In Britain, a large package of budget cuts and austerity measures which rolled out in 2010 has not unleashed the proverbial job creators in the private market. Instead, the country is still shackled with an economic growth trend that’s even worse that what it suffered in the aftermath of the Great Depression. In the Eurozone…
Tag: deficit
The White House Wants Your Advice
We know that some of the best ideas will come from outside Washington, and that’s why we want to hear from you. If you have an idea for something President Obama can do or know of a program in your community that needs to go nationwide, use this form to let us know. Over the…
68 Percent Of Millionaires Support Raising Taxes On Millionaires
According to a new survey by the Spectrem Group, “68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners.” Spectrem’s George Walper told the…
CHART: Thanks To The 99 Percent Movement, Media Finally Covering Jobs Crisis And Marginalizing Deficit Hysteria
For example, at the beginning of August, when Washington, DC was debating the debt ceiling crisis, the national debt dominated the airwaves. While it was appropriate for the media then to be covering the deficit due to the debt ceiling debate at the time, there was a stunning lack of coverage of the…
Deficit-Cutting Supercommittee: ‘We’re Not There Yet’ : NPR
The 12-member supercommittee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts next month met publicly for the first time in six weeks Wednesday — and agreed on little more than the fact that time is indeed growing short for them to approve a deal. Co-chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said a lot of hard…
The jobs debate on Earth 2
“Republicans,” McCain said on Earth 2, “have a better idea than more tax cuts and government spending. The economy isn’t growing because households are buried under mortgage debt. So we propose to attack the problem at the source. On the advice of Harvard’s Martin Feldstein, we are introducing legislation that would empower the…
McCain vows to nullify defense cuts if they’re triggered
“If there’s a failure on the part of the supercommittee, we will be among the first on the floor to nullify that provision. Congress is not bound by this. If something is passed, we can reverse it,” McCain responded. But then what’s the purpose of creating a trigger, if Congress can simply overturn the budget…
House Republican: Grover Norquist ‘is paralyzing Congress’
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is one of just six Republican in Congress who haven’t signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. On the House floor Tuesday, he attacked Norquist for single-handedly enforcing this hard line within the GOP, creating a destructive impasse in the legislative process. “Everything must be on the table and I believe how the…
Business Owners, Investors Say Tax Changes Make ‘Zero Difference’ In Hiring: ‘I’m Not Sure What The Connection Is’
But a surprising group of people find that to be entirely untrue: the “job creators” themselves. As the billionaire behind the Buffett Rule, Warren Buffett, explained, “I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77…
Regulations aren’t to blame for the ‘uncovery’
The Republican narrative on the economic recovery — or, as some are calling it, the “uncovery — is simple: It’s not Europe, or deleveraging, or lack of consumer demand. It’s government. Businesses, Speaker John Boehner has said, have been “slammed by uncertainty from the constant threat of new taxes, out-of-control spending and unnecessary regulation.” It…
GAO Cuts: Tom Coburn Hammers Senate For Money-Losing Proposal
The Huffington Post reported recently that the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Legislative Branch has drawn up plans to reduce the GAO budget by more than 7 percent, cutting more than $40 million even as it also proposed rules requiring the agency to do more paperwork. And yet the GAO saved the federal…
REPORT: How The Right-Wing Uses Misleading Numbers To Claim The Rich Are Unfairly Taxed
First of all, these numbers apply only to federal income taxes — which Wallace, to his credit, acknowledged. But the distinction is often elided, allowing the impression that this applies to all taxes to slide by uncontested. Rove, for instance, never mentioned it. It’s just in the fine print of the charts. And…
CHART: Obama Economic Plan Raises Less Revenue Than Plans Conservatives Support
“If we’re just going to do class warfare and get tax increases out of this, then I don’t think much will come of it,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). The press, meanwhile, described Obama’s plan as “[giving] his liberal critics exactly what they wanted,” and “a direct appeal to his…
73 Percent Of Americans Support The ‘Buffett Rule,’ Including Two-Thirds Of Republicans
Overall, the Buffett Rule receives 73 percent approval, according to a new Daily Kos/SEIU “State of the Nation” poll conducted by Public Policy Polling and released today. Republicans have labeled the increase as “class warfare,” despite the fact that the richest Americans continue to see their incomes rise and their tax rates plummet. via 73…
The President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction
I am sending to the Congress this detailed plan to pay for this jobs bill and realize more than $3 trillion in net deficit reduction over the next 10 years. Combined with the approximately $1 trillion in savings from the first part of the Budget Control Act, this would generate more than $4 trillion in deficit…
Obama: I’ll Veto A ‘One-Sided Deal,’ It’s Time ‘To Do What’s Right’
Saying that “Washington has to live within its means” and that lawmakers must “cut what we can’t afford to pay for what really matters,” President Obama just introduced what he says is a plan to cut an additional $3 trillion from budget deficits over the next decade. And he vowed to veto any…
White House Senior Advisor Talks Debt : NPR[audio,10min]
Valerie Jarrett discusses the viability of President Obama’s new debt plan, including cuts to entitlement spending and proposed tax increases to Americans who make more than $1 million. She speaks with host Michel Martin. via White House Senior Advisor Talks Debt : NPR.
A Potential Superhero For The Supercommittee
At one point, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl suggested that the government might raise money by tackling Medicare fraud or by selling public lands. “I’m not against our working with you on any issue that you want us to work with you on,” Elmendorf said. “But there’s no evidence that suggests that this…