President Obama blasts House GOP tax plan as ‘more top-down economics’

[cal04]

Source: The Hill

President Obama pressed Congress to extend current tax rates for Americans making under $250,000 a year, decoupling them from a package GOP Republicans are pushing to extend all of the Bush-era tax rates set to expire at the end of the year.

Making a case that has been a regular feature of his recent stump speeches, Obama said in his weekly address that citizens with an income over the $250,000 threshold could afford to "go back to the income tax rates they were paying under Bill Clinton.”

"The last thing we need right now is more top-down economics," Obama said. "Under my plan, 98 percent of American families won’t see their income taxes go up at all. But the other 2 percent of Americans will have to pay a little more in taxes on anything they make over $250,000."

Obama touted the economic record of former President Clinton, saying that the Clinton-era tax rates accompanied an economic boom for the nation.


Read more: http://thehill.com/video/administration/237891-obama-slams-gop-tax-plan-as-more-top-down-economics

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/14/weekly-address-it-s-time-congress-pass-middle-class-tax-cut-extension
WEEKLY ADDRESS: It’s Time for Congress to Pass the Middle Class Tax Cut Extension

(snip)
The only place we disagree is whether we keep giving tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% of Americans. Republicans in Washington want more of those tax cuts. With the deficit we have, I don’t think we can afford them.

But even if we disagree on the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, we all agree that no American should pay more taxes on the first $250,000 of their income. So let’s at least agree to do what we all agree on. That’s what compromise is all about. Let’s not hold the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy. Let’s skip the unnecessary drama, the needless delays and all the partisan posturing and let’s just do the right thing for the people who sent us here to serve.

[sofa king]

1. Heh heh heh.

I've been saying it for eighteen months now and I won't stop: the Republicans cannot allow a middle class tax cut extension to pass on its own, so they will have to hold it hostage just like they did in 2010.

When Republican voters realize that they can pay themselves up to $3000 by simply not voting, the House flips, the Senate is held, and we're one election away from creating a supermajority in the Senate which will force at least two Republican--appointed Justices (Scalia and Thomas) to resign or face impeachment.

If this goes the way I think it will, the Republicans will be selling kitchen appliances in four years--just like the last guy who got snookered with the rope-a-dope.

[Ferretherder]

2. sofa king, I hope to hell you're right.

I would LOVE to see this country completely MARGINALIZE the right wing(GOP) asshats attempting to high-jack our government for the sake of their wealthy owners!

I can hope.

[sofa king]

5. They can still squeak out of it.

Sun Tzu once cautioned to leave a route of escape for a surrounded enemy, or one will learn exactly how hard the enemy can fight.

The Democrats have, in fact, left an escape route for the Republicans: they can adhere to their prior promises and just pass the tax cut for the middle class, claim partial victory and promise they'll come back for the rich people later.

That would put the issue to bed this year, and they could even take some credit for it.

But it won't happen, because the Democrats have gamed it so the Republicans face the Hobson's choice of alienating their voter base (by holding the cuts hostage), or alienating the donor base (by releasing the hostage and letting the cuts go through without tax cuts for the rich).

They'll take the money. They always do. To paraphrase Flannery O'Connor, the Republicans would be good people if there were someone there to shoot them every minute of their lives. Give them a choice, though, and they'll always break in favor of themselves.

[bemildred]

3. That's it! Beat on it like a gong. nt

[pwhtckll]

4. GOP Holding America Hostage

It's amazing how willing the GOP are to hold 98.5% of Americans hostage so that they could pander to 1.5%. Never mind that taxes are at the lowest rates in generations, and never mind that lack of demand (instead of high taxes) is what is preventing job loss. The GOP's supply-side measures failed, we need more demand-side policies. It's the middle class that are the real job creators because they create the demand that leads to job growth.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Top-down

as in
1) a euphemism for trickle-down?
2) without a top, as in brainpower absent?
3) topless, as in reckless?

quite a subliminal phrase, unusual for Democrats