Just Curious - If The Windfall Profits Tax Is Off The Table & We Won't Roll Back The Bush Tax Cuts..

[global1]

for the rich and just let them expire & if we don't pull the troops out of Iraq for another three years and continue to spend the $10 billion per month on that war (even if we begin drawing down the troops the cost per month will still be in the billions) - where will all the money come from to bail us out of this economic calamity that Bush has left us? How will we help out the middle class?

[Atman]

1. We have a very clear table, and very dry powder.

Who says Democrats aren't disciplined?

.

[ben_meyers]

2. Insty-Prints?

nt

[ProSense]

3. "we don't pull the troops out of Iraq for another three years "

I thought it was to begin immediately with the goal of completing it in 16 months?

I doubt if withdrawal begins, the Obama administration is going to continue spending $12 billion a month in Iraq.

[pnwmom]

4. We'll "deficit spend" -- that is, print the money. All the top liberal economists

as well as the conservatives say that this is the ONE situation where we should NOT be worried about deficit spending. The only risk is not providing a big enough stimulus -- that is, in not spending ENOUGH.

So we won't be raising taxes, and we will be cutting taxes, and we will be spending money on building roads, bridges, etc.

Paul Krugman, the liberal economist who just won the Nobel Prize, has been writing about this in the NYTimes. For example:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/opinion/01krugman.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=krugman&st=cse

Right now there’s intense debate about how aggressive the United States government should be in its attempts to turn the economy around. Many economists, myself included, are calling for a very large fiscal expansion to keep the economy from going into free fall. Others, however, worry about the burden that large budget deficits will place on future generations.

But the deficit worriers have it all wrong. Under current conditions, there’s no trade-off between what’s good in the short run and what’s good for the long run; strong fiscal expansion would actually enhance the economy’s long-run prospects.

The claim that budget deficits make the economy poorer in the long run is based on the belief that government borrowing “crowds out” private investment — that the government, by issuing lots of debt, drives up interest rates, which makes businesses unwilling to spend on new plant and equipment, and that this in turn reduces the economy’s long-run rate of growth. Under normal circumstances there’s a lot to this argument.

But circumstances right now are anything but normal.

SNIP

[T Wolf]

5. Simple answer - it won't. They have drowned the baby before leaving town with their

stolen billions.

[pnwmom]

6. Wrong. Obama is committed to the tax cuts and to the stimulus package.

At this point, the deficits don't matter.

[happychatter]

7. it will be printed and hopefully some of it will be used before the world realizes it's paper & ink

then we'll all go down to the river and wash our clothes the old way

[FrenchieCat]

8. The 3 year deal is not Obama's plan, but since he's not sworn in yet,

it is still a deal until it isn't. Gates is already accelerating the withdraws, so whatever "agreement" Bush has passed with Iraq, it has not much to do with Obama, who is not yet President.

Far as the Windfall Profit Tax, a Barrel of Oil is scheduled to go as low as $25. Currently it is under $45. It appears that there won't be a windfall profit to tax. The tax was proposed in August and its purpose was to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/08/obama_calls_for_taxing_big_oil.html

If energy costs aren't high, then what? That would be like having a gas tax holiday with a gallon of gas being under $2.00.

Far as the Bush tax cuts expiring, which part of it don't you understand? If they expire in 2010, then the rich will not longer be getting a tax break. Obama has a lot of work to do. Energy attempting to repeal something that's about to expire may not be the best priority...since it is very likely that the repeal won't occur that much faster than the expiration. Is it really a fight worth having considering the low payoff? Possibly not. However, Obama has not yet decided which way to go; because let's just say, they are almost about the same.

[Mojambo]

9. China. n/t