I agree.

BUT...they are claiming victory by "their rejection of early Democratic efforts to pay for the payroll tax cut by boosting taxes on millionaires".

So rest assured republican base, they still have your back.

Anyone that doesn't think politicians in both parties sometimes vote for bills they don't like for political reasons is fooling themselves. Reps do it and Dems do it - and they do it because we, the voters, demand it.

The only reason they (Republicans) compromised is that it is a TAX CUT. To do otherwise would have broken their pledge to Norquist.

Rich, Poor... The common theme is this is for Americans. That said, how in todays world does anyone justify a vote for a package that would provide unemployment bennefits to illegal aliens?

Both Dems and Repubs are broke and clueless to how voters feel if they have to cator to an illegal segment of people that are putting a drian on this country and the middle class because they are afraid of getting re-ellected.

Republicans abandoned provisions from a House-passed bill that would have required the jobless to pursue a high school equivalency degree to get benefits and let states require recipients to undergo drug testing.

States would be able to test applicants who lost their job because they failed a drug test or are seeking a job that requires one.

They also dropped other House-passed language forcing low-income people to have Social Security numbers to get government checks by claiming the children's tax credit, a move that was aimed at illegal immigrants and caused a furor among many Hispanics.

This says it all. The Dems aren't out to represent the productive citizens of the United States, but illegal immigrants and drug users.... Just sayin'

By allowing the payroll tax cuts to continue without an understanding of how and who is going to pay for them, the GOP is giving the Dems just enough that will cause the economy to collapse just a little more before Nov. 2012.

The weaker the economy, the more likely that there will be a new President next year. In addition, by saying we went along with President Obama and the Democrats, it can be used to show just how out of touch with reality the President and the Democrats are when it comes to the economy.

ABO '12

We'll just have to wait and see if Harry just says"NO" to this House bill like he has every other time they send him something. It is Harry and the democrats in the Senate that are the party of NO.

It may only be a crack in the gigantic wall between the two parties but, it is a crack. Regardless of the spin the repubs or demos put on it at least they have done some agreeing.

The congressmen and women are nervous about 'winning' in November and will spin it to make themselves look better than their opponent. They should be nervous all the time, a 10% job approval rating should get you fired! They should be nervous.

Not so quick....

The GOP leadership may be on board, but you can bet the Tea Party members will fight this tooth and nail using every maneuver they can to prevent it from being passed. It will still end up passing with a majority but it could be a dirty fight, especially if one of the GOP nominee candidates comes out against it.

My bet is that Gingrich, Santorum, and Paul could all come out against it. Romney will hedge and not be clear until its passage is certain, then he'll be for it. If it is certain to fail, he'll then be against it.

They also dropped other House-passed language forcing low-income people to have Social Security numbers to get government checks by claiming the children's tax credit, a move that was aimed at illegal immigrants and caused a furor among many Hispanics.

You don't need a SS number to file your taxes and get money back? So they can fake a few names and really live well off the back of honest tax payers? When will the stupidity of rewarding poverty stop and reward people that work hard and make an honest living?

PutAmericaFirst, you are spinning this tax cut issue in Congress. The two-month tax cut that the Democrats were pushing was for emergency purposes. Nothing was being done on this by House Leader to meet the deadline. It is fact that the Dems want to do everything possible to help the middle class and so would prefer a full year extension.

benramz2: "They are totally out of touch, and we went along with what they wanted to demonstrate that."

Yeah, that's the way to differentiate yourselves from your opponents - go along with them.

:eyeroll:

How are we going to pay for all this crap!!! The rich can only pay so much. Us, the middle class will have to be taxed to the hilt to pay for all these extensions and tax breaks. Extend unemployment benefits is a joke. Creating jobs is the answer. For the last 3 years minimal jobs creation has not helped. Obama has spent 5 trillion for jobs with little to no help. Obama can lie out his a$$ about all the jobs he has created. Where are they? Can he name one?? Oh yea, he did create jobs with that gas pipeline from Canada. Oh wait!! He vetoed that.

Since 2010 the Republicans won the House and some improvement in job creations has improved down to supposedly 8.3%. The President did not have anything to do this this. The House did!!!!

If this gets passed all should resign!!!

NOT true JH...the November House vote on the extension also said that Government spending had to be reduced 5 to 6 billion dollars per month as part of the agreement. That would have meant decreases in Medicare and other sources of entitlements. Truth is, Republicans held the government hostage and tried to blackmail the Democrats in order to pass the jobs bill. I am glad that Democrats said "NO"! That is the NO SPIN truth.

Republicans would rather not pay for tax cuts than to tax the rich. Nothing new here. Republicans are happy the unemployed will not receive as much assistance as the Dems wanted, even though unemployment is a-drop-in-the-bucket expenditure with the best stimulus results. Nothing new here.

You wait. Republicans will complain about how Social Security is going bankrupt, and will continue to block true economic recovery measures. They are victorious IF voters fall for it. Throw the Teapublican obstructionists out!

What's another 100 Billion? Just bill the children. So SSI gets 30% less from every paycheck. We can just borrow the money from China. Act like adults, spend only what we earn? Tell that to the 70% of the US taking from the Federal Gov't already!

Actually, it's a 2% less to SSI. It's also rolled into everything else so it adds to the deficit. Whether it goes to the middle class or whether it goes to the rich, we borrow it. Until cuts are made, we'll keep borrowing. Republicans are just as bad as Democrats.

A new Republican President won't cut spending either (unless you want Ron Paul to gut everything). That might be a reason to elect Obama again....at least he won't be worried about running for President again. Maybe we'll finally get a grand bargain.

So we de-fund social security to the tune of 110 billion dollars. I hope all of you that cheer for the $40 a month now are saving it for when you retire because they money we will be getting is an IOU.

FYI - They are NEVER going to be able to raise this back to 6.2% unless they add a 1/10 of percent on a year for 20 years. AND even then everybody is going whine on how they are raising the taxes on the poor.

Hey Stop, public education?

4.2 is what percentage of 6.2? 67.7%

Then if you subtract that from 100% you get?

32.3%

Actually, it's a 2% less to SSI.

12.4% total contribution to SSI, employee and employer. It is about a 16% cut to SSI funding. The previous poster only took the employees part of the equation.

PS> Somebody changed their post. Must have noticed they were wrong. :D

why would it come from medicare, why not from another source like welfare, food stamps, goverment workers. I've never seen a skinny welfare person, or someone on food stamps selling them for cigs,dope, beer and gov workers getting benefits that other americans don't-thats where all this money could come from.

Martvol - "So SSI gets 30% less from every paycheck"

Yes it is 32.3% from the Employees check.

But yes, overall it is around a 12% cut to SSI.

And people are cheering for this and still they think that SSI will be able to fund what the Government has promised them.

PutAmericaFirst

The pledge to Norquist doesn't have anything to do with tax cuts. It was about tax increases. You also need to remember that the GOP wanted the tax cut for a full year last December. It was the democrats who pushed for the two month cut.

You are forgetting one thing. You wing nuts claimed that letting a tax cut expire is considered a tax increase. You also need to remember that the dems wanted to extend unemployment for that year as well and republiCONS were blocking that effort.

PutAmericaFirst -- Okay, so the Teapublicans voted to keep the payroll tax cut, otherwise it would be a tax increase contrary to their Norquist pledge. Do you really believe the one year and two month crap? Oh sure, the Teapublicans wanted to extend the tax cut for a year WITH spending cuts to pay for it. And oh geez, you don't suppose the two-month extension was done so a deal could be hammered out as we are seeing now?

Mitty -- Thank you for reminding us about the drug tests and other Big Government expenses. But you forget that unemployment insurance premiums are paid by the employer, who is the one responsible for checking proof of citizenship. Why aren't Teapublicans requiring employers to eVerify against a government database?

BikeBoy-4484306 -- Where to begin... Though the economy is still too weak, I say let all the Bush tax cuts expire. Will that make you happy? As for the Canadian pipeline, you might note it is a Canadian company who employs Canadians.

All of you ragging on the republicans come off as really stupid. The country is broke and some responsible people are asking how to pay for things.

Mabe you can explain Harry Reid saying he wont do anything or work with republicans,he has stuff passed by the house just sitting there for months and wont even call for a vote,some are job programs and plans to help the country. Oh by the way i dont like either party,their all psychopath's playing with our lives.

It is to late Boehner, McConnel, Ryan, Cantor , and the rest of you Teapublicans. We the Middle class of America have seen what and who you Represent and it is clear it is not us, Your time in office is over come 2012, better start typing up your resume because you are going to need it

The bottom line is that we are back to a one party system that is intent on buying votes at the expense of Grandma and Grandpa and bankrupting our country. The 2% reduction in the payroll tax doesn't make a dent in the economy, but goes a long ways towards making sure the Social Security system goes broke quicker.

Typical dem solution to the healthcare problem, just pay the providers less. Won't be long until they get paid the same rate as janitors.

Of course, I'm sure some think it's a good think to allow people to sit on their butts longer while getting paid by the government. Of course, this is a totally unfunded mandate to the states, just like the previous extensions were. This resulted in states increasing unemployment premiums to employers, which raised the costs of hiring employees. I'm sure a lot of employers are jumping at the opportunity to do this! (sigh.....)

Ticked off, actually, you are the idiot.

The reason the Democrats voted down the Republican tax cut plan was that the Republicans had attached a lot of unrelated legislation to the original bill.

Typical Leftist , Liberal back bitting posts on here.

REPs give a tax cut to middle class and stop the medicare cut and all you negative people do is bitch.

OWS is nothing but class envy and class warfare at its best and does nothing but breed people who hate wealth and hate people who help others. No one wins with your negative attitudes.

Go to another country and tear them down and let us repair and fix this country as best we can.

Ex Tea "It is to late Boehner, McConnel, Ryan, Cantor , and the rest of you Teapublicans. We the Middle class of America have seen what and who you Represent and it is clear it is not us, Your time in office is over come 2012, better start typing up your resume because you are going to need it"

Why stop at 2%? Why don't we just stop paying in all-together (actually I am all for that)?

At what point do you think that Governments debt is going to hurt the middle class? Last year we paid about 250 billion just on the interest of the debt? Imagine is we won't have pissed about that 16 trillion dollars what we could do with a couple of hundred bill?

We actually have more poor people now then we we had a few billion in debt?

martvol #1.12,

touche`

Tom wrote: Hey Stop, public education?

4.2 is what percentage of 6.2? 67.7%

Then if you subtract that from 100% you get?

32.3%

First, the employer's share is NOT changing. It's going from 6.2% to 6.2% (I think that's the same, isn't it?). The emplyoEE's share is going down 2% (to 4.2%).

Second, let's do some math: For someone making $1,000 they would have put in 6.2%. That's $62. Now, they'll put in 4.2%. That's $42. So, $62 minus $42 is $20. Now, concentrate....$20 is 2% less on the $1,000. Add all the zero's you want, it'll still be a 2% reduction on what's being deducted, and what's going into SSI.

Perhaps Tom, your private education wasn't worth the money. Either that, or you studied funny math.

StoptheCannibals-2908428 - ...Until cuts are made, we'll keep borrowing.

So there's no other way to pay for things, like revenue? Revenue from a fairer tax code and from growing the economy?

It never occurs to folks that there is a minimum revenue needed (around 20% of GDP) to run the government, and "starve the beast" cuts in spending down to 16% or 17% of GDP means the only way to balance the budget is to close the government down. Stop with the anarchy. We have had the lowest tax rates since the 1950s, and lowest of all the last decade due to the Bush tax cuts.

Progressive tax rates will always be needed, but we should end all tax credits now -- on ALL income. Then when the economy is stronger, the Bush tax cuts need to expire for everyone.

Tom - Plymouth -- Are you only now outraged about an IOU in the Social Security trust fund box, only now? I believe there are much better ways to stimulate the economy, like the Jobs Bill, but the GOP/TP could only be "cajoled" into this temporary stimulus measure because it's a tax cut.

Tom

Maybe the GOP should of thought about debts and deficits before starting 2 wars, Remember Cheney Deficits dont matter? Shrub and his ilk drove the America I so Love in the Krapper, and yet I realize that it is going to take some expenditure to get the AMERICAN worker back to work, and when Americans are working they are paying taxes and when you have more coming in than going out, Then you can pay down the Debt, until then sit down and enjoy the ride, its a Beautiful day.

Obama/Biden 2012

Well said, WELL SAID Tom-Plymouth. Yes these PoliticoMaggots are due for the ScrapHeap....The SOONER THE BETTER. Try this INFORMATIVE Post about these Three, Now TWO, Criminals.Prez O is smart. He doesn't have to seriously campaign; Just let these RepublicanCrimeCartelThugClowns go public with their unacceptably criminal behavior, and Voila!!!!!

There they are!!!: All TV'd Up! Like Dracula, Frankenstein and The WolfMan; MittTaxPittance Rommel, THEGangrene and, last BUT NOT in the least, The WolfManVomitorium! YESSSSSS!!!!! First off is DRAC: aka MittTaxPittanceRommel, Who will START A WAR WITH Iran, And A very Profitable War for his RepublicanCrimeCartelCorporateMasters AT THAT!! The Count was "nice enough" to expose his taxes!! Hmmm...Let Me See Now...Drac paid 13% on $42,000,000 income EEEZZZZ MONEY: About 5million AND!!! WE American Taxpayer Victims PAID The Count's REMAINING $7,800,000 Tax Liability!!!! Thanks for SUCKING US Dry Drac!!! AND Aren't We "LittlePeople" Thrilled that The Count is nice enough to Let US have the Honor of Paying His Taxes!! He WILL ALLOW Even, the Poor, Whom HE HAS STATED He "DOES NOT CARE ABOUT" To coughUp his Tax Liability!; 'Long as they got A BloodyJob with deductions Drac can get his FANGS into their BloodMoney as small as it might be!
Then There is Frankenstein, err...THEGangrene who, with his department store mannequin "Other Half", will turn to Destructive Rage at the drop of a wrong word or moment!!! EGADZ, This SelfEntitled Creature of Pleasure will Start A War for his RepublicanCorporateMasters AnyWhere, AnyHow, AnyWay, EVEN On The Moon!, as long as there is profit and Franky gets a stipend from it!!! ANYTHING TheGangrene Touches will Putrify and Rot like what is left of OUR AmericanBodyPolitic!!! Watch Franky TRY to Come alive with "lightening" speed at the RepublicanNationalCrimeCartelConvention!!!
Now Comes The WolfMan Vomitorium... What Can be said!! Such a Goot'Lookin'Boy! Ooh Facime! What A Face! How WHOLESOME LOOKING!!!!!How could he do Anything Unsavory!!! BUT When The CORPORATE SYMBOLS Rise in his Bloody Eyes TheVomitorium begins his hungry and Very Hairy Growling for American Taxpayer's Blood!!!!
Yes!! THERE is your victim Wolfy!! Go and Savage It WolfMan with BloodLust Fangs and All! Our American UniversalHealthCare System!! All of OUR Allys have it, EVEN the TowelHeads Have A NationalHealthCareSystem!, This Political Beast Savaged and ALSO Struck down OUR Bill for AnAmericanNationalHealthCareSystem!!! Then, when The Killing Is Over, Out Steps The 'A nica'Boy Vomitorium; Ooohh!! How CleanCut!! Yes And so are His savage sever wounds on OUR AmericanHealthCareBill!!!!Brother And Sister American Putting these guys In Power is Having Dracula Guard our BloodBanks!!! You Saw What the Count Did......

Stop,

Yes, You get to keep 2% more of your paycheck. But, SSI takes a 16% total cut in its take per week. Tom is talking about the cut to SSI not savings on a paycheck.

Or, as Toms math shows, a 32% cut from the employees contribution to SSI.

Republicans who needs'em..

Ex Teabagger The government can spend all it wants but will never produce a long sustaining job. Only the private sector can produce jobs. You cannot buy yourself a job. Private companies provide jobs without cost to the person trying to land that job. There are some jobs that the government do provide but most of those are already filled and like my government job in which I lost is losing more everyday. There has been a hiring freeze for at least 10 years. And yes It is a beautiful day.

Lusitania Politicians who needs them. You must be a typical mindless Democrat. I dislike them all.

Jeff W.-3714508-- For every left-wing post you think is "meaningless bull$@!$%#" there are three times as many right-wing posts that remind "everyone on this vine how completely stupid (and truely out of touch) people on the" Right are.

BikeBoy-4484306 -- You might consider an econ 101 class, and start with supply and demand -- But in the meantime, if don't believe government can create jobs, then I'm sure you'll be the first to give up your tax credit "incentives." And zero-interest money from the Fed to the private sector, and someone to negotiate trade agreements, and most of all cut government jobs starting with the Teapublicans in the House who take a week off for every two weeks worked.

The payroll tax cut is the WORST possible idea. It's robbing an already bankrupt SS ponzi scheme system. Everyone knows this. The Republicans are morons for allowing this to pass. If they want to put another $80 a month in people's pocket, then just cut income taxes or issue a tax credit for those with incomes below a certain amount. A little more redistribution won't hurt at this point and at least the SS funds won't be drained of another $100 Billion. At the very least - find $100 billion in spending cuts for God's sake, to pay for it.

Liberal or conservative, everyone should be screaming about the amount of deficit spending that is happening. Our debt has increased by 50% in 4 years. This is insane and unsustainable.

This is hilarious, libies have to make their minds,

When Republicans agree with Democrats they are .......

not interestedd in doing the right thing for the American people

When Republicans desagree they are ......

not interested in doing the right thing for the American people

LOL

Yes, You get to keep 2% more of your paycheck. But, SSI takes a 16% total cut in its take per week. Tom is talking about the cut to SSI not savings on a paycheck.

Martvol,

Please take the time to really think about the reduction because you're just incorrect. It's a 2% reduction in the amounts being withheld from pay and a 2% reduction is what's going into the "lock-box". Just try to come up with an example using your 16%.

But, I repeat, the Social Security money coming from paychecks is commingled into the general funds of the government. It's really irrelevant whether the deficit comes from. What's important is that we do run a deficit. Social Security is going to be there or not be there for political reasons, not because we gave a 2% tax holiday.

Bikeboy

You sound like a Typical Teapublican always cryin about to much gubmint, well when you do lose your job, stand by your Teapublican conviction and dont apply for unemployment, that will only exacerbate our debt crisis, so dont be a HYPOCRIT get a tent and some bread and dont live off the dole, or like you and your ilk always say let the churchs provide or the private sector lol

Obama / Biden 2012

Tom- plymouth:

people just don't get it, that big 20 bucks your getting extra is to make sure you make it to work because of the gas increase obama said he can't do anything about, well he is the idiot that wants to go green, so that extra 20 a week add another 20 a week and he still makes money for the oil companies without people being the wiser.

medicare should never be touched, just another way of saying i will let the elderly die to shrink the population. pretty sick you ask me, but do you know something, i believe this is what the man had planned when he said, change and hope. anything else he has done amounts to piss in a snow bank.

So, this was all about strongarming the People's Executive Branch again, for getting the Public airwaves for the wireless companies that should have been leasing them, instead. 87% Bad for America move FROM THIS CONGRESS; again exploiting and holding the most vulnerable and middle class America issues of unemployment (that they've created and passed the Job Craetors share onto The People, by the way) and direct pocket spending money of the middle class to be used to extort the Public to get what they want for the 1%.

87% disapproval = 87% chance that America is getting The Sandusky Bends put to them, $$$hhh...yet again.

WE NEED A MASS RESIGNATION FROM THIS CONGRESS! WE NEED A NEW CONGRESS!

Stop, I didn't go to private school.

If you can't figure out that the Employee is paying 30% or close less than they were before. You are a complete moron.

With your numbers.

Second, let's do some math: For someone making $1,000 they would have put in 6.2%. That's $62. Now, they'll put in 4.2%. That's $42. So, $62 minus $42 is $20. Now, concentrate....$20 is 2% less on the $1,000. Add all the zero's you want, it'll still be a 2% reduction on what's being deducted, and what's going into SSI.

if I paid in 62 and now I pay in 42, The Gov is getting 30% less than not 2%.

Do you know what 2% of 62 is?

True Patriot, I was pissed when Clinton and Newt stole from it and bragged they balanced the budget.

Yet I continue to here backers of Clinton and Newt say how great that was.

Liberals you people just don't understand them, they have their own set of rules, and their own accounting formulas, this has nothing to do with what you were taught in school, what you were taught in school is to concrete, forget concrete its not flexible enough for use by liberals. you have to be able to twist any way you please or it wont work. remember if its wrong and you want to make it right you have to change the way people see it , if you pursue this long enough people will have to see it your way! if not keep pursuing. if you throw enough tantrums you will win just don't give up till they give in. so now we have established there is nothing wrong with Toms math he just choses to use the alternate form of "Arithmetic for liberals" because he can make it say whatever it is he wants it to say.

onjulia-

This says it all. The GOP is only interested in the PR spin and not at all interested in doing the right thing for the American people.

It is funny that you say this because Obama is not interested in helping the POOR as you claim, he is more interested in helping himself to $533 billion in tax payers money. He gave all that money to his top contributors and than they went bankrupt, you have the never to say the Rep don't care. Well Obama likes to blame everything on Bush but here are some FACTS, average unemployment under Bush 5.3% under Obama hasn't been under 8.3%. Obama said it was unpatriotic for Bush to have added $4.5 trillion to our deficit in 8 years, but under Obama we have added $5.2 trillion in just 3 years and his new budget will add $1.2 trillion more. So how I see it the Dem are only about the PR spine.

VOTE OBAMA OUT 2012

So there's no other way to pay for things, like revenue? Revenue from a fairer tax code and from growing the economy?

TruePatriot, my bad...you are correct. By cutting, I mean cutting the deficit, by spending cuts and additional revenues. If the economy takes off we would get additional revenues too. For now, I'm a believer in both closing loopholes (without cutting rates) and cutting spending.

Oskar, same goes for the Republicans that use those same excuses whenever Obama does something good for the country.

@PAF

You can try to spin it all you want but by definition when a tax cut expires it turns into a tax increase so the dig at Lord Norquist was appropriate.

Stop,

Lets use your gross pay of $1000 a week to keep the number round.

Normal rate of 6.2% is $62 to SSI. Employer kicks in their share, so total weekly contribution to SSI before rebate is $104. Now, subtract rebate off. $104-$20=$84 contributed to SSI.

84/104=80.76%

So the true cut to SSI funding per week from an employee/employer contribution is 19.24%.

A little Higher then what I had posted before.

And yes, on $1000 gross, the employee still takes how 2% more then he would have without the rebate. $20.

Whats with the name calling Bikeboy you sound and write like a little boy,

Democrats didn't sell us overseas, now that the damage is done blame both parties I get it, durrr.

Sorry Tom-Plymouth not directed at you.

Obama said. American people need the extension of the payroll tax cut because the price of gas is going up. I already use my payroll tax cut to suplply the increase of the price of food.LOL

During Bush era when the price of gas went up Democrats cry aloud , Maxime Waters told to one of the heads of the Oil company , if they don't lower the price of gas , the government will take over. Now , where are the Democrats when the price of gas is going to hit $ 4 dollars in spring. Where is Maxime Waters , where is Mr. Chu , what is their plan to get the price of gas down. They don't care about the american people.

Are people really this ignorant or are all of these right wingers just spewing the party line!

Folks most of his money will be dumped directly into the economy because it is money given to working and middle class Americans. Remember there is a cap on SS it only applies to income under $106,000. If they let it expire it would come right out of the economy, IN A RECESSION.

The Only Reason the GOP finally backed it is because the polls showed that they would be butchered come November if they voted against this while backing Tax cuts on income over $500,000.

The Dems finally have grown a spine and drawn a line in the sand. The GOP had to back down!

BILL,

I have a question, How many American Jobs were lost under the Bush Admin?

The unemployment rate was 5.3 very early on then the ECONOMY dumped,REMEMBER!

D Buck lotsanumbers:

You are under arrest for breaking Strix' Law. If you intend to be taken seriously, try to display at least a rudimentary grasp of the English Language. Punctuation is your friend.

the dems would not give them what they wanted ..they had to cave or lose the house and give the dems a super majority in the senate .. it may allready be to late for them .. you cant be against something like a tax increase on the midddle class and be for it six months before the election .. unfortunatly the middle class wont be able to forget how the repubs had to be brought to this kicking and screaming

Both sides of Congress did it for one reason only. They all knew their jobs were at stake come the next election.

Spg64,

"Folks most of his money will be dumped directly into the economy because it is money given to working and middle class Americans. Remember there is a cap on SS it only applies to income under $106,000. If they let it expire it would come right out of the economy, IN A RECESSION."

Why stop at 4.2%, why not get rid of it completely?

Why use SSI, why not use income tax?

FYI - Most people I know are taking the extra 40 - 50 bucks and saving it or paying down debt?

ummm, paying down debt instead of racking up more, what strange idea.

Tom: Pay down debt instead of racking up more? Great idea! I wish G W Bush had thought of it when he cut rich people's taxes and pissed away a budget surplus to do so.

Idslca, I agree with you except on the budget surplus myth.

Because Bush did it, doesn't mean it is OK that PBO continues to do it.

The Bush tax cuts have ended, they are now the Obama tax cuts. Just another fact for you libs.(not directed at dslsca)

Why is that Republicans automatically think that when one posts on the vine about Republican BS similar to PhantomBeast, (great post by the way) they always call you a liberal ? Talk about living in their own world..Scary stuff.

Tom: I see your point. I was wholly against extending them. When Boehner and McConnell said "We won't extend the tax cuts for working people if you won't extend them for rich people" Obama should have looked surprised and said "Well, thanks! I thought I'd have to bargain hard to get to you agree to let all the cuts lapse."

Lusitania Both parties are at fault. I am Not and nor will ever be a Democrat or republican. You sound like a typical politician. I don't like either parties because both are corrupt and no one wants to believe their party is bad. You sound like you have a problem with anyone that does not agree with you. I did not call you a name LITTLE GIRL!!

@TruePatriot

Thank you for reminding us about the drug tests and other Big Government expenses. But you forget that unemployment insurance premiums are paid by the employer, who is the one responsible for checking proof of citizenship. Why aren't Teapublicans requiring employers to eVerify against a government database?

First, the drug tests wasn't required, but would allow States to do so at their discretion.

Second, what does unemployment insurance have to do with "low-income people to have Social Security numbers to get government checks by claiming the children's tax credit"? If you're unemployed, you're not low-income, you're NO income. Try bulking up on your reading comprehension.

As for E-Verify, I totally agree. It gets me mad as hell that anyone would oppose it's mandated use.

All of this aside though, how does pointing out the faults of Republicans excuse the Democrats from refusing to hold people to account for their illegal actions? (illegal immigrants and drug users) Try defending a point, instead of redirecting the conversation. Otherwise you do nothing but concede the point.

Obama said it was unpatriotic for Bush to have added $4.5 trillion to our deficit in 8 years, but under Obama we have added $5.2 trillion in just 3 years and his new budget will add $1.2 trillion more. So how I see it the Dem are only about the PR spine.

Iam not voting for Obama but please get your facts right

Bush in 8 years racked up 4.88 Trillion Obama in 3 years 4.7 Trillion

This is going from 1/21/01-1/22/09 for Bush and 1/22/09 - today for Obama

I did round those to the nearest if you want exact I have posted it many times

O= Epic Fail

I AM SORRY,

I made a mistake in post 1.56.

Normal rate of 6.2% is $62 to SSI. Employer kicks in their share, so total weekly contribution to SSI before rebate is $104. Now, subtract rebate off. $104-$20=$84 contributed to SSI.

Nope. That should read "...total weekly contribution before rebate is $124. Now, subtract the rebate off..."

Which would give $104 contributed to SSI. Now divide that out 104/124=83.87%

That means a cut to the total SSI contribution of the 16.13% I had said before my gaff post.

I just took the 2% off twice. Again, sorry for any confusion. Good day.

One thing the small business owner or self employed now has to do is give themselves a W2 instead of a 1099. Thus paying the $42 & the other $62 for a total of $104.00

So cut the working class employee but screw the business owner over even more.

Gov't wants to take care of you and be your baby sitter but its small business that keeps america great and we are getting screwed left and right.

Good day

O= Epic Fail

The group that would be affected the most by letting the Bush tax cuts expire is the middle class...

Not when the ONLY Bush tax cut that was to be allowed to expire was on the top 2%.

I disagree. See Grandma, she knows.

Gramma

Did you "know" that if the only the top 2% expire it will not do much good. It will just raise about $600 billion over ten years. If they all expire it will mean about $3 trillion over ten years. We need the $3 trillion because President Obama can spend $600 billion in a few days.

I'm for letting them all expire and cutting spending. I just don't like the GOP pandering to the rich and then not defending the tax cuts for the less well off. We can all chip in and help pay this thing off. The Bush Tax Cuts have been a disaster anyway.

Brannon,

I agree with you - I was not in favor of the Bush tax cuts when they were enacted and I still don't like them. As a country, we need to be paying for the things we want now - not pushing the burden off on future generations.

If we let the top 2% tax cut expire and gain only $600 Billion over ten years, why does the GOP fight so hard on keeping it? I'm really confused about this. It seems to me it won't hurt that much so let that part expire. It's the least they could do for the biggest bail out we gave them! After all they did destroyed the economy!

JH, not sure where you got your numbers from, but if the top 2% of the country pay over 40% of the income tax in the country, either your first number is too low, are you 2nd number is too high. Either way, you are full of it.

I have ALWAYS said let them ALL expire. Take this assinine talking point away from the progressive/liberals. The Bush/Obama tax cuts helped the middle class and poor far more than they helped the rich anyway. Actually they hurt all of us in the long run just like these payroll tax cuts are going to hurt all of us down the road.

Look it up raddave - the numbers have been tossed around for some time now.

opp- The GOP has to pander to their base that is why. Their donors and lobbyist have been piling up money to defend those tax breaks. It has nothing to do with what is best for all moving forward. The Dems have the same problem with entitlements. It seems to me that the first group to realize we need both and really offer it as a solution will win big in the polls and at the ballots. There is a big middle sect in this country that is very reasonable.

The tax rates under bill clinton were ok with me.

Didnt Obama say he would put a windfall tax on profits of oil companys?was in speechs he gave when running,so what happened?

There are always things you would like to do and then reality sets in and you end up with only things you can pass. That would never make it through Congress no matter how strongly he feels about it.

Brannon: Yup, you are very smart! More jobs will definitely be created if those who create the jobs have less money to create them with. Duh...... The fact is that Obama would never have been elected if it hadn't been for Paulsen, the liberal repub ( ie: closet dem) hadn't scared the bejesus out of Bush a month before the 2008 election. The fact is that the economy was thriving under the first 7 years of the Bush administration. It wasn't doing bad under Bush's last year either. But, he mistakenly believed that we were heading for a catastrophe and and that led to TARP and the Obama election. Since then, it's been all down hill. The CBO said leave it alone and things will recover pretty quickly. They said "pass stimulus and the recovery will be slower." Guess what? They were right! Is the economy recovering? I guess it depends on what you look at. If you think 2.5 million less people working in January 2012 than in December 2011 is a recovery, than I guess it is a recovery in your mind. If you thing that 2.5 million less people working is an increase in the job production and a decrease in the unemployment rate, then the economy is recovering. If you wonder how losing 2.4 million employed people is a benefit, then you have a brain.

That's probably what Speaker Oompa-Loompa--er--Boehner means by "nailing down final details."

I have a question--In your mind what is the right thing to do? The greatest nation in the world is on a fast track to bankruptcy and all you demos can think of is how can we continue to spend more than we make. Who the hell is going to pay for all of this crap. By the way I want my 20k to pay down my mortgage. Oh that is right the banks are going to pay for it, if you don't believe my just ask that moron in the white house.

They tried to force the WH to make a decision within 6 months on the pipeline. I guess it worked because he made his decision. Not sure what requirement you are referring to Iowa.

The WH had already been "studying" the issue for 2 years.

ace, the 'bankruptcy' of America was starting to hit the wall in 2007. What moron was occupying the White House then? Yeah, YOU know who.

No they haven't Mr Spock, the proposed route was changed last year, meaning a new study had to be done.

So the new route leads to china?

The company building the pipeline has agreed to change the route, and have stated that they won't have a new route until the end of this year. So, the real question; is it smart to approve a project before you even know where it going to go? The republicans little tactic of forcing a decision on an open question leaves no choice but rejection.

fantomdog- A little American Gov't for you. The Congress holds the purse strings. That would mean the leadership on both sides of the houseare much more to blame than any sitting Prez. Granted Bush barely vetoed anything...but the out of control spending was due to pelosi and reid (D)'s.

obama still sux tho...

fam-you poor misinformed lib. How much has your president raised the debt? All he knows is give away give away. I love the photo opt that the lady took in Target. What a bunch of crap!!!!!!!!!!!! Fakes and lunnies in the WH.

Hey just because Bush was moron, does mean PBO isn't.

They both grew government and spend trillions more than we had.

To say one is better than the other because he wasn't quite as bad isn't a good standard to set.

the pipeline contractors say they will employ 200,000 people they claim the pipeline will need about 10 people for every mile of pipe layed .. the problem is those same 10 people move from mile to mile and the real total according to the gao will be more like 5,000 jobs

Leadership? What I see is they caved on their principles for political gain. I'd call it leadership if they insisted on paying for it in the future. Printing money is easy - the hard decision is to tell a voter they can't have what they want unless they give something up - and neither party appears willing to do that.

Why should we? The Fed printed $7 trillion for their banking buddies on Wall Street, after all, and they didn't need either party for that.

I'm not defending the Fed or either party. They are all setting us up for some real hard times in another decade or so. At some point these bills will have to be paid, and I don't think it's going to be pretty...we should all be pushing our politicians to get control of the deficit and debt before our creditors decide to step in and force changes - like what's happening in Greece now.

They didn't have any leadership on this. They knew not defending a tax cut on the middle class after fighting so hard to defend the rich tax cuts wouldn't go over well. All you have to do with each of these issues is find out who will get the advance with PR. That is where the deal will be compromised.

I will definitely side with Ron here and I'm a budget conscious liberal. We're not fixing anything. We're not being fiscally responsible. We're just scoring political points. The money is coming out of Social Security. The next Republican president will come along and point to the failing underfunded Social Security program and say we need to get rid of it. And they may succeed if we keep underfunding and pilfering it like that. And unlike unemployment insurance, this won't have very much economic impact. Just a political impact.

The residual effects will be upon us LONG before another decade passes...................

Anyone who runs against Obama well beat him. He is a failure as president,no leadership.

For ease of reference, the Republican "leadership" shall henceforth be known collectively as "Origami," based upon their propensity to fold.

Ron,

And replace him with whom? So far, every budget plan offered by the opposition is even more of what got us here in the first place! Put the blame where it really belongs.....Congress! Your posts sounds more like the Party of NO that has a number 1 priority of only to make "him a one term president" instead of doing what's right for their country.

Unemployment is a state issue. The federal government "gave" free money to states to allow them to lengthen the amount of time people could be on unemployment. The states with the worse employment numbers get longer paid unemployment.

I know there are still plenty of people who need a job, but there are more and more jobs becoming available. Many of them need some advanced knowledge and Obama is wanting to get companies to put these applicants through schooling so they can get one of these jobs. Hopefully, that will happen. I know there are quite a few jobs like that available around here. Good Luck!

Any UI extensions would only go to areas with the highest unemployment. Your area may or may not even be eligible, but even if it is, the State will decide if and how to implement it and I wouldn't put it past some of them to use the money for other uses. I'm thinking of states like Wisconsin and a few others that don't seem to be very concerned for the people they serve. The worst that can happen is the funds to them would get cut. It'd be hard for the Feds to get the money back from a State already in the red. It could curtail future or other payments from the Feds, but probably not.

Cathy.. I feel for you and your husband. Just wanted to let you know. As the late Jim Valvano said " Don't ever give up ".

Cathy in Vegas My wife has been looking for 3 years now and we live in Idaho. It is bad everywhere. I am still paying for her student loan. She just received a degree in Design and was a Fire Sprinkler designer for 4 years before the crap hit the fan. There are just NO jobs here. Will not be any design jobs here for a long time. She wants to go back to school to learn something else but why pay all that money just to know you can't find employment. She has just resigned herself that there are no jobs and will not be any jobs in our lifetime. I have agreed with her to stop looking. We are saving money that way

P.S. She never claimed UI because she was fired due to her Mormon boss did not like women working. They should be at home raising the kids, barefoot and pregnant. His words to Me.

Mike, I just heard today that good old Scott is going to use a nice chunk of that mortgage money from the banks to balance his unbalanced balanced budget. If that doesn't make since that is because his state budget doesn't make since. And yes I suspect that if he gets any Federal money he will not spend it where it is suppose to be spent. Suspect that is true for several other states also.

@The Breeze -- Thank you so much! We never give up, but the frustration is always there.

@BikeBoy-4484306: Your wife has the right to fight for her rights for UI. She was illegally fired, and can go to arbitration. It may have been 3 years, but perhaps she can receive at least the standard 26 weeks. My son started college 4 months after I was laid off -- I have his schooling and my daughter's I'm still paying off. My fingers are crossed for her -- and everyone who are unemployed.

My question... and perhaps I wasn't clear: My husband is already at 72 weeks. If this version becomes law -- is my husband grandfathered in for the full 99 weeks, or he'll be cut off?

Cathy I really don't know. I think he should be but don't know.

We did fight but it is very hard even when you have proof. Her word against his. Then there is the right to fire anyone for any reason.

Cathy,

Idaho is a right to work state. The only way BikerBoys wife could win, is if he had recorded the booss's barefoot and pregnant remark. Most people don't think to carry a micro cassette recorder until after they've been shafted a few times. I started carrying one for job interviews after being promised a raise after 90 days then not getting the raise because I couldn't prove it had been promised during the hiring process.

@BikeBoy -- So very sorry. Nevada is a Right To Work state. When my daughter was laid off, the company lied and stated she was fired for poor attendance (not true -- they eliminated the position and didn't want to pay). When she spoke with UI, since she was never reprimanded or received written warning by her employer, UI decided in her favor.

If this becomes law, hopefully they'll come out with a clear description as how this will affect everyone.

Helping push the US closer to default does not meet my definition of helping the middle class?

Sure, this helps in the short term, but even Clinton's ex-budget director says we're looking at something worse than Greece mid to late next decade.

Decommission one carrier group. That would be a good start. How much is pit fuel a gallon? Tariff products that equal the cost to produce here at minimum wage or higher. Build your tax base. If companies are going to get off shore tax benefits surcharge gross value of those products.I was told the communist were the reason for huge military spending in the 80's why are we supporting them with our jobs now? If CEO's and boardrooms have rigged the Financial system to by pass dividend payments to pull profits to salary's, how does that benefit our 401k's? Enough is enough. You just need to play Monopoly with your friends to understand unfettered capitalism.

Ron,

Ending wars was good. The economy will be back on track before the next decade. End the Bush/Obama tax cuts once the economy is going. In tough times, government ought to spend more and help the needy. It's my opinion. In good times, government ought to spend less and raise revenue for the tough times. The problem is, in the last expansion we had, government did not decrease spending or raise revenue. They increased spending and decreased revenue. So now that times are tough, we have to spend ourselves into a big hole just to try to jump start the economy.

You cant spend your way to success. The media is just spreading lies. things are not getting better and a war with Iran would be really bad for our already sick economy.

ron: and as the European example is clearly showing us, you can't cut your way to success either. I am ABSOLUTELY against going to war with Iran, but examples like WWII clearly show war is good for the economy; I think that's the main reason the media are rushing us toward such a war (i.e., it would be profitable for their corporate masters).

Ray - Sometimes I feel for Boehner - he can't win for losing with his own party. If he works with Democrats on issues,he is undermined by his own members,but when he appeases the fringe in his group,the world looks at him askew.He is looking pretty chewed up lately. And that Cantor I am not fond of at all.

What a novel concept. Especially with 10% job approval!

Katheryn Congress is doing what it is suppose to do. Help us go bankrupt by spending more than we will ever have in my lifetime. How can we keep spending without taking in more than we have. That just does not make sense. We cannot spend our way out of this. If we stop spending it a Recession. If we keep spending it is Bankruptcy and the complete devaluation of the dollar. What is worse!!!!

BikeBoy - it's always a yen-yang thing isn't it? I think our system works best when there is some opposition between the parties to keep each party in line,but not enough to stop the forward motion. And of course at times it feels like both parties have joined hands to lead us merrily down the path to hell in a hand basket! ;~))

I'm leaning towards "no one in congress is earning their pay". But, to be fair to the politicians, we, the voters, are really the problem because we vote anyone out of office if they talk about paying for what we get.

to eScribe: Don't believe that for a minute.

Learn to spell. It is the party of know!

Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes

Alan-static I totally agree with you. I think I will apply for a credit card and spend on it till it breaks and then go get another one. I hope like hell I don't have to pay it back. Sounds familiar!!!!!!!

Well, K I - it's an election year - if there is not a photo op involved, Congressional halls get mighty quiet.

They were NEVER "opposed" to this. They simply wanted to pay for it and wanted it to last a full year instead of two money.

Well said! Even teabaggers can read polls!

sharky Even the Democraps and teaslugs are spending like drunken sailors. The hell with the polls!!!

Read this: 500 trillion by 2040. Don't worry!!! It's only money!!! By then we all will be dead!!! Who cares!!!!!

The Republicans do not need help to paint themselves in a bad light. They did not want an extension. This full year thing was a farce to cover the fact that they are not interested to do anything for the middle class and the president. The two-month extension was for emergency purposes until a full year was agreed on. What's wrong with going over the whole process again. We put them there to work hard for us. I don't care how tedious the process is.

Funny, PutAmericaFirst, how you either conveniently forgot or didn't mention in your post the REAL reason Republicans passed the 2 month extension - because a provision for the speeding up of the decision on Keystone Pipeline proposal was on the bill. THAT was the only reason. Also funny how Republican Senator Lugar is touting that this pipeline will create 100's of thousands of jobs. Talk about a pipe dream.

It won't mean lowered SS later. It will just mean that we have to borrow more money to pay for SS.

What's another 100 Billion? Just bill the children. So SSI gets 30% less from every paycheck. We can just borrow the money from China. Act like adults, spend only what we earn? Tell that to the 70% of the US taking from the Federal Gov't already!

Actually, it's a 2% less from SSI. It's also rolled into everything else so it adds to the deficit. Whether it goes to the middle class or whether it goes to the rich, we borrow it. Until cuts are made, we'll keep borrowing. Republicans are just as bad as Democrats.

A new Republican President won't cut spending either (unless you want Ron Paul to gut everything). That might be a reason to elect Obama again....at least he won't be worried about running for President again. Maybe we'll get a grand bargain.

2 from 6.2% is actually 32.25% less. Keep on spending and borrowing and on and on and on...................

Obamas numbers are all overly optimistic. Ron Paul has the right ideas. The country cant take four more years of Obama.

How long is this going to last. Spend more on UI and employment tax. Give Billions to overseas countries, subsidize everything, pay for ObamaCare, bailout countries and businesses, give money away we don't have. IT HAS TO STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing is taken from the SS system. As the article points out the money will be added to the deficit. The SS system will get the same amount as they would without the cut. This tax cut was structured this way to help the working poor and middle income people who pay more to SS than they do income taxes. If federal income taxes were cut instead it wouldn't help those who work and don't earn enough to oew federal taxes.

I thought you were upset that we were "blocking" everything and now that we compromise your are upset. At least we managed to get the democrats to pay for at least 2/3rds of it.

It's not a bill/debt if the money is not spent !!!!

Actually PutAmericaFirst (love the name) I haven't dinged on them for being obstructionists...just hypocrites....

Too little too late. Republitard demise in the 2012 election is a foregone conclusion.

I think it is the Dems that are going to lose not the party of know.

If you take away assistance to those who need it most -- preventing them the ability to pay rent, food, purchase items at retail stores needed for day-to-day living -- then you condemn them to live without a roof over their heads, food and basic supplies - and YES, then you WOULD have another Greece. Be sensible about this. People who have lost their jobs are losing their homes (increasing forclosures and decreasing home values) -- spending less at stores (not helping our economy grow), and having to rely on the "safety net" that Mitt Romney says is A-ok.

There are jobs out there, not the jobs people want. Those are the job illegal immigrants are currently filling because the American worker thinks he is too good to work them. Some would rather have the gov't cut them a check than working for less. Some are just too lazy to work. There are some who truly need help and get off it as soon as they can. These are the people I don't mind seeing helped. The rest can take a hike.

Ken Egan Obama wanted to lend Greece more money so we could be just like them.

Beth- I have never gotten assistance when I was laid off my job for heart problems. My forced retirement is 900.00 a month. My wife lost her job 3 years ago and it still looking. I WILL NOT look for the government to help me out. I have been able to maintain on my own without that so called safety net.

Al- There are jobs out there but after spending 45,000 to educate my wife so she can't find a job in her career for over the last three years. What a f%&cking joke!!! She could work at Walfart but we spend more on gas to get her there.

What a great country since Obama took over.