Let us again speak of the limits of civility in political discourse

By R.K. Barry

Yesterday Paul Krugman wrote about the hurt feelings the Republican leadership claimed upon listening to President Obama's speech on the economy last week. They seemed not to like, as Krugman points out, Obama's assertion that the Paul Ryan plan is cruel nonsense and should be exposed as such.

It was richly ironic to be reading about Republican hurt feelings on a day when right-wingers across the country were gathering to listen to the likes of Donald Trump, Michele Bachman and Sarah Palin, who have drawn serious attention to themselves by calling our president all manner of nasty names like "socialist, "the guy who wants to off grandma," and the "worst president ever," etc., etc.

In that context, having Republicans claim insult was a little odd.

Don't get me wrong. Civility has its place but not, perhaps, so much in the current context in which, as Krugman writes, "the two parties have both utterly different goals and utterly different views about how the world works."

Krugman continues:

It’s not nice to say this (but the truth is rarely nice): whatever they may say, Republicans are not concerned, above all, about the deficit. In fact, it’s not clear that they care about the deficit at all; they’re trying to use deficit concerns to push through their goal of dismantling the Great Society and if possible the New Deal; they have stated explicitly that they want to reduce taxes on high incomes to pre-New-Deal levels. And it’s an article of faith on their part that low taxes have magical effects on the economy.

Obama and Democrats generally tend to believe that major social programs are worth protecting, having extended them with health care reform. They tend to accept the fact, and the research to support it, that tax cuts for the wealthy are not the cure-all for what ails us.

So, the battle lines seem to be drawn. If civility means that we sit around politely chatting while Republicans tell lies about their true intentions, I want no part of it. While I hope we would all reject violence, I see no downside to taking to the streets to scream at the top of our lungs if necessary that we will not calmly debate the contours of a new economic regime that sees the rich get richer and the rest of us fight over the scraps.

Civility is all too often code language for passivity - and passivity always works in the interest of those who already have the power.

When it has been necessary to stand up for justice, fairness and equality, Americans have frequently found the strength to do so, whether for civil rights, women's right, gay rights or to oppose the war in Vietnam. In each instance, those who were being challenged could be heard bemoaning the lack of civility shown by protestors. You could always count on that.

The reshaping of our society proposed by Republican lawmakers and activists certainly requires the kind of push-back we saw in these earlier movements. If it doesn't happen in a way that is civil enough for them, I don't really care.

(Cross-posted to Lippmann's Ghost)

Thank you, President Obama

By Creature

You gave a speech the country needed.

The Fine Print of the Obama Tax Cuts

by Distributorcap

There was a lot of high-fiving in Congress during December. For a legislative body that is suppose to administer the direction of the country - the past year was filled with a lot of purposeful dissemination of misleading (or wrong) information, partisan fighting (not bickering) and downright GOP obstruction. But somehow after the Democrats suffered a complete thrashing in November, this Congress, much to the chagrin of assholes like Steve King and Jim Demint, managed to pass a bunch of important bills and laws.

The hateful and bigoted DADT - gone. The 9/11 rescue workers are finally getting some long overdue (but not nearly enough) compensation. The START nuclear treaty approved and in place. But no bill was as controversial as the gargantuan tax bill that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. By signing this bill, Obama reneged on his promise of reversing those poorly-timed, ill-conceived and ultimately destructive Bush tax cuts for the uber-wealthy. But the Republicans were in-transient, holding hostage all tax cuts by requiring that the uber-rich continue to receive those favored brackets. As ransom for this tactic, Obama added a couple of breaks and packages for the not-so-wealthy (aka as the people the GOP could care less about). This way the middle class would continue to benefit from the lower rates and everyone could share in the pain of increasing the deficit another $800 billion. All this was done [allegedly] for just two more years.

Be careful what you negotiate for.

The continuation of lower marginal tax rates will bring a lot of smiles to those with high incomes. In addition, the Obama tax cuts (they no longer belong to Bush) also changed some business accounting rules to encourage investment. For those currently on unemployment - a lifeline was extended. And for the middle class, the lower tax brackets will continue to put a few extra shekels into their purses (if they don't get eaten up by the fees the banks will now charge to compensate for limitations in the Financial reform bill).

What is barely discussed anywhere in the media is that this massive treasury give-away (remember we are still paying for an endless, useless and aimless war) does nothing for the long-term unemployed. Those folks - the ones who have used up their 99 weeks of benefits - did not receive one iota of help. Buried in the fine print of the bill is the mathematical certainty that the working poor - those families making under $40,000, the ones that needed this break the most - will actually will pay more in taxes. And finally that the payroll tax holiday for FICA (social security) is most definitely the first nail in the coffin to the end of Social Security as we know it. As the cherry on the sundae - let's not forget that we get to do this all over again in 2012.

I have said from the beginning that I believe this was a really, really bad bill. After reading the tea bags for this bill - we should only hope that is it just bad - my gut is now telling me it will be catastrophic.

First, the unemployment insurance extension is only for 14 months, while the tax breaks are for two years - ain't that a peach for those living on the edge. After 99 weeks of government benefits expires - you are on your own - it's time to find your inner Ayn Rand. And all this has to be renegotiated in 2012 - during the Presidential and Congressional election season. Try talking about higher taxes to a population that thinks every tax increase is just a code word for wealth transfer to Cadillac driving unemployment queens (not for the useless wars, snow removal or police protection). And if the teabag movement gathers anymore steam (aided and abetted by the media, which loves the drama they bring to the screen) - forget about anyone talking higher taxes.

Worse is what this bill does to the lower classes, working poor and Social Security. Part of this bill was a payroll "tax holiday" for those contributing to FICA. The current rate was 6.2% of your pay, up to an income cap of $106,800 (or a max of $6621). For 2011, that rate drops to 4.2% (or $4485). Everyone gets some sort of break, but those earning over the cap will get the full $2136. Let's take a look at the math of this.

Around 12% of the country earns more than $106,800 - so those people will get the full benefit of the holiday. Let's assume 26 paychecks (bi-weekly pay) - that means anyone over the cap gets an additional $82/check. For those making over the "magic" number of $250,000 (the level the tax debate kept deferring to) - they already come home with well over $4500 per check.  That $82 starts to look like a rounding error.

I am not minimizing this amount - for people on the bottom end of the pay scale, every dollar counts. Let's look at it from the perspective of your "average Joe-the-Plumber." The median annual income in the US is just below $50,000. That means this tax holiday will save those families (yes I realize it depends on one/two income families - but I am just trying to simplify things) around $1000 - not chump change. Again at 26 paychecks - those families will see a bump of $38 per check. I am no psychologist - but there is definitely a different mentality in spending/saving when someone receives one check for $1000 versus a stream of payments of $38 over 12 months. My fear is that the $38 (which won't even fill up a car today) - will get lost on lunch, Starbucks, clothing and other assorted non income generating savings. It is easy to deposit $1000 in a savings account/mutual. It is even easier to spend $38 on unnecessary things.

But the administration tell us that the idea of the payroll "holiday" is to get people to buy shit - even if it is only $38. On the macro level it all sounds well and good. The Government estimates that 2% drop in the FICA rate is worth $120 billion - and they also tell us those dollars will go straight into the economy and help create jobs. Keep dreaming. If people use it to pay down debt - (and many people in the lower brackets have way too high debt loads) - well that generates ZERO economic growth. They are just paying for crap they already used. And if we continue to buy cheap crap from overseas - well it will help the unemployment rate -- in India or Taiwan.  Remember the "pre-paid refunds" Congress gave 3 years ago - that $250 check - where was all the benefit?  Until confidence is restored, and people pump up demand naturally and start spending for real reasons (not by plopping $38 into a paycheck) - this payroll tax holiday is nothing more than macro-bubble economics and window dressing.

There is a deep dark side to this payroll holiday. Remember that Americans are like Pavlov's dogs when the bell is rung for tax increases - they bark, complain and vote out the ones who supported an increase.  Let's see how quiet the teabaggers are when this cut is about to expire. Want to bet it gets extended - indefinitely. Which of course means payments into the Social Security trust fund (the one with all the IOUs signed by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush) will start to be underfunded even quicker. Guess what can of orange pekoe tea worms is being opened? You don't have to be an economist to combine an aging (65+) population, a growing income disparity, an economy that is NOT going to return to pre-2000 employment levels anytime soon and an underfunded Social Security system to see you are creating teabagger paradise - the end of the New Deal - and a lot sooner than they ever dreamed of.

What people should do is take that payroll holiday bonus (whatever amount it is) and automatically invest it in some sort of savings/retirement account - knowing that Social Security is not the third rail anymore. Want to bet that doesn't happen?

Finally - lets look at those working poor. In 2010 any single person earning between $6450 and $75,000 (or two-income family earning between $12,900 and $150,000) was eligible for a $400 ($800) Making Work Pay tax credit. That break is now gone - replaced by the payroll tax holiday. Let's say you are a two-income family that earns $38,000 (which 40% of the households in the country top out at!). Your $800 Making Work Pay credit is gone in 2011, but you now get (thanks to the great negotiating skills of President Obama) the FICA tax holiday - which is worth $760. So at the end of the year - you have a net tax increase of $40! Anyone making less will have an even bigger increase. The break-even point is $40,000. Based on this little math game - over 40% of all American families - the ones with the lowest incomes - will actually pay more in taxes - while those fine folks at $250,000 who are enjoying an additional $2,136 for Ferragamo shoes, Parada bags, Beluga caviar, and Dom Perignon champagne. Want to bet that a good chunk of that aforementioned 40% are teabaggers?

I wonder how many teabaggers bothered to read the bill, do the math - or realize that no matter how angry they get...... well let them eat tea cakes with Asti Spumonte.

Oh - 43.6 million Americans (or 14% of the country) lives below the poverty level - which is around an income of $21,700 for a family of four. In 1980, before the dawn of trickle down your pants tax cuts - that number was 27 million or 12%.  Pretty pathetic for the richest country on Earth.

Progress in America: DADT goes down

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

The Senate voted to repeal DADT on Saturday. We've written about DADT a lot here, and I won't repeat myself here, but I must say that while I am neither gay nor in the military, nor even American, I am incredibly happy about this. It was a hard-fought victory for the opponents of this bigoted policy, a victory not just for President Obama and the Democrats in a partisan political sense but more broadly for liberty, for the noble principles for which America purports to stand.

I may not be American, but I have roots in America, and I genuinely love America, and yesterday, I believe, America took a significant step forward in its progress towards justice.

Here's the Times:

The Senate on Saturday voted to strike down the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their sexual orientation.

By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the Clinton-era law, known as "don't ask, don't tell," a policy critics said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated gay, lesbian and bisexual troops as second-class citizens.

Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse the ban, and said it was "time to close this chapter in our history."

Of course, there is still a lot more to be done. While gays and lesbians will be able to serve openly, to fight and die for their country, we must remember that they do not enjoy equal rights as American citizens. They are still subjected to widespread bigotry, in particular with respect to marriage.

America has come a long way, but the fight must continue. Those noble principles often seem like little more than aspirational and unachieveable goals, but now, after this historic vote, and with Obama's signature soon to come, they are more within reach.

The forces of darkness, mostly within the Republican Party, will continue to do all they can to block progress from their perches on the wrong side of history, but they must be overcome if America is ever truly to achieve her potential.