down a crushing Republican-created deficit, creating jobs, and investing in infrastructure, healthcare, and education. Contrast California or the nation’s economy with Kansas that embraced magical “trickle down” tax cuts due to Laffer’s ‘dynamic scoring’ scam and it is beyond comprehension that Republicans intend on following through with what Mitch McConnell promised economic failure Sam Brownback even as Kansas’ economy was dying; “we want to do exactly the same thing here in Washington.”
The only hope for America’s economic salvation is Barack Obama who may not be a noted economist, or a mathematical genius, but he has witnessed 30 years of trickle down failure including the devastation in Kansas and he has shown no reluctance to use his veto pen. If any American is too stupid to understand that trickle down economics is failed economics, they can simply look at what economic havoc Brownback and Laffer have wrought on Kansas. Then they can anticipate the Koch brothers’ vision for a nation too broke to fund education, retirement accounts, homeless shelters, healthcare, road repair, or maintain crucial infrastructure because that is, as McConnell said, “exactly what Republicans will do in Washington;” go after the federal government, all of it.
Despite their Herculean efforts to bankrupt America though, another report this week revealed the economy is on the mend despite the GOP plot to obstruct the new President's attempt to turn around the economic disaster eight years of Republicans' drunken spending spree on the nation's credit card.
It is difficult to believe that any American might think, even for a nano-second, that Republicans serve anyone other than the rich and corporations, and it is why they are hesitant to lay out their true agenda heading into the midterm elections.
Under President Obama, the United States is on pace to have its best job creation year since Bill Clinton was president in 1999.
Federal law requires Congress to authorize the government to borrow any money that is needed to pay for the programs that Congress has passed.
President Obama has learned that dealing with Republicans is an exercise in futility regardless the issues facing the nation.
It is simplistic to think Republicans are misguided and misinformed about the damage their policies will cause. As ideological saboteurs, they know what will result if their policies are enacted.
The American people are demand that the wealthy lose their lower tax rates. Instead of accepting this reality, Republicans are going off the rails and heading toward irrelevance.
Grover Norquist made a fool out himself by demanding a return to the Reagan era tax rates, which were higher than taxes are under President Obama.
The GOP's insane obsession with obstructing the President is a danger to economic recovery and 98% of the population.
The latest joke from Republicans was offered up by Eric Cantor who called for Obama to put Obamacare on the table for elimination in order for Republicans to compromise on revenue increases.
The President pointedly laid out only two scenarios: Taxes go up for everyone or Congress lets the Bush tax cuts for the 2% expire.
President Obama used his press conference in order to set a trap for House Republicans that will leave them in a lose/lose situation on the Bush tax cuts.
Republicans should review the Grand Bargain they turned their noses up at in the summer of 2011, because chances are, they're not going to get it again.
There are different types of denial, and after President Obama won re-election last week, Republicans expressed minimization and simple denial over raising taxes on the rich.
Scott Brown tried to morph into Mitt Romney with an endless stream of lies, but Elizabeth Warren was ready and stormed past the incumbent in their third debate.
With fiscal cliff in sight, Republicans will not accept anything less than austerity measures that guarantee to kill 2 million jobs in 2013.
President Obama has once again outmaneuvered his Republican opposition by using their own job creator talking point against them.
The GOP is picking a fight they cannot win and if they hold 98% of income earners' tax cuts hostage just to protect the wealthiest 1-2%, their recalcitrance will raise taxes on the entire country.
President Obama has turned up the heat on congressional Republicans and Mitt Romney by explaining exactly why he will veto any extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Watch live as President Obama calls for an extension of the Bush tax cuts only for those making $250,000 or less.
Republicans are deceiving voters with gross distortions of the truth and in the case of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
President Obama sent the message today through Robert Gibbs on CNN that there will be no extensions, and he plans to kill the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Every American benefits from taxpayer dollars and although they complain about paying taxes, it is Republicans who rail against paying for roads, schools, hospitals, police and fire protection.
George W. Bush announced today, "I don't miss the presidency." He seems as confused as he was when he was in office, as he worried that repealing the Bush tax cuts for the rich would take money out of the pockets of "consumers".
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh actually argued that the rich did not benefit from the compromise to extend the Bush tax cuts. Limbaugh claimed that the government never gives the rich anything, and, "the only giveaway is welfare. The only giveaway is our social programs. The rich are not given anything by our government."
It is morally and economically reprehensible that Republicans consider giving tax breaks to rich people who return 30 cents on every dollar to the economy, but refuse to extend unemployment benefits to hardworking Americans who will return $1.60 for every dollar they get. It is not difficult to understand the moral and economic ramifications unless you are a Republican.
No matter how one assesses the current Republican obstructionist tactics in the legislature, it is nothing less than extortion, and it will affect working Americans as well as national security. Republicans are threatening to block a vote on the START treaty that will limit the nuclear arsenals of Russia as well as the United States.
Republicans belie their belief in fiscal responsibility when they insist on giving unfunded tax cuts to the wealthy. Enter the poor, unemployed, and working-class Americans. Republicans and teabags label unemployment benefits an entitlement just like they call Social Security and Medicare welfare. Their goal is to privatize Social programs so Wall Street can prosper, and take away unemployment benefits to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
One of the issues that Republicans have been running on is extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of earners, but a new Gallup poll released today revealed that a large majority of Americans don't want the tax cuts extended to the richest Americans. 59% favor either letting the tax cuts completely expire, or extending them for those making $250,000 or less.
Turning Karl Marx upside down, Republicans argue that when the money is taken from the poor and Middle Class it is not class warfare. Rather, it is the natural order of things. The money goes where it is supposed to go according to trickle-down economics – into the pockets of the wealthy. Gone unsaid by the Republicans, these tax cuts increased the federal deficit.
Earth to the Republican Party: David Stockman, the architect of Reaganomics, declared on NPR that “Reagan would never support extending the Bush tax cuts.” Stockman took this assertion a step further in calling out the Republican leadership for perverting the notions of fiscal conservatism and betraying what the Party used to stand for. He laid his harshest blame on the Bush administration.
Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to continue to spread intentionally false information about the Democrats and the Bush tax cuts. In Palin world repealing would "cost" $3.8 billion, but the real cost of keeping the Bush tax cuts will be 700 billion over the next 10 years and it adds $4.4 trillion to the deficit. Mrs. Palin is lying.
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh claimed that it is the Obama stimulus not the Bush tax cuts that wrecked the US economy. Limbaugh said, "George W. Bush is still stimulating the economy that Obama is trying to ruin, which means if not for Bush, we would really be in the tank."
