Tea Party massacred on payroll tax decision

Senate majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) has brought the Tea Party to its knees once again.  He beat Sharon Angle, a TP favorite, for his Senate seat in Nevada just a year ago, and now he backed House Speaker John Boehner, backed by radical TPers, into a corner on the payroll tax bill until they had to lose face and give in to what had been the right thing to do all along.  The only upside to this whole bizarre episode is that the American public is finally seeing the real color of these right wing fanatics.

President Barack Obama signed the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut this past Friday, a victory for himself over a Tea Party that has targeted the President since its inception and his inauguration.  Independents and moderate Republicans should view this as an example of how Democrats and progressives in general can champion tax cuts.  Also included in the bill are a continuation in jobless benefits and a delay in decreased Medicare payments to doctors that could seriously affect Seniors.

Apparently Boehner, who was originally in favor of passing the two-month deal worked out by Senate Democrats and Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, caved to the TP lunatics led by head maniac Eric Cantor (R-VA) House Majority Leader.  Some have even questioned whether it is Cantor or Boehner leading the House, and if it’s Cantor, then, up until last Friday the Tea Party had definitely been in control. 

Political analysts view this defeat and turmoil leading up to the showdown as significantly hurting the GOP in their backbone Republican philosophy of tax cuts at any cost.  It clearly shows that when it comes to the wealthy, there is absolutely no concession on taxes, but they are willing to sacrifice the middle-class and lower income groups on the basis of demanding a year’s extension over the two-months that was finally passed.



Jon Summers, who was instrumental in Reid’s win over Angle, thinks that things will go much the same way at the end of the two-month extension as it did last Friday.  Democrats are on a roll and they will get what they want in February of 2012.  Harry Reid has already predicted that the Tea Party, spawned in hard times, will just fade away as the economy improves.  In the second phase of the payroll tax cut fight, even more damage could be done to the GOP by TPers that place extreme right ideology over their country.

If you want to know who to blame, you can take a look at the list of Tea Party caucus members here, led by presidential hopeful (?) Michele Bachmann, along with some other good info on the group by Wikipedia.  The list is a blueprint of House representatives and Senate members, some of which are running for office in 2012, that we progressives want to give the boot.  This is also the gang

that is apparently enraged at John Boehner after caving to Democrats last Friday.

When Congress reconvenes in January and the fireworks start, it will be interesting to see who is on the offensive and who is on the defensive.  If the Democrats and all progressives alike don’t take advantage of their current momentum to slay the ultra conservative dragon, the elections of 2012 could well be a complete toss up.

Immigrants want a part of the Occupy Movement

Several have commented that no group is more apt to be part of the 99 percent the Occupy Movement is fighting for than immigrants.  Two occupy activists, Phil Arnone, and Emma McCumber, established the Immigrant Worker Justice Working Group to help bring together these folks in a cohesive way.  IWJWG is focused on two main points: First is wage theft, wages stolen from low-paid workers; Second is protesting the private prison industry that takes advantage of poor immigrants kept in questionable detention for months or even years.



The organizers are starting with education centered on the connection between corporategreed and the private prison industry that encourages more immigration round-ups to fill their prisons.  This coincides perfectly with an investigation done recently by National Public Radio on whether the crackdowns on immigration have gone too far.  NPR commented that only a year ago, the country was ripe for more immigration control legislation.  Today it seems somewhat clear that it has already gone too far.

Alabama immigrants protest

Arizona, the flagship of immigration laws, followed by Alabama, are both seeing their legislation challenged in court, by local businesses and a part of the population as well.  In Alabama, where agriculture depends significantly on immigrant workers, it is estimated the economy would shrink $40 million without 10,000 workers affected.  Other states with similar legislation, or at least have it in the works, are Pennsylvania, Georgia, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Both Occupy Movement organizers and immigration activists see great potential in bringing immigrants into the cause.  The former, to increase their numbers with a credible group of people who are deserving; the latter to educate their following and by virtue of the organization, line up those who are eligible to vote and get them registered.  The question is whether they will be able to overcome the fear immigrants have of law enforcement after going underground as a result of the anti-immigration legislation.

John Michael Torres, an activist from McAllen, Texas, worries about the ability to communicate with those who don’t have a TV or the Internet.  That is the reason for the meetings like the ones in New York where those who have experienced a connection with the movement can tell their story.  Maurio Munoz, who is a part of the Spanish assembly for Occupy Wall Streetsays they are offering classes with legal experts, including lawyers, to answer peoples’ questions.

Teresa Puente wrote in In These Times that “the convergence between the immigrant rights struggle and Occupy is growing increasingly profound.”  She adds, concern has been voiced “because the white activists seen as leading the Occupy movement haven’t been vocal about immigration reform.”  So activists have decided that the best way to win the attention they want is to get involved, bringing as many immigrants into the fold as possible.

International Migrants Day was December 18, and Occupy activists marched in the Immigrants Occupy! Rally in Manhattan at Foley Squareled by the Immigrant Workers Justice Working Group.  Here is their statement:

“We recognize globalized capital–in the form of financial institutions, multinational corporations, and neoliberal state economic policies–as the impetus for economic migration to the United States, and deplore the fact that banks and corporations, supported by the government, continue to profit from immigrant detention and deportation. The leadership and participation of immigrant workers is necessary for any discussion of social, economic, and environmental justice.”

The discipline of a Jihad terrorist suicide bomber

Sam Giancana

I have written about the discipline of the American Mafia in the past, a subject that has fascinated me since I had lunch in a restaurant in Chicago on Harlem Ave. where mobster Sam Giancana was holding court with his Lieutenants in a covered booth in the back.  The bartender went about his business as if it was his regular clientele, which I later learned Giancana was. 

The choice of the restaurant was by accident and I never met the man, but I remember how my friend and I were the only other party there at the time.  The setting was reminiscent of the days when the opposing mob drove by with blazing machine guns, all but the innocent knowing in advance what was about to happen.  Well it didn’t, and I eventually left the place unscathed and full of questions about the Mafia.

Giancana died on the night of June 19, 1975, killed by another mafioso because he had crossed the mob by becoming a witness for the FBI.  He was shot in the head while frying sausage and peppers in his kitchen.  For some reason or other the FBI had pulled his protection just before the shooting.  Sam had broken his pledge to the organization and even he most likely knew he had to die.  That is the discipline of the Mafia.

Taimour Abdulwahab died on December 11, 2010, on Stockholm, Sweden’s

Olof Palme street



Taimour Abdulwahab

in the middle of an array of apartment buildings and commercial businesses.  A lot went wrong with his intended suicide bombing when the car he had packed with explosives would not detonate.  He then walked around for ten minutes trying to set off the bomb around his waist.  Finally part of the bomb finally exploded killing Abdulwahab, but the rest didn’t no doubt saving lives.

The discipline this terrorist showed, not only in the planning and building of the bomb, but also in how he kept everything from his family and friends, is remarkable.  And this is the main problem with these lone-wolf suicide bombers who, in the face of all kinds of obstacles, manage to carry out their mission.  Although Abdulwahab did not kill anyone but himself, this kind of incident is becoming more prevalent and one day could result in a small nuclear device.

Abdulwahab did it because he didn’t like the cartoon of Swede Lars Vilks, which was a controversial rendition of the Prophet Mohammed, and he didn’t like the Swedish being Afghanistan.  If all the explosive devices had gone off, it could have injured many people and property plus killing several.  Magnus Ranstorp, research director at the Swedish National Defense College and a leading counter-terrorism expert commented the bomb was anything but amateurish.

The following video is Jihad jibberish audio from Abdulwahab just before he blew himself up:

  

Abdulwahab had a well laid out blueprint for his bomb building and suicide plan that took him from Luton, England to Sweden.  In a nearby building to his sister’s home, he was able to build the mechanism using components he was able to buy right in the town.  He had learned to build the bomb in Iraq, and there may have been two additional people helping him.  He used a white Audi, which, along with all the other necessary ingredients for the bomb, many thought was just too rich for someone with a limited income.

An investigation still continues to learn if Abdulwahab was associated with a terrorist organization overseas.  Regardless of those findings, the world is up against a breed of maniacs who are willing to die for a cause and able to muster the discipline to carry it out.  The question is will we ever be able to stop this?

RELIGION: Evangelical youth tire of being told how to live…leave church

The religious conservative right has long been a thorn in the side of Democrats and progressives in general.  Mixing religion with politics has been considered much too acceptable for far too long and now young evangelicals are turning the tide in both church attendance and their voting habits, and, in compelling numbers.  It’s the 18-to-29-year-old age group producing a 43 percent drop in their participation in Christian church services.

They’re telling parents “Don’t tell me what to do,” saying they will live with their partner before marriage if they want to, and that means gay or straight.  And abortion is an option they want on the table if they decide to end a pregnancy.  In other words, mom and dad, we can think for ourselves and do not necessarily agree with your fundamentalist beliefs.  These young people maintain their Christian frame of mind but many have decided not to attend a church at all.

What is frightening is the fact that some say that based on politics as usual today, they may just not vote at all.  That is a dangerous precedent, one that is not prevalent only in their age group, but rather widespread among all ages due to congressional dysfunction going on in Washington.  76 percent of all voters say that most members of Congress should be dumped from office in 2012, the highest percentage ever says Gallup in asking the question over 19 years.

Laura Stepp

The whole thing is reminiscent of members leaving the Catholic Church for years because of the stringent discipline that allows them little leeway in making their life’s decisions.  My Catholic friends have told me repeatedly that the church is so demanding that it is impossible to think for yourself and be a loyal follower.  So, they leave.  And now it has reached the evangelical community and these millennials have decided they aren’t taking it anymore.

Here are some hot spots for this group in a CNN report by Laura Sessions Stepp:

·       70% are OK with unmarried sex and engage as much as non-Christians

·       Most women in their early 20s give birth unmarried

·       60% want abortion legal

·       60% support same-sex marriages

According to the Christian Science Monitor, millennials say the wealthy and corporations have too much power and should be taxed more.  Two-thirds want more regulation for financial institutions.  Stepp says this is beginning to sound a lot like Democratic ideology, but I say it is simply a new progressive tone from the young people who are sick and tired of the radical conservative dogma that has brought this country to its knees over the past few years.



It is apparent that the GOP is losing these young evangelicals in significant numbers, but that could also apply to the left if it isn’t careful.  It will take a definite improvement in the jobs situation to get this group’s attention.  And since elections in the past have been decided by the 40+ crowd, much of the emphasis of the President and fellow Democrats seems to have ignored these young people.  Obama received 33 percent of the young white evangelical vote in 2008, and he can’t win without it and other millennials in 2012.

More gun sense and nonsense

Starting with the ridiculous, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shown the gun freaks once again that he means business.  Some time back he demonstrated how some low-lifes in Arizona and elsewhere in the country were willing and anxious to sell guns to people they had reason to believe did not have the right to own them.  You can read more on this in an earlier Nasty Jack post.

 

In my post, Bloomberg and Thomas Menino, Mayor of Boston and co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, were asking for an overhaul of the background-check system for gun purchases which allowed such massacres as the one at Virginia Tech which killed 32 people, injuring 17 others, and the most recent in Tucson, Arizona killing 6 and injuring 13, including U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords from Arizona.



Craigslist-New York

But the latest that Bloomberg/Menino have come up with exposes the gun industry once again as being irresponsibly relentless in its pursuit to make firearms available to anyone, no matter what their past, or whether they are fit to own a weapon.  The mayors’ sting operation centered on the online marketplace, particularly Craigslist and Web sites selling firearms. 

These reprehensible gun nuts were willing to sell to NYC investigators that clearly admitted they were probably unable to pass a background check.  Some even said they were too young to buy a gun legally.  These private sellers are not required to make a background check, but knowingly selling to someone who admits to not being able to pass one is a felony.  Just more of the NRA’s best.  In all fairness, there were other instances where the seller refused to make the deal.

And then there was the person who could lose their 2^nd Amendment rights over having a medical marijuana card, which borders on ridiculous.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) now says you will lose a “key constitutional right” if you let your state know you take pot medicinally.  Arizona’s make-believe governor, Jan Brewer, and Michigan’s attorney general are already interfering with medical marijuana laws legally passed by their constituents.

In a Nevada case, a woman is challenging this BATFE ruling after trying to buy a gun and being turned down.  If her intent is to have the weapon in her home for protection, it is absurd that the government would deny her this 2^nd Amendment right just because she uses the medical marijuana for pain.  However, in terms of issuing her a concealed carry permit to walk the streets with her weapon, I would be absolutely against this and another court case in Oregon is pending on this issue.  It all comes down to what’s reasonable and both sides must give.

Guns and marijuana

Where’s the NRA when you need them?  Just let a situation like this get a little touchy, in this case involving medical marijuana, and they tuck their tail between their legs and hide.  Other larger gun organizations have done the same.  But it could all come down to an order from President Obama that directs BATFE to make an interpretation of the policy, which is in their discretion, to determine that these users are not unlawful due to their regulation under state law.  It’s all about bureaucracy and in this case the gun industry should win.

Cell phone users and texters need to grow up

When someone says they are having trouble shaking an addiction to perpetual use of their cell phone or texting, especially while driving, you have to question their propensity toward mental analysis.  In other words, they are a fruitcake.  It becomes even worse when they compare this craving to that of cigarettes or alcohol, which clearly places them in the category of the feeble-minded.  Sorry, but if these people have learned that little discipline in their life, it’s pretty sad.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this last week recommended a complete ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving and this prompted outcries such as the above.  Although it is only a recommendation and states must pass their individual laws, it might be a good thing if the federal government considered such a law.  According to the NTSB, “at any given daylight moment” there are 13.5 million drivers on hand-held phones.  Sometimes it seems they are all right in front of you, right?

The Board also reports that there are 3,092 fatalities on the roadway caused by distracted drivers, a figure which could be underestimated due to reporting methods and drivers who won’t admit what they have done.  "This (distracted driving) is becoming the new DUI. It's becoming epidemic," says the NTSB’s Robert Sumwait.  But everyone agrees that laws are not the only answer; there must be a massive educational campaign to convince the hard-noses.  If you want to compare this with cigarette addiction, education helped reduce smokers.

The straw that broke the cell phone’s back was a 2010 chain-reaction accident close to Gray Summit, Missouri involving a truck, a tractor trailer and two school buses.  The idiot driver of the pickup had sent and received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes prior to the crash.  It’s almost like he didn’t have his eyes on the road at all during this period.  Two people, including the truck driver were killed, 38 others injured.  The driver of the pickup was 19 and was at the time breaking a Missouri law that prohibits drivers under age 21 from texting while driving.



The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that a “safety-critical event” while driving was 163 times more likely to happen if the driver was texting, e-mailing or surfing the Internet.  Right now there are laws on the books in 35 states that ban text-messaging while driving, 30 that ban cell phone use by “novices,” and 10 that ban all use of hand-held cell phones.  Cell phone companies have successfully lobbied in many states to block these laws and will undoubtedly fight the NTSB recommendation.

Do you know anyone who doesn’t own a cell phone?  In most cases if we did, they would probably be in a coma.  They’re everywhere, and with over 4 percent of the U.S. population—doesn’t sound like much but it’s 13.5 million people—on their cell phone at any moment while they are driving, just how coincidental would it be if one of these distracted lamebrains were to rear-end your car at a red light?  

Socializing on the phone, which probably accounts for much of the activity, should come under the heading of “duh” I really shouldn’t do that.  Doing business; why not wait until you get to the nearest Starbucks?  An emergency is different but in most cases you can pull off the road.

The NTSB knows they have a fight on their hands and an already dysfunctional Congress is not likely to listen to the Agency, at least until after the 2012 elections.  The question is, how many more deaths, many of whom will be innocent drivers, will occur by then?  One thing is for sure; the NTSB will be keeping a record of incidents.

Read more here.

House Speaker Boehner freaks out on payroll tax cut. Is Tea Party to blame?



Speaker John Boener

 It was a slam dunk with a vote in the Senate of 89 to 10 to pass the two-month extension on the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits, also including a deal on the Keystone XL pipeline.  But House Speaker Boehner caved to the Republican caucus that Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer described as “…a small group at the extreme…try to dictate every move this nation makes.”  This sounds like Tea Party extremists to me, and once again Boehner has reneged on an agreement.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Everyone involved agreed it wasn’t the best and should have instead been a plan to carry these programs through for a full year.  But Boehner had earlier left it to Senate leaders to come up with a deal, one that even Republican Mitch McConnell was in favor of.  But conservative extremists, apparently led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, turned their wrath on Boehner who once again changed his mind and went with the flow.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Schumer question Boehner and the GOP’s ability to lead.

Reid has said repeatedly that the Dems. have supported the two-month deal because “that was the best we could get.”  A statement that seems to reflect a combination of the willingness to negotiate with Republicans—completely contrary to the latter’s refusal to raise taxes—and some degree of weakness that must be turned around soon if progressives are to win control of this country.  It has to start from the top down and we haven’t seen much of that from President Obama.

It is also clear that the GOP is insisting on including the pipeline issue in any payroll tax legislation because they back the oil industry as is the case with any big business.  This, even though there is some credible concern by environmentalists and the state of Nebraska where the pipeline is scheduled to cross.  But politics aside, it is incomprehensible that conservatives would make this demand in light of its opposition possibly scuttling the passage of the whole payroll tax bill, just to support the corporate world.

 

So what can you expect if the payroll tax bill is not passed?  A cancellation of the program means that individuals will pay from $700 with a salary of $35,000 to $2,341 if you earn $110,000 and up, the maximum.  But there are some questions re. just how much a continuation will spur the economy.  There are those who believe, because it takes such a broad sweep in income, there is not enough emphasis on low and middle-income households which are most likely to do the most spending in the marketplace.

But this whole fiasco is just another example of a dysfunctional government that has now taken on a life of its own.  These morons in Congress walk around in a state of denial, in delusions of grandeur actually believing what they are doing is right.  Power is king and being reelected the only goal of their actions.  However, if they think this goes unnoticed, the Pew Research Center shows discontent with Congress at record levels.  Right now two-thirds of voters believe lawmakers should be voted out of office in 2012.  Amen!

Church condemns interracial marriage then repents

A Kentucky Baptist church voted to ban interracial couples from attending their services.  This was all prompted by a nice couple, Stella Harville, who played the piano in the church and who is white, and her fiancé, Ticha Chikuni, a black from Zimbabwe, who had sung at the church the day they were booted. 



Stella and Ticha

 After the service one of the redneck members came up to Stella’s father, Dan Harville, a member for decades, and said, “Susie and her boyfriend are not allowed to sing in this church anymore.”  He added, “Furthermore, Susie can take her fella back where she found him from.”

Kentucky is my birth state but it is a part of the South, and racism is still prevalent in that part of the country.  Of course this is true all across the U.S. these days and it seems to be getting worse, not better.  It has been 47 years since the Civil Rights Act was enacted on July 2, 1964, so I decided to do some research on Wikipedia to determine just what this epic legislation was designed to do. 

It clearly spells out the fact that you can’t do what the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, Kentucky did.



The bill outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation.  It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public.  It was the dream of John F. Kennedy, but ramrodded through Congress by then President Lyndon Johnson after JFK’s assassination.

The legislation was challenged in both the House and the Senate, in the latter by the "Southern Bloc" of 18 southern Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator led by Richard Russell (D-GA) who launched a filibuster to prevent its passage.  Sen. Strom Thurmond (D-SC) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) fought the bill until the end when four other senators came up with a compromise piece of legislation that was finally passed in July of 1964.

So is the American public still not ready for interracial marriages?  If not you had better get ready because they have soared since the 1980s, according to the Pew Research Center, accounting for nearly one in seven of all U.S. marriages.  President Barack Obama is the product of a black father and a white mother, which many feel accounts for those who claim to dislike his politics.  An important Pew finding was that the 18 to 29 age group has an 85 percent acceptability rate for interracial marriages.

That is interesting thinking back to growing up in a South where I would constantly butt heads with racists, even KKK members, who not only said I should get out of the South, but some added threats if I didn’t.  It was the young turks like me that refused to conform.  The point here is that Pew claims interracial marriages are important to examine since they could be a barometer for race relations, and these seem to have deteriorated again since the election of President Obama, and the fight now over the immigration issue.

What happened to the “melting pot” ideology?

Is Arizona the hub for turning out the Hispanic vote nationally in 2012?

All of a sudden President Obama is interested in Arizona.  He probably wrote it off in 2008 running against home grown John McCain, but he might have viewed the state in a different way had the Hispanic population been the factor then it is projected to be in 2012.  Activists are popping up everywhere and drives are active to get Latinos registered to vote.  With former State Sen. Russell Pearce, the racist who authored SB-1070 voted out of office, there is hope.   

Arizona’s Hispanic voting-age population has jumped from 455,000 nine years ago to 845,000 today, 19 percent of the state’s population eligible to vote.  These are daunting numbers when you consider just how much mock Gov. Jan Brewer and her lackeys in the Arizona’s legislature have pissed off Latinos.  One recent show of force was indicated by Hispanic firefighter Daniel Valenzuela beating a white businesswoman for a spot on the Phoenix City Council.  Latinos also played a big part in the defeat of Russell Pearce.

Obama’s chances to get the majority of the Hispanic vote is enhanced by the continued inflexible position Republican candidates are taking against Latinos.  With Arizona as the center of the anti-immigration movement, and the GOP firmly entrenched in its similar stance, plus rejuvenated movers and shakers out there touting the anti-immigration rhetoric, there’s little doubt that Hispanics will be fired up in 2012.

 

And then there’s Richard Carmona, a former U.S. surgeon general in President George W. Bush's administration, an Independent supported by Pres. Obama, running to fill Sen. Jon Kyl’s vacated seat.  If the map that has been presented by the Arizona Redistricting Commission stays in place, the fairer districts, according to everyone but Republicans, will give the Dems. a shot at U.S. Representative seats. 

Taking Arizona in 2012 is not really that far-fetched considering Obama won 45 percent of the state running against McCain in 2008.  But there are still the economics of the upcoming election and people’s financial situation plus continuing joblessness will affect the President, although the unemployment rate has dropped recently to 8.6 percent nationally.

Democrats are hoping to register approximately 300,000 new Latinos to vote prior to November 2012.  Add to that the 400,000 already registered already and you have a formidable force.  If they can be convinced to vote.  Even if they are legal in Arizona some Hispanics are still scared to stand up against the likes of Russell Pearce who still has plenty of anti-immigrant followers.

One bright spot, Colorado, by the grace of former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s drive to alienate Latinos in his state, was able to sign up 225,000 new Hispanics who voted in the 2008 election turning the state from red to blue.  Within 6 months of fake Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signing anti-immigration law SB-1070 in 2010, 43,000 new Latinos were registered to vote in Colorado.  Obama would love to see a blue Arizona but am sure he would settle for the color purple.

Will Congress adjourn without extending payroll tax and unemployment compensation?



Pres. Obama, Speaker Boehner

While the two houses bicker over how to pay for the tax cuts with one relentless on not raising taxes, millions of Americans cannot enjoy their holidays with the thought that 2012 will only bring more financial problems.  The payroll tax cut covers 160 million Americans, and the extended unemployment compensation 6 million.  The former could cut at least $1,000 from the average paycheck next year and the latter would eliminate $300 from average monthly unemployment benefits.

If Congress takes no action, this will cancel some $165 billion from the economy in 2012.  All because we have a band of dysfunctional legislative morons in Washington.  And folks we put them there but we can remove them in 2012.  And there is an additional issue of heading off the scheduled cut in Medicare payments to doctors next year, something that could affect future medical care to seniors.

According to CNN Money, the Democrats want a tax on millionaires producing $155 billion over 10 years.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charging mortgage lenders more; estimated revenue $38 billion.  Ban millionaires from receiving unemployment benefits and food stamps saving $127 billion over ten years.

Republicans would limit pay and the size of the federal workforce plus a 3-year extension on the current 2-year freeze on pay for civilian employees and members of Congress.  This would save $222 billion over 10 years.  Also they would only extend the pay freeze for another year, saving $26 billion over 10 years.  Changing the rules for retirement for federal civilian retirees would save $37 billion over 10 years.  Charge millionaires more for Medicare saving $9.2 billion over 10 years.  And increase premiums on high income households by 15 percent saving $31 billion over 10 years.



There is more but the above is the substance of where the left and the right are coming from.  The Dems concentrating on the inequities of wealth in the private and corporate sectors for revenue.  The GOP placing the burden on the backs of the middle class federal workforce, except for concessions on congressional pay raises and Medicare payments for the rich that are already blatantly obvious.

Republicans in Congress are daring Democrats to scuttle their bill that they claim comes to the aid of the middle class.  Eric Cantor (R) Virginia, bases this on tax cuts and job creation he claims is built into the GOP legislation.  It is all but certain the bill will fail in the Democrat controlled Senate.

So back to the original question.  Will this inept body be able to salvage the future of the American working public or will they go home for Christmas each laying the blame on the other side?  If this happens, they will have to face the voter’s Grinch in 2012.

Did CBS’ “60 Minutes” bolster Pres. Obama’s tax on wealthy?

My suspicious mind has gotten me in trouble before, but don’t you think it might be just a little more than coincidental that "60 Minutes" combined Barack Obama’s interview this past Sunday with billionaire Warren Buffett?  The Warren Buffett who said he thinks millionaires should pay their fair share of taxes, supporting the President’s plan to raise revenue through a fairer share from the wealthy.  The Warren Buffett who engendered backing from other fellow patriotic millionaires to ease the plight on middle income Americans through fairer taxes.

Warren Buffett with Pres. Obama 

The President announced recently that “some of the wealthiest” pay a considerably smaller rate as a percentage of their taxes than those with less income.  Specifically, 25 percent of millionaires pay a tax rate that is below that of the middle-class.  There are even some billionaires with a tax rate as low as 1 percent.  With Buffett’s approach, some 25 percent of the very high income group could be affected.  Grover Norquist has been squirming since Warren Buffett started his crusade, and must have lost his dinner after the CBS “60 Minutes.”

This whole brouhaha results from the fact that many rich Americans’ incomes come from tax investments that are taxed at a lower rate than the average Joe and Jane’s salaries.  When you combine that with additional perfectly legal tax loopholes, these tycoons’ tax rates dip even lower.  Many of us get tax breaks such as mortgage interest deductions, savings for retirement and capital gains or losses.  But it is entirely possible that we will have to give up these shelters in response to raising taxes on the wealthy to balance out the inequity.

Obama has stated that the rich can chip away at their tax burden and that is “the height of unfairness.”  So enter the Buffett Rule named after billionaire Warren Buffett who has made it clear to Congress that the wealthy should be taxed more.  His appeal continues to fall on deaf ears because no one is willing to cross Norquist and the pledge the GOP made to him to raise no taxes.

In a recent survey by CBS News/NYT, the question was asked to the American public, “Should million-dollar households get tax increase?”  Here are the results:

          All     Reps    Dems Inds

Yes    65%  38%      80%    68% 

No      30     59         16       25

With an overwhelming majority of people wanting this tax increase, even 38 percent of Republicans, it is hard to understand how the GOP can stick to their pledge.  Their excuse that it will slow the economy has been refuted by some top economists due to the long-range nature of the tax increase, and the only other opposition would be the fear of taxing those Republicans who donate the most to their reelection campaigns.

 

President Obama put it simply on “60 Minutes;” the GOP took a look at an economy in the tank, created by George W. Bush’s administration and his rightist minions, and decided to do nothing during Obama’s four years until they could elect their own president.  From the ilk of the current Republicans running in the primary, they made a bad decision.  But hopefully the American voter won’t forget this scheming chicanery in 2012.

Read more here.