Political Ruminations

Republicans Want to Give $100K to Every Millionaire!

A millionaire bailout.

A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year -- and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation's millionaires, according to a congressional analysis released Wednesday.

New data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation show that households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks under the GOP plan in 2011, for an average tax cut per household of about $100,000.

F**k the Republican Party!

Via Bob Cesca

Jon Stewart Takes on the Hypocrisy of Republicans re the Deficit and the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich

The utter and complete hypocrisy of Republicans regarding the deficit and the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy is simply put, astonishing. Jon Stewart dissects their stance using their own words, and with his inimitable brand of humor.

The deficit wants to skullf**k your mother. It wants to eat your children, after it shows your wife a level of physical passion you've never been able to provide. 

Via Huffington Post

Related Posts:

• 3 Charts: Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy vs. Obama Tax Plan
• Quote of the Week: Fareed Zakaria on Republican Deficit Hawks and the Bush Tax Cuts
• Stehphen Colbert: Quick, Rich People, to Your Tax Shelters!

Conservadem Deficit Chicken Hawks Vote to Extend Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich

Predictably, the two most conservative Conservadems, Lincoln, and Nelson, voted to extend the Bush tax cuts along with the Republicans. Via Think Progress:

Last month, as the Senate was gridlocked by a Republican filibuster of a bill to extend much-needed unemployment benefits to millions of out-of-work Americans, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) stood with the GOP against the extension. Nelson claimed that his concerns about the deficit overrode his support for the extension; he voted against the bill that finally passed 60-40.

Later that week, Nelson came out in support of an extension — “for now” — of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which adds many billions more to the deficit than the unemployment insurance extension. In fact, extending the Bush tax cuts for one year alone would add $115 billion to the deficit, compared to the “relatively tiny budgetary cost of $33 billion” for the extension of UI benefits.

Today, though, Ben Nelson provided further evidence that he is a deficit peacock — someone who claims to be concerned about the deficit but isn’t actually interested in taking serious steps toward a balanced budget. Before the final vote on the states’ aid bill that passed today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) offered two amendments that would, in effect, permanently extend the Bush tax cuts. David Dayen has the results:

ht Bob Cesca

John Boehner is an Idiot

Just listen to him. Republican, John Boehner, is a blithering IDIOT. Just sayin'....

Well, I don’t need to see GDP numbers or to listen to economists. All I need to do is listen to the American people, because they’ve been asking the question now for 18 months, 'where are the jobs?'" John Boehner

Via Bob Cesca

Quote of the Week: Fareed Zakaria on Republican Deficit Hawks and the Bush Tax Cuts

Sunday on CNN's GPS, Fareed Zakaria pointed out the hypocrisy inherent in Republican shrieking about our budget deficits, as all the while they adamantly oppose allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.

Most conservatives have been very concerned about America's sky high deficits. They believe they are a dire and urgent threat to the country's future. So when an opportunity presents itself to cut that deficit massively in one fell swoop you'd think they would jump at the chance, right? But they haven't.

You see, George Bush's massive tax cuts are the single largest chunk of our structural budget deficit.

Take a look at this chart. It shows the deficit growth over the next ten years, and the red stripe shows just how much those Bush tax cuts add to the deficit. Well, those tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year. Were the tax cuts to expire, the budget deficit would instantly shrink, by about 30% or more than $300 billion dollars.

But Republicans are now adamantly opposed to any expiration of the Bush tax cuts, because, they say, that would weaken the economy. But wait a minute. They have been arguing for the last year that  what's weakening the economy most is the prospect of unending budget deficits.

Yes, yet another example of the despicable face of Republican Hypocrisy.

Via reader Anthony

Related Post: 3 Charts: Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy vs. Obama Tax Plan

3 Charts: Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy vs. Obama Tax Plan

Taxes should not be a partisan issue.

A chart published by the Wall Street Journal denotes the difference between the current tax plan, which includes the Bush-era tax cuts, and the Obama plan, which revokes the Bush-era tax cuts for those earning over $300,000.

The red bar indicates the taxes currently paid by the groups listed, and the blue bar indicates the taxes which would be paid under the Obama plan in 2011.

Unless you are a blithering idiot, you can clearly see that there is a tax reduction for those earning below $300,000, which decreases as income goes up.