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starbucks4ever (99.49)

Finally, a budget that makes sense.

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February 01, 2010 – Comments (10)

You have to give credit where credit is due. For the first time since taking the office, BHO has presented a reasonable proposal. Strictly speaking, it's not even a new proposal. I call it a return to sanity. It simply restores the status quo that we had before baby Bush's ill-advised tax cuts. All intelligent people back then, including Buffett, told baby Bush the budget could not afford these cuts, and lo and behold, they were right. The budget could not afford them. Time to recognize this simple fact, let the cuts expire, and to go back to the tax system that we had for many decades before Dubya and did quite well with it. It would be even better if BHO's budget proposals were not intended as a bargaining chip and actually became law, but I guess that would be asking for too much. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204575039132987274858.html 

10 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On February 01, 2010 at 4:14 PM, devoish (98.76) wrote:

You have to now I'm in favor of this, even if I don't think it goes far enough.

I've always thought that having lower taxes on income earned from capital gains than from hard labor was one of the greatest tithes the middle class ever paid to the wealthy.

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#2) On February 01, 2010 at 4:39 PM, starbucks4ever (99.49) wrote:

devoish,

I am with you on this. It doesn't go far enough. But it goes sufficiently far for me to say that we'd be lucky to see 10% of this approved. I'd say, 10% chance to get 10% of the budget bill through Congress.

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#3) On February 01, 2010 at 4:40 PM, davejh23 (< 20) wrote:

I wouldn't call this a "budget that makes sense".  This may be one step in the right direction, but these tax increases are only going to close a fraction of the budget deficit.  Even with the tax increases, we're still left with trillion dollar deficits, and we're still on track to nearly double the national debt in the next 10 years or so.  A "budget that makes sense" would require massive cuts to accompany these tax increases.  We could start by cutting all retirement benefits for Federal employees (excluding military), and capping pay during times of war for all Federal employees (including the President) at the base wage for enlisted servicemen.

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#4) On February 01, 2010 at 4:54 PM, starbucks4ever (99.49) wrote:

davejh23,

The resources concentrated in the top decile are so large that we could balance the budget even without touching the benefits of federal employees. It is very doable. That is, unless you start crying when you hear Fox news disapprove of you - which is an accurate description of obama. As I said, we'll be lucky to have 10% of the bill approved, but meanwhile Rush Limbaugh will through a thousand hysterical fits, shouting "Communism!" from the rooftops.

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#5) On February 01, 2010 at 5:27 PM, Option1307 (30.55) wrote:

Ya, let's tax people more to pay for the increased spending! Nevermind actually having the government make serious budget cuts.

When people experience a recession, they decrease their spending habits and make sacrifices. When the government has a declining income, they raise taxes! Perfect and very logical sense...

I'd be much more inclined to go along with this proposal if the government showed me in anyway that they are serious about fiscal responsibility. They simply are not. So why do we raise taxes without cuts? Why not come to some sort of middle ground?

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#6) On February 01, 2010 at 5:47 PM, starbucks4ever (99.49) wrote:

Option1307,

We'll need a tax hike to balance the lean budget that we'll be left with AFTER the spending cuts. And I am all for it, given that we have plenty of excellent candidates for spending cuts. For example, two stupid war started by baby Bush that we still continue mostly for face-saving reasons. 

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#7) On February 01, 2010 at 6:03 PM, davejh23 (< 20) wrote:

"...we have plenty of excellent candidates for spending cuts. For example, two stupid war(s)..."

That's why we should cap "pay during times of war for all Federal employees (including the President) at the base wage for enlisted servicemen."  If a bunch of self-serving politicians are willing to take 90% pay cuts to go to war, then it's probably a war worth fighting.  If they aren't, and I'd bet that most politicians today wouldn't be willing to do so, then we'd get out of wars where we don't belong.

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#8) On February 01, 2010 at 7:02 PM, devoish (98.76) wrote:

davejh23  re. #7

And at the same time we cap the payrolls of defense contractors and especially the retired Generals in their employ as lobbyists that FOX kept parading across our TV screens telling us how much danger we were in.

option1307 re. #5 When people experience a recession, they decrease their spending habits and make sacrifices.

Mention that to Blankfein for me, will you? In my experience "doing God's work" doesn't usually pay all that well.

 

 

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#9) On February 01, 2010 at 8:01 PM, ChrisGraley (31.67) wrote:

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into
prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying
to lift himself up by the handle."

Winston Churchill 

I don't have a problem with reversing tax cuts on the wealthy, but I would have loved to see some spending cuts in the non-essentials as well.

Any corporate tax ideas are nonsense because those are just passed on to the consumer.

I would have also liked to see a little more of a focus on job creation and infrastructure. Don't get me wrong, I think that high-speed trains are great, but the power grid is falling apart, bridges are collapsing, and the water, and gas infrastructure below most cities is a ticking time-bomb.

A good budget would have been one that doesn't put the nation's children deeper in debt.

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#10) On February 01, 2010 at 8:39 PM, Option1307 (30.55) wrote:

 zloj

We'll need a tax hike to balance the lean budget that we'll be left with AFTER the spending cuts.  

Fine. It's just hard to see the rational of raising taxes before we are serious about spending cuts. We need both. I think people are more likely to willingly accept the increased taxes if they saw that the government was serious about our debt problem, via budget cuts. Right now it's frusterating b/c people make sacrifices and pay more in taxes, while the government goes about it's merry way spending on whatever they please. Sort of makes the whole argument about "fiscal responsibility" a complete joke.

For example, two stupid war started by baby Bush that we still continue mostly for face-saving reasons.

Agreed, end them. Oh wait, we are expanding Afghanistan. Perfect idea team Obama.

devoish

Mention that to Blankfein for me, will you? In my experience "doing God's work" doesn't usually pay all that well.

Everybody agrees that he is a fool (and not the kind with a capital F...).

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