This blog printed on 100% recycled electrons.
- The new health insurance reform law creates a patient's bill of rights that increases your liberty when you go to the doctor. Taking effect this fall, those rights include the right to keep your health insurance when you get sick, choose your own doctor, and get emergency care without insurance companies restricting payment to only their chosen network of facilities. Of course, South Dakota's GOP House candidate, Kristi Noem, wants to take those rights away from you.
- The Troubled Asset Relief Program is a moneymaker. So far, we're $10 billion in the black, with the 61 banks that have fully repaid our Depression-stopping loans giving us a 10% return on investment (10%—and how's your portfolio doing?). One big reason banks have hustled so hard to pay back our loans: executive salary caps! The sooner the banks pay their loans, the sooner their executives can get back to making millions more than the $500K cap we imposed as a condition of taxpayer largesse. I guess socialism can be an effective motivator.
- President Obama also appears to be helming an economic recovery... or so says Warren Buffett, a fellow not known for economic wishful thinking. Buffett disputes Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman's contention that we are slipping into a Third Depression. Buffett says the stimulus was the right thing to do, has worked, and will keep working, producing a better economy over the next few years. He does agree that we need to check the debt as the crisis passes and confidence rises, but he also thinks making cuts on the backs of the unemployed is a bad idea.
In other words, keep on truckin', Mr. President!
His truck is going to come to slow way down in 2010 and come to halt November 2012.
ReplyDeleteStarting Jan 1, 2011
The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:
- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%
The return of the Death Tax.
Higher tax rates on savers and investors.
"No Family making less then $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase" --King Hussein
One Term President.
Aaron: Whether you agree with the president on policy or not, one thing is certain he is a politician and understands what constitutes political suicide.I think that a bet on the lame duck congress passing many extensions after November is safe money. I do agree though that the wealthiest 3 to 5% will be paying higher taxes in the very near future.
ReplyDeleteAaron, would you mind taking a moment and describe your education and whether you've ever been convicted of a felony?
ReplyDeleteFirst off, things are getting better, but get real Aaron, somebody has to pay taxes and get us out of this Bush mess. You may be too young to remember the false notion things would trickle down.
ReplyDeleteThe "Death Tax" is just sly Republican marketing. Estate taxes are only paid by the top 0.27% of Americans.
The wealthy have to pay more and revive the middle class.
http://www.faireconomy.org/news/estate_tax_faqs
Here's an interesting article for Aaron to check out. Eye opening.
ReplyDeleteIs Aaron part of that top percent?
If the great O has "fixed" the economy and invested wisely, why are we now being threatened with a VAT tax and a transaction tax? Why did he just appoint a Medicare overseer who wants to ration health care with his eyes wide open? Why is he going after cap and tax? Why more regulations on banks lending? Why more restrictions on growth of small businesses which restricts hiring and economic growth? What about the false promises from O et al that this new health care plan will be cost effective, which we all know now was a blatant lie just to get the monstrosity passed?
ReplyDeleteThe three things you claim as benefits with Obamacare could have been accomplished without this massive health care bill boondoggle that even the CBO says is NOT cost effective. Noem does not want to take these rights away from anyone. However, she also knows that there are better ways to accomplish the same things without bankrupting our nation and threatening the economic future of our children and grandchildren to pay for it.
Where is the money repaid into TARP going? It should be applied to our national debt, but apparently not.
And if you consider GM's repaymetn of TARP loans, read, "The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were "repaid" with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the Administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials. When these criticisms were put to GM’s Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky in a television interview yesterday, he admitted that the criticisms were valid: "That is in effect true."
http://mcauleysworld.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/gms-alleged-tarp-repayment-obama-adminstration-helping-gm-avoid-tarp-tax/
And as far as banks repaying their TARP loans, "`More than 90 U.S. banks and thrifts missed making a May 17 payment to the U.S. government under its main bank bailout program, signaling a rising number of lenders are struggling to meet their obligations." "While many of the largest U.S. banks easily repaid billions in TARP aid, more than 600 smaller banks still hold $130 billion from the program, created at the height of the financial crisis." Following is the link dated 6-16-10.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10929727
Evidently how you view the present economy and O's handling of it depends on the degree of rose color in your glasses.
Much is perception. Try to find a concrete man to do some work. Locally they don't see a slow down. The electrician said work is crazy busy and the media should stop with all the negativity. I beg to differ, but my take is established people are doing fine.
ReplyDeleteHere's an interesting Salon article on why low taxes may be causing our recession: http://www.salon.com/news/great_recession/index.html?story=/opinion/feature/2010/07/09/jobs_taxes_sirota
ReplyDeleteJackie, John -- excellent articles! And note that as usual, Aaron offers the standard talking points of his conservative friends without offering any connection to the facts offered in the original post. Major investor and taxpayer Warren Buffett doesn't sound concerned about the taxes Aaron hyperventilates about.
ReplyDelete[And Aaron, if you're going to make a political point a person's name, be careful: "Aaron" is a popular Jewish name, isn't it? And doesn't oneof your in-laws like citing anti-Semitic websites? I could concoct all sorts of silly name arguments, maybe call you "Rabbi Aaron" to undercut your authority among various folks with irrational dislike of Jews... but I don't need to make such deceptive and unconscionable appeals to bigotry to support my arguments.]