Let's compromise.

[WriterDom]

We'll give you Start, unemployment extension, and Don't Care about Asking or Telling, and you agree to extend all the tax cuts for three years.

 

[midwestyankee]

We'll give you Start, unemployment extension, and Don't Care about Asking or Telling, and you agree to extend all the tax cuts for three years.

Actually, let's consider what's best for the country instead of what's best for our campaign contributors and pass all of the measures you listed but let all of the so-called Bush tax cuts expire. After all, the Republicans wrote the law that put a sunset date on the tax cuts so let the Republicans accept the responsibility of carrying out their own law.

We don't need to add another 200 billion to the deficit with little or no stimulative effect. Both parties are talking about how the deficit is Job Number 1 so let's put our money where our mouth is.

 

[WriterDom]

Actually, let's consider what's best for the country instead of what's best for our campaign contributors and pass all of the measures you listed but let all of the so-called Bush tax cuts expire. After all, the Republicans wrote the law that put a sunset date on the tax cuts so let the Republicans accept the responsibility of carrying out their own law.

We don't need to add another 200 billion to the deficit with little or no stimulative effect. Both parties are talking about how the deficit is Job Number 1 so let's put our money where our mouth is.

So Moses carved these tax cuts on a tablet and economic issues can't be readdressed to see if repeal at the moment is a bad idea? By that logic nothing can be extended or ended early. Can't you just pout for a few years and hold your breath until the rich get punished? What's two hundred billion compared to an 840 billion dollar failed stimulus bill that no one had time to read?

If Obama listens to MoveOn it's going to be a very bloody December in about two weeks when people realize the capital gain tax is going up. But I really don't think Obama is that fucking stupid. What are you going to do about it anyway? Vote for Palin?

 

[WriterDom]

We need optional rates so the lady on the MoveOn ad who said the government needed the money more than she did can pay as much as she likes.

Check here if you like to pay the current rate.

Check here is you'd like to pay 40%.

Check here if you'd like to pay 50%.

Check here if you'd like to pay 60%.

Kerry's wife paid something like 14% in the mid 90s. Or it might have been 18%. I remember it being under 20.

Rates be damned when you are rich and have tax lawyers.

 

[midwestyankee]

So Moses carved these tax cuts on a tablet and economic issues can't be readdressed to see if repeal at the moment is a bad idea? By that logic nothing can be extended or ended early. Can't you just pout for a few years and hold your breath until the rich get punished? What's two hundred billion compared to an 840 billion dollar failed stimulus bill that no one had time to read?

If Obama listens to MoveOn it's going to be a very bloody December in about two weeks when people realize the capital gain tax is going up. But I really don't think Obama is that fucking stupid. What are you going to do about it anyway? Vote for Palin?

In fact, the economy is in much worse shape right now than it was when Bush spent the surplus on the tax cuts back in 2001 and 2003. So now, more than ever, we need to let all of them expire as planned.

Here's the thing with tax cuts for the wealthy: they don't create jobs. If I am a multi-millionaire business owner, I don't need money in my pocket to create jobs, I need customers who can pay for my goods or services. Give me a tax cut and I will save it in one form or another so the money will bring me either interest or appreciation.

If I'm a business owner with little more than an idea, I don't need a tax cut to get my idea off the ground, I need capital. I'm not making enough money for that tax cut to be turned into business formation capital so I need to borrow or get investors to ante up. But that's what the banking system is for.

To say that cutting the taxes of the wealthy creates jobs is to make a claim that simply does not hold up to reason.

All the Bush cuts should be allowed to expire and the resulting additional income to the federal government should be used to stimulate the economy. We need people to be able to go out and buy goods and services. Seriously, about the best thing to do with that 200 billion would be to write checks to the bottom 80% of the population. Every dollar that a low-income person receives creates two dollars of economic activity. We need a powerful stimulative effect like that.

Now, when are you going to give up the Rushian idea that the stimulus didn't work? A third of that went to tax cuts, mostly for the lower and middle class. Most of the rest has gone to public works and projects. I note that not one single Republican who voted against the ARRA has refused to take credit when it's time to cut a ribbon on a new bridge or hospital wing bought with that stimulus money. If the ARRA didn't work, why are all your guys so willing to take credit for it?

 

[intothewoods]

We'll give you Start, unemployment extension, and Don't Care about Asking or Telling, and you agree to extend all the tax cuts for three years.

How about the tax cuts are extended for everyone except those who make over a million per year.

This is fun! Too bad we're just a bunch of dilberts on the internet.

 

[DVS]

How about the tax cuts are extended for everyone except those who make over a million per year.

This is fun! Too bad we're just a bunch of dilberts on the internet.

As opposed to the dilberts in congress?

 

[rosco rathbone]

How about the tax cuts are extended for everyone except those who make over a million per year.

This is fun! Too bad we're just a bunch of dilberts on the internet.

Not all of us are in a cube.

 

[JMohegan]

Hey, Rosco - Here's your buddy Huck, explaining why tax cuts for the super-rich should be extended:

"This is money they spend. And if they spend it on a jet, somebody has to wash the jet, service the jet, fuel the jet. It's job creation."

Pardon the poke, I'm just not so sure his "Club for Greed" quip translates into a rational policy perspective.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Hey, Rosco - Here's your buddy Huck, explaining why tax cuts for the super-rich should be extended:

"This is money they spend. And if they spend it on a jet, somebody has to wash the jet, service the jet, fuel the jet. It's job creation."

Pardon the poke, I'm just not so sure his "Club for Greed" quip translates into a rational policy perspective.

You can't be a contender without that kind of rhetoric, but this is a mark against him.

 

[Stella_Omega]

The super-rich don't need your help, Roscoe.

They help themselves.

 

[rosco rathbone]

The super-rich don't need your help, Roscoe.

They help themselves.

What makes you think I want to help the super-rich?

 

[Stella_Omega]

What makes you think I want to help the super-rich?

Who do you think those tax cuts help?

 

[rosco rathbone]

Who do you think those tax cuts help?

This is WD's pro-tax-cut thread.

If it were up to me, I'd tax the fuck out of the parasitic bastards.

 

[JMohegan]

This is WD's pro-tax-cut thread.

If it were up to me, I'd tax the fuck out of the parasitic bastards.

I think she misunderstood my poke.

Stella - I was referencing this.

 

[teknight]

As opposed to the dilberts in congress?

No, the people in Congress are more like the bad boss than Dilbert if you ask me.

The super-rich don't need your help, Roscoe.

They help themselves.

This isn't really what you were saying, Stella, so I'm going off on a tangent, but we all try to help ourselves....but the super-rich are in a better position to help themselves. I agree with that.

Honestly, all of this is window dressing. The biggest problem facing America is the mounting debt, which will have to be paid (sooner, rather than later). The only way to pay it is to hike taxes for all, while cutting gov't spending on all levels...but, all governments ever do is grow...and no politician will risk their career to face the debt.

Sorry, but everything else is a joke in comparison.

 

[teknight]

In fact, the economy is in much worse shape right now than it was when Bush spent the surplus on the tax cuts back in 2001 and 2003. So now, more than ever, we need to let all of them expire as planned.

Here's the thing with tax cuts for the wealthy: they don't create jobs. If I am a multi-millionaire business owner, I don't need money in my pocket to create jobs, I need customers who can pay for my goods or services. Give me a tax cut and I will save it in one form or another so the money will bring me either interest or appreciation.

If I'm a business owner with little more than an idea, I don't need a tax cut to get my idea off the ground, I need capital. I'm not making enough money for that tax cut to be turned into business formation capital so I need to borrow or get investors to ante up. But that's what the banking system is for.

To say that cutting the taxes of the wealthy creates jobs is to make a claim that simply does not hold up to reason.

All the Bush cuts should be allowed to expire and the resulting additional income to the federal government should be used to stimulate the economy. We need people to be able to go out and buy goods and services. Seriously, about the best thing to do with that 200 billion would be to write checks to the bottom 80% of the population. Every dollar that a low-income person receives creates two dollars of economic activity. We need a powerful stimulative effect like that.

Now, when are you going to give up the Rushian idea that the stimulus didn't work? A third of that went to tax cuts, mostly for the lower and middle class. Most of the rest has gone to public works and projects. I note that not one single Republican who voted against the ARRA has refused to take credit when it's time to cut a ribbon on a new bridge or hospital wing bought with that stimulus money. If the ARRA didn't work, why are all your guys so willing to take credit for it?

MWY, do you have a background in econ? Not putting you down, just asking.

 

[midwestyankee]

MWY, do you have a background in econ? Not putting you down, just asking.

Not what anyone in the profession would call "a background," no. Took enough in college to get into a top grade B school but turned it down to go into teaching. Later I took a hiatus to work in financial services for a few years and I also continue to read.

But no, I'm not an economist and any holes in my arguments are purely the result of being mostly an autodidact.

 

[teknight]

Not what anyone in the profession would call "a background," no. Took enough in college to get into a top grade B school but turned it down to go into teaching. Later I took a hiatus to work in financial services for a few years and I also continue to read.

But no, I'm not an economist and any holes in my arguments are purely the result of being mostly an autodidact.

Mind you, I'm getting a degree in this crap, and I'm still as confused as I can be, despite being able to cite theories, papers and books.

Honestly, the economy as a whole is a confidence game. It's not about people buying or making, it's about people feeling safe when they buy or make stuff. Crazy, huh?

 

[Stella_Omega]

This is WD's pro-tax-cut thread.

If it were up to me, I'd tax the fuck out of the parasitic bastards.

Dammit-- so sorry!

Hadn't had near enough coffee when I posted...

 

[WriterDom]

Obama ran on changing the coming tax law you people claim can't be changed because it's against the UN Charter, constitution, Sharia law and whatever other bullshit reason why you think taxes have to be raised on everyone. Of course the democrats put off dealing with it until after the election. Having all this shit in flux is fucking insane no matter what your political beliefs are this close to the end of the year. What's the big deal about waiting a few years. Or set a trigger like the 8% unemployment rate the stimulus was supposed to prevent. 8% sounds pretty good right now as we head closer to 10.

It doesn't matter. Your side lost. You don't get to drive the bus anymore.

 

[midwestyankee]

Mind you, I'm getting a degree in this crap, and I'm still as confused as I can be, despite being able to cite theories, papers and books.

Honestly, the economy as a whole is a confidence game. It's not about people buying or making, it's about people feeling safe when they buy or make stuff. Crazy, huh?

No, it's not at all crazy. When I took Econ 101, I made the point to the prof that econ was not a science at all, but a social study of one aspect of human nature. He, being an econometrician at heart, did not react well. On the other hand, he took me aside and taught me enough calculus in one afternoon to be able to follow his "let's learn how to derive the standard deviation rather than memorize the formula" approach to basic ec stat. He also gave me a nice rec to that B school on the Charles.

 

[midwestyankee]

Obama ran on changing the coming tax law you people claim can't be changed because it's against the UN Charter, constitution, Sharia law and whatever other bullshit reason why you think taxes have to be raised on everyone. Of course the democrats put off dealing with it until after the election. Having all this shit in flux is fucking insane no matter what your political beliefs are this close to the end of the year. What's the big deal about waiting a few years. Or set a trigger like the 8% unemployment rate the stimulus was supposed to prevent. 8% sounds pretty good right now as we head closer to 10.

It doesn't matter. Your side lost. You don't get to drive the bus anymore.

Actually, we still have the wheel for a few more exits on the freeway. And stop picking on your brother in the back seat or we won't stop for an ice cream.

 

[teknight]

No, it's not at all crazy. When I took Econ 101, I made the point to the prof that econ was not a science at all, but a social study of one aspect of human nature. He, being an econometrician at heart, did not react well. On the other hand, he took me aside and taught me enough calculus in one afternoon to be able to follow his "let's learn how to derive the standard deviation rather than memorize the formula" approach to basic ec stat. He also gave me a nice rec to that B school on the Charles.

AAAHH! Econometrics!!!


Sorry. Vietnam flashback moment.

 

[intothewoods]

Not all of us are in a cube.

Hee hee. I sometimes say dilbert in place of something more coarse, like douchebag.