#4
Dear Gover5nor Christie - There is no money. 'Got that? None. Zippo. As Mark Steyn puts it: we need $16.7 Trillion just to get UP to being flat and completely broke.
Back before we piddled the country away in support of an endless string of ridiculous boondoggle extravagances, we might have been able to help hard hit localities. But - we busted the piggy bank. It's empty. You just have to make do without Uncle Sugar pouring on the heaps of love.
Get used to it, baby. When the cupboard is bare, there are no more free lunches. It sucks - so - suck it up.
Oh - by the way - we don't need you to tell us how worthless Congress is. We can figure that out all by ourselves. Your complaints are just some more "gilding of the lily". Lots of us are waiting for our next chance to tip the bums out of office. We're tired of trying to polish a collection of turds.
Elections have consequences. How about calling up Barry and asking him to share some of his golfing and vacation money with your homeless disaster victims. Naw? 'Didn't think so.
In a few more years (months?), this miserable time in your state's history is going to be looking like "the good old days". You can bank on it.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/02/2013 20:18 Comments ||
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#6
The US already surpassed the US$16.4 Trilyuhn debt marker before Dec. 31st. 2012, but the Powers that be + MSM Cronies want mainstream America to believe it won't be surpassed until towards mid-Jan 2013 or the EOM same.
* "Mark Steyn ... $16.7Trilyuhn" > Yuuupppp.
Big Govt. is the only one that sezzes that acquiring US$16.7Trilyuhn just to par to Zero or a "Balanced" Budget = "Budget Surplus" or the US being in the Black, NOT Par or in Arrears.
USSR/SOVIET-STYLE BUDGET, DEBT MASS "WRITE-OFFS" HERE WE COME.
#7
AP is reporting ( via Seattle Times .com) that Boner is going to hold a Sandy aid vote on Friday. Seems lot of R's are pissed and want it. maybe this is his way to keep his job, buy off the peasants.
[Politico] Here are the eight U.S. senators who voted against the bipartisan fiscal cliff deal reached by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders:
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Dela.)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) They're probably under the delusion that there will be consequences for voting to sell the nation down the river with $1 in cuts for every $41 in spending increases. Tut tut.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#4
Where would we be with the NASCAR tax credit ? Might in part, explain the Georgia vote, but we're also home to Honey BooBoo so can tell for certain. :-(
#5
Boehner and the Repubs do not stand up and call this irresponsible spending Congress has done what it is and that is fiscal suicide. Lah de dah sez congress critters. We are ignoring the tumor in the body politic.
It will kill this government and this country. Current congress critters are unable to act responsibly.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/02/2013 2:03 Comments ||
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#6
The electorate had its chance in November. It chose the Progressive model. All the Republicans can hope to do is slow the 'progress', and not by much. Too many are dependent on government to 'allow' it to go over the cliff and cut their benefits, and both political sides know it. So to hang on to their phoney-baloney jobs they keep up the charade that there is an answer that will not cause catastrophic economic pain. When the pain finally hits history says the people will welcome a 'saviour' - like Hitler.
#8
The thinking is that now there's nothing stopping them from turning the tables on Obama when demanding Cuts two months from now. I know, that's stupid as Obama will never negotiate that. But it's their pipe-dream. Tomorrow we'll see if a new Speaker is chosen.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/02/2013 10:28 Comments ||
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#9
I can't believe they fell for that old "I'll gladly give you spending cuts in two months for tax hikes today" line.
They always fall for it and they always get burned by it.
#10
"Enough Republicans Willing to Unseat Speaker Boehner"
Wonder who they'll choose in his place? Cantor? Or (hopefully) Paul Ryan?
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/02/2013 16:19 Comments ||
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#11
Wow! Iowa senators both voted no! Harkin and Grassley are often used to illustrate the bipolar politics of Iowa, considered representative of the nation and rarely agree on anything.
#12
re #6 Glenmore's comment about Hitler; was watching a Mil Channel program about Hilter's rise to power and the speeches he gave were damn near word for word what Bammy spouts. How was he able to predict that?
seriously, the route Hitler took and the one Bammy is one are damn near perfectly matched; only hope sanity prevails before this idiot breaks out the boxcars......
[Politico] The White House issued a "fact sheet" statement Tuesday declaring the fiscal cliff agreement a victory, though the House has yet to vote on the measure.
"At this make or break moment for the middle class, the President achieved a bipartisan solution that keeps income taxes low for the middle class and grows the economy," the statement says. "For the first time in 20 years, Congress will have acted on a bipartisan basis to vote for significant new revenue.
"This means millionaires and billionaires will pay their fair share to reduce the deficit through a combination of permanent tax rate increases and reduced tax benefits."
The White House said it achieved 85 percent of what it wanted on taxes, locking in $620 billion in revenue from wealthier Americans over 10 years. The statement, entitled "The Tax Agreement: A Victory for Middle-Class Families & the Economy" and issued less than an hour before Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... was scheduled to meet with House Democrats on the Hill, includes a list of talking points covering everything from capital gains (hiked to 20 percent) to the extension of unemployment benefits and tax credits for renewable energy.
And in a section sure to please Democrats but unsettle Republicans, the White House said it planned to continue seeking more tax hikes, tying them to debt reduction.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
As per TOPIX + WORLD NEWS, looks like the US House has passed the deal.
[Washington Times] The "fiscal cliff" deal that was designed to save money actually includes $330.3 billion in new spending over the next decade, according to the official estimate the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday afternoon.
CBO said the bill contains about $25.1 billion in new cuts, but those are swamped by the new spending on extended unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and other new refundable tax credits that President B.O. fought for.
Of those cuts, only $2 billion are scheduled to take effect in 2013.
And CBO also warned that some of the cuts Congress is counting are from programs on which CBO never expected the money to be spent anyway -- such as cuts to the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan, which was part of Mr. Obama's health care law.
All told, the bill deepens the deficit by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade, when the new tax cuts and spending are combined.
Update: It appears the House passed it 257 to 157.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
As lord garth commented yesterday,
assuming HR8, aka the American Tax Relief Act of 2012, passes the house and is signed, the spending battle will be fought two months from now when the sequesters kick in certain Treasury measures that are being used to manage the national debt run out.
#5
Correct me if I'm mistaken but I believe the "increased" spending is an artifact of the CBO scoring current law after the expiration of the tax laws that were largely renewed by this legislation. I believe that, had the law been scored prior the the expiration of the old tax law on 31 Dec, its cost would have been roughly flat with the status quo.
2. The CBO's estimate of $330B in new spending is based on their long standing practice of classifying certain tax subsidies and tax loopholes as 'tax expenditures'. The ATRA 2012 has oodles of these.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/02/2013 9:32 Comments ||
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#7
$1 in cuts for each $41 in spending? This turkey will cost $4 trillion over the next decade? Hollywood get big bucks for making movies. This is a payoff for Hollywood big money election donations and support. This has to be the worst deal ever agreed to by the Pubs.
Hollywood gets about $250M (over 10years) in tax expenditures
but that's minimal compared to $12B that wind energy producers get or the $500M for Puerto Rico rum producers or the $9B for 'active financing' (a subsidy for Wall Street and some multinationals) or the $30B for the unemployment extention
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/02/2013 10:49 Comments ||
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#9
"I'd gladly pay you Tuesday in March for a hamburger tax hike today!" - Sen. Whimpy
#10
All of these stories should go under WOT Operations. No, really, because when the crunch finally hits and the credit is all gone there will be terror. I'm afraid this cliff is a mere incline compared to what is coming.
#13
The rum tax expenditure works about like this:
Rum produced in PR and the Virgin Islands (VI).
Rum sent to US. Excise tax paid.
Excise tax rebated to govts of PR and VI.
Govt of PR and VI use money to: support distillery construction and infrastructure around distilleries (about 40%), rebate some corporate and property taxes to the distillers (about 10%) and the rest for general revenue (much of which is used for the govt to hire no-work cronies).
The price of PR and VI Rum in the US is probably about 5-10% or so below what it would be without this program. Also, distillery employment in the PR and VI is probably about 200 to 500 greater than it would be without the program. Finally, the corporate profits for the two or three large companies (e.g. Bacardi) that benefit are probably $10 to $20M/yr better than otherwise.
For perspective, the subsidies (typically direct payments) to domestic ag producers are somewhere near $8B/yr and these mostly go to Republican leaning States and to Republican leaning counties within those States.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/02/2013 12:44 Comments ||
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#14
Well now I live in a republican county in a republican state and two thirds of this rural county is owned by absentee landlords who collect most of the subsidies. There is a lot wrong with the farm bill, but it is not a republican pork barrel.
#15
Another thing farm subsidies do is drive up the price of land. Absentee landlords don't have to sell, they're sitting on a cash cow that they've been milking for decades. Good crop year or bad crop year, it makes little difference either way as the gov't provides crop insurance as well. If you own enough to lease it out for private hunting.... good pocket change as well.
#17
All I know is that watching 20 years of Republican stupidity, and doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, even with the Tea Party involved, I am finished with the Republicans.
I will never vote for, or donate to a Republican again unless they keep their damn work and principles and don't buckle for the democrats at the first sign of a hard fight. So pretty much I'm not voting for any Republican again.
#18
I will never vote for, or donate to a Republican again unless they keep their damn work and principles and don't buckle for the democrats at the first sign of a hard fight. So pretty much I'm not voting for any Republican again.
I suspect you will change your mind long before the income tax goes to 50%.
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