It’s ‘Deranged’ to Not Raise Taxes, Washington Post’s Marcus Declares on ABC’s Roundtable
Despairing that the current income tax rates will be extended for all income levels, on Sunday’s This Week, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus declared: “I think that the conversation right now is deranged” and “crazy.” In measuring the long-term “cost” of keeping the Bush rates for those below $250,000 versus for all, she argued:
I think that the conversation right now is deranged. We have in one room the deficit commission folks saying look at this huge hole, look at the tax increases and serious spending cuts that we need to do to fill it. And then outside the room, we're having a debate about whether we should add $4 trillion to the deficit long-term or a mere 3.3. This is crazy.
Marcus issued her characterizations after New York Times columnist Paul Krugman had made his case for raising taxes:
The cost of permanently extending just the upper end of Bush tax cuts, as opposed to only extending the middle class tax cuts, the 75-year cost of that is just about identical to the 75-year accounting shortfall in Social Security. So we’ve got people who are saying “oh, Social Security, we’ve got to do something about it,” but “let's extend those tax cuts for rich people.” This is showing how the priorities are all skewed.
Marcus, the Post’s deputy national editor from 1999 to 2002, a day earlier had touted President Obama as the best person to educate Americans about budget realities. In her column in Saturday’s newspaper, “Debt proposal is an invitation to Professor Obama,” Marcus pleaded:
The predictably childish reactions of the left and right to the budget blueprint unveiled by the co-chairs of President Obama's debt commission offer the president a chance to play a role to which he may be uniquely suited: the grown-up in the room....
I propose a weekly seminar, perhaps 15 minutes, made available to the networks in the same way as the president's weekly video address is, and available at any time online, with links to budget documents and proposals and an interactive build-your-own budget feature to illustrate the cost of various trade-offs....
From last Sunday: “Amanpour Presses Paul and Pence to Agree Taxes Must Be Raised, Trumpets Stockman’s Crusade.”
From September: “Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus ‘Despondent’ Over Castle’s Defeat and O’Donnell’s ‘Scary’ Win.”
The comments during the roundtable on the Sunday, November 14 This Week with Christiane Amanpour on ABC:
PAUL KRUGMAN: The cost of permanently extending just the upper end of Bush tax cuts, as opposed to only extending the middle class tax cuts, the 75-year cost of that is just about identical to the 75-year accounting shortfall in Social Security. So we’ve got people who are saying “oh, Social Security, we’ve got to do something about it,” but “let's extend those tax cuts for rich people.” This is showing how the priorities are all skewed.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: But what is going to happen? I mean, are you clear on where a compromise is going to be? It's got to be discussed before the end of the year, no?
KRUGMAN: No. Some years down the pike we're going to get the real solution which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It’s going to be that we’re actually going to take Medicare under control and we’re going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT.
AMANOUR: On the tax, for the Bush ones specificly.
RUTH MARCUS: I think we know where this is coming out. It's not where it should come out, but I think because everybody agrees that we're going to extend the tax cuts for 98 percent of the people and because the President does not have the votes to not extend the rest, what we're going to do is have some kind of extension for a few years perhaps, and Senator Warner from Virginia has suggested this, perhaps we could tweak those cuts to actually make them more attractive to business, more stimulative, more intelligent.
This is not my preference. I think that the conversation right now is deranged. We have in one room the deficit commission folks saying look at this huge hole, look at the tax increases and serious spending cuts that we need to do to fill it. And then outside the room, we're having a debate about whether we should add $4 trillion to the deficit long-term or a mere 3.3. This is crazy.
— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
Blank checks
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 3:17pm.
Well, surprise surprise, these idiots think that it's ok for the federal government to have a blank check. They also don't know the meaning of cutting/stopping spending.
Now that's deranged.
-Jon
Jon. . .
Submitted by rick.bren on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 3:29pm.
You are absolutely spot on!! . The left NEVER thinks of cutting spending - just TAX, TAX, TAX and SPEND, SPEND , SPEND!
Encourage Them To Speak!
Submitted by rammingspeed on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 3:25pm.
These idiots are completely out of their pinko closets, which means the end for them is near. Free market (equals free people making their own choices and keeping their own money) economics utterly destroys the collectivist/redistribution model to which these Marxists cling. People get educated fast when you're trying to literally steal their money. You cannot run a government by blithely saying to the people, "I'm going to take your hard earned money and arbitrarily give it to others." Ain't never gonna fly. Bye-bye!
WHAAAA???
Submitted by American Infidel on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 3:35pm.
It's now "deranged" to not raise taxes during a deep recession?
I wonder how often Ruth
Submitted by MikeB on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 3:44pm.
I wonder how often Ruth Marcus writes a check payable to the U.S. Treasury because she thinks her taxes are too low. If it's "deranged" to not raise taxes, then she needs to pony up. I wonder what her idea of a sane tax rate is: 35%? 55%? 105%? Maybe she needs to move out of her home and let someone who has greater need of it than she does move in. Twit!
Rates vs. Revenue??
Submitted by drydino on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 4:19pm.
The Leftists can't seem to rally enough IQ points to differentiate increasing tax rates from increasing gross tax revenues!! They refuse to understand that people's response to their actions is predictable. If you increase tax rates on the rich, they won't spend (put back into the economy) or donate as much. You can't count the perceived revenue increase, but ignore the obvious reactionary decrease. Remember when they thought a high tax on yachts was such a great idea, until yacht sales tanked and the yacht industry employment collapsed. They "assumed" yacht sales would continue at the same rate. You can't expect people to support you when you ignore the potential consequences of your actions, then complain about the very predictable "unintended consequences"! It took a very long time, but our society learned to hold people responsible for their actions when they drink and drive. Sure, it was not their intention to kill someone when they started drinking, but we no longer allow their actions to be treated as an "accident". The same goes for Leftist tax and spend ideology - They may not intend to destroy the economy with their actions, but their road to Hell is well paved.
"You keep using that word...
Submitted by HockeyKid on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 5:29pm.
...I don't think it means what you think it means."
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Ruth Marcus, Paul Krugman, and Christine Amanpour
Submitted by Texndoc on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 5:51pm.
Oh, Lordy, thank heavens I was pre-occupied with something else. ANYthing else. Any new ratings info?
All part of the Plan!
Submitted by circusstorm on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 5:57pm.
Dem's new they could never get higher Taxes passed... The plan since 06 was to spend like no man has ever seen before... Spend on thier constituents and their interests which by the way does Zero for economic growth... Then go to the American People and say "We have no choice but to raise taxes"... The internet has unleashed conservatism and all but killed the main street coverups that used to happen... Your day of reckoning has come! look out in 12!
Know (sic) worries, little storm
Submitted by Blonde on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:23pm.
When we take over (like we "new" we would) in 2012, we will have all of the voter registration rolls at our disposal....guess what?
We're going to implement a higher tax rate for you democrats, since you are so in love with them.
Normal tax rate = 25%. Democrat = 35%, Republican = 15%.
Since ya'll love taxes so much, we're just going to make it very, very fair. You love them, you pay them.
Cheers!
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Love it J
Submitted by Denny Crane on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 3:22am.
If you're not sure, register independant, 25%
If you want bigger gov, pay 35%
If you want less gov, pay 15%
"Lib free or die"
We Are The 53%
who is deranged?
Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 6:22pm.
Maybe this is not a good time to be raising taxes.
Here in La the prices of rice, soy beans, and sugar has risen due to weather problems and damages to crops.It appears to be a problem in other parts of the world as well. Cuba has produced its smallest sugar cane crop in decades, coffee is at an all time low production as well. Taxes maybe a mute point in a few years when there is also no food available.
http://www.basearticles.com/Art/125242/117/Food-Prices-Rise-Tension-of-the-World.html
Cajun, im sure you have been
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 6:40pm.
Cajun, im sure you have been around long enough to know that prices go up and down. In my local stores milk is 99 cents a gallon and I scarfed 2 pineapples for 99 cents each. There will be food and we could all raise food in our own gardens. Of course there is the Biblical type of famine where nothing will grow; but in that case I don't plan to be on the Earth.
Dan, here's a thought*
Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:01pm.
Commodities are sold for next years crop. Farmers are being paid by the govt. not to grow certain crops. Rice and cane are crops that take a year to grow then harvest. La producers are talking about the poor production this past harvest. Depending upon the available storage from last years crops, you will begin to see rising prices by mid 2011. Rice and cane are not harvested until Aug and Sept. Supplies available will run out before the next harvest. Nobody wants to cause a panic, but when you read articles about food production being down, harvesting poor, you rarely see in depth analysis of the meanings of these shortages in terms of supply, always its about costs. That is deceptive.Add the speculation of rising inflation . GIve that some thought.
Selfishness
Submitted by Mike in AZ on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 6:25pm.
I recently had a conversation with some friends of mine regarding how the left side of the political spectrum views people wanting to keep more of their own money as selfish. My response to them was that sticking one's hand out for redistributed wealth or demanding someone else pay for what one wants is what's selfish.
You could easily substitute the word "greedy" for "selfish".
Beware of prophets seeking profit.
- Dennis Miller
Here's the debate in a
Submitted by deerjerkydave on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 6:27pm.
Here's the debate in a nutshell: Should the ruling class get a bailout during the Great Recession which was created by the ruling class?
Only Californians and Big Media journalists would say YES to that question.
------------------------
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. -James Madison10 Second Answer to all of Barack Obama's Policies
Submitted by Retired Geek on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 6:31pm.
Liberal Progressives do you want to know EXACTLY what happened in the 2010 Election?
Democrats are you wondering how America is ACCEPTING 'Hope and Change'?
Barack Obama supporters do you want to see the FUTURE for Obama's Policies?
The answer to all of these questions are answered for you and MORE in just 10 Seconds on my Blog.
I added the 'Official Seal' of the Democrat Party, changed from the Jack*ss because of the 2010 Elections - the Democrats are becoming desperate.
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Obama's policies, the madness
Submitted by celator on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:02pm.
Obama's policies, the madness we see in Washington, the soul searing corruption of radical left wing policies can be described by these lines from Yeats' "The Second Coming":
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
But we are changing that; we WILL correct course, or we are surely doomed.
Deranged?
Submitted by Phryj1 on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:26pm.
Keeping more money in the private sector so that people can use it to create jobs and wealth? Only a hardline statist/leftist would think that's deranged.
And do they not realize that increasing tax rates can actually cause lower revenues? Krugman's 75-year projections regarding tax revenue are completely worthless (no surpirse there). He assumes that economy won't be hurt by increased taxes and that unemployment won't go higher as a result. Buth Krugman and Marcus outright refuse to consider that locking in the current tax rates would get people spending money and stimulate growth and job creation, and in turn lead to higher tax revenues. Who's deranged now?
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
Ceteris paribus.
Submitted by drsamherman on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 9:42pm.
As I dust off 30+ year old neurons that hold memories from freshman classes, all economic assumptions are made on a ceteris paribus (all other things being equal) basis. That means Paul Krugman thinks the world will stop for 75 years while his predictions come true. Whenever has anything been that static?
Paul ignores the history of tax cuts for the last 50 years. JFK cut taxes--the economy grew. Reagan (favorite president!) cut taxes--the economy grew. W Bush cut taxes--the economy grew. Ear Leader wants to increase taxes and the economy is already in the toilet. Apparently Paulie needs such a radical rectocraniotomy...............
As an economist, I know that
Submitted by rbosque on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 8:15pm.
As an economist, I know that even raising taxes during a recession is "deranged". Perhaps the gov't should go on a diet instead...
Economists
Submitted by 26CX on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 8:22pm.
I have it on good authority that there are only two economists in the entire world who really understand the US economy.
They are both working in Washington.
They vehemently disagree with each other.
Who'll play the petulant teenager?
Submitted by thestalkinghorse on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 9:34pm.
The predictably childish reactions of the left and right to the budget blueprint unveiled by the co-chairs of President Obama's debt commission offer the president a chance to play a role to which he may be uniquely suited: the grown-up in the room....Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/11/14/it-s-deranged-not-raise-taxes-washington-post-s-marcus-declares-abc-s-r#ixzz15JIvUig0 That's rich!
Aiming for that middle-of-the-road audience
Submitted by thestalkinghorse on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 9:45pm.
Paul Krugman, Ruth Marcus and Christian Amanapour? Where was Amy Goodman? What will they do for an encore, Bahgdad Bob?
I've started the countdown clock on Christaine's tenure at This Week. Would anyone care to establish the over/under?
Soon, it will be announced
Submitted by Chris Norman on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 12:27am.
Soon, it will be announced that Ms. Amanpour is leaving This Week to go on "special assignments" and do "news specials" - one of which may actually be aired. And that will be the end of that.
Let's change the tax code.
Submitted by Denny Crane on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 3:50am.
Once and for all.
63000 pages of tax code is rediculous.
Fair tax or a sales tax. as long as it is not progressive.
I actually like the sales tax, because it only taxes you on what you buy. If you save the money, you get to keep all of it.
What these left wing morons won't tell you is that by raising the taxes on the "rich" you don't actualy get more money from them. When taxes get raised on the truly rich, they have teams of accountants that can find all the loopholes in the tax code, they can legaly hide their money in different funds, or offshore accounts. Raising taxes only hurts the small business owner that usually do their own books, or hire 1 accountant. It also discourages the Entrepenuer from taking the chance of investing their life saving in a new venture.
Why is the threshhold 250 grand? Because most of the "top 2%" is actually in the 250 grand to 5 million range. Also known as "small business owners" If they raised the rate on only those that make more than 5Million, first the revenues would be very very minimal. And second, those people can find the loopholes to not pay anymore anyway.
So the whole canard of "taxing the rich" really means "tax small business".
"Lib free or die"
We Are The 53%
Close...
Submitted by NevadanConservative on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 4:42am.
but the would be dictators do not want ANY competition of any size in ANY endeavor. The State is ALL.
More accurately wold be that BHO et al want to tax the nongovernment parts of America in order to feed and pay off the government parts.
And if taxing does't do it, co-opting them will, by force if need be.
Stalin's purges of peasant kulak farmers were not driven quite so much by their being independent per se, but that they were making State kollectivs look bad. Khruschev had enough sense to leave em alone after a fashion. (That, and the higher-up Soviets LIKED having fresh fruits and vegetables that the workers seldom saw.)
My birth state of Iowa alleviated themselves of "Chester Chester Family Farm Molester" Culver for a governor. He and BHO's Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, have more or less over the past decade pretty much handed the ag industry in the Hawkeye State over to Archer Daniels Midland, who would in a moment kowtow to BHO etc. They have been especially mean to the significant Mennonite and Amish populations. Look to see amerinskiya kollectivs within a year of a BHO 2012 win, and look for em to start in Iowa.
Yes, I am beating the drum and beating it early and often. More to the point I am beating the drum while I still can.
NVCon, who is proud to live in a country where one can have that Russian miracle: melon and strawberries on the same plate.
POLL QUESTION
Submitted by billb on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 9:08am.
Poll Question for the middle class person on the street: "Do you think your boss should have his taxes raised?"