Obama and the Congress will come up with some stopgap or compromise that will kick the real issues down the road same as the SB and municipality did with the JMA. So yes they'll come up with something but it won't solve anything.
A friend sent me these thoughts sometime ago... I especially like No. 9. One might say the same of the school district as their budget is rapidly approaching $100 million per year yet they continually cry they need more and more money to achieve the same results as last year... and the year before that... and the year before that... !
"10 Political and Economic Imponderables
1. Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich, at a $40,000-a-plate campaign fund raising event.
2. Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General and a federal workforce that is roughly 18% black when entire the black population is only 12%.
3. Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code — Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel, who once ran the Ways and Means Committee — turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.
4. Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah, and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be upset by the backlash.
5. Only in America would we make people who want to legally become American citizens, wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while we are now letting those who illegally entered the USA to secure work permits and apply for citizenship while already living here ‘illegally.’
6. Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremists.”
7. Only in America could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.
8. Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public - because the price of gas went up - when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of what a company that manufactures sports shoes and apparel overseas (Nike) makes.
9. Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year for total spending ($7 million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.
10. Only in America could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their “fair share” by those who don’t pay any income taxes at all.
Speaking of fiscal cliffs, hang onto your wallets! Read this story from EducationWeek: " Fiscal Cliff: Schools Brace for Automatic Cuts to Education in 2013 By Alyson Klein on December 27, 2012" http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2012/12/fiscal_cliff_advocates_brace_f.html
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic aide says the White House and congressional Republicans have reached an agreement to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. The measure would extend Bush-era tax cuts for family incomes below $450,000 and briefly avert across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week. Vice President Joe Biden was set to sell the agreement to Senate Democrats at a meeting at the Capitol on Monday night. The aide required anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
House GOP sources told CNN the House is increasingly unlikely to vote on any fiscal cliff package until New Year's Day, after the midnight deadline and after tax rates have technically already gone up.
GOP sources admitted there is an added benefit to the Senate's delay: taxes would already be up, so lawmakers could argue that they are voting for tax cuts, as opposed to tax increases.
Now, the PG is reporting this story from the NY Times http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/deal-misses-fiscal-cliff-deadline-668563/ Looks like they are as confused as I am. Elaine
Obama and the Congress will come up with some stopgap or compromise that will kick the real issues down the road same as the SB and municipality did with the JMA.
ReplyDeleteSo yes they'll come up with something but it won't solve anything.
A friend sent me these thoughts sometime ago... I especially like No. 9.
ReplyDeleteOne might say the same of the school district as their budget is rapidly approaching $100 million per year yet they continually cry they need more and more money to achieve the same results as last year... and the year before that... and the year before that... !
"10 Political and Economic Imponderables
1. Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich, at a $40,000-a-plate campaign fund raising event.
2. Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General and a federal workforce that is roughly 18% black when entire the black population is only 12%.
3. Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code — Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel, who once ran the Ways and Means Committee — turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.
4. Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah, and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be upset by the backlash.
5. Only in America would we make people who want to legally become American citizens, wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while we are now letting those who illegally entered the USA to secure work permits and apply for citizenship while already living here ‘illegally.’
6. Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremists.”
7. Only in America could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.
8. Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public - because the price of gas went up - when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of what a company that manufactures sports shoes and apparel overseas (Nike) makes.
9. Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year for total spending ($7 million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.
10. Only in America could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their “fair share” by those who don’t pay any income taxes at all.
On top of going over the cliff, how much do you want to bet Washington will climb to an even higher point on the cliff by increasing the debt limit.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of fiscal cliffs, hang onto your wallets!
ReplyDeleteRead this story from EducationWeek: "
Fiscal Cliff: Schools Brace for Automatic Cuts to Education in 2013
By Alyson Klein on December 27, 2012"
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2012/12/fiscal_cliff_advocates_brace_f.html
Fiscal Cliff Deadline Will Be Missed After House Punts On Vote
ReplyDeleteElaine
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic aide says the White House and congressional Republicans have reached an agreement to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.
ReplyDeleteThe measure would extend Bush-era tax cuts for family incomes below $450,000 and briefly avert across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week.
Vice President Joe Biden was set to sell the agreement to Senate Democrats at a meeting at the Capitol on Monday night.
The aide required anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
First Published December 31, 2012 9:03 pm
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/obama-says-fiscal-cliff-deal-close-not-done-668533/#ixzz2GgcYTllu
Elaine
House GOP sources told CNN the House is increasingly unlikely to vote on any fiscal cliff package until New Year's Day, after the midnight deadline and after tax rates have technically already gone up.
ReplyDeleteGOP sources admitted there is an added benefit to the Senate's delay: taxes would already be up, so lawmakers could argue that they are voting for tax cuts, as opposed to tax increases.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/31/house-unlikely-to-vote-on-any-deal-until-after-cliff-deadline/?iid=EL
Now, the PG is reporting this story from the NY Times
ReplyDeletehttp://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/deal-misses-fiscal-cliff-deadline-668563/
Looks like they are as confused as I am.
Elaine
Just in from Tim Murphy:
ReplyDeletehttp://timmurphy.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100097857.179094.10&gen=1
Elaine
The ultimate adjudicator of US fiscal and monetary policy will the the market for US Goverment debt.
ReplyDeleteWe're kidding ourselves that fiscal reform and subsequent debt reduction will ever take place.
There will be a day of reckoning and it's going to be very, very ugly.
It's only a matter of time.
The House passed the Senate bill on the fiscal cliff. How many R's read the bill before they voted for it?
ReplyDelete