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The chances for the supercommittee to design a plan to achieve its mandated $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction are looking slimmer by the hour.
But some of its members have pledged to slog on through the weekend, so let’s say the unexpected happens and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction does devise a blueprint that seven of the 12 members want to support.
It would be up against two big built-in problems: the deadline and the baseline.
The deadline for the supercommittee is effectively midnight on Monday, since the Budget Control Act which created the super committee says it may not vote on its recommendations unless Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates of those recommendations “are available for consideration by all members of the joint committee at least 48 hours prior to the vote.” The law sets Nov. 23 as the deadline for the committee to vote.
Assume the committee comes up with a broad-strokes plan stating goals for deficit reduction and then turns the task of writing the details over to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.
If that were to happen, then “my sense is that they will not give the tax-writing committees specific instructions as to how to achieve those savings,” said Hank Gutman, former chief of staff for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and principal in charge of Legislative and Regulatory Services for the audit, tax, and consulting firm KPMG.
(The staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation are the experts who “score” or estimate the effects of proposed changes in tax law.)
So in a scenario in which the committee turns over the task of writing specific legislation to the tax-writing committees (Senate Finance and House Ways and Means), then only when those committees finished their work would it possible to judge the credibility of a deficit-cutting plan.
But the crucial question, said Gutman, is what baseline -- the projection of future revenues, spending, and deficits -- the supercommittee would use to measure future gains in revenues and cuts in outlays.
Normally, the CBO and the JCT staff use a current-law baseline. Under current law, the Bush tax cuts, which were enacted in 2001 and 2003, expire at the end of 2012. So, too, would a temporary fix in the law that shields some upper- and middle-income taxpayers from the bite of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
If that happens, then the Treasury would begin collecting billions more in tax revenues starting in 2013 as the higher tax rates took effect.
As CBO said in August, “under the current-law assumptions that underlie CBO’s baseline, total revenues are projected to climb sharply” -- from 15.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2011 to more than 20 percent of GDP in 2014. Much of that increase is due to the expiration of tax provisions enacted since 2001.
Unless there is a direction to the committees to use something other than the current law baseline, it’s very hard for the committees to come up with tax savings because if they extend the tax cuts, that immediately is a revenue loss when compared to current law. And it’s a big revenue loss: roughly $3.75 trillion, said Gutman.
He added, “If Congress does nothing at all, those tax cuts expire and that in and of itself is a significant dent in the (future) deficits.”
Gutman said of the super committee, “I am not sure if they will specify a baseline and if they do not, everybody will keep arguing about it.”
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The CBO has stated that should the Bush cuts being cast aside, billions will begin pouring into the treasury and, should they be maintained, the US is looking at a 3.5 trillion dollar loss! Jeez, do the math idiots, strike down GW's payoff to big business for giving him the election, get Congress back in session to examine what their arrogance and nonsensicle behaviors have done to the country. But, should the committee fail, tis still good news for the country, Yahhhhooo baby, ride on down that Congressional bannister of incompetence.
This committee was entrusted with the financial future of this country and the welfare of ALL the people. That means that they should have come together and found way to see that all of us are treated equally. They and, the Republicans in particular, have not lifted their hands to help us. They have steadfastly watched this country fall apart and then dared to blame the President and those people who have said we need jobs and the wealthy need to pay a fairer share of taxes. The Republican members of that committee and any Democrat who agrees with them should have their paychecks withheld. They are living extremely well off our hard earned tax dollars and they have done ZIP to deserve their paychecks. Too bad this does not bother more people. If it did ,the Committee and the Republicans in particular would be hearing from millions of us and leaving office after the next election.
American people are getting exactly what we deserve. We don't buy goods made by our own workers and then wine that we have no money for schools and social programs. we then wine about the debt of our nation all along blaming our politicians for not creating jobs. We the people create jobs from buying goods made in America not China. Then every 4 years we blame a President and forget that our Congress allocates all funds not the President. We have allowed or Gov. to be bought by the highest bidder and our Congress has an approval rate of only 9% but we have many members who have been in office for over 30+ yrs. So who is to blame WE ARE. So get into your Toyota drive to Walmart and buy some more goods from China and continue to wine.
Yeah like anyone thought this super committee thing was actually going to work....
So, too, would a temporary fix in the law that shields some upper- and middle-income taxpayers from the bite of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Ah yes, the "temporary fix" in the tax law that was supposed to stimulate investment in this country and in turn create job growth. It stimulated investment and job growth all right, in China, Mexico and India.
This tax cut is just another example of the organized crime family also known as the Republican party catering to their rich benefactors at the expense of middle America.
The need for deficit reductions and budget cuts is obvious. Let's start with salary cuts for Congress back to 2001 levels. Congress voted themselves pay increases that were never earned during that time span anyway. Had Congress done their jobs at the time we wouldn't be in the situation we find ourselves in today would we?
The Bush tax cuts were well intended, in part, similiar to local tax abatements used to attract businesses to a specific city or area. If the business failed to live up to the terms of the abatement agreement the business was then assessed fines and penalties. The same ideology should be applied to the Bush tax cuts that shielded the rich from the alernative minimum tax. The rich didn't hold up their end of the bargain and therefore should give the tax cut money back.
I'll be holding my breath waiting for that to happen. Someone call an ambulance for me...bring oxygen.
"He added, “If Congress does nothing at all, those tax cuts expire and that in and of itself is a significant dent in the (future) deficits.”
This is one of the best parts of this article. If the GOP/Tea Party can take the right steps and increase the taxes on the 1%ers by the having the portion of the Bush tax cuts that affect this group expire, a positive change can occur in this country. It is an easy step to take and yet the results have far-reaching benefits. That is what the Patriotic Millionaires as well as those Americans who were polled, believe is necessary.
djj-- Unfortunately there is a loophole in the design of the "Trigger". None of it goes into effect until 2013, after the election, so there will be time to pass legislation to block the mechanics of the trigger. Another ploy by Congress to make us think they are really going to do anything about the deficit. It's all a game!
The Super Committee is an oxymoron. Anytime you put six DEMs in a room with six REPUBs you are bound to get chaos. You can blame either side and you would be correct. These fools were probably out doing insider trading while they pretended to work for the American people. What a load of crap. I am fed up with our failed incompetent president and our failed incompetent Congress. There is nothing the American people can do. The vote doesn't matter anymore, for anyone. We will all wind up in the same place with either side. What is pathetic is the American people. We are too stupid to realize what is happening to us and we are doubly stupid to think that we can change things. The whole system will explode soon. Perhaps from OWS or perhaps from the TEA Party.
From The teabuggers if anyone. They have the republicans in congress programed with "No negotiation", No compromise" and do nothing!
Actually, my money is on OWS. These people are controlled by anarchists and criminals, who want to overthrow our government. While that may be a worthy goal, the problem is just what would they replace it with? I'm afraid I know the answer to that question, and I thought J. Edgar removed the whole concept of "commies in the White House" long, long ago. The TEA Party is the safer bet.
Your living with FOX poisoning! Where did you make up this stuff? Oh, Your source? FOX!
Are you paranoid? Does all anti-OWS news come from FOX? No. In fact, I got some news from the anarchist website, and if you were not totally lazy and useless, you would google "OWS and anarchy" and you could see reality instead of your mystical nonsense. One link is as follows:
anarchistnews.org
Indeed, OWS is controlled by anarchists. Also, the NYT reported that daily prisoners released from Rikers Island wind up in OWS tent cities so that they can rob, rape, and steal unencumbered by the police. They are there in preponderance, and they practice their criminal trade because OWS will not report them to the police.
And why the hell don't you learn to spell and write intelligible sentences? People who who listen to FOX news seem to be far more intelligent than people who love Keith Olbermann.
My relatives listen to FOX and they are all dumb as you are! Unwhat?
Did you marry your cousin?
unabridged-- I don't think blaming the president is well placed. Congress had the chance to pass the jobs bill, proposed by the president, to create jobs, stimulate the economy, extend tax cuts for the middle class, regulate hedge funds, increase tax breaks on the wealthy to the level they were under Clinton (39%) and fix our broken infrastructure. All of these were originally agreed to by repubs but because the president put it in a jobs bill, which they claimed he had not sent to them for a vote, voted against it. Who are the adults in the room, the president or members of Congress that can't pass the jobs bill in-total or on individual segments of the jobs bill. The economy is not where we would like for it to be but it could have been much worse. Perhaps we don't give the president an A on his report card but he deserves an E for effort. I can't say the same for Congress!
Stop defending an indefensible failed incompetent president. The jobs bill is passe. It means nothing in the long run, compared to what Obama is doing to our country. He is responsible for the debt that can't be repaid. If you were in debt as much as our government, the wolves would be at your door and you would be toast economically. Most Americans have no idea the harm this president has done and keeps doing day by day. While Congress is damned unworkable, our president knows what he is doing and why he is doing it. It is not for our good but for our destruction. Stop majoring in the minors and look at what is really going on. We are going bankrupt, our country is becoming unworkable, and you morons are arguing about an unworkable, stupid jobs bill. What a load of horse @!$%#.
The GOP in the so-called "Super Committee" want to make drastic cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They should be very careful with these cuts. There are a lot of Red States where a lot of voters depend on their Social Security check to live and depend on Medicare for their medical insurance. Take that away and the GOP will be voted out in 2012. My own opinion is that both Social Security and Medicare are doomed in their present form. They are both under funded and on a long term basis will not be economically viable.
There is that certain class of people that no matter how much government money you give them, no matter how you advantage them with tax laws, no matter how much government welfare you give them, no matter how many government programs they benefit from, no matter how long these parasites slurp off the system, no matter how long they flaunt their entitlement attitude these people will NEVER, NEVER get a real job, off the government dole and go to work, and get productive at a real job, earning real money in the real world.
WE CALL THESE PEOPLE REPUBLICANS!!
Just who the hell is "WE"? I admit these people exist, but I don't call them GOP. Indeed, you have to be spaced out on drugs to call them that. I call them OWS at the present time. Sometimes, I just call the DEMs, which is what they usually are. But, sometimes I call them the American people, because when all is said and done, that's who they are. Any voting public that would elect Barack Obama as our president has to either pay no taxes whatsoever or else they are on the government dole. Pray tell, GOP.., which camp are you a member of?
Just who the hell are you?
I am a member of the camp that pays for the GOP/rich people tax breaks. I work for a living, which means I make money for investors. I actually PAY taxes so that goods can be moved to market along roads and rails that I pay for. I also pay for the police, 911 and fire services that protect capital investments of the wealthy, and guarantee their FDIC-insured money in their banks, and the judges that adjudicate their contracts in courts.
I also pay for the state-funded colleges and universities that subsidize the educations of their engineers, lawyers, doctors, teachers and pharmacists.
All this so that wealthy republicans can sit on their biscuits and complain about their 15% tax rates while they offshore their profits to Cayman Islands accounts and evade more taxation while increasing mine.
I am a tax-paying, American Patriot of the highest order, and I am by far the absolute worst, most lethal enemy of the Republican Party on this planet. That's who I am.
That nuff for ya' peanut? Any more questions?
I never pay any attention to people who brag of their accomplishments on Newsvine because they are usually made-up lies. Everyone on Newsvine says they are a fine upstanding citizen making huge contributions to mankind, when they more often than not or people of the same character as Sandusky of Penn State. So don't try to impress me with your fantasies. Where will you buy your drugs tonight? That's my question.
Yeah. That's why I discounted you.
Democrats = Union cronies & welfare recipients
Republicans = tax payers
Which planet are you living on? What taxpayers? The millionaires and billionaires only. What the heck is wrong with unions working for the middle class and lower class against the rich corporations with their greed and people like you defending them!
clwyd,
The Unions put money in the coffers of Democrats and the Dems turn around and "payback" Unions by giving them lucrative jobs.
Who do you think pays for the lifetime Union pensions and "cadillac" healthcare plans?
Answer = the private sector tax payers
If you had the brains to get off the computer and get to work you could be a Union member and stop envying those that have and work for a living.
How bout' it LEONA? Have you ever worked for a living?
The right wingers that pay you to prostitute yourself and shill for them on this board would sell you for medical experiments in a heartbeat if it meant ten cents to them.
GOPisextict,
I hold 2 Bachelor degrees. I own my own small business , I am semi retired, put 2 kids through college and have paid taxes ( still am) for over 30 years.
You? haha
Unions are the most corrupt, criminal organizations that officially exist in the US today. They are far worse than the Mafia, Jimmy Hoffa saw to that, and they rob and steal from the American people with impunity and legality. Just ask GOP.., who either does not pay any taxes whatsoever or else he is on the government dole. And he is too damned dishonest to reveal his economic affiliation. He is the one who doesn't work for a living but sucks off the federal government tits and posts his tripe on Newsvine. He is most depicable.
Leona, and corporations and millionaires put money in the coffers of republicans. So what are you trying to say? With your small business credentials I can see why you are a right winger!
Unabridged. You are living in the past and have forgotten the corruption of Wall Street. In fact you have made no comment about the billions we poured down the drain there. A little right wing Fox double standard?
I hold 1 Bachelor degrees from Wayne State and Boston University. I work. Am putting 1 kid through college and have paid taxes ( still am) for almost 40 years.
I swim laps for about 1 hour a day at the equivalent of about 1/3 rd of a mile per day. I am a 6th degree Green Belt in Combat Jujitsu and I own guns.
I am a proud Union member and will probably retire in better shape than you will with fully-paid medical benefits funded by a VEBA. HA HA HA !!! I don't need em' because I'm healthy.
I make money for a lot of republicans that are too lazy to actually work for a living, or ones that were vaginally-advantaged and were just born into it; like most of em'.
I'll work harder and longer in one week than both of you combined in 3 months.
HA Ha Ha
What a load of made-up horse @!$%#. Your degrees are made-up, your college kid is made up, if you tried to swim you would drown, and your belt is a black plastic one purchased at Wal Mart. If you own a gun it is probably a water pistol or a cap gun. You might be a union member and you can't retire unless you take a greeter's job at Wal Mart. You probably are a smoker with the high potential of contracting cancer. I've read made up stories from posters on Newsvine and yours takes the cake. It is a bunch of wannabe lies.
Whatever you say unhinged.
I may be unhinged but you are totally unraveled.
Hmmmm....Maybe they ought to leave this one to the professionals. Oh,they already have! Then we have nothing to worry about.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports/supercommittees.php?ql3
Incompetence prevails in Congress.
Republicans proposed a Balanced Budget,, it was defeated by Democrats,, Obama called for a Balanced Budget,,,
Libs,, who is opposed to balancing the Budget ?
Ozzie Boy and you other libs,,, Obama got everything he wanted in his first 2 years,, and WE got a Deficit Increase of $3 Trillion ,,, Republicans had NO Power to stop any of Obama's Socialism.
You want jobs ? Obama just postponed 400,000 jobs by delaying the Keystone Project... You really think Obama gives a damn about jobs ?
well,, he does care about jobs ,, Union Jobs.. the rest of us are screwed with Obama. Ask Boeing !
Ask the Oil workers now unemployed in the Gulf.. Obama wants to buy oil from China that Canada wants to sell us . Makes no sense,,
The Liberal Progressives have Hijacked the Democratic Party,,, Reagan and Clinton were both successful working with the other party in control,, that is a fact,,
Obama is an total failure,, and he cannot blame it on Bush,, even Axelrod and Debbie Wacko from Florida,, head of the DNC ,, admitted this economy is Obama's Economy,,, suck on that.
Obama and the Democrats are sacrificing the American People,, because they falsely and stupidly believe they can blame everything on someone else,, Wall STreet, Tea Party, Bush, Sunamis, Earthquakes, Europeans, Banks, Insurance Companies,, Capitalism, Reagan,
The Problem with Socalism is what do you do after you have spent all of Other People's Money,,, you can't spend anymore,, Never in the HIstory of the United States,, has any President or Congress spent money Like Obama and the Democrats,, NEVER,, They have failed, Americans see this as they see Obama and the Democrats ENDORSE THE OWS,, a group of Communists,, backed the Unions and George Soros,,
The LIberals are blatantly ignorant because they too will fail as Obama destroys our country.
Impeach Barack Obama and American will Soar in Prosperity.
Amen.
Leona and AlanW:
The Republican leadership, who are all TEA Party members now they say, have hit upon a way to "limit the size of government" and reduce taxes on the wealthy. In fact, their proposal for the wealthy to pay NO taxes at all is centered in no taxation on capital gains. Now, capital gains (stocks, bonds, investments) is the single most important way the wealthy make their money, and no taxes on capital gains means the wealthy pay NO taxes at all. It's an important way to "limit the size of government." Very little revenue coming into the government means the government cannot pay its bills, including paying its workers civilian or military. "Starve the Beast" is the Republican leadership's words for bringing the government of the United States of America to its knees. I haven't heard the federal government referred to as a "Beast" other than in Iran, in al Quida, and in the Taliban. Americans destroying America. Hard to believe, isn't it? But, it wasn't hard to believe during WW II when the Nazi's had thousands of American Nazi's in this country working to "destroying the Beast." Same is true during the cold war when the USSR paid agents to "Destroy the Beast." So, what do these Republican "patriots" want? They want a plutocracy, a govenment and nation run by the wealthy. But, the nation is beginning to understand what has become of a once important reform party in American history. The fact is that a majority of the American people today believe the Republican Party is the political arm of the wealthy, and that FOX News is their official Ministry of Propaganda! Those numbers continue to grow day by day.
We watched the TEA Party threaten the elected representatives of Congress, minorities, the people, and the Constitution with "2nd Amendment Rights" during the summer of 2009 through 2010. We heard Sharon Angle, Christine O'Donnell and others of their ilk threaten the people of the American Republic with "2nd Amendment Rights" during the elections of 2010. Those particular people lost, but others won election to Congress, and here they are practicing their rabid programs of "Starving the Beast." My response is the Beast is rising up against you in the streets of New York City and in every other city across the land until you and your lackeys are driven from office in the 2012 elections and I hope never to return to threaten this land again.
It's Thanksgiving. I would say that I am grateful for our freedom in the U.S. except, our freedom is being challenged right here at home.
It is being challenged by lawmakers, especially the Democrats, who think their own political prospects are more important than the American people.
How dare the Democrats vote against a balanced budget amendment ! The Dems have not had a budget in over 900 days. Let's rid D.C. of Dems who are NOT doing their JOB.
Hey, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, that's our money you are stealing !! YOU two should be the first to go.
AlanW: If only your post could say something factual. I realize these things are difficult for you to grasp, but try. The Republicans proposed a Balanced Budget Amendment that was defeated. The reason it was defeated is this--try now to understand-- a balanced budget at the federal level would be a LAW that would prevent the federal government from going over-budget in times of emergencies, including war, in this high tech, 21st century. The nation could be defeated if such an amendment passed. The Republican leadership KNEW the proposed amendment would be defeated. It is a legislative trick! The proposal was presented by the Republican leadership for one purpose and one purpose only, namely, to hold their poorly educated robots in the Republican rank and file to do exactly what you have done. Simpleton! You took the bait exactly as they knew you would!
There is no way I can sit here and answer your simple minded rant item by item, but it shows a total lack of knowledge about the financial world, labor, and economics. Have you ever noticed that hardly anyone on these posts from the right wing can ever get beyond your level of education? Know why? Because all of the intelligent people who understand these problems have left the Republican Party. The Republican leadership knows that, and they are desperately trying to propose legislation they know will fail just to hold you simpletons in line. It seems to be working with some, but the more intelligent ones see through the smoke screen and have left the Party. The GOP is being torn apart by the far, right wing, extremist, fanatical cancer that has invaded it! Pay attention to the news, particularly from the Republican Party membership itself.
Unfortunately, Americans have no freedoms anymore. We have elected morons for president and Congress and now we can only vote them out of office in numbers too small to matter or make any difference whatsoever. We are literally stuck with them, a do-nothing Congress, and a failed, incompetent president. All candidates for office are either now or potential criminals. They have no reason for helping this country or its citizens. There's no money in that. Instead, they allow themselves the freedom to make fortunes doing insider trading, for which many citizens have gone to jail. Our politicians are all manifestations of Bernie Madoff who knew that Americans are suckers to be taken advantage of, not citizens who have freedoms to be protected. We are all f**ked and we are too stupid to recognize it. And stop giving me this "DEMs are smarter than REPUBs horse @!$%#". Charles Krauthammer has disproved that tripe, for example. I don't know a single DEM Congressman who is smarter than a bag of hammers. Do you, you simpleton TJefferson?
Leona: Read my post #66.4 directed to AlanW.
It is Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for my freedoms. I do not think that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have done one thing to protect those freedom and the 7,3000 lives lost were wasted there including a friend who's family feels the same way. Our freedoms are being threatened here at home by rich corporations, big business, millionaires and billionaires: many of which pay no income tax and have loopholes protecting them. We are the 99%. I hate the conservative right and think we need to get our Guillotines sharpened!
unabridged: I just read your rant. Thank you for supporting everything I said about you and your ilk. I always appreciate it when people who read what I have written demonstrate by what they say that my analysis is correct. Thank you for that.
TJEfferson: I don't support anything you say and you are a perfect poster child (a crippled one at that) for the far left nutsackers. You never prove anything, you use name-calling as your mantra and you never say anything you didn't read on the Huffington Post or Politico. I have heard your garbage time and and again and you can see it regurgitated everyday on Newsvine. So when you say QED, I say horse @!$%# and ignore you, as the moron you are. You have no analysis, just simpleton sayings from your notebook of stupidity.
unabridged: Dang it. Didn't they teach you on the GED that you should try and form an argument rather than name call. Read your post again, and, by the way, thank you again for your demonstration of support for my argument.
TJefferson: Why don't you follow your own advice? I have read several of your Newsvine posts and you haven't formed an argument yet. I don't think you know what it means to formulate an argument. And you are a pro at name calling for that's all you do. Read your posts again; and I haven't said one thing that demonstrates support for your (non-) argument because you have yet to articulate an argument. In fact, you haven't articulated anything except a propensity for stupidity. Is the number in your name your prisoner's number, for you sure as hell must be in jail.
unabridged: Thank you for taking the time to read my posts on Newsvine. I'm flattered, but not surprised you couldn't find an argument there. You said you couldn't find an argument in #66.2 above, or even #66.4. The problem is that you can't accept the arguments made in those two posts, or any of the others you read. Look, I know you're going through a bad time right now trying to defend a Republican leadership that has sold you down the river. But, you're the one who is suffering here. Try not to get so emotional and listen to what they're telling you. If you vote for those people, they're going to continue doing what they're doing to you and to the larger working class. I voted for a good many Republicans in the past, including Nixon (2nd time), Ford, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. I was a Democrat before Nixon, but left the Party because it left me. I stopped voting Republican in the 90s after I began to see what Gingrich, Cheney and the others were doing. These people have an ulterior motive, and they're telling the country what it is. As a result, thousands of other GOP members left the Party because they can see what has happened and they want no part of it. Watch the news. The Republican Party is being torn apart internally, not by the Democrats. You have a choice to go on defending people who are indefensible, or you can do what thousands if not millions of others have done, namely, stop for a moment and think about what you are doing to yourself and to the Republic. Once you stop defending people who are tearing you apart, you'll find a peace come over you and wonder why you didn't do it earlier.
The only question is "Will you (or did you) vote for Obama, ever. Obama is the most failed incompetent president in our history, and it doesn't matter to me one whit whether he is a democrat or republican. If you think what Gingrich, Cheney and the others are doing is bad, then you are blind and have not looked carefully at what Obama is doing. I care little for party affiliation. You seem to care for it to the point of self-deceit. I am not defending anyone. I am opposing Obama and his corruption to the core of my being, and you are so one-sided you do not have the mental acumen to recognize what is happening. I don't want peace anymore. Personal peace and affluence are the bain of our society. So, stop your psychoanalysis of me and go to your own psychologist. You are the one who needs help, not me.
Too bad Obama is NOT a leader. A leader rolls up his sleeves, gets to work with BOTH Parties and says" let's get a deal that BOTH Parties are happy with for the good of the country and the American people ".
Obama FAILED as LEADER of ALL the people.
Obama thinks he is the leader of the Democrat Liberal Caucus ONLY.
Sad but TRUE.
It was Harry Reid's plan to set up the Super Committee so it would fail providing the democrats with a political foil they could use in the upcoming election year. By knowing ahead of time that the republicans would not go along with large tax increases the democrats would be able to blame the republicans of not being team players and killing the efforts to reduce the deficit. In any case nothing will happen until 2013 and by then the new 2013 Congress can kill anything they want to kill before it is triggered.
Since Congress cannot get anything done, I suggest everything that's on the table be voted on, item by item, in a general election. Just bring the vote to the people and leave Congress out of it. I don't see how we can do any worse for the country than they are.
Don't see what the problem is. The 3Ms of Management and Politics, when disagreeing with your employee, or your political opponent, are:
Minimize
Muddle
Mollify
Both parties have locked in minimizing each others goals.
Now the super-committee will resort to the "Muddle" instead of the "Middle".
The final stage, will be like the classic cartoon of project management results, ie the "tire swing".
Both parties get tired, and agree to generate "something" to mollify the constituents. The something will actually do nothing, but will avoid the precipice by having the appearance of doing something.
Of course no one will be able to actually sit in the redesigned "Tire Swing". But hey, they did swing a deal!
The markets? They've already figured this out. Yawn.... The super committee is already irrelevant and mollification is not even needed at this point. They should save the tax payers some money, and just go home.
Oh brudder......
my two cents worth.
Unfortunately duck I think you're right. I was hoping that they might actually feel some pressure on that committee,I am soooo naive... While it seems that many of our public servants have many convictions......none of them seem to have any conviction....
Patty Murray, the Democratic Co-chair is my Senator. I sent her an email on Thursday. I reminded her that although she is part of this "super committee" she is first and foremost the Senior Senator from Washington. We, the people of Washington sent her to DC, and it is my virtue of that office, she is serving in this capacity. I advised her that she and the Democrats have offered enough cuts and compromises, (cuts and compromise that I and most Washingtonians oppose) and that it is now time for revenue increases (taxes). I further reminded her that should she continue to offer more cuts and compromises, she will in all liklihood not retain her position as the Senior Senator from Washington. I hope she gets the message loud and clear.
More damned smoke, mirrors, dodges and feints!!! Broad brush "guidelines" after 3 3/4 months? Hand the details back to regular Senate committees? I thought the whole idea was to get past an impotent, deadlocked Congressional system that has produced nothing since Nov. 2010. So after stealing the taxpayers money for 3 months by doing nothing, they are going to punt back to the same useless, destructive, Banana-Republic Congress? President Obama needs to VETO any proposal to change the "sequestration" of $4 Trillion (over 10 years) made "LAW" in August 2011. I doubt that he will have the guts to do so, but, for just one man, we could "hope for change" in his behavior, just this once. Congress is beyond hope! It has devolved into a racketeering scheme of "money for nothing" in exchange for paralysis that favors the ultra-rich, International Corporations, and Wall Street bankers. This Super Committee was a sham from beginning, designed only for delay, by one of the biggest scam artists in Congress, Harry Reid. What all members Congress, with the exception of Gabby Giffords, since she's been too ill to defraud us, is a rope that's tied to a tall tree around their necks, and a short ride on a tall horse! These people steal from us everyday, lie to us everyday, cheat us everyday, and then go laugh about it with their CEO and banker buddies.
Solyndra, Fast and Furious, Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones, the list goes on and on. Please do some research, open your eyes and see what Obama is. What would you expect from someone who grew up in a broken home, cut his political teeth in a city with lovely roots of honesty and law abiding rulers. Chicago, the home of gangsters. Admittedly influenced by the likes of those mentioned above. One term is more than enough!
The answer to this super committee disaster is actually pretty simple:
1) Agree to the $4T in cuts over 10 years that Pres. Obama proposed during the debt ceiling circus and the GOP walked away from and
2) eliminate the bush tax cuts on the wealthy as originally intended and close the corporate loopholes for oil and gas interests
That would be a giant step in the right direction in effectively addressing the messes the GOP saddled this country with!!
It's the COUNTRY, STUPID!
supercommittees is just another word from ovomit,stating i don,t know what the hell were doing but it may extend my magic act long enough to bu-----t some of the morans.we the people have long known about your magic act.but now we the people have our magic act.making you disappear.jesse venture or frank serpico for president,ovomit don,t go away mad,just go away
Robert, Pres. Obama had nothing to do with the super committee. It was negotiated by Congress as part of the debt ceiling agreement. remember, it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt!
I think what I proposed would be an effective way to start dealing with this GOP created debt crisis!
larry robinson.... obviously u r a millionaire. so, how much do u pay your employees? are they wealthy? are u sitting on your yacht writing these comments while your employees are wondering if they are gonna lose their houses? u are an @$^hole!!!!! did u notice that ur comments never get any votes? republicans want this president to fail. mitch mcconnell has made that very clear. everything proposed by obama has been unanimously voted against by republicans. no one knows what obama policies would do because the republicans block everything. so shut it!! nobody cares what u have to say! u and people like u r the problem. u feel guilty or u wouldnt b on here. with all that money, cant u find something better to do?
Taking sides is exactly what these bums in both parties want us to do, take the focus off them so they can continue to do nothing and blame each. The Dems and Republicans are both do nothing fat cats fighting to stay in power while the President is once again sitting on the sidelines not taking a leadership role concerned he'll offend someone with an election coming up. WE need to stop fighting amoungst ourself and go after all politicians, vote them all out until they realize they are working for us.
U.S. Representative (now Senator) Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) told The New Yorker:
Talking PARROTS are constantly ABUZZ with Konservative MEMEs such as the one contained in Senator DeMint's(mr."waterloo") story of "less and less taxpayers" supporting government.
This hollow story must be part of some sort of catechism of such import that you posted it five different times....I constantly am amazed at the number of parrots who post things that are untrue on their face without bothering to check the veracity of what they are posting.
I'm not sure, but I think that you were asleep when a number of things have been announced. Just little things like the record number of Americans who are on food stamps, that have been driven into poverty and who are unemployed for over 99 weeks. What do facts like those indicate to you??? Maybe a lot more people aren't working??? Hmmmmmm.....what might that mean???? And what would Senator Waterloo want to do with these voters who are now impoverished....."disenfranchise" them ??? take their right to vote away????
And part of Senator Waterloo's MEME is the FALSE PREMISE that those who are minimally or underemployed in low wage jobs and therefore qualify for the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Mr. Waterloo and his trained parrots keep insisting that "these people" pay no taxes, which is a LIE. Everyone who is employed pays taxes....it's taken out of their paychecks just like everyone else in America....and they must file a tax return in order to claim their "credit"....and they don't get back their FICA taxes.
Konservatives and their minions who mindlessly parrot these MEMEs have no empathy or regard for the growing number of Americans that are becoming impoverished due to the ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE that has been thrust on us. One thing that Senator Waterloo is RIGHT about is that there are a growing number of people who are disatisfied with the INACTIVITY OF CONGRESS and it's reluctance to HELP GET AMERICANS BACK TO WORK rather than continue to saddle those who can least afford it with the task of paying brutally for THE FEDERAL DEFICIT AND NATIONAL DEBT.