It only makes sense that a party currently being wagged by fringe crazy people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann would release its alternative budget on April Fools' Day.
Not only does the Republican plan freeze discretionary spending for five years in the midst of a recession which, by most accounts and proved by history, will countermand any sort of economic recovery, but it also cuts taxes by 10 percent for the same Wall Street executives whose actions largely got us into this economic mess in the first place. In other words: Congratulations, Republicans, you just released a budget that rewards wealthy corporate executives while blocking any attempt to dig us out of the economic catastrophe they created.
Smart!
The only bit of Republican legislation that'd be more ridiculous would be if Michele Bachmann were to introduce a constitutional amendment thwarting a fake plot to eliminate the dollar as the form of currency in the United States.
Oh wait. She's already done that. And 30 Republican congressmembers so far have co-sponsored the amendment. 30 Republicans have irrevocably tethered their wagons to the Bachmann crazy train. Excellent. Next on the agenda: a bill creating the Office of Robot Insurance, protecting us from robot attackers who use old people's medicine for fuel. Speaking of which, the Republican plan also phases out Medicare.
The marquee item, however, in the Republican plan is their inexplicably regressive tax cut for the super rich. Wealthy Americans in the top three tax brackets would see their tax burden cut to a flat 25 percent from previous rates of 35, 33 and 28. According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, CEOs from any of the top 800 corporations would receive a tax break of around $1.5 million a year. Meanwhile, if you earn $15,000 a year, your tax break will be around $0 a year.
But get this. Under the Republican plan, Americans are given the option of paying the old tax rates instead of the new, expensive and regressive Republican rates. So, for example, if your household income is $100,000, you could pay the same tax rate as someone earning $15,000. Or you could be a swell egg and go back to your old rate. Aside from the utter lack of fairness in the notion of a $100,000 household paying the same rate as a $15,000 household, who in their right mind would voluntarily pay higher taxes?
Now you might be asking, given that the Republicans are all about fiscal responsibility, how much does this Republican tax cut for the wealthiest three brackets actually cost? Some estimates, according to Steve Benen, project upwards of a $4 trillion price tag. At the very least, according to their own projections, the Republican plan would run up a $500 billion annual budget deficit through at least 2080. Again, the Republican grasp of fiscal responsibility is about as firm as their grasp of reality and sanity. The subtext here being: The trillion dollar Bush tax cuts weren't irresponsible enough. Let's go crazy! WOOO!
And by the way, those are annual deficits that factor into the mix a completely insane five year freeze on discretionary spending -- a freeze that would surely plunge the American economy into a deep depression. To that point, the Republican plan doesn't account for such an economic catastrophe, and therefore doesn't factor such an inevitable consequence into their revenue and deficit projects.
All told, imagine if you will the Monopoly man running up and shoving you into a deep precipice. The Republican plan not only gives that Monopoly man a $1.5 million check for his trouble, but it also cuts the rope you were using to climb out of the hole -- provided you actually survived the fall in the first place.
Speaking of holes, did you see the graph Paul Ryan clearly yanked out of his?
Check out that steep blue line illustrating the alleged Democratic budget deficits extending to upwards of 50 percent of GDP by 2060. Put another way, suggesting a deficit that's 50 percent of GDP is like presupposing a living human being that's 50 percent marshmallow man. It's insane. Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections only extend out to 2019. Yet the Republican chart somehow extends out to 2080. The steep upwards slope of the Democratic budget begins at around 2030 -- 11 years after the furthest CBO projections stop.
What does this mean? For starters the claim on the chart: "Out-years based on CBO's Long-Term Alternative Fiscal Scenario" is a lie. And the text: "Source: House Budget Committee Republican Staff" might as well say: "Source: Paul Ryan's Ass." In other words, that steep upwards slope is entirely made up.
The graph might as well look like this:
Yes, the Democratic budgets will be so out of control they'll eventually make little curly-cues and travel backwards in time -- adding to past deficits -- while also looping around the word "government" -- you know, because the Democrats love government.
At this point, the laughable street vendor pamphlet that John Boehner rolled out was probably less ridiculous than this actual budget plan and its accompanying Wall Street Journal graph. But it stands to reason that given their track record the Republicans would churn out a budget proposal that's fully in line with their backwards, zero cred reputation.
CORRECTION: I erroneously credited the CEO taxation numbers to the Center for American Progress. These numbers came from the Wonk Room at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
What is wrong with these guys?! They still teach economic theory in college, correct?
From 1980 to 2006:
Richest 1% have seen a 300% increase in INCOME to 23% of our TOTAL INCOME!
Rest of us 99% have seen a 20% reduction in OUR INCOMES!
Some of our Current Taxes:
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax, Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring
and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Don't forget that the party of Grover Norquist and his ilk seek to shrink the US government to a size where it can be strangled and shoved into Grover's pocket. The systematic dismantling of laws and safeguards by Bush/Cheney and Congress, under more than one president, was not accidental. In fact, that's what Dubya was put into the White House to do! He was supposed to take this country back to the days of the wild west, of the great free-for-all, in which anyone (Read: white males) could do whatever they could get away with, as long as it didn't get them killed. The vociferous, right-wing Republican critics are incensed that someone (Read: the Obama/Biden Administration) is trying to revive and restore the US gov't that they (The radical Republicans) strive so desperately to destroy. (Moderate Republicans seem to have been bound, gagged and dismissed.) The radical fringe wants the USA to become a Third World nation, where everyone fends for him/herself, where laws are meaningless, if they exist, where the judicial system, if there is one, is splintered and impotent, where the government on any level is permanently hobbled, useless, corrupt and neither interested in nor able to address the needs of its citizens. That's the brave new world envisioned by the ultraconservatives. They want to tear everything down and start again, rebuilding it all, of course, to their own specifications and with total disregard for everyone else.
HA HA HA
2 insane budgets does not make it sane either.
To run up trillions of deficit is insane, deficit is - spending more money than you have coming in.
Assuming some one out there is lending those trillions, the country has to repay them with interest some day.
We called people who took out mortgages that they cannot afford careless or foolish, why is it OK for the government to do the same thing?
quote:
Assuming some one out there is lending those trillions, the country has to repay them with interest some day.
We called people who took out mortgages that they cannot afford careless or foolish, why is it OK for the government to do the same thing?
/quote
Just point and laugh at the stupid Republican losers.
The Republican Party is not at all interested in compromise. So the Dems should govern with the iron hand that the electorate dealt them. We should move on our progressive agenda while the Republicans are still sipping their magic KoolAde.
I remember back in the early 1990's, not long after Bill Clinton took office that the GOP cried bloody murder against Clinton's tax hikes.
Much of the same distortions and lies we are now hearing all over again....
"the country is headed for socialism"
"Marxists"
"he's destroying our country and economy"
"This is the biggest tax increase in the history of the human race"
"businesses will be destroyed"
The same sad songs for the same audience.
What we don't have is enough actual cash (still fake) in the hands of folks like me, or Einstein, or 90%+ folks on the planet to make this thing work anymore and that is what this is supposed to do. So it's fake. It's been fake since the Federal Reserve was created.
Pocket change???
The over $400bill deficit Clinton inherited from Reagan and Bush no1 was hardly considered pocket change back in the early 1990's. And you guys were strangely silent then.
Oh,,I forget..."Reagan proved deficits don't matter"...(Cheny and Rove)
What about W's last 2008 budget of $3.2trill....and without including the cost of the 2 wars?...strangely silent once again.
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the average grade. If socialism worked, no one would fail, right? After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied very hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied for the first test decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.... eh?
He never thought of this until I told him I was in love with Al Gore. He said prove it, and when I showed him a letter from Gore thanking me for a video cassette movie library of him on live TV the first time he ran to become our President, neglecting Clinton with his ego and all - you remember, - and with in his stunt for President in 1998 turning too fast into 2000 real time,..,.or when ever we remember and will never forget not evermore.... ~~~~~
I think if I was your fan, your ego would hit the roof, but I do love your writing, and know lots of people connected to your posts, so I read them, and I see why so many people here admre you.
Cheers.
Second, the rest of your post is just as wrong.
You think spending your way out of a lack of recession is crazy? According to the April Fool's budget plan the Republican'ts put out, they want to CUT TAXES in the middle of what even you call a "financial crisis".
Perfect GOP sense! If you spend more money than you make, not only borrow on credit to keep spending, but cut your hours at the office, so you generate even less income! That's almost as logical as spending the last eight years accusing the Democrats of being "socialists", while the GOP administration mortgages our entire country to Red China.
President's Obama's budget plan is the equivalent of splashing a little gas in the carburetor --- the spending is intended to jumpstart more spending activity, while providing that our crumbling and neglected national infrastructures don't collapse in the meantime. In any case, it makes more sense than the cookie-cutter option the GOP always uses --- cutting taxes for the rich, so they can continue to move their wealth offshore.
Think a little please... first, Pres. don't control economies, that's Cuba.
Second, under W we had 52 moths straight of economic growth... why? because he cut taxes!