Free Republic

Waxman: GOP 'so stupid' to include Keystone pipeline in payroll tax packageBy Mike Lillis - 01/26/12 05:15 PM ET A senior Democrat on the payroll tax conference panel had some strong words Thursday for Republicans hoping to attach Keystone pipeline language to the package. "That is so stupid, already, for them to be pushing the Keystone pipeline issue in this bill, in this conference," Rep. Henry Waxman told reporters gathered near the Chesapeake Bay for the Democrats' annual caucus retreat. "The pipeline issue is one that the Republicans are obsessing over." The California Democrat suggested that a provision forcing approval...

Sam’s a profligate spender. No matter how much he earns, it’s never enough, and his mounting credit card debt is proof. Ironically, Sam is concerned about his retirement, so he takes a second, part-time job and deposits all those earnings into an IRA. While Sam’s personal finances are teetering on the edge, his retirement account is firmly planted on solid ground. Sam repeatedly raises the limit on his credit cards, but it doesn’t keep up with his lifestyle. His accountant is always on Sam’s case to follow a budget, but Sam hasn’t even prepared one. To ease some of the...

Congress punts hard payroll tax work to 2012By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai Reuters – Fri, Dec 23, 2011 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed into law a two-month payroll tax cut extension on Friday, capping a year of fierce partisan combat over taxes and spending that will resume in January and play heavily in the 2012 elections. The Senate and the House of Representatives, by voice votes in chambers nearly emptied for the holidays, passed a $33 billion (21 billion pounds) bill to keep the payroll tax rate at 4.2 percent through February. It had been scheduled to...

The December 2011 battle in Washington, D.C. -- a battle over continuing a Social Security tax-cut for another year, or even another two months -- demonstrates the differences between the parties in stark detail, both in terms of campaign methods and economic ideology. Most commentators have focused on the campaign methods: brilliant, isn't it, how the Democrats have turned the tables on the GOP, making it look like the GOP is fighting a tax cut? Pundits laugh at the "tax cut party" being put in the position of opposing a tax cut that all workers' pay, while simultaneously opposing the...

We Stand for Principle Over Politicsand the Establishment Can't Stand It December 21, 2011 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "House Democrats tried Wednesday to force a vote on the Senate’s two-month extension of the payroll-tax cut, but Republicans gaveled the House closed to prevent them from having a chance, as top GOP leaders huddled down the hall to try to figure a way out of the mess. The House was set to hold a pro forma session, but two top Democrats, Reps. Steny H. Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen, demanded to be recognized to try to force a vote on the...

The Idiot In The White House I just watched an idiot on television. He was speaking to the American Public from the White House. He said that most Democrats and Republicans in the Senate passed a bill to stop a tax increase on 160 million Americans that he would sign. He said it is being held up by a faction of Republicans in the House. The idiot in chief said the average American would have their taxes raised by $1,000 on an annual basis. The idiot then said that would result in taking $40 per week from their paychecks. Any...

...this years average cost of fuel sets a new record. For 2011, the national average price for fuel is about $3.50 a gallon. That accounts for about 8.4% of the average American family’s income, the highest percentage in 30 years. The average American household will have spent, a record, $4,155 filling up this year. Though it’s not what some Eastern Iowans wanted to hear, for many it wasn’t a surprise.

Washington is engaging in a game of chicken over the payroll tax holiday, but this likely won't be the last time Congress and the White House try to extend it. Some say it will become a "permanently temporary" feature of American politics. And the consequences could be dramatic. "We could be having this conversation 15 years from now and talking about how President Obama, as a Democrat, was the president that started the path to killing Social Security," said Jason Fichtner, a senior fellow at the libertarian Mercatus Center.

Following a House vote today that effectively rejected the Senate’s tax cut bill, President Obama reacted strongly, saying that because of House Republicans’ “refusal to cooperate,” millions of Americans could lose their tax cut in 11 days. The president even admonished one House representative whom he said referred to the issue of the payroll tax cut extension debate as “high-stakes poker.” While Obama agreed the rep was “right about the stakes,” he said what’s happening in Congress is “not a game” for most

House Republicans are in full revolt in the wake of Senate passage of a two-month payroll tax holiday package, casting serious doubt on the fate of a bill that already has President Barack Obama’s approval. Republican leaders were warned that they could expect a rebellion if lawmakers are forced to vote on the Senate version of the bill, according to a source on the line. After the call, it’s not clear whether Republican leaders will try to pass the bill with a combination of Republican and Democratic votes or try another version and bring the Senate back to town. Leadership...

As Occupy Wall Street turns its focus to D.C. this week, its long-term agenda seems to be higher taxes for the top 1% and firmer government support for everyone else. If so, then what the protesters want — even if they aren't saying it and almost certainly don't even realize it — is higher taxes for the 99%. America's progressive income tax system is not particularly well-suited to financing an expansive safety net.

And back to the old gimmicks: the Birth Death adjustment has now "added" 530 jobs in 2011, and the October number of 102K is 31K greater than a year earlier. ...

Last year, as a debate over the runaway national debt gathered steam in Washington, Social Security passed a treacherous milestone. It went “cash negative.” For most of its 75-year history, the program had paid its own way through a dedicated stream of payroll taxes, even generating huge surpluses for the past two decades. But in 2010, under the strain of a recession that caused tax revenue to plummet, the cost of benefits outstripped tax collections for the first time since the early 1980s. Now, Social Security is sucking money out of the Treasury. This year, it will add a projected...

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Private businesses added slightly more than expected jobs in September, according to a report released Wednesday. But large companies cut jobs and thanks mostly to two enterprises cutting staff, layoff announcements last month jumped to the highest number in more than two years. Private-sector jobs in the U.S. rose by 91,000 last month, according to a national employment report published by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected ADP would report a September gain of just 75,000. The August data were revised down to...

Democrats are counting heavily on President Obama's upcoming Labor Day job creation speech to allay the fears of the stock market, the international investor community and the American people. Much like Waiting for Godot, there's been a lot of hype and chatter but very little action. In fact, considering Obama has no street creds in the area of job creation, and considering few of his advisors have ever created jobs, and considering that two of the most powerful Democrats in the House and the Senate represent the two states with the nation's highest unemployment, it's hard to imagine the president...

Israel's leftists get money for being that way, says one of them in rare confession. Are Israel's leftists pure ideologues or guns for hire? Yotam Feldman, who was born into the leftist camp – his father is liberal lawyer Avigdor Feldman – believes the latter. In a Hebrew language post at the "Eretz HaEmori" blog, Feldman says that in his life, he has witnessed how Israel's "human rights movement" became a source of income for its activists. He relates how his father's old Subaru "gradually turned" into a BMW, and how the family moved from a rented apartment in Yafo...

Squeezed by tight credit and tempted by record high gold prices, small business owners are finding an alternative to the bank: the pawn shop. More than half of the customers at online pawn shop, Pawngo, are small business owners, said Todd Hills, CEO of the Denver-based company. "These guys can't wait. They have businesses. They have employees they need to pay," said Hills. "This is a great way to solve a short-term need." Pawning is a relatively no muss, no fuss process, especially when compared to getting a bank loan. Like a bank loan, the customer is charged interest. Once...

Ignoring liberal Dems, Obama endorses longer payroll tax holiday through 2012By Mike Lillis - 06/29/11 03:56 PM ET President Obama on Wednesday reiterated his push to extend an existing payroll tax holiday through 2012 – a move denounced by liberal Democrats who fear the reduction in revenues will undermine Social Security. “I think that it makes perfect sense for us to take a look at, can we extend the payroll tax, for example, an additional year,” Obama said during a lengthy press conference at the White House. The president said that strategy “puts money in people’s pockets at a time...

The economy gained 244,000 net jobs in April - the third straight month of solid gains. Yet the unemployment rate rose from 8.8 percent to 9 percent. How did that happen? It's because the government relies on two surveys for those figures, and they can diverge sharply from time to time. One is called the payroll survey. It asks companies and government agencies how many people they employ... The other is called the household survey. Government workers ask households about the employment status of adults living there. Those without jobs are asked whether they're looking for one. If they're not,...

Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cutBy Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Sun Dec 12, 8:18 am ET WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's plan to cut payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers, but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the retirement program's finances. The plan is part of a package of tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits that Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers' share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages would get a $1,000 tax cut; those making $100,000...