Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Wolf The Republicans Just let In The Room
Market Ticker ^ | 8-1-2011 | Karl Denninger

Posted on 08/01/2011 10:19:19 AM PDT by verklaring

I hope you like higher taxes.

Much higher taxes.

Last night I couldn't figure out at first blush how Boehner/Reid managed to get their "numbers" to work. Well, when I looked at it again this morning, it snapped into focus, along with a backhanded comment and, yes, math.

Ok, ok, not really math. It was just a calendar.

See, the Bush Tax Cuts and the FICA holiday expire at or before the end of 2012. And guess who's going to be President then - either having just been re-elected or much worse, as a lame duck?

(Excerpt) Read more at market-ticker.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: ceiling; debt; increases; taxes
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last
Tax increases hidden in deal
1 posted on 08/01/2011 10:19:23 AM PDT by verklaring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: verklaring

They first expired Dec 2010, who was president then and who controlled both houses of congress?


2 posted on 08/01/2011 10:23:33 AM PDT by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring
Rush Limbaugh was just talking about this, according to him this “debt commission” will make it virtually impossible to renew the Bush tax cuts or ever have any other tax cuts no matter who is president. Because the way it is worded, any action that the CBO deems increases the deficit would have to go before this debt commission to be balanced with spending cuts or other tax increases.
3 posted on 08/01/2011 10:24:04 AM PDT by apillar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

I agree 100% on the tax problems in this bill. That said, if the economy still stinks this doesn’t help Obama one bit. The tax cuts do expire at the end of 2012, but a new congress and president can put them right back into place during the month of January when we win. If Obama gets reelection, yes, the taxes are going up, but everyone on both sides are on record that taxes going up in a recession are bad...and unless we see substantial growth in the next 15 months, the economy and jobs will still be poor...the looming tax hikes are going to further hold the economy down. In the ivy league towers this may seem like a great plan, but like everything else in liberalism, the reality is a suppressed economy. Business now has a new 60 pound weight on their shoulders because their fiscal year 2012 and 2013 budgets are now weighted down. The lack of spending cuts, deficit reduction, and any progress on debt control are going to further impact an already ailing economy.

Now don’t get me wrong, I would vote this bill down in a second because it is a piece of garbage, but I don’t think it is much of a help to Obama’s reelection nor going to help improve the economy to benefit their party. I am sorely sickened by the inclusion of this idiotic super committee and the ramifications may be very bad for our country. That said, I don’t think this does a damn thing to help the Democrats in 2012....assuming our side doesn’t screw it up.


4 posted on 08/01/2011 10:26:16 AM PDT by ilgipper (political rhetoric is no substitute for competence (Thomas Sowell))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

Not happy with the GOP? Looks like Karl Denninger will have to vote for Obummer again in ‘12.


5 posted on 08/01/2011 10:27:02 AM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: apillar

The point Rush is making is is part of Denninger’s point also. The bill is an inherent but hidden tax increase. It is what the Dem’s have wanted. It is a scam.


6 posted on 08/01/2011 10:27:49 AM PDT by verklaring (Pyrite is not gold))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: apillar
Agreed. Common experience establishes that “commissions,” or “committees” will always “reluctantly” raise taxes due to the great need for more “revenue.”. Until politicians are removed naked there will never be any stop to TAX & SPEND.
7 posted on 08/01/2011 10:28:09 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ilgipper
if the economy still stinks this doesn’t help Obama one bit

Here's what I expect to hear:

We were on the right path. The economy was getting better in the summer of 2012 -- "everybody agreed on that".
Then the Republican extremists threatened to push us into default.
Through adroit leadership, Obama was able to reach a compromise with some really unreasonable people.
Unfortunately, the compromise pushed the country off the right path, and moved us in a bad direction.
Which is why the economy of 2012 is so terrible.
So re-elect Baraqck Obama so he can undo the damage done by the Republicans.

8 posted on 08/01/2011 10:32:21 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The USSR spent itself into bankruptcy and collapsed -- and aren't we on the same path now?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: apillar
any action that the CBO deems increases the deficit would have to go before this debt commission to be balanced with spending cuts or other tax increases.

The CBO also scored Obamacare, including all the assumptions that everyone knows are very unlikely to come about: such as 4% GDP growth and continued low interest rates on government bonds, and that scheme of using a ten year forecast with six years of new expense and ten years of new revenue from Obamacare.

Apparently, all the CBO does is run the numbers based on the assumptions provided by the party in power. So what the CBO turns out is dependent on what assumptions it is provided by the party in power.

So the budget impact of ending or continuing the Bush tax cuts would depend on the assumptions made about their effect on budget revenues.

I'd thought in the past that the CBO exercised some quality control on the sort of assumptions used in their scoring of bills, but that sure didn't seem to be the case as they scored Obamacare.

9 posted on 08/01/2011 10:35:08 AM PDT by Will88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: verklaring
"KILL THE BILL"
10 posted on 08/01/2011 10:46:26 AM PDT by Signalman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

Creative accounting.


11 posted on 08/01/2011 10:48:36 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

The author’s correct, if a little slow on the take.

Plus, there’s another wolf in the room. If this bill passes, Congress will have abdicated their legislative authority to an unelected 6-member extra-Constitutional body. We’ll not even know their names before this bill is brought to the floor. This 6 member so-named “Super Committee” will have more legislative power than both houses of Congress combined. The Omoslem’s extra-Constitutional czars pale in comparison. Disgraceful!!


12 posted on 08/01/2011 10:55:26 AM PDT by lonevoice (schizoprenic hostage taking hobbit terrorist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

Everyone seems to be forgetting why Obama gave his OK to extending the Bush tax cuts in 2010. The reason was that those cuts removed many low income taxpayers from the tax roles and gave a substantial tax cut to those with modest incomes. So failing to extend the Bush tax cuts would have a huge impact on those in the lower income brackets a majority of which are Obama supporters with a capital D.

Looking ahead Obama could see that negotiating a revised tax code to retain the Bush tax cuts for the lower income brackets and reimposing higher taxes for those filthy rich and mostly Republican taxpayers was not going to be a walk in the park - not with the House in control of the GOP and all those new crazy Tea Party types sitting in what where solid Dem seats only a few weeks earlier.

So Obama decided he would simply wait until his 2012 triumph and the return of the House to it’s rightful owner (the Dims) and then he could do whatever he wanted with the Bush tax cuts.

Is he going to see it any differently in 2012, win or (much more likely) lose?


13 posted on 08/01/2011 10:56:27 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (w)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

I an sure you are almost exactly right. B I just don’t think it will work. If the economy stinks, their campaign will resonate as mush as his recent speeches and the ones during Obamacare.

I know we are all fearful of 1996, but Obama is no Clinton and this economy is god awful. Public opinon on issue after issue is with conservatives now. I don’t like this deal, at all, and I suspect they think this is their lifeline. I am sure it will fit their planned narrative, but I think our narrative will be superior.


14 posted on 08/01/2011 10:57:06 AM PDT by ilgipper (political rhetoric is no substitute for competence (Thomas Sowell))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: apillar

Because the way it is worded, any action that the CBO deems increases the deficit would have to go before this debt commission to be balanced with spending cuts or other tax increases.


Tax cuts + spending cuts? Unheard of.


15 posted on 08/01/2011 11:01:16 AM PDT by Personal Responsibility (Government grows when times are good. It grows when times are bad. When doesn't government grow?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Will88

So GIGO is still valid after all these years? Who’d a thunk it!


16 posted on 08/01/2011 11:02:57 AM PDT by Sursam Abordine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ilgipper

It’s hard for me to believe that Obama would let the Bush tax cuts expire simply because the Bush tax cuts created a MORE progressive tax system than was in effect under the Clinton taxes. Yes, everyone got a tax break. BUT the biggest tax breaks (in terms of percentages) occurred for those at the bottom — that’s why we have about half the country paying nothing and a good portion of those even receive transfer payments under the “Earned Income Tax Credit,” i.e., they actually have a negative tax.

The Earned Income Tax Credit program was in effect before the Bush tax cut but I believe it was increased pretty heftily under the Bush tax cuts.

I think this is why Obama always just wanted to raise taxes on the so-called “rich” but caved when it came to letting the Bush tax cuts expire. He was unwilling to let the Bush tax cuts expire because it clearly would have been a tax increase on those he’d absolutely promised wouldn’t have their taxes increased. He doesn’t have the ability to veto a portion of a bill, so either all the tax cuts expire or he has to accept or reject the totality of a bill that would revise the taxes.


17 posted on 08/01/2011 11:05:53 AM PDT by SweetWilliamsMom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

Obama won’t get a 2nd term. The fact that these tax increases are baked into an economy that is already faltering absolutely guarantees higher unemployment. The lousy GDP figures in the revised estimates for the 1st quarter show why UE rose despite the “good” (though fraudulent) numbers. Now, with guaranteed tax increases, businesses won’t be hiring as much, and many will begin to lay off workers again. There will be a sense of malaise not seen in this country since Carter was in office, with similar results. Obama is just a poser, with no clue as to how to steer an economy or be a leader, and both these negotiations and the future course of the economy will prove it beyond a doubt to everyone except a few Kool-Aid drinkers that worship him.

The ironic part is that this would likely have happened to anyone who was President this term. We’ve spent like there’s no tomorrow until...now there really isn’t a tomorrow to speak of. The entire world is crushingly overburdened by debt, and the only 2 ways out are default or hyperinflation (default after making EVERYONE with paper assets broke). For once in his charmed life, Obama has stepped into a steaming pile...so at least there will be a little joy in Mudville when this arrogant poser gets his butt kicked. All that’s needed is someone on the Republican side with more charisma than McCain or a tree stump (take your pick).


18 posted on 08/01/2011 11:10:09 AM PDT by Ancesthntr (Bibi to Odumbo: Its not going to happen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verklaring

yes, IF they are allowed to expire. I’m sure that the tea-partiers are also well aware of this, and it would make a great campaign issue against 0bama and the democrats in the presidential election cycle - particularly since it is highly likely that the economy will still suck (if not into another recession).

They were able to poke a stick in the eyes of the ‘rats once, they certainly will be able to do it a second time to retain or make perminent the cuts. Sucker the ‘rats into thinking otherwise. All the while the rats are screaming about trying to find OTHER ways to increase taxes - methinks they realize this backdoor tax increase will be slammed in their face as well.


19 posted on 08/01/2011 11:11:29 AM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: apillar

We are screwed anyway.
Taxes will have to go higher. The bond holders will start demanding it, if they haven’t already.

The US is borrowing to pay its debts. Not sustainable. Taxes will go up, and spending will go down. We are in for a long winter.


20 posted on 08/01/2011 11:14:59 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson