Posted on 12/05/2012 9:32:33 AM PST by Qbert
Taxes on the wealthy are going up, House Speaker John Boehner conceded on Wednesday in challenging President Barack Obama to sit down with him to hammer out a deal for avoiding the fiscal cliff.
The statement to reporters reflected how negotiations on reducing the nation's chronic federal deficits and debt have evolved since Obama's re-election last month.
Republicans once opposed to any new revenue in their quest to shrink government now realize Obama's victory and public support for the president's campaign theme of higher taxes on the wealthy leave them with little negotiating leverage.
Less than four weeks from the automatic tax increases and spending cuts of the fiscal cliff, GOP leaders face a choice: Agree to Obama's demand to hold down tax rates on most Americans while allowing higher rates on the wealthiest 2 percent, or be blamed for everyone's taxes going up in 2013.
The major unresolved question of negotiations involving the White House and congressional leaders is whether eliminating tax deductions and loopholes -- as proposed by House Republicans -- can raise enough revenue without hitting middle class Americans too hard.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Conservatives are the spineless ones. We continually take this abuse from the GOP over and over...never doing anything. Staying in the party isn’t working.
Even in this tough economic times, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. To bad we can't transfer this to useless Dumbocrats.
I'll buy some shares too! ;-)
Republican House Members.Fire Boener.NOW.
how does this work? when will we know if anyone else is in the hunt?
“...I understand what you’re saying; however, I’d be a lot more well-disposed to letting the lemmings rush to the river if they didn’t insist on taking me with them...”
May I suggest that conservatives are just as much lemmings as the Sheeple who keep voting for more goodies that someone else (or some future generation) will pay for. Let us admit the truth: there is no appetite for spending cuts among voters. And why should there be? They aren’t paying for the services they receive now and some demogogic politician is saying that Daddy Warbucks will pay for them if only the mean Republicans will stop defending him.
A substantial majority of voters believe this to be true. Under these circumstances, what can Boehner do?
If conservatives refuse to raise meaningful revenues, the deficits will metastasize and the economy will collapse when Treasury is no longer able to service the debt at reasonable interest rates. We will be partially at fault, having clung to a moribund principle (LOW TAXES ARE ALWAYS GOOD!) when the conditions by which that principle can be actualized were long dead and buried.
Boehner has two choices. One, he can negotiate the best tax and spending deal that the demogogue will accept, or two, he can walk away from the table and let the government go over the cliff.
Boehner has chosen the first option as the least destructive. I can’t blame him; it’s probably the prudent thing to do.
I do not understand why so many on this board do blame Boeher, calling him everything from a traitor to a drunk while offering no reasonable alternative strategy, just a great deal of whinging about the unfairness of it all. Note to Freepers: WE LOST THE ELECTION!
I recommend that we go over the cliff. It will be painful and we will go into a recession. But the recession will end and we will be fiscally stronger when it does. At that time, conservatives can revive the argument that we need both lower taxes and fiscal balance to achieve long-term prosperity, a combination that is intirely predicated on spending restraint and entitlement reform. I think we will have a sympathetic audience.
Now we do not. It is foolish to claim otherwise and blame those on our side who live in a reality-based universe and must operate within it. Time to move on.
No we won the House of Representatives and now we want to show our power. Boehner is a big baby. We want him removed and we want no debt ceiling increase. We want no revenue increase. If we go over the cliff— fine. at least we stood our ground. All the representatives we elected promised spending cuts and no revenue increases and that is what we want now that we WON .
That's fine, so long as everyone understands that taxes will go up dramatically, the GOP will be blamed for engaging in (arguably) destructive brinksmanship in service of the “rich” and probably for the tax hikes too, and the economy will be thrust back into recession. What will not happen is the achievement of your stated goals: no higher taxes, no additional revenues.
I submit that we should go over the cliff and do it on the basis of principle. That is, stating clearly that we support low taxes and limited government. But if the Left insists on the maintenance of a bloated, unrestrained government it must pay for it, too. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
It amazes me that citizens of a free republic must learn the lesson once again that collectivism in all its guises is a recipe for disaster. But, learn it we must and the only way to do that is to give the people what they want, good and hard.
I am reminded of the famous quote from The Sun Also Rises. Asked how he went bankrupt, the spendthrift British toff, Michael Campbell replies, “Two ways, gradually and then suddenly.” The U.S. is in the gradual phase. The sudden phase will come like a thief in the night. We all will be better served if we arrest him before he strikes.
Conservatives must begin to prepare for that day as our civilization and hallowed republic are in peril. Pointless exercises in demonstrating our power (really impotence) that are destined to fail are merely empty gestures paving the way to self-destruction.
Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh can rail away at RINOs and so forth all day long as they are merely entertaining a paying audience. God bless them. But men like Boehner must actually take responsibility for their actions. Don't be too quick to condemn a responsible party for not following the advice of dilettantes.
“I know many people who have built up their businesses and have enjoyed the ability to travel, gamble, or do as they wish with the funds they have.”
And I know people in that same category who enthusiastically voted for Obama because they believed that they could shift the cost of their healthcare on to the taxpayers, thereby keeping more of their income for discretionary spending/personal luxuries.
“This was supposed to be the most important election of my lifetime...”
Well.... it was.
A lot of folks (especially around here) are still in denial about that...
Did anybody really believe he’d stand up to Obama?
Thus al Quaida leaves us alone, as we self destruct via the Beltway boys and girls.
I'm with you. It's been stated many times in the last few days that a THIRD PARTY, expressly for Conservatives and other disgruntled voters, needs to be formed now.
I would think the time to do so has never been more right.
Nazi Bonehead doesn’t say much about cuts, does he?
Scandal his Nazi a$$ out of leadership.
“I have never seen John without a cigarette or martini in his hand.”
Appreciate your insight, since you’ve been around him. I don’t have any personal animosity toward the guy, I’m just sick of all these careerists who spend 20-50 years in D.C. and despite the rotating parties in control, the country continues to go down the toilet.
If Boehner is not willing to stand up to BathHouse Barry, he should resign as Speaker. Since he is unwilling to do so, he should be deposed. We’ll just have to wait and see if some of the conservatives work up the courage to publicly take Boehner on.
I don’t see what all the fuss is about reverting to Clinton-era taxes. According to the media and the Democrats, the tax rate was fair and at the perfect level for everyone. Why, we even had a surplus which, although unconstitutional, the liberals were ecstatic about. So once again, why are the liberals so upset about going over the “cliff”. /s
I was just saying that is their possible reason for a “present” vote.
FUJB - im out of here.
The GOP does not represent me any more. I’, not rich by any stretch 0 but boehner and the gop can rot in hell for all i care
no. no. didn’t meant to make it seem like I was attacking you. I thank you for answering my question.
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