Ed Schultz: "This Is A Big Win For The Democrats"

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

"The middle class tax cuts are protected, the big 3 (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) are protected, the wealthiest Americans are going to pay more"....."To go from $250,000 to $400,000, Liberals need to realize that is a small move"

[RomneyLies]

1. And now, Ed Schultz shall be thrown under the bus n/t

[Purveyor]

3. Ed Schultz has always been 'under the bus' as in road grime. eom

[iamthebandfanman]

37. definitely wasnt alot of love for Ed on DU

back in the day

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Most of the opposition is speculation about the supposed lack of leverage on the next issue

"But, but, I'm speculating that we'll be in a worse position next time!!!!"

It's a pretty good agreement. Not perfect, but only the fevered dreams of our pseudos ever is.

[hfojvt]

26. true, people should be complaining about the tax cuts for the rich

but many seem to be clueless in that regard.

Sure, a pretty good agreement. We kept 90% of the Bush tax cuts - just like I feared.

But what the heck, it's not like we could have gotten 0% without Republican help.

[BeyondGeography]

4. $9 billion a year IS small

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. If passed, don't we go through it again in 60 days?

Negotiations re: debt ceiling, military cuts and social programs. That'll end well...

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. Speculation about the next issue

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. Yes, proactive rather than reactive.

This is no way to run a country, a business, or even a household.

[napi21]

55. Yes! The Pubs are aiming to get ttheir way when the debt ceiling

fight comes to the floor. That's March. Obama said he will NOT negotiate on the raising of the ceiling, and I believe him. I''m fairly sure that most of the Pubs will recognize that they were blamed for destroying the US credit rating last year, and I don't think they 'll vote for that again.

[aaaaaa5a]

6. Agree 100%

I thought I was alone in not understanding what the big deal is going from 250K to 400/450K in the grand scheme of things.


Remember, this is the GOP working on this deal to increase taxes. Talk about hell freezing over!!!!!!


That alone is a huge victory for the President.


We need to step back and look at the forest instead of the trees. Look how far Obama has moved the GOP! This is actually amazing!


Remember, Clinton's tax increase passed the Senate without 1 GOP vote in 1993! Many believe this is what led to the huge GOP gains in 1994. Now Obama will put the Clinton taxes back in place with bi-partisan support. And he did it under much more partisan circumstances.


He is going to go down as an all time great President!

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

8. Agreed!

Some of the liberals that are criticizing President Obama now will praise him in a few years!

[Cha]

14. thanks for your analysis, aaaaaa5a..

[W_HAMILTON]

18. Unless this deal is passed by the Senate, House, and signed by the president in about 14 minutes...

...the deal will be to LOWER taxes, not raise them.

[iamthebandfanman]

41. I dunno

going from someone making $16,666 a MONTH to someone making $33,333 a month seems like a pretty big step back..
but hey,
at least the payroll tax is going to go up temporarily and fund SS for the next two months! lmao

while I dont think the payroll tax should be at the level its going to be at, it needs to be raised from its now former cut rate

kinda wish the estate tax had been a tad bit higher..

could have been worse over all
but again...
i , like others, had causes we championed before the election.. and just because president obama got re-elected doesnt mean that stops.
to many people are quick to call it whining.

no, its called being passionate about what you believe in.

[DreWId]

48. Frame of reference

Just as a frame of reference, in 1993 I was 9 years old. That's now 20 years ago.

[DMacTX]

7. Ed is genuine. I trust him.

[W_HAMILTON]

9. Ed has a TV show...

...so he can be sure to tell us that in a couple of months when the temporary delay to the sequestration / debt ceiling issue ends and it's time to pay the piper and we have to negotiate with the Republicans again, this time with no leverage on the tax side of things. If you thought the Republicans were unruly now, just wait until you have to negotiate them with no leverage and them claiming that this sad tax deal was them compromising and therefore the Democrats have to give up even more in the way of spending cuts.

[DMacTX]

13. I dont see us with zero leverage in 2 months.

The GOP bastards held unemployment to hostage this time, and Obama had to ensure that was saved.
That would not be a threat in 2 months.
Same with EIC etc

[W_HAMILTON]

22. lol

The GOP bastards still have plenty to hold hostage the next go-around, namely all the "entitlements" they have been craving to cut this whole time.

What do the Democrats have to "hold hostage" when these same talks start up again in two months?

[reACTIONary]

29. Sequestration cuts discretionary defense. Largely exempts entitlements.

The cuts are also evenly split between defense spending — with spending on wars exempt — and discretionary domestic spending, which exempts most spending on entitlements like Social Security and Medicaid.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/09/14/the-sequester-explained/

[jillan]

10. I agree. This is what negotiation looks like.

[Brigid]

11. I think Obama did a pretty decent job of negotiating here

Sounds like a pretty decent job to me.

[fadedrose]

16. $400K is about the same as $250K after COL adjustments....

[sellitman]

17. Hey Ed

Should Dems go out and vote now?


Ed can kiss my.....

[aaaaaa5a]

19. I think a lot of the bickering over income is based on what region of the country you live in.

in New York, Boston, San Francisco or Los Angeles, 250K a year for an average family of 4 is not rich.


400/450k is a much easier sale for Dems to make to the American people. And it still keeps all of Obama's core principles in place.


I think this is a much better deal for us.

[TiberiusB]

53. You can't be serious

Unless you want to live in Bel Air, there is virtually no where in the country that 250k isn't way beyond middle class and 400/450k isn't essentially rich, though not massively so. A million every 5 years is middle class? or 2/2.25 million? You have got to be kidding. The median income in the U.S. is something like 43k and has actually gone down over the past few years, despite the "recovery". I happen to be the dad 1/4 of a family of 4 and we survive on a combined income of about 80k. We have lived in Southern California (Castaic and Palms in L.A.) and New York. I lived the first 24 years of my life in Massachusetts. If you have it in your head that you absolutely shouldn't have to live within your means, then yes, 250k is going to be hard to live on in some cities. For those people that understand the word "commute," it's not a problem.

Obama's 250k ceiling was a ridiculous number to start with and virtually guaranteed we were going to wind up with something worse, but that has always been his style, so it's clearly a feature, not a bug.

[Cha]

20. Thanks for the report from Ed, PennMatt.. Tweet re: what Biden said to Senate Dems..

The Fix

✔@TheFix “I said this is Joe Biden and I’m your buddy.” -- Joe Biden on what he told Senate Democrats in cliff meeting per @edatpost. So good.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

24. You're Welcome! That is awesome from Joe Biden!

He is great!

[Cha]

33. A couple of Tweets from Ed.. He's sounds all happy..

Ed Schultz

@WeGotEd Taxes on the wealthy going up ! 39.6 percent is fixed...done...permanent.. Campaign promise kept !

Ed Schultz

@WeGotEd The Big Three protected ! Campaign promise kept !

[WilliamPitt]

31. 120,000 posts?

Jesus.

Hi, I'm Will.

Happy New Year.

[Cha]

32. Hi I'm Cha and

I suppose I'm an addict.

Happy New Year, Will

[WilliamPitt]

35. Check the Lounge.

[TheProgressive]

21. 'Ed' is a MSNBC butt kisser...

Sorry... we need real progressive/Liberal/democrats... just like in FDR times....

[CheapShotArtist]

51. It's better to get half a loaf a bread in order to avoid starvation

than to get none at all.

[hfojvt]

23. I am guessing that the tax cuts that Schultz gets from the deal

are probably bigger than my annual income.

So I am not surprised that he is not on my side.

Hmm, he made $10.5 million in 2011, and he's not upset about Obama's deal to cut taxes for rich people.

Quelle surprise.

His net worth is $50 million.

Doubtless he speaks for the bottom 40%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Schultz

Middle class tax cuts. What the fuck does he know about the middle class? $250,000 probably looks like poverty to him.

[oxymoron]

25. Yeah, gutting the estate tax is a huge win. /sarcasm

[TiberiusB]

56. Worse than the new 400/450k tax ceiling, actually

We will lose much, much more in revenue from the estate tax "hike" than the new income tax ceiling.

And since these new changes are permanent, there is no leverage in 2 months when we start this all again!

Get ready for chained CPI part deux...

[freshwest]

27. Thanks Ed. Happy New Year, PennsylvaniaMatt.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

30. Happy New Year to you also, freshwest!

[bluestateguy]

28. Ed Schultz is a DLC/Blue Dog troll!

Just kidding.

[MannyGoldstein]

34. This is AMAZING!!! It could have been MUCH worse!!!

Holy cow.

[judesedit]

36. Actually, I was thinking $500,000. These days it's not all that much money. Wondering if Obama was

thinking the same thing and got an even better deal. He is very shrewd indeed. He's no pushover. And one has to remember he is the President of everyone in this country. It is only fair to consider the opposing side's opinion...even if it is negated in the end after much debate. The final outcome should benefit the great majority if possible. Then we can gripe all we want. None of us get everything we want. It's called compromising.

[Sophiegirl]

38. Good grief!

No one here is happy... no matter what negotiation is made. $250K.....$400K....$1M.

I, personally, am sick to death of the negotiations. These are NOT negotiations. They are nothing more than bribes for one or the other party. "I'll give you this if you give me that!" Screw the American Citizen.

I'm sick of our American politics. Our officials get elected for the sole purpose of enriching themselves and to keep themselves in office to further enrich themselves whether we like it or not.

Maybe my years living in DC have jaded me. But. I don't see our government as anything other than a black hole that sucks the life from anyone or anything nearby in order to sustain and increase its deplorable grip on our lives.

It is a sorry, sorry state wherein we live.

[SoapBox]

39. I agree with Ed.

...and to all the Ed Schultz haters, I like him.

He has a spine.

[juajen]

47. I like him too. What in the world is wrong with DUers who put him down?

I just don't get it. Is it because he is actually making money doing his job? Are we that petty now?

[Sparky 1]

58. I like Ed too. The longer he's been doing this, the more he's met the people, and the better he's

become. I think his heart is in the right place, and he definitely champions working folks and unions. I think he's heard a lot of personal stories from a lot of good Dems who are suffering and fed up.

We didn't get everything we wanted, but close.

The best news is so far is the Big Three (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) are safe. Plus the folks on UI bennies right now are undoubtedly relieved that their kids won't go hungry. That was a big !WHEW!

[CranialRectaLoopback]

40. For 800 Billion you get nothing, but ...

For 600 Billion you get to use the debt ceiling to bludgeon me on "The Big 3".

DEAL!!!!!!

[Jack Sprat]

45. This. Nailed it. n/t

[One of the 99]

42. I'm waiting for all the

Ed has sold out and stabbed us in the back posts.

[CheapShotArtist]

50. You're late to the party--it has already began.

Check out a few of the above posts.

[Left Coast2020]

43. For a minute there--actually, a few hours thinking Obama would cave.

How depressing would that be for the next 4 years?

[Kablooie]

44. I still have a big worry.

That the House still might not pass it.
They have to get all the Dems and 25 Pubs to vote for it.

Even though it is in theory voting to lower some taxes it won't lower them for the rich so there still could be a large faction that refuses to accept it.

Another concern is that Boehner might not agree with it or is pressured by the Tealiban and will demand changes before he puts it up for a vote.

He has shown often that he is nothing but a marionette for the Tealiban to play with.

[KingFlorez]

46. The fact we got any tax increases is a win

There was a chance of none at all.

[TiberiusB]

57. What?

Huh? If we did nothing, taxes would go back to the Clinton rates for everyone. Or do you mean Obama could have done worse?

[democrattotheend]

49. Between him and Bernie Sanders

Two progressive I trust supporting this makes me feel better about it. I thought it was a good deal until I saw how much revenue would be lost from the estate tax concession but overall not a terrible deal.

[LadyBirdJohnson]

52. If Ed is on board, I'm satisfied

Happy New Year my dears, just made it in from watch meeting service at church.

Ed is the protector of the Middle Class. He has taken President Obama to task on more than one occasion. If he likes it, I love it.

[JoeyT]

54. I'm still less concerned with income taxes

than I am with inheritance and capital gains taxes. As long as those went up, I'll call a broadening of cuts a win.

[Revolutionary Girl]

59. As I said in another thread,

if Ed likes it, it's got to be alright. He wouldn't hesitate to let us know, in no uncertain terms, if he thought it wasn't good enough.