"Centrist" Democrats Still Trying to Screw Middle Income Earners out of their Promised Stimulus

[liskddksil]

Link to tweet

Every Democratic Senator and Representative needs to hear from us this week, that the Stimulus thresholds need to be left as is so all who were promised checks receive them.

Capitol Switchboard
[phone]

The following Democrats were in attendance, these need extra attention:

Link to tweet

[Celerity]

1. the centrists tried BUT (from the article)

House Democrats added new restrictions to the payments for affluent Americans but ultimately rejected proposals to prevent single Americans earning between $50,000 and $75,000 from receiving the stimulus payments.

[liskddksil]

2. That was the House. The Senate still has time to gum up the works nt

[Celerity]

5. true, and I going to go out on a limb (not really) and hazard a guess the name Manchin may come up

[radius777]

15. Under no circumstances can the thresholds be tightened,

as the people who got checks under Trump will not qualify under Biden. Both Biden and Ossof/Warnock ran on giving people direct stimulus checks. Bernie tweeted something about this - it is political suicide and alone could cost us in 2022.

It would also disproportionately hurt blue areas (cities and suburbs) which have a higher cost of living.

Let something else get cut out of the bill if need be - something voters won't realize as much - but not this which would be a disaster.

[liskddksil]

29. Agreed. nt

[Wounded Bear]

3. No way they should make the payments less than what was awarded under Trump...

[Celerity]

8. they want the cut-off to start at 50K AGI and by 75K you get jack shit

My cousin (mum's side) will go BONKERS (she lives and works in Los Angeles and made around 76K AGI in both 2019 and 2020 (I do her taxes and I used every trick in the book to get her down to 76K AGI, lol) so she got 550 usd (out of 600 usd) the last time, as the cut-off started at 75K and by 99K AGI you got nothing.

IF the cap it at 50K for the max cheques, and 75K gets nothing, I will have lost her for good I fear (as a Dem voter, this was the first election she ever voted in and I had to bang on her for ages, as she is utterly non political and her go-to line is the (hated on DU and most Dem places) 'Oh, ffs, they all are the same and never do what they say'). Her vote will not change much, as she lives in a deep Blue area in a deep Blue state, BUT for sure there will be millions of pissed off people (that income cohort affected is MASSIVE) if they get up to 1400 USD taken away and many of those people are deffo not in deep Blue states and/or areas.

[liskddksil]

12. I'm telling my Senators that this is a line in the sand for my vote next time. I would

consider it the betrayal of all betrayals.

[Celerity]

16. If some Dem Senators do insist on the cut-offs starting at 50K and 75K gets nothing, I am

truly going to start to question their political judgement. It seems so obvious this would be a disaster.

[liskddksil]

20. How out of touch does one have to be to think that those making $75,000 have it easy as costs of

everything have skyrocketed this year.

[Celerity]

25. it isn't even 75K, the cutoff slope is steep once you get over 50K

the 600 usd cheques started to be reduced by 5% of the amount by which your AGI exceeded the 75K usd AGI threshold

so if you made 85K in AGI, then you cheques would have been only 100 usd (5% of 10K is 500, 600 minus 500 is 100 usd)

the 1400 usd cheques may follow an ever steeper curve, say 6% for every 100 us above 50K

if the cut off is 50K for the slope to begin,

then a person making 65K in AGI will get 500 usd under the 6% curve

if the 5% rate per 100 usd over 50K stays the same, they would get 650 USD

my cousin had her 600 usd cheque reduced to 550 usd (she made around 1000 usd over the 75K beginning of the cut off)

she was pissed about that 50 usd (human nature and all, plus she is always in a whingey mood anyway, lol)

imagine if her 1400 usd (well 1350 or so in her case) promised goes to zero, then multiple that by millions of voters (either nothing or greatly reduced cheques for them)

I already have had to deal with her about why the cheques coming (in say April, 2021) are not 2000 and 1400 usd (she is not really buying the 600 usd plus 1400 usd IS the 2000 usd figure that was used by so many, but I am working on her)

[dsc]

28. yes my marginal tax rate for my income from 50k to 61k will wind up

being insane under this proposal. I will be paying around 40% which is nuts. Remember this is a tax cut we are talking about so by not giving me this check they are in fact increasing my taxes. Single people in this rage will have about the highest tax rate in the entire nation.

[liskddksil]

30. Democrats need to KISS - keep it simple stupid nt

[GemDigger]

4. It's the republicans that need to hear us.

It's the gop screwing it up for the middle class as they have been for the past several decades. If people are going to get mad and start calling then they have to call the people who are being assholes, not the ones who are in support of us.

[liskddksil]

6. Sure, but these Democrats are also trying to screw many who are certainly not rich

of their promised checks. If they get a check under Trump and not under Biden, that will be disastrous for us.

[GemDigger]

7. It would be but if we don't settle for something then those that are only

making $20,000 a year would lose out as well. Those people don't have anything to sell.

[tritsofme]

9. It would be political malpractice to create a group of voters who got checks under Trump but denied

them under President Biden.

[liskddksil]

10. Yes, this needs to be iterated to Democratic Representatives and Senators nt

[leftstreet]

11. +1

[radius777]

19. And Repubs would just swoop in and promise tax cuts

to those higher earners (many of whom are also struggling due to the pandemic) with the narrative that Dems are only for 'those people' (poor, PoC, etc) and not 'the middle class'. We would then lose all of the suburban voters we gained in 2018 and 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_Wanniski#The_Two_Santa_Claus_Theory
The Two Santa Claus Theory is a political theory and strategy published by Wanniski in 1976, which he promoted within the United States Republican Party.[15][16] The theory states that in democratic elections, if Democrats appeal to voters by proposing programs to help people, then the Republicans cannot gain broader appeal by proposing less spending. The first "Santa Claus" of the theory title refers to the Democrats who promise programs to help the disadvantaged. The "Two Santa Claus Theory" recommends that the Republicans must assume the role of a second Santa Claus by not arguing to cut spending but offering the option of cutting taxes.

According to Wanniski, the theory is simple. In 1976, he wrote that the Two-Santa Claus Theory suggests that "the Republicans should concentrate on tax-rate reduction. As they succeed in expanding incentives to produce, they will move the economy back to full employment and thereby reduce social pressures for public spending. Just as an increase in Government spending inevitably means taxes must be raised, a cut in tax rates—by expanding the private sector—will diminish the relative size of the public sector."[16] Wanniski suggested this position, as Thom Hartmann has clarified, so that the Democrats would "have to be anti-Santas by raising taxes, or anti-Santas by cutting spending. Either one would lose them elections."[17]

F means testing - just give everyone who isn't a millionare the checks.

[liskddksil]

23. Yep, sometimes we need to save our party from their own stupidity it seems nt

[Budi]

13. "Centrist" Democrats ?

Always Centrist?
Sometimes Centrist?
When is it convenient to label "Centrist Democrats" as compared to just plain Democrats?

I see most on your list are Democrats. Moderate, Progressive, Centrist, but always Left.
Not sure why you've chosen to label Democrats as you have.

[Celerity]

17. because in this case, it was/is the moderates, the centrist wing that was/is pushing for it

If it was the progressives threatening to derail things, a shedload of people would have zero issue with labelling, and certainly would be tossing them under the bus.

[liskddksil]

21. Most on that list would self-describe that way. Though I strongly question the political acumen of

anyone who thinks that someone who makes $75,000 and who got a Trump check, shouldn't get a Biden check. Absolutely bone-headed political malpractice, and will ruin our party's chances in 2022 and we'd deserve every bit of it.

[Celerity]

26. 2 cheques (they got the 1200 usd one too) so technically even more of an issue for some of them

I gag at the term 'Trump cheque' but unfortunately that is the way the way many voters look at it.

[Budi]

14. Your headline is not the headline of the tweet you refer to, btwJeff Stein did not say,

"Centrist" Democrats Still Trying to Screw Middle Income Earners out of their Promised Stimulus.


He never said " ..Still Trying to Screw Middle Income Earners out of their Promised Stimulus."

[Celerity]

18. the OP was not saying it was a quote from the tweet, they were (as is allowed) editorialising

GD is not LBN, you can toss up any title you want (as long as it doesn't violate TOS).

If every OP that had a different title from what the body said was removed, GD would be as barren as a desert.

[liskddksil]

22. You better believe, I have an agenda. 1: Make sure I and those like me get the money we were

promised when Georgia elected 2 Democrats in January. 2: Make sure that we don't throw away our prospects in 2022 and 2024 on the most boneheaded decision ever, on what should be a layup political winner.

[Budi]

24. Well, there are a few things ready to muck it all up right now & ...

...& it's not just your target list of "Centrist" Democrats.
🙄

[liskddksil]

27. I don't see any other Democrats trying to screw me out of my promised check other than the ones

listed.

[Budi]

31. The only one who will muck it up is not a Democrat.

They never had the votes & they know they will never have them.

Blame the not-a-Democrat if the course continues & blows up the entire package & including the $1400