Morning Must Reads: Review

“The Times gets a Taliban commander on record saying “the government has the upper hand now” in Kandahar.”
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Was this a real Taliban commander or someone that plays one on tv?

I agree, its a great picture. It is unfortunately accompanied by a poor article.

What did I miss?

Meet the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s head of enforcement.

“As attorney general, he has clashed with such Wall Street banks as Wells Fargo and Bank of America. But because federal laws limit the action states can take, he said, “it was difficult to do anything against the nationally chartered banks.”

In his new federal post, Cordray said, ‘I’ll have a clearer field . . . right now, my focus will be big banks.’

That means looking at unfair mortgage, foreclosure and credit card tactics, he said. But he will also be able to investigate and go to court to enforce rules the agency is charged with writing to protect consumers from unfair practices in a wide range of financial transactions, including student loans and debt collection.

Cordray sidestepped federal preemptions of state action as attorney general by targeting loan services. He filed suit against GMAC Mortgage, alleging the lender filed false affidavits in foreclosure cases pending in Ohio courts.

Ohio also is at the forefront of a larger multi-state investigation into allegations that lenders across the country allowed employees to robo-sign documents without review to speed along foreclosures.”

I have a cousin in the military, served 3 tours thus far in Afghanistan. He said he has “carried suitcases full of American dollars to Taliban leaders” on several occasions. Perhaps this is one they have bought off, yes?
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When you cannot get gratitude for the things you do for someone, money does buy love and loyalty (at least for a little while).

Balloon Juice has an update and an observation re: Julian Assange.

“…the Justice Department is trying to build a conspiracy case against Assange by showing that he ‘encouraged’ Bradley Manning to leak documents. As far as I can tell, the encouragement Assange provided was on the level of source confirmation, something every journalist does when they receive leaked information.

This kind of prosecution would set a pretty awful precedent for our press, yet the only protest I’ve seen from the US media is a letter from some journalism professors. Contrast this with Australia, where representatives from major media outlets sent a protest to their prime minister.”

A not too positive article from the Washington Post on our favorite President.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/15/AR2010121505744.html
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When asked how things were going on inside the big pow-wow of CEO’s across America Obama called to Washington. The reply, “Chilly out here, guys!” the president said with a friendly wave as he crossed the street from the White House to Blair House.
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I’ll bet folks were giddy as children on Christmas morning inside the Blair House. Hoping for kernels tossed their way from the recently disguised “Tax Cut” which is really another major TRILLION DOLLAR give-away.
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Yes Santa, we do believe in Christmas!!

Will the real Terrorists please step forward!!!
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Rush Limbaugh defines Democrats on Capitol Hill as little “Al Capone’s and Gangsters”
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/limbaugh-maybe-the-real-terrorists-we-face-are-on-capitol-hill/

During our current financial crisis, it’s important for all us to remember that our only salvation lies with our proud Banking Americans.
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We should never, ever question the wise Banking Americans.
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And if you do? Well, then, maybe something might happen to your credit score?
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You wouldn’t want that to happen, now would you?
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So let’s all just be good quiet Americans, and let the Banking Americans do whatever they need to. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.
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http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/15/servicers-downgraded-credit-score-of-man-who-asked-for-his-note/
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Besides, there are more important things to worry about. There’s a War On Christmas, George Soros!, Penelope Cruz is having an Anchor Baby, Gen. Glen Beck’s Revolution, etc, etc. Good Americans are thinking about those things. Only libtards and frenchmen worry about the Banking Americans.

SPLC responds to attack from right-wing Christians, Pols.

“The statement, whose signatories included House Speaker-Designate John Boehner and the governors of Louisiana, Minnesota and Virginia, ran under the headline, ‘Start Debating/Stop Hating.’ It accused ‘elements of the radical Left’ of trying to ‘shut down informed discussion of policy issues’ and decried those who attempt to suppress debate ‘through personal assaults that aim only to malign an opponent’s character.’ The SPLC, it said, was engaging in ‘character assassination.’

It was a remarkable performance, given that it was precisely the maligning of entire groups of people — gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people — that caused the SPLC to list groups like the FRC. Remarkable, too, was the accusation that the SPLC was avoiding debate — in fact, the very first public discussion of the issues raised by the SPLC came in a Nov. 29 debate between the FRC’s Tony Perkins and myself on MSNBC’s ‘Hardball With Chris Matthews.’”

Are you saying that you oppose the Republican-Obama tax deal, Rustydog?

Thank you New Freedom Imbiber! Our comrade in inebriation, Party Leader Rush Limbaugh is absolutely correct!
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I am convinced, CONVINCED I tell you!, that any second now, a government bureaucrat is going to suicide bomb my trailer home!
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I’ve seen footage of IRS agents beheading Lyndon LaRouche! If I haven’t, its only because it hasn’t happened YET!
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We are minutes away from an army of George Soros funded, government paid accountants swooping in and swiping our precious Freedoms! They are preparing to swipe! Soon will be the time of the swiping!
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Gen Glenn Beck! Save me! I’m being swiped!

To the tick, tick, ticking of time | gotta beat the clock.

“Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) talked to Fox News this afternoon, and reflected on his shameless obstructionism:

“What I’m trying to do is help run out the clock.”

Finally, we get the truth.[...]

…the players should at least be grown-ups about what’s transpiring. This has nothing to do with Christmas, winter breaks, overworked staffers, or ‘sacrilege.’ This is simply about right-wing senators hoping that if they just make the legislative process a little more ridiculous, Democrats will give up and go home without having completed the people’s business. It’s a simple game of chicken, and irresponsible conservative senators think more tantrums will cause Dems to blink. So far, that’s not the case.

By his own admission, DeMint is trying to do is ‘help run out the clock.’ If Jon Kyl and others want to know why they, like most of their constituents, are having to work throughout December, they need look no further than the junior senator from South Carolina.”

“Dear Tea Party voter: You’ve been had.”

“It was probably inevitable that the Tea Party activists would be betrayed, but the speed with which congressional Republicans have reverted to business-as-usual has been impressive.

House Republican leaders rejected a Tea Party-backed candidate as the new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, instead installing Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who is known as the ‘Prince of Pork’ and who once said pork is a ‘bad word for making good things happen.’

Many Tea Party favorites, meanwhile, have discovered the appeal of Washington lobbyists’ cash and advice. South Dakota’s Noem is one of at least 13 incoming Republican lawmakers who have hired lobbyists to run their offices. As The Post’s Dan Eggen reported last week, dozens of freshman lawmakers have already had fundraisers to collect millions of dollars from lobbyists and other deep-pocketed interests. In the month since Election Day, new Republican members had more than a dozen such ‘debt retirement’ events.

And the parties continue.”

Real Americans, like my comrade New Freedom Blogger, are upset because of a few remaining entitlement programs left intact.
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The glorious Return of the People’s Money (or ‘Tax ‘Breaks”, as liberals like to call them) must be offset by the reduction of luxury spending on things like Social Security, Medicaid, and Handouts to the Unproductive. This is just basic Common Sense.
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A waitress in Des Moines knows how to balance her checkbook, why can’t the Government?
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Of course, all libtards want to do is cut the American Defense Budget. If they do, I almost hope we get attacked by George Soros’ One World Army, if for no other reason than to watch all the libtards wet their collective hemp pants because they let America be Unprotected! That will teach them libtards!

In case you weren’t aware of how bad it is for some Americans right now.

“Santa Claus and his elves are seeing more heartbreaking letters this year as children cite their parents’ economic troubles in their wish lists.

U.S. Postal Service workers who handle letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole say more letters ask for basics — coats, socks and shoes — rather than Barbie dolls, video games and computers.

At New York City’s main post office, Head Elf Pete Fontana and 22 staff elves will sort 2 million letters in Operation Santa, which connects needy children with ‘Secret Santas’ who answer their wishes.

Fontana, a customer relations coordinator for the Postal Service, has been head elf for 15 years.

‘The need is greater this year than I’ve ever seen it,’ he says. ‘One little girl didn’t want anything for herself. She wanted a winter coat for her mother.’”

As of sometime last week he must have received an e-mail from a tea party group because he did an about face and started railing against the tax cuts. And he seems pretty gung ho about it, but I’m not convinced he came to the conclusion he did of his own volition.

E.J. Dionne on No Labels and false equivalence.

“The basic difficulty arises from a false equivalence they make between our current “left” and our current ‘right.’ The truth is that the American right is much farther from anything that can fairly be described as ‘the center’ than is the left.

Indeed, there is no far left to speak of anymore. Even among socialists – I’m talking about real ones – almost all now acknowledge the benefits of markets, no longer propose state ownership of the means of production, and accept the inevitability of inequalities in wealth and income. What they oppose is the rise of extreme inequalities that are antithetical to both a healthy democracy and a healthy market economy.

In the meantime, large parts of the right have moved to positions that Ronald Reagan didn’t dare take, or abandoned in the name of realism: voucherizing Medicare, partially privatizing Social Security, insisting that the New Deal represented an unconstitutional power grab, and eviscerating inheritance taxes and progressive income taxes.

So successful has the right been in dragooning the discourse that President Obama’s health-care plan, a rewrite of middle-of-the-road Republican ideas from 15 years ago, is condemned as radical. His overall program and his rhetoric are more restrained than FDR’s, Harry Truman’s or LBJ’s.

I am still devoted to moderation but reject a cult of the center that defines as good anything that can be called bipartisan. Some of the same centrists who just a few weeks ago called for bipartisan efforts to slash the deficit now praise Obama’s tax deal with Republicans, even though it increases the very same deficit by around $900 billion. Exactly what principle is at work here other than a belief that any deal blessed by Republicans deserves praise?”

Something worse than a frozen, downgraded credit score may happen if customers dare to ask their bank for proof of ownership of the mortgage on their homes.
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Customers have actually been sued for asking questions.
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I’m not making this up:

http://www.kpho.com/money/23008529/detail.html
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Bank Sues State Lawmaker
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Sarah Buduson
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Reporter, KPHO.com
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ariz. Rep. Michele Reagan, R-District 8, is better known for fighting for new laws, but now, she is speaking about her fight against a lawsuit.
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Reagan is being sued by her mortgage company after she questioned who owned held the note on her home.
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“It’s really scary,” she said, “I think that this really needs to be brought to light that this is happening to people in Arizona.”
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Reagan had wanted to find out she and her husband, David Gulino, could refinance their south Scottsdale home.
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“In doing research, I began to wonder if the lender even owned the note to my home,” she said. “So I sent them a letter and asked them and asked them several things. I want to know who owns my property. Am I paying the right person?”
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Soon after, Colonial Savings filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Reagan and her husband. The company says the couple is trying “to rescind their home loan,” or back out on the loan.
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“I’m current on my loan. Never missed a payment. We’ve never been late. We were sued for asking too many questions,” said Reagan.
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“I finally thought if this could happen to me, how many people has happened to mean to or that means it could happen to people without the resources I have,” she said. “Even with all the information that I have and all the contacts I have, they scared the bejesus out of us and that was their intent and it worked.”

So, the question on consumers’ minds should really be, if even a Republican state representative named “Reagan” can be brought into court for merely asking the bank a question, what can’t the banks get away with these days?
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Downgraded credit, wrong homes seized, lawsuits for speaking up…what’s next?
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Bank hit squads?
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Exploding ATM?
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Who is running the show these days, and when exactly did ordinary Americans agree to that?

TheRealestAmerican, you’ve now been tasked with finding TheRealestTerrorist. Ironic, really.
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Anyhow, to locate “REAL (TM)” terrorists, all you have to do is locate the people telling you to be scared the most. And well, that’s not too hard: Rush wants you to be scared, Beck wants you to be scared, etc.
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Terrorists inspire terror to achieve political ends. This isn’t difficult math.

[And an important question is asked.]
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“But here’s the thing: these are famous people involved in No Labels, and many of them are allegedly journalists, some are politicians, and all of them are pundits of one stripe or another. They have mighty soap boxes on which to stand (David Brooks is one of the most read columnist in the world — The Chinese government reads his columns to try to understand the US, as sad as that is — and his columns get republished there), so why do they need a separate organization?

Now then, wouldn’t you think that because their group is allegedly about rising above partisan politics that they would see the value in being transparent about where they are getting their money? As journalists, shouldn’t they be shining a light on it instead of obscuring it?”

I oppose the entire Ominbus Bill and Tax Deals stuart. Have you been sleeping?
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But, I am hopeful when the newly elected House members get into office on January 4th they shall reject all of this spending and do what they were elected to do.
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Mike Konczal examines the GOP’s alternative to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission advises them to take an ‘incomplete’ for the class.

“So: where to begin with the GOP paper? In the beginning the GSEs were the primary drivers of a housing bubble, a housing bubble that came about because of U.S. government policy acting as social policy. The private securitization market was created, in theory, to deal with this demand for housing. This network had some leverage in it causing a bank run when the bubble collapsed. The second half is a pretty standard narrative in some ways, so I’m assuming the reason this was released was to make the securitization process look like both a bystander and a victim of an out of control GSEs.

I can’t respond to this argument because there are no numbers or citations.[...]

The rest of their narrative is fairly conventional off that baseline. There’s no mention of derivatives and the role the credit default swap market played in providing insurance for these mortgage bonds. (Indeed, the word derivative and credit default swap/cds aren’t included at all.) There’s nothing about the latest research pointing to securitization being a major driver in increasing mortgage debt.

It’s funny that they voted to ban the word shadow banks, because they give an account of it causing the financial crisis[...]

I have to hand it to them. They decided to take one for the team and release this report that implies markets can never fail, only governments. No sources, no numbers, no new info, not even 10 pages, but they put it out there so reporters have the option to go ‘well, on the other hand the Republicans said this.’ That’s how seriously the conservative movement takes ideological warfare.”

[Oh, and about the GOPer economists' ban on certain words...]

“Barry Ritholtz catches AEI purging mention of deregulation from Peter Wallison’s bio. Wallison is co-director of AEI’s financial deregulation project; but he’s also one of the Gang of Four demanding that the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission not so much as mention deregulation in its report.

So Wallison’s history as an advocate of the policy that shall not be named must be expunged, I guess.

If this sounds familiar, it should. The same thing happened with Social Security privatization. There was a long effort by conservative groups to promote privatization, a term they themselves devised. Cato had a Project on Social Security Privatization. But then, when it turned out that the term polled badly, they began rewriting old records in an attempt to cover up the fact that they had ever talked about it.

As Brad DeLong says, I’ll stop calling these people Orwellian when they stop using Nineteen Eighty-Four as an operations manual.”

newf, even if ten of the newly elected individuals are ACTUALLY budget conscious, they’ll be rolled over just like the real liberals in congress were at the end of this term.
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You can be as hopeful as you like, but the Tea Party has already been betrayed by the Republican Party and it is unlikely that they’ll show any more heed in the next year.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_or_wrong_track
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“Just 23% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, December 12. Down three points from last week, it’s the most pessimistic finding since January 2009.
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Confidence that the country is moving in the right direction is down to 42% among Democrats from 59% the week before Election Day.”

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It simply amazes me that among Democrats there are still 42% who are dreaming the “Yes We Can” dream of 2008. Unreal.

“When you cannot get gratitude for the things you do for someone, money does buy love and loyalty (at least for a little while).”
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That’s what Republicans were saying about their wealthy donors when they invented that huge tax cut. Gingrich, Dubbya, Hasstert and Beohnor may never get gratitude for the things they have done and are doing to America, but, sometimes money does buy love and loyalty (at least for a little while).

How much will the War in Afghanistan cost when it ends?

We won’t know. Because it won’t ever stop. According to some number crunchers in the military Afghanistan will need no less than $6,000,000,000 a year, indefinitely, and that’s if the force of 300,000 individuals is enough. If they decide they need more, the price goes up.

So long after we withdraw, we will still be paying for this war. Maybe we’ll be paying forever.

Source: Wired

Rusty,
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In nine months (less one off for a bet), so far if there are ten partisan issues, you take the Republican side on eleven of them.
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I’ll grant you credit: you can do simple math and know that tax cuts or maintaining all of the tax cuts will prevent a balanced budget since such a large percent of the spending the federal government does is agreed upon by both sides as completely necessary.
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Congratulations. You have shown me that you are not a parrot.

Intimidation.

“Many homeowners have taken advantage of SEIU’s Where’s the Note website. It helps you generate letters to your bank to ask for evidence that they hold the mortgage note, or the IOU on the property. Bank servicers have routinely lost the note or never fully had it in their possession through the multiple trades and securitizations, and as a result have fabricated documents when foreclosing on homeowners.

Under the law, all homeowners have the right to see their notes. But if you visit Where’s the Note today, you can see a warning at the top which reads:

Update: Homeowners are sending us reports of banks responding with threats and intimidation. It is your legal right to demand to see your original, signed mortgage note. It is illegal for banks to negatively report to your credit file during the 60 day period after requesting your note simply because you made a request to see it. If you received a response that you feel is threatening or intimidating in nature, contact your state’s Attorney General and push them to hold the banks accountable under the law: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/intimidation

So what’s this about? Apparently, several banks, in particular Bank of America, have added negative reports to the credit files of borrowers who ask for their notes.”

I was very excited to see the Michael Steele puppet return to The Daily Show last night:
http://gtcha.me/hh6Kl0

Ah, balls. Linked to above, and serves me right for not reading the entire thread.

Are liberals in the government terrorists set on killing off Americans?
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Well, on Tuesday when I thought I might have caught cold from my brother and sneezed a couple of times I got a call with a caller ID saying Federal Death Panel of Queens, NY.
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I guess I should have answered it before they come and take me away.
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Hitler spent his political career claiming that he was fighting off Zionists and Bolshevik conspirators. Stalin spent his career in politics saying that counter-revolutionary conspirators were the reason that Soviet production wasn’t super high and passing the US yet. Jim Jones said that he was hiding from the forces of government out to get him. Joseph McCarthy said that he was just defending America.
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So, when nothing like actual terrorism nor even the slightest threat of violence exists, what does it tell you about the integrity and/or sanity of the person who sincerely calls their rival a “terrorist”?
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BTW: Am I the only one who remember that Palin was sure that her newborn son would be euthanized if ACA passed?

Dessert, ’cause y’all deserve it.

The BennyHillifier, courtesy of pourmecoffee.

http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=P_lgTIZ22jE&feature=player_embedded

“Bank hit squads?
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Exploding ATM?”
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LOL
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I guess there is a reason we call them “Banksters”.

No, Rustydog, I haven’t been sleeping, it’s just that I haven’t actually managed to understand what you’ve been saying –probably my fault for not reading closely enough.
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So let me ask you something, and I truly don’t mean to put you on the spot, or to make you look bad, or whatever, I’m interested in your answer.
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Do you oppose the Estate Tax break in this deal?
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Just for some background, so you’re answering what I’m specifically asking about, the Estate Tax works like this:
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If your inheritance is above a certain exempted amount, the dollar above that amount is taxed at a certain rate.
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For example, let’s take a theoretical person, say, one named “Paris Hilton.”
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Let’s also use the Clinton-era Estate Tax, in which the exemption was $675,000 ($1.35 million exempted for a married couple, if one inherits), and the rate was 55 percent.
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So, if our theoretical Paris Hilton inherits 1 million dollars, the first $675,000 is received tax-free.The next and every other dollar above $675,000 is taxed at 55%.
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Let’s do a little simple math, to see what she owes:
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That means that Paris Hilton pays (well, not technically her, but the estate from which she’s inheriting, whatever) 55% tax on the $325,000 above the exempted amount ($675,000), so 55 percent of $325,000 is…$178,750.
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So Paris Hilton’s (relative’s estate’s, technically) tax bill from inheriting a million dollars is $178,750. She takes home a cool $821,250 in cash –pretty good wages for not having worked a day in her life for that money, wouldn’t you say?
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After Bush II got into office, he got Estate Tax break passed, which changed those two pieces of the tax: the exemption –the amount that the lucky inheritee got tax-free– and the tax rate on the inheritance after that amount.
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The Estate Tax break started to change every year, with the exempted amount going up and the rate going down. The next year after it passed, 2002, the amount was $1 million, and the rate was 50%, down from 55%. Every year, those two pieces changed the same way: one up, the other down.
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By 2009, that exemption amount was up to $3.5 million per individual (and $7 million per married couple). The rate was down to 45 percent.
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Let’s look at what happens to Paris’ $1 million inheritance after Bush’s breaks kicked in.
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It’s pretty easy to see, isn’t it? Since her million is far below the 3.5 million dollar tax-free exemption amount, she keeps it all, every last dollar.
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She’s gone from paying $178,750 in taxes on that inherited wealth to zero, $0, nada, zilch. Working people have to pay taxes (and have them taken right out of our checks by our bosses) like the regular dummies we are, but our lucky girl Paris doesn’t pay a dime. That’s the effect of the Bush II-era Estate Tax break.
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As you know, I’m often harshly critical of the Clinton government and its terrible policies (and his Treasury Secretary Larry Summers’ role in enabling the recent financial meltdown which he failed to handle in his role in the Obama Administration), so this isn’t about Clinton vs Bush, or even Democrat vs Republican, these are just the facts. That’s the difference between these tax rates, no doubt about it. It’s just the way it is. Go to Wikipedia and look up “Estate tax in the United States,” it’s all right there in a neat, organized table.
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There’s one more interesting thing about the Bush II Estate Tax break plan. Remember how the tax break kept changing, year after year, with the exempted amount going up (amount of inherited money that’s tax free) and the rate (the tax) going down?
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Guess what…in 2010, as scheduled when passed in 2001, the Estate Tax took a year off. It was “repealed” for this year, meaning that the Bush II plan made inherited wealth completely tax-free in 2010. If you were lucky enough to inherit your money, and if you were doubly lucky enough to inherit in 2010, George Bush’s 2001 tax break law made it so you paid no Estate Tax at all on your inheritance.
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Crazy, huh? It gets weirder.
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When 2011 comes next month, you’re not going to believe this– a new Estate Tax law from April, 2009 (Blanche Lincoln and Jon Kyl’s legislative work of art “Lincoln-Kyl Estate Tax”) specifies that the exempted amount goes up again, this time to $5 million tax-free and the rate goes down again, this time to 35%…but only if the President and Congress act to approve it.
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Check it out: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2759
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How about that?
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Now, let’s get back to the Estate Tax rates being proposed in this deal, and what would happen if the deal falls through, at least the Estate Tax break part of it.
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The Republican-Obama tax deal is the Lincoln-Kyl law from 2009! That’s right: the Estate Tax break part of this deal includes approval for that incredible tax break passed by the Democratic Majority! If the deal passes, it’s $5 million inherited tax free, the rest taxed at 35%.
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If the deal falls through, we’re back to the Bush II schedule of Estate Tax breaks for year 2011, which, hilariously enough, puts the break right back to where it was right after passage in 2001: $1 million exempted, 55% rate.
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Either way this goes down, our theoretical Paris gets a cool million, tax-free, basically. Ain’t our government grand?
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But let’s say for the sake of explanation that, instead of inheriting $1 million, our hard-working Paris is lucky enough to be left with $5,000,000 for her trouble of being born to the right family.
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What kind of tax break does she get in either scenario?
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If the Republican-Obama tax deal falls through, she gets a million tax-free, and then pays 55% on the remaining $4 million, which is…$2.2 million. That means she keeps $2,800,000 in inherited wealth out of that original 5 million earned by someone else in her family.
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But, if the Republican-Obama tax deal passes, our lucky Paris gets to go Park Avenue shopping with the entire $5 million tax-free. That’s right: if this deal goes through, multi-millionaire heiresses like our theoretical Paris Hilton will pay no taxes on that free money.
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So, now that we understand the parameters of this thing, what’s your position, Rustydog?
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What’s your opinion of the Estate Tax break in the Republican-GOP tax deal?
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Is this kind of “bipartisan tax reform” helpful for ordinary Americans?

I wondered before the election whether the Tea Baggers would change Washington or Washington would change them. The people that voted for the Tea Baggers expecting something different have been had. Surprise, surprise. Washington isn’t going to change. A slight adjustment, maybe. I think the only real question is whether the elected Tea Baggers bend over and grab their ankles or just bow down,
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Money talks and bullsh!t walks.

Once again, Rusty, the sense you have that you can read other people’s minds is a symptom of severe psychosis which needs treatment.
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What most of us are saying is that Democrats are leading us out of a terrible mess, not that things are good or that things will be up to the level of the pre-financial meltdown levels until about 2014.
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I don’t say, outside of when I am kidding, that I know what you’re thinking.
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Clearly you seldom fail to baffle me as the far right often baffles everybody else.

I thought, I’d read that twice.

Adam, that picture of the Tea Party is the kind of thing we dream about for a “1000 Words”. Since Christmas is so close, are you in the gift-giving mood?

stuart:
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I oppose the entire “Tax Deal” between Obama and the Republicans in it’s entirety. Period. This includes the Estate Tax you speak of.
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But, readers may enjoy knowing this one tax break in this bill amounts to less than 1% of the entire taxes collected by the IRS. Right? You didn’t omit that fact for any reason did you?
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I do believe that the estate tax is a double taxation situation. Instead of the fictional Paris Hilton, why don’t you use a family farmer. Farmer A passes away, and his family farm which he wants his children to inherit like he did will now be required to pay the Government 55% or so dollars in order to keep that said family farm in the family. Is that fair?
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But, I am a proponent of a fair or flat tax. A simplified tax system with no loopholes. No special exemptions for lobbyists or those they lobby for. Everyone pays a set rate and be done with it.
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Now doesn’t that make so much more sense stuart than allowing for nearly 1,000 pages of tax code? Then add another 800+ pages of tax forms when filing a return?
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Picking at the minuscule amount of overall taxes represented by the Estate Tax is another example of riding around jousting with windmills. (A favorite past time of Liberals).

Its not that I want to give newf a break here, but the argument against the estate tax has always been that the government already taxes income and that it is in effect a double tax. My response has always been, sale tax coupled with income tax is similar. And I’m against regressive tax structures to begin with. But I’m wondering what the arguments against this “double” tax theology are.

Newf, what family farmer makes that much money? And at that point, why not wrap the money up in a family business so that its not subjected to inheritance taxes?

“what family farmer makes that much money? And at that point, why not wrap the money up in a family business so that its not subjected to inheritance taxes?”

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Not what the farm or farmer makes, but what his farm operation including land is worth at the time of his death. This can be into the millions of dollars for the average, small family farmer now a days.

Average? Less than 50,000 estates would be effected per year under the Clinton rates and under the bush rates it falls to roughly 10,000. Under Kyl’s proposed plan he would have reduced that to a couple thousand and allowed them to have a double tax break by allowing them to sell property they inherited and avoiding any tax on it at all.

“Mr. Obama retains a strong reservoir of good will, considering the string of bad news that has buffeted his White House…. And while Mr. Obama’s job-approval rating remains at a mediocre 45%, it has stayed relatively steady for a year. While only 35% of independents approve of the job the president is doing, 57% of that group say they are reserving judgment on whether his presidency will succeed or fail.”

Considering that we’re just emerging from the worst recession in 70 years, that 45% approval rating looks pretty impressive. I was just reading a WSJ/NBC poll out today that says Obama would beat any of the republican challengers. Seriously, does anyone that voted for Obama wish that they had voted for McCain/Palin instead? The only thing I’ve seen out of those two clowns is a validation of my vote for Obama. I’m not happy with Obama and his performance, but I can’t imagine being anywhere nearly as happy as I am now with the alternative.

NOw that’s just sad. In fact, it brought tears to my eyes. I feel for that little girl who wants her mother to have a new winter coat.

These polls assume there are only two directions–the road going in the right direction, the one going in the wrong direction and then the one going in the direction should somebody else be leading the country. Yes, we are on the wrong road, but its not as bad as if we were on that third road.

newf, on the surface, your “double tax” looks good. However, there are ways to look at it where it falls apart.
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Say I earn enough money to hire a housekeeper. I take some of my earnings, which have already been taxed and pay said housekeeper, who also pays taxes on the money I’ve given her. It is the same money, but taxed twice.
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The only difference between this scenerio and that of “Paris Hilton” is that while my housekeeper has performed a service in exchange for the money, Paris Hilton has done nothing except be lucky enough to born into a wealthy family. Once Paris inherits, that money is her income and not the income of the person from which she inherited.

sacred, I agree with you. As unhappy as I am about a lot of things, thinking about how it would be with the alternative gives me the shivers. Plus, two more far right Supreme Court justices.

Then Time finally makes a list of Republican crazies, Louie Gohmert will have to be near the top.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/12/malkin-award-nominee-5.html

.”To my friend who said that history would judge us poorly, I would submit if you would look thoroughly at history — and I’m not saying it’s cause and effect — but when militaries throughout history of the greatest nations in the world have adopted the policy that ‘fine for homosexuality to be overt’ — you can keep it private and control your hormones fine, if you can’t, that’s fine too — they’re toward the end of their existence as a great nation.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/louie-gohmert-anderson-co_n_683524.html
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Gohmert briefly spoke about his CNN interview with Anderson Cooper this past week in which “terror babies” — children born for the purpose of having American passports that can later be used for terrorism — were discussed.
“Cooper spent his time attacking my integrity in that interview because I would not give away the names of my sources,” Gohmert said. “One of my sources said if anyone knew who she was that she would be killed. He did not need to know my sources and I was not going to put people’s lives in danger.”

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Gohmert briefly spoke about his CNN interview with Anderson Cooper this past week in which “terror babies” — children born for the purpose of having American passports that can later be used for terrorism — were discussed.
“Cooper spent his time attacking my integrity in that interview because I would not give away the names of my sources,” Gohmert said. “One of my sources said if anyone knew who she was that she would be killed. He did not need to know my sources and I was not going to put people’s lives in danger.”

http://www.americablog.com/2010/12/halliburton-pays-250-million-to-have.html
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Thank goodness. Cheney is safe. Haliburton paid the ransom so Dick won’t have to spend any time in a Nigerian jail.