fifthwheel948
Favorite Answer
Go on vacation
TK
There is nothing he can do unless and until his tax deal is rejected by the House, in which case he can approach McConnell and tell him here are the changes that you have to agree to in order to get a deal done by December 31.
Obama's problem is that House Democrats don't know how to make a deal because a majority of Democrats, like a majority of Republicans, do not believe in balanced budgets and a smaller federal government. That makes them incapable of making a counteroffer to extend and cut some tax rates for middle class Americans in order to boost their disposable income and inject more consumer demand into the economy, raise some ordinary income tax rates for upper income Americans temporally or permanently while reducing another to spur capital investment, and propose a dedicated tax to pay the national debt.
House Democrats, for example, could propose extending the social security retirement age by 1 month per year for the next 24 years in order to raise the retirement age for all Americans to 69. At the same time they could increase the maximum amount of contributions to IRAs and 401Ks for all manual workers so that they could comfortably retire as early as age 62.
House Democrats could also propose a flat federal income tax of say 15% or even 20%. (My math aren't so good so let's assume a 20% tax for my sake.) 20% of $30,000 would mean a $6,000 tax for a taxpayer earning that amount of money. 20% of $100,000 would mean a $20,000 tax bill for a person in that tax bracket. 20% of $1,000,000 would yield $200,000 for the US Treasury. A person earning $10,000,000 would pay a federal tax of $2,000,000. Alex Rodriguez would pay approximately $4,500,000 in federal taxes from his New York Yankee salary alone. If you considered death an event that triggered an additional income tax, then you would be looking at a cool $200 million in federal income taxes every time a billionaire found himself or herself in a better place.
What keeps Democrats from making such proposals is their progressive ideology, and that will be the case again this time. They then can assume the moral high ground, as they always do, and blame the President for caving into GOP demands while they were never willing to either support lower levels of federal spending, which they feel or not high enough to begin with, or to provide the President with creative ideas and approaches that support pro-growth and anti-deficit measures that promote maximum fiscal stimulus for the private sector economy, a sufficient revenue stream for the federal government, and which require balanced budgets.
No Democrat or Republican really wants all of these things, no matter how much the country needs all these things. That's the real lesson that can be drawn form this teachable moment. Keep this in mind when November 2012 rolls around! There should be at least one nationally electable Independent candidate (Bloomberg) who is willing to campaign for the Presidency with or without a conservative Republican (Gregg or DeMint) on a pro-growth, anti-deficit platform and beat both establishment candidates.
Enjoy a great Rush-free Monday Night Football extravaganza!
Oh well! Maybe we'll get serious about the national debt and deficits two years from now. Right? Because if the economy is healthy and growing there will be huge public outcry to raise tax rates, or impose a dedicated tax to pay the national debt? Or will there be a huge outcry to raise taxes and stop deficit spending only if the American economy remains weak and stagnant for two more years? (Which would also mean the death of Keynesian economics in America.) I'm confused about the circumstances that need to obtain in order for the Congress and the President to embrace even a framework for balanced federal budgets and paying off the nation's creditors for good. Are you?
mackie
Create another crises so he can spend more tax-payer money and go around the constitution to implement new rules to control the entity that created the crises.
Anonymous
To figure that out you just have to say what would Bush do? A new Free trade agreement with Russia?
Merry Christmas
RRR
Sky Blue Waters !
Not sure, but he will weaken this Country more one way or another !
Universal Gym Shoe reform ?