They agreed to a very bad bill that will increase the debt and deficit and may still plunge us into a recession.
Many news outlets are reporting the tax impact of the fiscal cliff deal to be in the neighborhood of $620 billion over 10 years. This overlooks the larger impact, however, of the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, which will rise from 4.2 to 6.2 percent – a one-year increase in that tax of 48 percent.
The payroll tax reduction was originally expected to last for one year, but it was extended for a second year. Some economists have questioned the wisdom of allowing the payroll tax to increase in the middle of a sluggish economy.
Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi issued a projection that the tax burden will cut GDP growth by three-quarters of 1 percent, causing the creation of 600,000 fewer jobs in 2013. But the general consensus among economists is that the impact will be much worse — about a 1.5 percent loss of GDP growth. Such a serious dip could push an already lackluster economy close to the brink of actual contraction.
But the impact of the fiscal-cliff taxes are only part of the story. That’s because several of the taxes that Congress approved as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, are also kicking in this year.
Based on the average per-year cost of those taxes, they will net the federal government an additional $41.8 billion in new tax revenue in 2013.
There is no principle in calling extension of tax cuts(avoidance of $4T of tax increases) a tax increase . That is pointless suicide.
The Orwellian use of language is so typical of politicians to disguise what is really happening. And remember that for every Rep who voted for the bill in the House, there were two Reps who voted against it. Just 15 Derms voted against the bill in the House. So are the 151 Reps who voted against the bill fools for sticking to principles?
As far as who gets the blame, no matter what happens the Reps will get the blame by the MSM and Dems. Have you been living in a cave this past four years? How could a failed President like Obama defy political gravity and ever get reelected. No President with such unemployment numbers, slow economic growth, huge deficits, higher poverty levels, household incomes declining by $4,500, etc has ever been reelected before.
This had NOTHING to do with this bill. Those taxes were going up even if the ‘woof-woofers’ in the House had killed this bill.
It is another outright lie to say that this bill raised the FICA tax, it did nothing to it. If this bill was killed on that ‘principle’ those taxes would be the same as today. Not one single woof-woofer in the House said they voted against this bill so FICA taxes don't go up.
What Rush completely misses is that maybe Rs will get the blame (by very few) for the ~ $50B tax increase on the 1% but if they had listened to Him then it would have raised $4T taxes on the 99% too then they were sure to get the blame for that massive tax increase by most people, because they really did do it.