General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I hold a straight forward opinion: Obama offered moving to Chained CPI because he's open to it [View all]hfojvt
(37,573 posts)and it is - much larger tax cuts for the rich.
Obama's original offer was $400 billion in tax cuts for the top 1%
Obama then offered another $200 billion in tax cuts for those making over $250,000
Boehner then counter-proposed another $300 billion in tax cuts for those making over $400,000.
For some reason, the Heritage Foundation, the AEI, and others did not want to take that. Nor did many other Republicans.
They are under the impression, apparently, that they can get even more. This in spite of the fact that if we go over the cliff, they will get ZERO dollars in tax cuts.
Either those groups are unreasonable fanatics, or they think, and perhaps have a plan, to get more.
Word I got was if the market tanks, that will perhaps force a deal.
Well, the top 1% can easily MAKE the market tank. All they have to do is suddenly sell a mere 5% of their holdings.
And they can make money doing it too, because after the market tanks, they can buy their holdings back at reduced prices. Citibank, for example, closed yesterday at 40.17. It is already down $1.43, Suppose my uncle Dave own 50 million shares. Sell 10 million of them at 39, or an average of 38. And say the market tanks to where Citi ends the day at 33. Sell at 38, buy back at 33. And at the end of the day, he has just as much stock as he did at the beginning PLUS $50,000,000 in cash.