If there's one thing President Barack Obama has made clear in the discussions surrounding the fiscal cliff, it's that he's not budging on increasing taxes on "those making $250,000 or more." Of course, the problem with that logic is the hundreds of thousands of businesses who are structured as pass-through entities (S-Corp's) that will be drastically affected with such an absurd proposal. Many S-Corporations are some of the biggest job creators in Ohio and throughout the nation--employing millions of middle class Americans--but apparently Obama doesn't much care if they get hit.
Or, to put it another way, in order to screw "the rich," Obama is willing to throw the middle class over the fiscal cliff.
Just ask his Treasury Secretary:
"If Republicans do not agree to that, is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff?"[Geithner] "Absolutely. We see no prospect for an agreement that doesn't involve those rates going up..."
No agreement? No room for negotiation? That seems more like an ultimatum than a desire to come to agreement. After those comments, you have to wonder what, exactly, is the Obama Administration's fiscal cliff strategy...
The position of the Obama Administration is disheartening, especially given the GOP's willingness to compromise for the betterment of the country. At the end of the day, the only person who's ready to reach across the aisle has been U.S. House Speaker John Boehner. And yet his proposal--a plan to keep tax cuts for the middle class and our strongest job creators, while also reforming our tax system--was completely brushed aside by the President.
Math, huh? Like adding $4 trillion to the national debt in 8 years in "unpatriotic," but adding over $5 trillion in under 4 years is just all sunshine & rainbows? Sorry, Mr. President, but apparently your math skills leave a little bit to be desired.“It’s not me being stubborn, not me being partisan; it’s just a matter of math,” Obama said during the interview in the White House. He said that the Republican proposal to raise $800 billion in new tax revenue by closing some loopholes and eliminating some deductions would not be enough to reach his goal of up to $1.6 trillion.
Not to mention, using the President's accounting practices, the GOP proposal would actually save the country some $4.6 trillion. But, I suppose it would be too much to ask the President to apply his math to anything outside his cherry-picked facts and figures.
Regardless of our Commander-in-Chief's apparent lack of arithmatical talent, it's his stubborn approach that will ultimately ensure America goes off the fiscal cliff at full speed. He's willing to sacrifice the middle class--yes, even #My2k and your $2k--all in the name of making "the rich" pay their fair share, even though the top 5% in this country already pay nearly 60% of all income tax.
That's not fair. And apparently President Obama and I agree on that point, we're just on different sides of the argument.
Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to credit the work of Speaker Boehner through this whole mess. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place, with a stubborn President and a useless U.S. Senate, and yet he's still making the best case he can. He might be the only man in Washington, D.C. capable of balancing that many interests.
Yet, if you read through twitter, he's come under some criticism from some on the Right--with several going so far as to ask if Congressman Jim Jordan should challenge him for his post. We conservatives can have an honest debate about the best policy positions, but Speaker Boehner doesn't have that luxury--he must be pragmatic in his approach, or President Executive Order will just do whatever the heck he wants.
If conservatives want to whine and moan about Speaker Boehner, perhaps we should have given him a little more assistance last Election Day. We failed, and Speaker Boehner is left to deal with the results. And that's what he's doing: stepping up and showing his willingness to negotiate.
It's time our President did the same.
Beyond ridiculous. Keep living in your bubble, boys, but be careful. The air's getting thin in there.
ReplyDeleteUsually we agree with your assessments but sorry, just can't this time around. Speaker Boehner is not "stepping up and showing his willingness to negotiate"; he continually kisses BHO's feet and waves a white flag of surrender (which he did just this week by offering up "increasing revenues" which we all understand to be code for "raising taxes").
ReplyDeleteNot to mention, kicking conservatives off of committees and saying it's a matter of "loyalty". . .get over yourself Boehner. . .these conservatives are being loyal to the people who they represent/who gave them their jobs. . .not to you or the establishment GOP and that's how it's suppose to be. Mr. Boehner is getting a little too big for his britches.
Had he stood up for real spending cuts during the debt talks in 2011 then maybe he would have gotten "a little more assistance last election day". . .he kowtowed to BHO. We no longer have faith in Boehner's ability to lead and support the ongoing effort to have him replaced as Speaker of the House and are actively contacting members of the House to remind them, they work for "We the People" and not John Boehner!
#FireBoehner
#PurgeBoehner
Couldn't agree more! You nailed it. Boehner has been a total disappointment as Speaker of the House.
DeleteHe was always there at the rallies in the early months of 2009 as the Tea Parties in the Cincinnati area were starting to organize opposition to Obama and to begin the long hard march to 2010 GOP mid-term landslide.
In return, after the Tea Party delivered the House to the GOP Boehner trashed these newly elected conservative members. Instead of recognizing the conservative momentum he gave only new member (Noem, SD) any kind of leadership position. The rest go the back of his hand.
Then the Speaker took it upon himself (alone apparently, and yes with plenty of arrogance too) to try to negotiate a "Grand Bargin" with Obama and rest of the disingenuous democrats. It was a fools errand.
When the deal blew up very publicly and very in his face, the republicans were tarred with blame -- not Obama who owned it. He turned what should have been a victory and a chance to building on the Tea Party momentum into a disaster. John Boehner is a big part of the political landscape of 2012 that re-elected Barack Obama.
He needs to be replaced. He is uninspiring as a leader and seems to have little in the way of new ideas or vision.
He had his chance and he failed. We need a real leader who had some intestinal fortitude and one who can think out of the box. If Boehner is the best Ohio can offer we need to clean house in my opinion.
Man, you guys really don't understand how taxes or corporations work, do you? First of all, S corporations elect whether to be taxes as a pass thru entity (like a partnership) or as a corporation. Those that elect to be taxed as a pass through get taxed at a pro rata basis equal to their equitable share of the corporation. Even then, their tax liability is adjusted by their basis. So, a S corp shareholder of an S corp that elected to be taxed like a partnership will see a higher MARGINAL tax rate for any pro rate S Corp income over $250k annually over basis.
ReplyDeleteBut for S corporate income $250k and below after adjusting for basis, no additional tax liability. So S corps hardly present themselves as an area where the President's tax proposal would result in massive tax increase on the "middle class."
I imagine you'd like to argue the pros and cons of tax rates all day because that takes the eye off the ball -- spending.
DeleteBottom line Obama and the democrats will not be proposing ANY spending cuts to entitlements AT ALL. So this whole fiscal cliff thing is a lot of BS.
Obama could care less about "going off the fiscal cliff" -- entitlement spending is the way democrats stay in power. So they'd sooner die than reform it.
The USA will have to hit rock bottom before the "citizens" realize that the "free lunch" the democrats are promising them is a fraud.
You reap what you sow.
Gee whiz! Here we are in December 2012 and our House Speaker from, Butler County has done it again -- gotten so far ahead of his caucus that he is left with egg on his face when they refuse to back him and his cockamamie plan AGAIN - just like 2010! Hello John!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Will John Boehner ever learn? Answer: Not very likely. Sorry, too many screw-ups. John Boehner needs to go -- his "Plan B" was ridiculous anyway. We need some LEADERSHIP on our side. There is more to it then just making a deal -- however bad it is!!! That's all Boehner knows.