He Caved

Could the House nuke it?  Don't know the math, really...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/05/tax-cuts-house-senate-democrats-deal_n_792258.html

By the way, CVille, I think we're using the word 'yielded' now, instead of 'caved'.  It sounds so much more bipartisan, and allows Obama to be seen as a victim of political realities instead of a mmm...er...uh...

2 percentage point cut on the payroll tax which is great if it's on the employee side and crap if it's on the employer side.  But if it falls to the bottom line of working Americans then it's the raise they didn't get this year.

13 months extension of unemployment.  That's good news.

I'm watching Hardball.  Did he REALLY need to do this?  I swear, if he called the repub's bluff, I think it would have worked well for all of us.  Everyone was predicting all along that he would give in to the repub's demands; if he had done the unexpected it would have increased his power.  He did the predictable, and predicted; and therefore, ho, hum... "the republicans are those who must be obeyed," is the message, regardless of unemployment, etc, etc, etc....

I reiterate:

The BUSH tax cuts.  Why not the OBAMA tax cuts?

Why not use his bully pulpit to remind people that a tax break for income under $250,000 IS a tax break for EVERYONE?  Because everyone gets a break on that level of income.  Is there a reason to keep that fact secret?  <p>

Blaming the republicans for something no one will feel is futile.  His administration will get no credit for preventing it from happening.  They should have let everything expire and then introduced over and over and over again, middle-class tax breaks and unemployment extensions and let the republicans take the flak.

Since the current tax cuts aren't sunsetting as they were supposed to BY LAW, who is stupid enough to think they will end in 2 years?

I am really tiring of this poor strategy; and I use that word loosely.

One more link, CVille, without the update on estate taxes.  Dayan's been following this.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/06/tax-cut-deal-includes-monstrous-estate-tax-dividend-concession/

p.s. You may want to read my Korean Trade Agreement diary, too.  A larger Grrr for me, since this deal's been in the works for a couple weeks, I'm almost used to it, sadly.

I have heard the cost in lost revenue a thousand times from letting tax cuts for the rich stay in place. How much revenue will be lost by extending the middle class tax cuts?

Viewed purely with respect for our need  as a stimulus I'm perfectly happy with the deal Obama has made with the Republicans.

Increasing the tax rate on couples earning more that  $250K would have added  some fractional % to the unemployment rate. Sounds minor unless you were one of the individuals making up that fractional % and you were unable to pay your bills because the democrats were successful in getting those couples to pay more taxes in 2011.

I overuse the phrase , but still believe ' You have to choose the A item'. If for Obama  that's getting unemployment down then it is incoherent to impose a tax increase now that will increase unemployment in 2011.

Having made his campaign promise  to increase the rate on those over $250Ks consistency pretty much required Obama to keep on repeating himself. But he's not innumerate and he was probably well aware that increase was counter productive right now. The Republicans have bailed him out.

Getting harder to be a dem and remain CVille?

Meanwhile, over at Red State, "caving" is a hot topic, too.

Here's the reader blog that is the latest on the "recent posts" list:

The Tax Deal: Republican Leadership Still In the Wilderness

Posted by texasgalt (Profile)

Tuesday, December 7th at 3:43AM EST

They did it again. They went wobbly. The Republican leadership doesn’t believe in the message the voters sent just a mere 5 weeks ago. They just proved it by agreeing to more big spending and more nanny statism. One begets the other as history proves. It works the same way at the top of the Republican party.

Tea Party folks and conservatives just got poked in the eye. Again. Get used to it.

Modified Chicken Crap. . . that is what this tax deal between Obama and the ruling elite Republicans amounts to.....

[......]

http://www.redstate.com/texasgalt/2010/12/07/the-tax-deal-republican-lea...

and here's the contributor post at the top of the home page right now:

Playing With the Two Immutable Laws of Washington

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Tuesday, December 7th at 5:00AM EST

[....]

For months, the GOP has said they would never vote to raise taxes and will now vote to raise taxes by resurrecting the death tax instead of killing it — the only reason being Jon Kyl (R-AZ) wanted to bring it back and has held this position for a while.

For months, both sides have claimed they were committed to saving social security. Instead, they will cut the payroll tax thereby bringing the bankruptcy of social security even closer.

We will know who the real conservatives are in Congress. They’ll be the Republicans who oppose this deal.

But hey, it is bipartisan!

Maybe we can get Jeff Flake to primary Jon Kyl .

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/12/07/playing-with-the-two-immutable-...