ssugas1231: “8 In terms of percentages: 84% of the cost of the bill is extending tax cuts or tax credits...” This is a classic liberal argument - how much it’s going to cost the country if we DON’T raise taxes! Hogwash. What about calculating the costs to the American people of raising taxes in the middle of a near depression - more jobs lost so more unemployment insurance needed, more government programs like welfare and Obamacare, etc...? In addition, you’re assuming those tax revenues will just keep flowing in the midst of this ongoing downturn; that’s just a bad assumption. And you remember what they say about assumptions, right...? I’m not a fan of the bill as the Democrats have laden it with pork spending and other add-ons, but please...give us a break re: the costs of NOT raising our taxes!
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How much pork is in the bill, in terms of $.
The article is from a conservative site, and I’m a conservative. It’s just calculating the % of how the bill is made up, and most of it (84%) is preserving the current tax cuts/credits.
I don’t think anyone knows exactly how much pork. Just that the pig is very fat. “Earmarkers feast on pork one last time before diet” from no less a conservative site as CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/40662874