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Gang of Six, back from the brink?
Politico ^ | 07/09/11 | Manu Raju

Posted on 07/19/2011 11:10:16 AM PDT by freespirited

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To: LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
It’s going to raise taxes on me and other productive people to fund the waste. NO.

In what way will your taxes be raised?

41 posted on 07/19/2011 12:26:15 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
It’s going to raise taxes on me and other productive people to fund the waste. NO.

In what way will your taxes be raised?

42 posted on 07/19/2011 12:28:09 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: RitaOK; FourPeas
Coburn just yesterday announced his NINE TRILLION DOLLAR CUT plan. Coburn isn’t done at three trillion by any means. So, what’s up?

He announced his plan, but obviously you can't be the only one who votes for something and see it pass. It was going nowhere.

But what did seem to happen was that the group must have embraced a bunch of his ideas to come up with the $3.7 figure. Up to now I haven't seen these ideas expressed. The Obama plan did not have these same ideas.

43 posted on 07/19/2011 12:31:31 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: freespirited

A proposed cut of $3.7 trillion over 10 years means that there will be little if any actual cut in spending.

We need more than $3.7 trillion cut over the next two years.


44 posted on 07/19/2011 12:45:15 PM PDT by Iron Munro (The more effeminate & debauched the people, the more they are fitted for a tyrannical government.)
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To: Fee
About $4.5 Trillion is owed to Social Security. That's not tied to Wall Street ~ nor to the Vatican ~ nor to the Bilderbergers.

That is money taken out of the pockets of working men and women and then borrowed to send out grants to school teachers with better health care and retirement plans than any working men ever imagined.

There's other stuff, but I thought I'd remind everyone of what the Democrats did with their half century of dominance of the Congress.

45 posted on 07/19/2011 12:55:56 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: freespirited; All
Here's your traitor, GOP:


46 posted on 07/19/2011 1:03:42 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Coburn cannot be trusted)
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To: All

1 trillion in new taxes right away, 370 billion a year in “cuts” over ten years. Some of the “cuts” are from “savings” that if targets are not met can be made up by( read additional taxes) an expedited vote of the senate.


47 posted on 07/19/2011 1:06:04 PM PDT by icwhatudo ("laws requiring compulsory abortion could be sustained under the constitution"-Obama official)
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To: muawiyah
Since the Constitution prohibits appropriations for a period longer than 2 years these ten year plans are ALL BULL DROPPINGS

The Constitution only explicitly prohibits appropriations to the Army and Navy than are of a longer term than two years. (Article I, Section 8).

As I recall there are court cases that limit the ability of one congress to tie the hands of later congresses, but I don't know the details of this.

48 posted on 07/19/2011 1:09:40 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: okie01

The summary is on ZeroHedge.

All couched in generalities, except that they will reduce or eliminate the middle class’s tax deductions for their homes and their retirements.


49 posted on 07/19/2011 1:13:36 PM PDT by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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To: freespirited

So 37 cents this year and 4 trillion in the tenth year?


50 posted on 07/19/2011 1:15:32 PM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Siena Dreaming

Elimination or reduction of the home mortgage interest, reducing the amount we can contribute tax-free to our retirements, and raising the tax on capital gains, dividends and interest.


51 posted on 07/19/2011 1:15:38 PM PDT by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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To: icwhatudo

I was wrong.

“the proposed $3.75 trillion in savings over 10 years contains $1.2 trillion in new revenues.”

So its 1.2 trillion in new taxes and 255 billion a year in “cuts” over a ten year period.


52 posted on 07/19/2011 1:21:18 PM PDT by icwhatudo ("laws requiring compulsory abortion could be sustained under the constitution"-Obama official)
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To: LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
reducing the amount we can contribute tax-free to our retirements, and raising the tax on capital gains, dividends and interest.

I didn't see these in the story. Did I somehow miss it or is it being reported elsewhere?

53 posted on 07/19/2011 1:27:45 PM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: freespirited

IMHO...

My own little proposed spending cuts - a starting point - in 2011 spending levels, in Billions, without touching Social Security, Medicare or Defense (this all can be cut in ONE YEAR):
_________________________________________________________________________

Education__________________ $129.8 billion
Transportation (I propose
a limit of $10 billion)_________ $84.5 billion
Basic research______________ $18.7 billion
Agriculture, forestry
, fishing and hunting _________ $32.8 billion
Fuel and energy_____________ $26.9 billion
Pollution abatement_________ $10.9 billion
Protection of biodiversity
and landscape_______________ $13.9 billion
Housing development_______ $35.5 billion
Community development_____ $25.7 billion
Recreational and
sporting services_____________ $4.1 billion
General Government
(I propose cutting the
current amount in half)_______ $16.6 billion
Welfare (eliminate)_________ $495.0 billion
Grants to States
for Medicaid________________ $276.2 billion
R & D Health
(includes NIH)______________ $36.1 billion

Total reduction to annual
spending_________________ $1,206.7 billion
_________________________________________________________________________


54 posted on 07/19/2011 1:28:55 PM PDT by PieterCasparzen (We need to fix things ourselves)
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55 posted on 07/19/2011 1:29:16 PM PDT by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list.)
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To: wideminded
No doubt there are USSC rulings on the matter ~ but logic dictates that for the House to use its authority as identified in the Constituion they are not bound by previous Congresses.

That sets an upper bounds on any appropriation.

56 posted on 07/19/2011 1:29:23 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: esoxmagnum

$700 per month? Either SS payments have got higher than I realized, or they’re talking after QE14 sinks in and we’re pickled in hyperinflation.


57 posted on 07/19/2011 1:31:47 PM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: 9YearLurker

I’m sure it depends on how far they project into the future.
The power of compounding can reward or kill depending on which side you’re on.


58 posted on 07/19/2011 1:34:54 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: freespirited; 9YearLurker

I think I had read the article here actually. I looked back at my history at the links that turn purple after you click on them, but could not find it, so perhaps I did not read it here, or I imagined that I had read when I got up this morning.

And yes, I think the article did allude to inflation being a factor, which is what they were talking about, projected inflation, and then the decrease in cost of living, which will be a double whammy.

I will look around later on some of the other sites I visit and see if I can find it, or maybe someone else read the article and could post it, because I can’t for the life of me find it (Alzheimer’s may be setting in early). I apologize, but will keep looking later this afternoon.


59 posted on 07/19/2011 1:39:15 PM PDT by esoxmagnum (The rats have been trained to pull the D voting lever to get their little food pellet)
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To: Siena Dreaming

Say goodbye to the home mortgage deduction, employer-provided health insurance (by eliminating the tax deductibility of employer-provided insurance) and your 401K plan.

This is the worst possible plan, which is why Obama supports it. It should be political death for any Republican that votes for it.

The Good

o Unlike President Obama, the Gang of Six is not consumed by class-warfare resentment. The plan envisions that the top personal income tax rate will fall to no higher than 29 percent.

o The corporate income tax rate will fall to no higher than 29 percent as well, something that is long overdue since the average corporate tax rate in Europe is now down to 23 percent.

o The alternative minimum tax (which should be called the mandatory maximum tax) will be repealed.

o The plan would repeal the CLASS Act, a provision of Obamacare for long-term-care insurance that will significantly expand the burden of federal spending once implemented.

o The plan targets some inefficient and distorting tax preference such as the health care exclusion.

The Bad

o The much-heralded spending caps do not apply to entitlement programs. This is like going to the doctor because you have cancer and getting treated for a sprained wrist.

o A net tax increase of more than $1 trillion (I expect that number to be much higher when further details are divulged).

o The plan targets some provisions of the tax code – such as IRAs and 401(k)s) – that are not preferences, but instead exist to mitigate against the double taxation of saving and investment.

o There is no Medicare reform, just tinkering and adjustments to the current system.

o There in no Medicaid reform, just tinkering and adjustments to the current system.

The Ugly

o The entire package is based on dishonest Washington budget math. Spending increases under the plan, but the politicians claim to be cutting spending because the budget didn’t grow even faster.

o Speaking of spending, why is there no information, anywhere in the summary document, showing how big government will be five years from now? Ten years from now? The perhaps-all-too-convenient absence of this critical information should set off alarm bells.

o There’s a back-door scheme to change the consumer price index in such a way as to reduce expenditures (i.e., smaller cost-of-living-adjustments) and increase tax revenue (i.e., smaller adjustments in tax brackets and personal exemptions). The current CPI may be flawed, but it would be far better to give the Bureau of Labor Statistics further authority, if necessary, to make changes. A politically imposed change seems like nothing more than a ruse to impose a hidden tax hike.

o A requirement that the internal revenue code maintain the existing bias against investors, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and other upper-income taxpayers. This “progressivity” mandate implies very bad things for the double taxation of dividends and capital gains.

This quick analysis leaves many questions unanswered. I particularly look forward to getting information on the following:

1. How fast will discretionary spending rise or fall under the caps? Will this be like the caps following the 1990 tax-hike deal, which were akin to 60-mph speed limits in a school zone? Or will the caps actually reduce spending, erasing the massive increase in discretionary spending of the Bush-Obama years?

2. What does it mean to promise Social Security reform “if and only if the comprehensive deficit reduction bill has already received 60 votes.” Who defines reform? And why does the reform have to focus on “75-year” solvency, apparently to the exclusion of giving younger workers access to a better and more stable system?

3. Will federal spending under the plan shrink back down to the historical average of 20 percent of GDP? And why aren’t those numbers in the summary? The document contains information of deficits and debt, but those figures are just the symptoms of excessive spending. Why aren’t we being shown the data that really matters?

Over the next few days, we’ll find out what’s really in this package, but my advice is to keep a tight hold on your wallet.


60 posted on 07/19/2011 1:42:35 PM PDT by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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