Politics

Obama Millionaire's Tax: President To Seek New Tax Rate For Wealthy By JIM KUHNHENN AP , Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is expected to seek a new base tax rate for the wealthy to ensure that millionaires pay at least at the same percentage as middle income taxpayers. A White House official said the proposal would be included in the president's proposal for long term deficit reduction that he will announce Monday. The official spoke anonymously because the plan has not been officially announced. Obama is going to call it the "Buffett Rule" for Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained that rich people like him pay a smaller sh…

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/business/economy/us-may-back-mortgage-refinancing-for-millions.html?hp The government may propose a program to allow those underwater in their mortgages to refinance at today's new lower rates. Read the article, then tell me if is a good idea, okay? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/business/economy/us-may-back-mortgage-refinancing-for-millions.html?hp

Elizabeth Warren is running for the United States Senate against the incumbent Scott Brown in 2012. She states "Washington is rigged for big corporations that hire armies of lobbyists, a big company like GE pays nothing in taxes and we're asking college students to take on even more debt to get an education, we're telling seniors they may have to learn to live on less. It isn't right, and it's the reason I'm running for the U.S. Senate." In my opinion she will have a hard time dealing with lobbyists. If what she says is that easy then it should be done and be over with by now, seriously. Those law students she taught and voted her as one of the best teachers twice at…

Caption This !

From Politico. Politics always involves uncertainty, but less so when predicting President Barack Obama’s economic actions. Sadly, those of us who said that his jobs speech wouldn’t call for the two things that could most help job creation — real regulatory reform and a pledge not to increase taxes — were correct. But the speech, and a $450-billion price tag for the American Jobs Act, did contain a lot of fluff and rhetoric. As Ronald Reagan said, “It’s not that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63220.html#ixzz1XlWDzPHG

You know, I sometimes wonder if the GOP is trying to lose in 2012 because they think the economy will suck and they don't want to get blamed for it. Case in point - the two leading candidates at the moment are Rick Perry and Michele Bachman. Now, it's been an open secret in Texas for at least a decade that Perry is gay. Does he really think this won't come out during the election? And, it's pretty obvious that Bachmann's husband is gay and that's already coming out (and notice not one news organization that has printed he's gay has been sued.) So, what are they thinking?

Consumer Watchdog, a California consumer rights group, is planning to put a healthcare measure on the 2012 ballot that would offer Californians a public option for healthcare insurance. That's been my goal all along, and I was disappointed that it was not a major component of the federal Affordable Care Act, although the 'insurance exchanges' in the ACA may well morph into the closest thing we can get to a national public option. In the meantime, I'm glad to see California stepping up. It won't be a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination. According to this article, the insurance companies may spend $100 million to defeat the measure, and that is a lot of advertis…

"In retrospect, the most consequential event of the past ten years may not have been 9/11 or the Iraq War but the looting of the American economy by those in power in Washington and on Wall Street. This was happening in plain sight—or so we can now see from a distance. At the time, we were so caught up in Al ­Qaeda’s external threat to America that we didn’t pay proper attention to the more prosaic threats within." "By portraying Afghanistan and Iraq as utterly cost-free to a credulous public, the Bush administration injected the cancer into the American body politic that threatens it today: If we don’t need new taxes to fight two wars, why do we need them for anything? …

Watched a rerun on the Civilian Conservation Corps earlier this week. It got me wondering whether a similar program could be of any help today. If my calculations are correct, with a 9.2% unemployment rate, we currently have about 14 million people looking for jobs. I thought I heard that extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would help put folks back to work, and I'm not done hoping yet. And I understand that the latest budget deal, with all the business tax loopholes still in place, is supposed to be a good thing too. In fact, I heard a few days ago that businesses are sitting on a record $1.2 trillion in cash! But they still don't seem to be hiring, at leas…

Look at all the things he has done the same.... http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2009/02/obama-bush-comparisons-10-ways-barack.html

So I was up all night watching the credit downgrade which happened to the United States. I wonder if this will be one of those "where were you when this happened?" 9/11 attack, JFK assassinated, credit rating of the US downgraded. I heard the White House press secretary say when they were trying to prevent this (and everybody was arguing)that this would be something VERY bad if it happened. He said that's why everybody was trying to avoid it (well TRYING is the operative word). Anyway it happened. So my question is this: what do you think will happen as a result of the credit downgrade? (I'm pretty sure I won't want to be anywhere near the Stock Market on Monday) Whose…

The travesty that has been the debate over the debt ceiling has shown Americans the lowest levels of their government leaders. Not Obama, not Reid, not McConnell, not Boehner, not the Tea Party, not Congress at all has acted for the American people. The debt deal they apparently have reached is a mere stopgap, something to tide things over until the 2012 elections are over. I don't see how Obama can run again. After all, there can only be one Republican candidate.

This just needs help with captions. . .or maybe not. . .

Who said this, and when did they say it? Passing these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook, adding to the nation's projected chronic deficits. This fiscal deterioration will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research. Moreover, the proposed tax cuts will generate further inequalities in after-tax income. Answer Original signed letter (takes a few seconds to load)

(Man and daughter sitting on house steps) Daughter: Daddy, what's a depression? Daddy: Do you know how mommy gets sometimes? She drinks so much that she passes out? Daughter: Uh huh Daddy: Then when she wakes up, she gets really upset and sad? Daughter: Yeah! Daddy: Well the people in Washington D.C. are like your mommy and now they're waking up Daughter: maybe washington will have to go to that group like Mommy did Daddy: Alcoholics Anonymous? Daughter: Yes Daddy: Well you can't fix Washington that way honey Daughter: Daddy? Daddy: Yes? Daughter: We're totally fucked, aren't we? Daddy: yes honey..i think we are.

Obama U.S. Attorney Nominee David Barlow Is Tea Party Senator's General Counsel WASHINGTON -- Presidents routinely choose party loyalists as their U.S. attorneys. But normally, they choose nominees from their own party. President Barack Obama dismayed fellow Democrats on Tuesday when he announced his pick to be the next U.S. attorney for Utah is David Barlow, currently the general counsel to freshman senator and Tea Party favorite Mike Lee (R-Utah). It's unclear whether Barlow shares Lee's more extreme legal theories about the limits of federal power. But what is known about Barlow is that he has no significant criminal law experience -- he was a corporate lawyer pract…

The economic news following the debt deal is not good. Markets are worried about sluggish consumer spending throughout the world, as well as the fragile economies in Greece and elsewhere. So, with the government cutting spending instead of increasing it to pump the economy, and with voters through out America totally disillusioned with their leaders, is the future bright? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?hpw And, a more detailed analysis from Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2300560/

Elizabeth Warren: Government Hasn't Sufficiently Probed Foreclosure Abuses Shahien Nasiripour shahien@huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON -- A top Obama administration official on Thursday questioned the scope of the state and federal investigations into alleged mortgage abuses and "illegal" foreclosures perpetrated by the nation's largest mortgage companies, marking the first time a senior White House official publicly broke ranks with the administration over the issue and raising fresh questions about the wisdom of the government's rush to settle with the firms. Elizabeth Warren, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told a co…

SO If you were a betting man then would you bet that the government WILL find a solution before the August 8th deadline or WON'T find a solution before the August 8th deadline? I am 98% sure they're going to miss the target but only by a few days then they'll hurry to cover up their butts on why it couldn't be done before then.

Richard Cordray To Lead Consumer Financial Protection Bureau President Barack Obama will nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House announced Sunday. "American families and consumers bore the brunt of the financial crisis and are still struggling in its aftermath to find jobs, stay in their homes, and make ends meet," Obama said in a statement. "That is why I fought so hard to pass reforms to fix the financial system and put in place the strongest consumer protections in our nation’s history. Richard Cordray has spent his career advocating for middle class families ... and looking out for ordin…

McConnell Offers Debt Ceiling Out... Sam Stein stein@huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON -- There were no real signs of progress in Tuesday's White House debt talks. But the meeting did shed light on two evolving dynamics taking place in the ongoing negotiations: President Barack Obama's increasing appetite to cut spending in a substantial way, and Republicans sinking under the weight of their own hard-line approach to a deal. For all its talk of the importance of averting a debt default, the White House is signaling that major deficit reduction has become more than just a bargaining chip to bring Republicans aboard a debt deal. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner opened …

Minimum Wage, Overtime Laws Due For Reform: Republicans Dave Jamieson dave.jamieson@huffingtonpost In a Congressional hearing Thursday, Republican lawmakers indicated a willingness to reform the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the bedrock Depression-era statute that established a minimum wage and time-and-a-half overtime for American workers. Although he proffered no prescription for reform, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), who chairs the House education and workforce committee, called the hearing to explore whether the fair labor law is "meeting the needs of the 21st century." Invited to testify by the Republican majority were two business executives and a lawyer who s…

The Truth About Taxes: Here’s How High Today’s Tax Rates Really Are By Henry Blodget | Daily Ticker From The Business Insider As the US struggles with a massive budget deficit, the conversation has obviously turned to taxes. Specifically, what should be done with them. (In the accompanying video, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) tells The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task why there's no room to negotiate on what he calls "job killing tax hikes" and that "the Republicans have rightly held out against raising taxes in a recessed and stagnant economy.") Obviously, no one likes paying higher taxes, and everyone likes paying lower taxes. But we live in the real world, not fantasy-la…

14th Amendment: Democratic Senators See Debt Ceiling As Unconstitutional Samuel Haass samuel.haass@huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON -- Growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for a deal that would raise the debt ceiling, Democratic senators are revisiting a solution to the crisis that rests on a simple proposition: The debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional. "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law... shall not be questioned," reads the 14th Amendment. "This is an issue that's been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held…