From the AP:
…The president on Monday will announce a proposal that includes repeal of Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers, nearly $250 billion in reductions in Medicare spending, $330 billion in cuts in other mandatory benefit programs, and savings of $1 trillion from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said…
…Key features of the proposal:
–$1.5 trillion in new revenue, which would include about $800 billion realized over 10 years from repealing the Bush-era tax rates for couples making more than $250,000. It also would place limits on deductions for wealthy filers and end certain corporate loopholes and subsidies for oil and gas companies.
–$580 billion in cuts in mandatory benefit programs, including $248 billion in Medicare and $72 billion in Medicaid and other health programs. Other mandatory benefit programs include farm subsidies.
–$430 billion in savings from lower interest payment on the national debt…
According to the linked article, 90% of the Medicare cuts will be in the form of reduced payments to providers – and while beneficiaries are expected to pay more, they won’t pay until 2017…in other words, not until after Obama finishes his putative 2nd term. How much you want to bet that once the providers scream – and/or start refusing Medicare cases – that the cuts never materialize?
A trillion dollars of the “cuts” are from not fighting in Afghanistan…in other words, not money already appropriated and now cut, but a mythical figure placed on the table bearing no relation to what might actually happen in Afghanistan.
Lower interest payments on the national debt? Fine – that’ll work until we hit 16 or 17 trillion in debt and our bond prices go “Greek” on us.
This proposal is nothing but a crock of political horse manure. For cynicism it is hard to beat. We’re on the brink of economic and fiscal disaster and Obama comes up with a plan which doesn’t fix the budget and doesn’t help the economy. All it does is provide him with some MSM/DNC talking points in his effort to make the 2012 campaign about Congress rather than himself (the tax hikes won’t fly and the spending cuts will be resisted by his own party…so when the plan fails to pass, Obama can say, “I tried to do it, but those dratted Republicans stopped me!”). The United States can go drop off a cliff…Obama has more important things to do, like getting re-elected!
2012 really can’t get here fast enough…and it won’t work, Barry. We’re all on to the scam. Twist things as much as you like – go ahead and go through your motions. We’re still going to crush you and liberalism next year. We’ve all had enough of this garbage.
HAT TIP: Mish’s
Blogs For Victory 
Did anybody really believe the Democrats would stick to the vote to keep the Bush tax RATE cuts? It was just a matter of time. Now it is just a matter of time to see how many providers stop working with Medicare. It sounds to me like this plan would (cue ominous music…..) END MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT. Fewer providers, more out of pocket expenses for patients, it sounds like Medicare is getting shafted.
But wait—Medicare is just a program. It’s the people ON Medicare who are getting shafted. You know, the poor and the elderly.
Just saw Barry on Fox, bleating about the “special tax rates” for “the rich”.
Really? Special? Is he now using “special” to mean “non-discriminatory” ?
He sure is playing the class warfare card to the max. I guess it is all that is left when “racism” is totally worn out, and you’re not willing to give up on your always-failed redistributionist schemes.
Amazona,
He is very much playing the leftist class-warfare card…he has to invigorate his base and he has to do it quickly if he wants to then have time to shift back to the right to play for independents. We’ll see if it works, but I don’t think it will.
he has to invigorate his base and he has to do it quickly
His problem is that his “base” has shrunk dramatically since 2008, and Independents have abandoned him in droves. I can’t imagine any thinking person wanting 4 more years of this turkey.
Spook,
Indeed – Obama’s drop in support among Latinos and Jews is astounding…and bodes very ill for him. But I guess he’s got to try something…
Barry doesn’t understand the difference between a Cap Gains Tax and an income tax.
Barry doesn’t appear to understand much of anything except how to pit Americans against each other.
Spook, how soon you have forgotten G. W. Bush.
Sunny,
I haven’t forgotten G. W. Bush. He was elected as a uniter and ended up being a divider, but I can’t recall a single thing Bush did that was designed to pit one group of Americans against another. That’s a strategy that is uniquely Obama.
Velma, it is clear that you will never forget G. W. Bush. But how can you, when he is the focal point of every little twitch that passes for a thought in that cavernous vacancy you call a “mind”?
oooh, personal insult amy is back! i love it!
amy,
who is Velma?
tommyturban
scummy is velma
Gotta love that “class warfare” talking point–you all got on script faster than usual for it, even. Is it at all accurate? Of course not–but right wing talking points aren’t supposed to be accurate, they’re supposed to keep wingers on the same page.
For those of you who are so confident that President Obama will be beaten in the next presidential election:
“While the president continues to trail a generic Republican candidate in weekly Rasmussen Reports matchups, he earns 39% to 46% of the vote against named Republican challengers. Despite those relatively low levels of support, Obama has never trailed a Republican by more than three percentage points and has enjoyed large double-digit leads in some matchups.
Obama now leads Texas Governor Rick Perry, the frontrunner in the GOP contest, 46% to 39%. Perry’s chief rival for the nomination, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney , holds a narrow 43% to 40% lead over the president. Another GOP hopeful, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann trails Obama by double digits. ”
Who is going to be the GOP presidential canidate? Thank Mark for posting this information . . . oops, you didn’t. And to think this is your very favorite polling organization.
And to think, all this uncertainty just weeks before the election!!
ooops, it ISN’T!
So it’s more than a year till the next election, and poor sad silly Vel is all a-twitter about the fact that the Republicans, so far in advance of their actual primary, have not yet decided who their candidate will be. It seems that her lack of comprehension about things political extends into the actual election process, as well.
If I remember correctly, and I usually do, at this stage of the last Presidential election the Dem candidate was widely expected to be Hillary Clinton.
And Vel is cheered by the fact that the incumbent is ONLY a few percentage points behind every named possible Republican candidate? Oh, joy! So she is bragging that the incumbent President of the United States, with the adoring support of nearly all of the domestic media, so soon after being swooned over and declared to be “The One We Have All Been Waiting For” is now a LESS desirable choice than ANY of the potential GOP opponents—but never less so than 3 percentage points.
And sometimes more than 3 percentage points. And this against a divided field, in which the GOP candidates are opposing each other, not against a chosen candidate with the others supporting him or her.
And after all, what’s a measly 3 percentage points, give or take a few here or there?
Well, The One We Have All Been Waiting For won by 7.26 %. But that means that just a hair over half of that, which is 3.63 %, would have tipped the scales toward McCain. And McCain was a lousy candidate not even all Republicans could get behind.
So take your guy, with the fake glamor rubbed off and the reality showing through, with much of his more radical base fed up with him because he has not managed to “fundamentally transform” this nation into quite the Socialist Utopia they were dreaming of, with much of his African-American base disappointed that he did not “do enough” for them, with the politically ignorant simply confused by the failures even though they lack any historical reference to explain them, with a plummeting economy and nothing more to offer to correct the plunge than more taxing, more spending, and more platitudes, and match him and his failures and increasingly obnoxious and annoying personal mannerisms up against a new, exciting, candidate and see how that minimum of 3 percentage points plays out.
Last time around, just under 4 percentage points tipped the scales, and that was before we had unlimited power handed to the EPA via presidential fiat, the czars ensconced in positions of power and and payment with no oversight, the sequential failures of Obamacare and the bogus “stimulus” thing, the skyrocketing unemployment figures, the disintegrating economy, the massively expanded and unsustainable debt burden, the craven subservience of our own President to international bullies and Leftists while he apologized for our own country, the lavish vacations for him and his wife, and the general mess he has made of the office and his role in it.
Sunny,
I’ve asked you this before, and never gotten an answer. You sound like a solid supporter of Obama, so I’m curious what he’s done so far that you think warrants another 4 years?
I believe that from day one the GOP has been out to get President Obama. He was handed a huge mess and although things have been tough we certainly are in better shape today than the day GW Bush left office. I believe Obama is a clear thinker and not just a reactionist as was the case with Bush and Cheney who got us into a completly unnecessary war in Iraq. A great part of our debt is due to two wars that were not paid for and no request from the leadership of this country to sacrifice. The only ones who sacrificed were those who went to war and their families. I have not been happy with everything Obama has done, but overall I do believe he has tried to do what is best for this country which I do not see in any Republicans. I think that Obama is such a better choice than any Republican that has announced so far. The only Republican I would even consider voting for is Huntsman and we all know he is far too sensible and sane for the GOP to select him as the GOP candidate.
I believe that the Republicans main goal (other than making sure Obama is a one term president) it to protect the very wealthy. They are protecting their donors and want job security so they will be reelected. The middle class shrinks daily, wages are stagnant or lower than they have been in years, companies ship jobs to third world countries and I do not hear one Republican addressing those issues. All I hear is “class warfare”. Is such a thing exists, it is agains the middle class and the poor of this country. I believe that Obama wants to do whatever he can to save the middle class of this country.
And, I just like the man. He has a great sense of humor, is thoughtful in his decision making and is extremely intelligent. He is a great father to his daughters, a good husband to his wife and a decent human being who is trying to do what is best for this country. Republicans could care less if this country goes into another deep recession or even a depression, in fact they hope it happens so they have strong grounds to campaign against Obama without accepting any blame for standing in the way of getting anything done before the next presidential election. I think the majority of Americans are going to see through this and it is going to hurt the Republicans in the end. We shall see.
I believe that Obama wants to do whatever he can to save the middle class of this country.
What do you think he can do, Sunny?
Honestly Leonard, I do not know the answer to that question. I would hope that is someone really knew how to save the middle class they would do everything they could to achieve such a goal. But I do not believe the Republicans have any answers – their main goal is to take care of the wealthy in this country. I do not believe they care an iota about anyone else. And I believe that the Republicans have destroyed the middle class.
Honestly Leonard, I do not know the answer to that question. I would hope that is someone really knew how to save the middle class they would do everything they could to achieve such a goal.
My biggest problem with Obama is that he doesn’t appear to have a clue as to what to do to get us back on track. Maybe the Republicans don’t either, but I’m not sure we can afford another 4 years of Obama. I really wasn’t paying much attention during his first couple years, but since losing my job, I’ve been reading a lot. I just don’t see any evidence that anyone in this administration knows what to do.
wow, dreggs, I see you only reference Rasmussen when you like what he says. Any other time, you dismiss him as biased.
obAMATEUR has torpedoed his own pResidency. The GOP did not have to do anything. obAMATEUR had two years and a willing House and Senate with sufficient majorities to do what he wanted and he still failed. His policies have failed. And he just keep presenting the same tired old failed ideas – nothing new. But of course all you can do is regurgitate “It’s Bush’s fault” and “the GOP has been out to get the pResident” talking points.
The reality is (and you refuse to face facts) is that obAMATEUR wants to raise taxes after extending the Bush tax cuts. Why did he cave and then go on this rant? Simple, he is loosing support from one group while trying to hold on to support of another. His “deal” that he worked out with GE is a carbon copy of the talking points that you accuse of the GOP. GE gets massive tax breaks while shipping jobs overseas.
Perhaps you should look within and see the massive hypocrisy of your party and your pResident.
If bams is in such good shape why are donkyrats avoiding him?
http://www.lvrj.com/news/democrats-face-2012-worried-about-obama-s-low-ratings-130062548.html?ref=548
Green,
the man will win the election easily. the GOP candidates are lunatics. ie. Perry…whose state has 18.5% poverty and one of the worst education systems in the country.
Yeh! that guy looks like he is a winner!
“Worst education systems in the country”—more RRL BS.
Funny how the Rabidly Radical Left, including the politically illitrate such as Sasan/Thomas, manage to overlook the impact of the massive influx of poor, uneducated and skill-deficient illegals on a state’s economy and educational system. Sure, dump a few hundred thousand previously uneducated kids who speak no English into a school system and then factor in their performance when you rate the educational level of the students, and then be all aghast to find that the AVERAGE has gone down!
Dump hundreds of thousands more of unskilled, illiterate people who cannot work legally anyway, into a system and then bleat about how many POOR people there are!
You can tweak any statistics anywhere by adding uncontrollable factors to the base information. But the Texas students who speak English and have been going to school regularly have a high educational level, and the people in Texas who have skills and are legally allowed to work are not living in poverty. This is because the state attracts more business every day, has a growing economy, has a good educational system, and is a success story, even when it does not have the added advantage of being compared to Liberal states.
tommyturban
dont you live in Texas ?
If you are any indication of the public school system and how bad it is you may be the living proof for us here to agree with you.
When I talk with my mother who is on Medicare (plus 2 riders) — she has stated repeatedly that doctors down in Florida (Miami to West Palm Beach area) are already refusing to take on any new Medicare patients. Drop the reimbursement rate even more? Only option looks like even more refusing to take on new patients–until they are “forced?”
At some point, the Dr.’s have to take on new patients or they will lose out on revenue.
That’s the beauty of the market. You can refuse patients and not make any money, or take on new patients at discounted rates and make less money.
I’d be willing to bet that most doctors will choose less money over no money.
“At some point, the Dr.’s have to take on new patients or they will lose out on revenue.
That’s the beauty of the market. You can refuse patients and not make any money, or take on new patients at discounted rates and make less money. ”
This kind of goofball “reasoning is why RRL dupes like Sasan/Thomas don’t realize the following is a joke.
Q: How can you stay in business if you lose money on every sale?
A: Volume
The real beauty of the market is that you can choose between working harder for less money, or working half as much for less money. The quasi-socialist economic cretins like Sasan/Thomas want/need to believe that people will still work as hard even when they make substantially less money, or when more of it is taken to give to those who do not work. Wrong. When faced with this dilemma, people just decide to work less.
And with Obamacare discouraging young people from entering medicine, it appears that the remaining doctors (or, as Sasan/Thomas likes to call them, “Dr’s”) will still have plenty of business.
I’d be willing to bet that most doctors will choose less money over no money.
Or they might just retire early or find another line of work.
Leonard,
that’s an idiotic premise.
Instead of doctors being doctors, if they make less money than they are now, they will just quit and go become something else!
NOT!
When is the last time you have seen a mass exodus from one profession to the next in the history of this nation?
db what would your mother do without MediCare?
Velma, the state where she lives would, if the voters voted to do so, provide a medical care benefit, as each state is constitutionally allowed to do.
Rely on her retirement (that she saved & invested–not the pittance SS awards her that barely feeds the cat) and family as us kids would take care of her.
Mark,
for a long time now you have been touting higher interest rates on our bonds, and inflation as the “worry” and inevitable result of Obama’s policies.
Except, it hasn’t happened and won’t happen. The difference between us and greece is that they don’t have the capability to control their currency. We do. furthermore, we have a reserve currency and are the SAFEST investment in the world.
You are living in fantasy land, and quite frankly, you want the economy to crater so your ilk can win some elections as a result of it. The truth however is that inflation won’t come, and bond interest rates will remain historically low.
good luck trying to fear monger though. you sure have spook on board.
You got it, S/T—brilliant analysis.
We won’t have inflation because we can just print more money! After all, what relationship is there between inflation and printing more money?
Conservatives are just evil eeeevil people who think if they can
“crater” the economy by discussing what is happening, they can win elections and then have to fix what they—now, what is that word???—-INHERITED.
Yep, absolutely freakin’ BRILLIANT!
It’s a good thing you are an electrical engineer instead of an economist.
Maybe bams could take his own advice? Naw too easy.
GMB,
He went on to say, in December, 2010, IIRC, that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire in January would result in the loss of at least a million jobs. What’s changed since then?
Funny, I don’t feel evil. I am supposed too?
barry YOU LIE!!
I can’t imagine why you should feel evil, Green. A couple months ago, when I was standing in line at the unemployment office, I got involved in a discussion with several recently unemployed people. For one guy, it was the third time in less than 2 years. Of the five of us, two were self-described blue-collar, union Democrats, 1 was a Democrat who didn’t specify where he had worked, 1 was a clerical worker who claimed to be a Republican, and me, a former bank employee and Independent. In the half hour or so we stood in line, I can’t recall a single positive word said about Obama, and 3 of the 5 admitted to having voted for him. I think Democrats are in for the shock of their lives come a year from November.
Psalm 109:8 soon.
Just checking. Just because you don’t feel evil doesn’t mean you are not evil. Better check with the GMG. 🙂
Neo. 488 and counting.
GMB
OMG12 = OBAMA MUST GO in 2012
“We need to put strong Democratic pressure on President Obama in the name of poor and working people,” said Cornel West,
Evidently in a liberals demented mind, only the all powerful, benevolent government can help the poor.
cluster
yeah we have seen how well that works in the worker paradises of N.K., Cuba, Somalia, soviet union,
Very interesting
JOE vs JOSE
Interesting when you work the numbers.
You have two families: “Joe Legal” and “Jose Illegal”. Both families have
two parents, two children, and live in California .
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes
$25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.
Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and
gets paid $15.00 cash “under the table”.
Ready? Now pay attention…
Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per
year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has
$31,231.00.
Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200.0 0
per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his
family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has
$24,031.00.
Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and
local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has
$31,200.00.
Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or
welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year.
Joe Legal now has $18,031.00.
Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and
welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe
Legal now has 9,631 ..00.
Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal
pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still
has $ 31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal now
has $7,231.00.
Jose Illegal says, “We don’t need no stinkin’ insurance!” and still has
$31,200.00.
Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.
Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline,
and what he sends out of the country every month.
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after
work.
Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal’s and Jose Illegal’s children both attend the same school. Joe
Legal pays for his children’s lunches while Jose Illegal’s children get a
government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal’s children have an after school ESL
program. Joe Legal’s children go home.
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but
Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.
Do you get it, now?
If you vote for or support any politician that supports illegal aliens…
You are part of the problem!
We need to keep this going–we need to make changes ASAP!
It’s way PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans!
What are you waiting for? Pass it on an make sure your elected officials also get a copy.
But what about the last time the government made a huge, serious, commitment to “the poor and working people” to end poverty?
A few trillion dollars ago, which is by the way vastly over even the most wildly exaggerated budget, we have as many poor as we ever did. But some things have changed. For example, the black family has nearly been destroyed, with something like 70% of all black children born out of wedlock and growing up in fatherless families.
As for “working people” what is the problem? For about 200 years in this country, “working people” did just that—-work—–and often made sure that their children had educations and skills that would lift them above the level of their working parents. Work was not seen as a penance or punishment but as a natural part of living.
But that was all before an empowered Leftist government took the opportunity to develop a new, large, dependent class, which would ensure the ongoing power of Leftist government in this country.
What we need now is a stronger “working class” of people who can anticipate a better world for their children, who can set aside money for their own needs instead of lining up at a government trough, who can control their own lives without government or union interference, who can live according to the Constitution of their own country, and who can keep what they earn instead of having it confiscated to be given to the nonproductive or to guarantee Leftist political power.
What we need now is a stronger “working class” of people who can anticipate a better world for their children
I know I’ve said this before, probably so many times that our LIberals are saying, Oh, no — not again; but that is precisely the mindset that is driving the Tea Party. There is a deep, abiding fear among Tea Party folks that, for the first time in American history, the next generation/s will not be as prosperous as the current or past generation.
“There is a deep, abiding fear among Tea Party folks that, for the first time in American history, the next generation/s will not be as prosperous as the current or past generation.”
Yet these Tea Party folks demand the same fight-wing policies that created this situation in the first place. Funny, that.
Joe isn’t taxed enough and by the way Joe is a racist!!!
Viva La Raza!!!!
LOL
and probably a bigot to