Not Much to Celebrate with Obama's Tax Deal

[MadHound]

"We enter 2011 with a few more dollars in our paychecks. For about 98 percent of Americans, the extension of Bush tax cuts and the new payroll tax holiday will make it easier for us to afford a gallon, rather than a quart, of milk for our families each month, and to fill our tanks almost as high as we did with lower gas prices last year. . .

According to the Center on Economic Policy Research and the Tax Policy Center, a little more than half of tax-filers will indeed get a bigger paycheck due to a tax holiday than they would have under the Making Work Pay credit. However, about 42 percent of taxpayers will actually pay more taxes in 2011 than they would have if the Making Work Pay Credit had been extended. . .

As Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) cautioned in a floor debate in December leading up to the vote, “You’re talking about the beginning of the end for Social Security.” Couple this with a deficit-hysteric incoming Congress and it's hard not to fear for the long-term well-being of America’s imperiled middle- and low-income families.

Entering the New Year, I'm feeling less financially secure. There's not much to celebrate with Obama's tax deal, which accomplished far less than what is necessary or possible."

<http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/no_celebrating_Obama_tax_deal>

We're all going to pay dearly for this deal that Obama cut. His vow to fight these tax cuts in two years is hollow. And what we obtained in exchange for this deal was simply not worth the pain that we're all going to be feeling as SS, Medicare and other programs for the middle class and poor are cut to the bone in the name of deficit reduction. Obama could have gotten much more, but his unwillingness
to fight, to instead make this preemptive deal, does not bode well for the future.

Just one more reason Obama has been a disappointment.

[mdmc]

r

[Little Star]

1. I too think we're going to pay dearly. Can't say Bernie didn't...

try to warn everyone!

[MadHound]

2. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that Bernie is the last decent, kind, intelligent,

And incorruptible Senator left in DC.

[upi402]

5. He speaks for me

very few Dems do these days

[Jester Messiah]

3. We're making it a point to sock more money per check into savings, whenever possible.

I just hope the currency is still worth something when we need it.

[MadHound]

6. I think that the collapse of the dollar is going to be the next big economic disaster,

Our country is carrying to much debt, and there are several ominous warning signs out there that the dollar is going to disappear as the reserve currency of the world in the relatively near future. Moody's is considering downgrading the US credit rating. Russia and China have gone off the dollar for bilateral trade deals. Oil exporting countries are starting to switch from the petrodollar to a basketful of currencies to use in the international oil trade, which is part of the reason why oil prices are going up. And the Fed is printing money out of thin air.

Another house of cards is being set up in regards to our currency and our debt, and it is going to collapse sooner rather than later.

[DJ13]

8. Our country is carrying to much debt

Thats just more of the same BS as the SS is going broke propaganda the right has put out.

Our country still has a far lower debt to GDP ratio than many industrialized countries.

Im not saying there wont be a currency crisis in the next year or two, but if it happens it will be a deliberate act, not one thats warranted by the actual economics of our debt.

[MadHound]

11. Our debt to GDP ratio is running right at 100%

That's far too high for any sane country. The last time that we ran this kind of debt/GDP ration was back during WWII, and things were much different then. There was nearly full employment, people were saving, not spending, and our economy wasn't in the midst of an economic crisis.

[DJ13]

12. Its currently 94.27%

It was 121% in 1946.

[MadHound]

15. And that is far too high

Look at the ratios during the sixties, seventies and eighties, all under 50%. Debt makes for a strong headwind, hold back our economic recovery, driving up the costs of borrowing, weakening our economy. To pretend otherwise is run contrary to the basics of economics.

And again, during WWII, and the post war years, we had full employment and a booming economy. What we have now is nearly one in five unemployed or underemployed, and a very slack economy with a disappearing manufacturing sector.

Not good, not good at all.

[DJ13]

17. Here

Sorry, U.S. Federal Debt Is NOT Approaching 100% Of GDP Anytime Soon

vincent fernando cfa

Jun. 8, 2010

The U.S. government's net debt is not about to reach 100% of GDP. Hysteria about the U.S. debt/GDP ratio breaking 100% is due to a misconception regarding which figure to calculate Federal debt. You can't count money the Federal government owed to itself:

Calafia Beach Pundit:

As much as I abhor Washington's utter disregard for fiscal sanity, we are still a long way from seeing federal debt exceed GDP. Those who claim we are close are exaggerating, because they use "Total Debt Outstanding," which happens to include $4.5 trillion of "Intragovernmental Holdings," otherwise known as debt that we owe to ourselves (e.g., Treasury securities held by the Social Security Administration). That is not really debt, it is just a promise that one arm of the government will deliver money to another arm. The proper amount of current federal debt, which can be found here, is "Debt Held by the Public," which is just under $8.6 trillion today. That is debt that our federal government is obligated to pay to individuals and institutions both here and abroad.

The result is that while U.S. debt to GDP has been rising at a worrisome and unsustainable rate, debt/GDP will only be 60% by the end of 2010 according to CBP. Note Scott Grannis of Calafia Beach Pundit is a retired economist who used to work at Western Asset Management.

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-debt-100-percent-of-gdp-2010-6


And........

[MadHound]

19. Take it up with the Office of Management and Budget,

They're the ones who are doing the official accounting. And money owed to "intragovernmental holdings" is still money that is owed, debt that we the taxpayer have to pay for.

[elocs]

4. "...a few more dollars in our paychecks"? What paycheck?

:shrug:

[leeroysphitz]

18. +1

[truedelphi]

7. The tax bill also includes a provision for a whooping 120 BILLION dollars to

Upgrade and update the IRS. Don't want anyone having income and not getting that mandated insurance.

Currently at least 38 states have deficits that are out of control. Think of what 120 Billion bucks would do for the states that are now laying off teachers, fire fighters, social workers, project managers, and are delaying needed repairs to the infrastructure.

When Ahnold Schwarzenegger pleaded with Geithner to LOAN the people of California 20 billion to help out the state, Geithner said there was no way to help us. (Never mind that usually the people of the state of California get only 73 cents back for every dollar they are forced to hand over to the USA, so that the Federal Government can squander the money in operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Columbia.)

But there is always a way for the Federal Government to expand and expand and expand. Thirty million was spent by TSA just for a system of "puffers" that would blow air on travelers. Supposedly the device would then be able to determine if there was any incriminating explosives' dust on the people getting on airplanes. The device didn't work, and now the thirty million bucks worth of puffers is sitting inside a warehouse somewhere!

[MadHound]

9. Oh I know the pain of that all too well

I'm a teacher, and it was because of Obama's handling of the stimulus funds for education that I'm now unemployed.

[truedelphi]

14. I am very sorry to hear about that, MadHound.

If you live in or near any area where there is a Pill Hill, or other neighborhood with a good many wealthy people, you might consider tutoring. If that is something you'd consider, please feel free to PM and we can discuss what I have learned about it.

[MadHound]

16. Thanks for your kind words,

I've thought about tutoring, but there really isn't a base for it out here in the rural area. What I'm hoping is that since the stimulus money was released so late(last fall, after all the hiring and firing decisions were made) that the school districts hung onto that money and will hire in the spring again. If that fails, I'm going to head back to academia, get my masters, do the TA thing and get a full ride that way.

We'll see, but this really does suck for one my age and stage of life.

[xchrom]

10. Recommend

[phasma ex machina]

13. Betcha billionaire bankster pigs celebrated.

[stray cat]

20. The alternative to raise taxes on everyone and not continue unemployement is better

[MadHound]

22. Double back flip time again?

Never mind.

As many people in positions much more knowledgeable than myself have pointed out, UI benefits and the tax cuts for the middle class could have been done if the President had stepped up and fought. When push comes to shove, as has been shown before, even the 'Pugs don't want to pull UI at Christmas, and had all but conceded that the tax cuts for the rich were gone.

Not to mention, as I've pointed out, Obama could have taken the UI extension off the table and paid for it out of the remaining stimulus funds.

But apparently you're just fine with Obama's inability or unwillingness to fight. You're happy with his broken promise after broken promise. Nice that it works out for you, but it doesn't work out for many, if not most of the rest of us.

[lonestarnot]

21. We've all been handed an oily dead fish and told to bake it for supper and like it.