From the weekend news, it sounds like the Senate will pass the Obama-McConnell tax plan. For the umpteenth time, I contacted my Senators and representative to ask them not to.
Seems like a waste of time.
SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES: VOTE NO ON THE OBAMA-MCCONNELL TAX PLAN
There are at least five major flaws with this compromise, any one of which would be sufficient reason to turn it down:
- Unemployment insurance extensions first and foremost cannot be a "tradeoff" or discretionary action. They need to be extended as a standalone emergency action, unfunded and with no offset. They also need to be extended for everyone, including the "99ers". Anything less is unconscionable.
- The continued tax cuts to the rich are just wrong. The economy is a shambles and the federal debt is out of control. The disastrous Bush tax cuts and other policies are largely to blame. (They drove us into this ditch, remember?) The pandering to the rich has to stop and it has to stop now.
- The estate tax exemption level is too high and the tax rate is too low. Concentration of wealth is already at an unacceptable level and this will make it worse. This is a huge handout to a few people at the very top of the economic pyramid and does nothing for the economy, for fairness or for 98+% of the population.
- The debt ceiling will need to be increased in about 90 days, and you know that there will have to be serious cuts to spending. Why are you making it $1T worse than it has to be by extending tax cuts now? Not extending any cuts would be a better "compromise" than the Obama-McConnell plan, knowing that the budget cuts are the next thing on the table.
- The payroll tax cut jeopardizes social security benefits. Although the first 12 months of cuts is "offset from the general fund" (a meaningless oxymoron when the general fund is a deficit), all indications are that it will be extended in the future. However the extensions are funded, they will add to either the general fund deficit or directly weaken the social security fund. In either case, the calls for benefit reductions will increase. We cannot play Russian roulette with social security.
I'm sure you can add to this list - but however you analyze it, this is a bad compromise.
The Republican House may very well pass this tax plan in 2011. They shouldn't, but they probably will. If so, shame on them. This compromise should never pass a Democratic Senate or House vote, and the talk in the weekend news of "Democrats needing Republican help" to pass this bill is ludicrous. This "compromise" stands in direct opposition to Democratic values of protecting the interests of working families and equal opportunity for all Americans.
From http://www.democrats.org/...
For more than 200 years, Democrats have fought for the interests of working families and equal opportunities for all Americans. We believe in an America where we don’t just look out for ourselves. We’re proud of our individualism, but we also know that we rise and fall as one nation. Throughout history, Democrats have worked from the ground up to bring about the change that matters.
Our party was founded on the conviction that wealth and privilege shouldn’t be an entitlement to rule and the belief that the values of hardworking families are the values that should guide us.
We didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world by rewarding greed and recklessness or by letting those with the most influence write their own rules. We got here by rewarding hard work and responsibility, by investing in people, and by growing our country from the bottom up.
Today Democrats are fighting to repair a decade of damage and grow an economy based on the values of Main Street, not greed and reckless speculation. Democrats are focused on rescuing our economy not just in the short run but also rebuilding our economy for the long run—an economy that lifts up not just some Americans, but all Americans.
SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES: VOTE NO ON THE OBAMA-MCCONNELL TAX PLAN
Sincerely,