Just so we’re clear, we all understand these tax hikes would accomplish zilch, right?

Hotair ^ | 11/13/2012 | Erika Johnsen

[SeekAndFind]

And I quote:

But as I’ve said before, we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. If we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue. And that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes. ... That’s how we can reduce the deficit while still making the investments we need to build a strong middle class and a strong economy. ...

Now, already, I’ve put forward a detailed plan that allows us to make these investments while reducing our deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade. I want to be clear: I’m not wedded to every detail of my plan. I’m open to compromise. I’m open to new ideas. I’m committed to solving our fiscal challenges.

But I refuse to accept any approach that isn’t balanced. I am not going to ask students and seniors and middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me making over $250,000 aren’t asked to pay a dime more in taxes.

Yes, by all means, let's be serious --- and acknowledge that tax hikes on the wealthiest among us is not going to accomplish anything even remotely meaningful in terms of long-term deficit reduction. Talking about how expensive the two wars have been and ginning up populist resentments (Obama likes to add the “rich people like me” bit to fend off claims of class-warmongering, but the “fairness” implication is of course still there) while consistently failing to produce any concrete plans except on how the government can spend more money, is not a solution. The hit on economic growth that will come at the cost of steepening our already graduated income tax is a much less effective way of increasing revenue than the lowered taxes that would allow the economy to grow at a more robust rate and bring more people into the middle and upper tax brackets (and with the president’s proposed arrangements, we can count on more of the same economic stagnation that only adds people to the food stamp/unemployment benefits/etcetera welfare rolls and deepens our fiscal woe).

As Conn Carroll aptly reminds us, sure, the Congressional Budget Office has projected that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for the wealthy could bring in as much as $824 billion over ten years (which, given that it’s from the CBO, I’d wager is a somewhat rosy estimate). But when you put that in the context of, oh yeah, Obama’s been running up trillion-dollar deficits every year of his presidency, you can see what a hugely insurmountable problem this is.

I merely highlight this all again because this is what the lame-duck Congress that reconvened today has already started fighting about. President Obama can certainly talk a good game about being open to entitlement reform and compromise, rabble rabble rabble, but his declaration that “we cannot cut our way to prosperity” is just plain wrong. We can, and we should cut our way to prosperity — not because we want to take benefits away from people who currently need them, but because we want to create opportunities for people so that they don’t need those benefits anymore. This pattern of insanely frivolous government spending, as if the Obama administration somehow knows how to spend and allocate our money better than we do in bringing about economic growth, is not the answer.

But no matter, it’s all going to be pinned on those dastardly Republicans, no matter what happens. Oof.

[BitWielder1]

Even if a tax hike may be good for the GOVERNMENT'S economy, how is it any good for the COUNTRY'S economy?

[2ndDivisionVet]

On the contrary, I see 20 million more people on food stamps and 5 million more on TANF.

[Uncle Miltie]

A Dime of Taxes on the Rich

For every Dollar of Deficit.

That’s 0bama’s “Plan”.

[corlorde]

bookmark

[MrB]

They will accelerate the demise of America.
That’s not “zilch”!

[WKUHilltopper]

Zilch? Naaa...it does accomplish something—the demise of the country. That’s the plan.

[joe fonebone]

Here is what it accomplishes...

lower income peoples tax rates will jump the highest percentage, with a slew of people that were previously paying nothing now paying something...

and most of these were hard core fubo voters...

let them eat cake

[Jim Robinson]

Screw the government. It’s plenty big enough to fail. In fact, it has already failed. Thank God we can easily build a new government by simply abiding by the founding principles and the constitution!!

[Venturer]

It boils down to this

The more Obama gets, the more he will spend.

Not one penny will go toward the debt.

[CMAC51]

Even if a tax hike may be good for the GOVERNMENT'S economy, how is it any good for the COUNTRY'S economy?

Tax hikes are now necessary to demonstrate to the voting majority that elections have consequences. Republicans' should allow all of the Bush tax cuts to expire. They were only tax cuts for the wealthy according to Democrats for the past 12 years. Republicans don't have to lift a finger, just let them expire. Respond to each attack with, "we were told by Democrats that they were tax cuts for the rich" then say no more.

[Drill Thrawl]

Oh but it does accomplish something. That ever so important political plank of the left...

REVENGE

[stephenjohnbanker]

ANYONE CARE TO GUESS HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FIRED/LAID OFF SINCE LAST WEEK ?

[null and void]

False premise.

The author is assuming that taxes are about revenue and funding government programs.

While this may be partially true for a Republican, for a democrat funding the government come in a very distant third to controlling people’s behavior and punishing political enemies.

[Red Badger]

The tax increases will accomplish one thing.

They will make things worse than they are now.............

[stephenjohnbanker]

“The tax increases will accomplish one thing.

They will make things worse than they are now............”

Many companies are already letting people go.

[null and void]

ANYONE CARE TO GUESS HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FIRED/LAID OFF SINCE LAST WEEK ?

I don't need to guess, here's a low ball HARD number:

Since the election:

(Updated 11/13/12 at 11:30 AM PST)

Layoff numbers

Organization	# Laid off	Running total	Sector	Notes
AMD	400	400	Electronics
American Coal	54	454	Energy
Ameridose	790	1244	Health
Art Gallery of Windsor	12	1256	Art Gallery	Canada
Associated Milk Producers Inc	130	1386	Agriculture
ATI	172	1558	Education
Atlantic Lotto Corp	16	1574	Gaming
Bartikowsky Jewelers	25	1599	Retail	Business closure
Bayou Cane	7	1606	Government	Firefighters
Brake Parts LLC	75	1681	Automotive
Bristol-Myers Squibb	479	2160	Health
Career Education Corp	900	3060	Education
Caterpillar	100	3160	Construction Eq
Center for Hospice and Palliative Care	40	3200	Health
Cigna	1300	4500	Health
Commerzbank AG	6000	10500	Finacial Services	Cuts in Germany
Community Newspaper Holdings Inc	21	10521	Media
Corning	100	10621	Manufacturing
Covidien	595	11216	Health
Crouse Hospital Syracuse	70	11286	Health
CVPH	17	11303	Health
Dana Holding Corp	7	11310	Automotive
dapd	100	11410	Media	Cuts in Gemany
DuPont	64	11474	Defense	Kevlar/Nomex plant. Planning 1500 layoffs 2013.
Energizer	1500	12974	Energy
Ericsson	1550	14524	Consumer Electronics	Cuts in Sweden
Exide	150	14674	Energy
Gameforge Berlin	20	14694	Online Games	Cuts in Germany
Glenn Falls Hospital	29	14723	Health
Groupon	600	15323	Consumer
Hamilton FD	17	15340	Government	Firefighters
Hawker Beechcraft	410	15750	Aerospace
Hill-Rom	200	15950	Med Eq/Dev Mfg
Hostess Brands	627	16577	Food
Husqvarna	600	17177	Tools	Cuts in Sweden
Iberia	7000	24177	Airline	Cuts in Spain
ING	2350	26527	Finacial Services
Iron Range	4	26531	Non-profit	Battered women
Kinetic Concepts	427	26958	Health
Lightyear Network Solutions	14	26972	Software/internet
Lower Bucks Hospital	30	27002	Health
Lulu	9	27011	Publishing	More to come
Majestic Star Cassino	80	27091	Entertainment
Medtronic	500	27591	Med Eq/Dev Mfg
Mills Manufacturing	68	27659	Defense
Mississippi County AR	12	27671	Government
Momentive Performance Materials	150	27821	Chemicals
Murray Energy Corporation	48	27869	Energy
NBCUniversal	500	28369	Media
New Energy	40	28409	Energy
OCE	135	28544	Office equip
Penn Refrigeration	40	28584	Commercial Service
PerkinElmer	66	28650
Pratt & Whitney Rockedyne	100	28750	Aerospace
Providence Journal	23	28773	Media
Research in Motion	200	28973	Consumer Electronics
SAS	6000	34973	Airline	Cuts in Scandinavian countries
Smith & Nephew	104	35077	Med Eq/Dev Mfg
Southeastern Container	15	35092	Consumer
SRA International	222	35314	IT Federal contractor
St Jude Medical	300	35614	Health
Stryker	96	35710	Med Eq/Dev Mfg
Sun Media - newspaper div	500	36210	Media
TE Connectivity	620	36830	Electronics
Teco Coal Corporation	90	36920	Energy
The Commercial Appeal	11	36931	Media
TMX Group, Ltd.	100	37031	Finacial Services	Cuts in Canada
TurboCare	88	37119	Energy
U.S. Cellular	980	38099	Electronics
Umatilla Chemical Depot	34	38133	Defense
UtahAmerican Energy	102	38235	Energy
Vestas	3000	41235	Energy
Welch Allyn	275	41510	Med Eq Mfg
West Ridge Mine	102	41612	Energy
Westinghouse	17	41629	Hi Tech Services
Westinghouse Anniston	50	41679	Defense
Wingspan Portfolio Advisors	459	42138	Finacial Services
Wright-Patterson	115	42253	Defense
Yakima Regional Medical Center	10	42263	Health
		42263

Layoffs without exact number specified

Organization	% Laid off	# Affected	Sector	Notes
Boeing Defense, Space & Security	30		Defense	Executive Staff
Dana			Automotive	"A large number"
EMD Millipore	2		Biotech
Plexus Corp			Manufacturing
Saugerties, NY			Government
SCA			Paper products
Slidell, LA			Government	"Will try to spread equally"
Standard Bank Group	10		Banking	London
United Blood Services	10		Health	All staff
Wilkes-Barre, PA			Government	Firefighters

Worker Reduction In Scheduled Time (to below ObamaCare threshold)

Organization	% WRIST	# Affected	Sector	Notes
Darden Restaurants			Food service
JANCOA Janitorial Services			Janitorial Service
Kroger			Grocery
Applebee's			Food service
Papa John's			Food service

[Red Badger]

Those evil bastards trying to avoid their patriotic duty to pay as much taxes as the Government demands! Greedy corporations trying to maximize their profits for the shareholders! They didn’t build that! There is a road or a bridge somewhere near their locations that allowed them to make a profit on the backs of the poor and disadvantaged!................[oops! sorry, must have had a liberal flashback from my youth]..........

[TChris]

From the Left's perspective, it accomplishes two important goals:

1) Revenge/punishment against the wealthy. One of the fundamental (false) beliefs of the Left is that the wealthy become that way by cheating and/or stealing it. Therefore wealth deserves punishment. (Rich Leftists are exempted, of course.)

2) The Chosen One is seen "doing something" about the economy. Once that "something" fails, all that's left is to claim that greedy capitalists are even worse than originally thought, so more severe actions are called for.

[xkaydet65]

I’m all for going over the cliff and sequestration. Let all those single Obama voters making 75K to 199K learn how much money mean old George Bush actually saved them. This will also include Trumka’s union members and their working wives who will also be reintroduced to the marriage penalty. The sequestration will cut some goodies to the lower classes but it will cause massive layoffs in the evil military industrial complex that the lefties so despise. They’ll just have to explain to the int’l brotherhood of machinists and the int’l brotherhood of aerospace workers why they no longer have jobs. With cap gains back to Clinton levels, investment will dry up. Home sales will be curtailed. new home starts will fall sharply. The Dems won’t be able to complain about fairness because we’ll be returning to the tax structure of the beloved Saint Bill. How could the dems protest a return to the golden days of Clintonomics? All the GOP has to do is do nothing in the House and publicly announce that they are willing to return to the Clinton tax structure of the 90s. Keep putting Clinton’s name in every speech, interview, and press release. Run vids of Charlie rangel and other Dems whooping it up on the floor when Clinton’s taxes passed 20 years ago.Call Reid’s bluff. Call Barky’s bluff. Let’s go over the cliff.