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Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is reported to be "irked" that President Obama didn't take his advice and use the tax bill to "corner Republicans into defending millionaires and billionaires."  In fact, Schumer's not just irked -- he's "deeply disappointed and convinced Obama had missed a major opportunity."  You'll remember that Schumer's plan was to continue the Bush tax cuts for everyone except those earning more than $1 million a year. Presumably, Chuck is upset about income trends showing the income share of the very richest rising in recent years.  Here is data from the IRS showing that the top...

Arson suspected in 2 Cape Cod incidentsBy Stewart Bishop Globe Correspondent / December 13, 2010 State fire officials are investigating a connection between two separate incidents of arson in two Cape Cod towns, authorities said yesterday. In both instances, someone apparently left messages at the scene condemning wealthy people, officials said. State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said evidence found at both locations has led investigators to believe they might be connected. “There is some commonality to both incidents,’’ Coan said. “There was offensive graffiti that was written and very visibly displayed at both sites.’’

Effort for Liberal Balance to G.O.P. Groups BeginsBy MICHAEL LUO Published: November 23, 2010 In what may prove a significant development for the 2012 elections, David Brock, a prominent Democratic political operative, says he has amassed $4 million in pledges over the last few weeks and is moving quickly to hire a staff to set up what he hopes will become a permanent liberal counterweight over the airwaves to the Republican-leaning outside groups that spent so heavily on this year’s midterm elections. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former Maryland lieutenant governor and the eldest of Robert F. Kennedy’s 11 children, has...

Stung by massive electoral losses in last week’s midterms, Barack Obama has attempted to shift to the center on one major issue facing Congress in its lame-duck session opening later this month — tax increases scheduled to hit at the first of the year. Republicans, however, pushed back almost immediately to the strategy Obama floated this weekend in attempting to “decouple” the higher bracket tax rates from the rest of the tax rates. Obama favors a permanent repeal of the tax hikes for middle- and working-class workers, but only wants a temporary extension of the top rates: President Obama said...

Once again, tax policy is playing a central role in the election campaigns across the country. While almost all politicians appear to favor the extension of tax cuts for low- and middle-income households, a political fight has erupted over the fate of the top income tax bracket rate and the tax rate on dividends and capital gains. A host of arguments has been heard--some sensible and some less so. One particularly troubling idea that has emerged is summed up by a recent statement by President Obama, who argued, "These [high-income taxpayers] are folks who are less likely to spend the...

It’s a very subtle ploy, that statement, ”already making more money than most will earn in a lifetime.” Does it make you feel good? Glad for those billionaires, and proud of their enterprenurial spirit? Or does it make you feel slightly envious that these young kids will make more than you’ll ever see in your life? Yeah, me too. The ongoing repetition (only slightly unpalatable in single instances) permeates society these days. It’s in the press, on television, online… all the time. Captialism is evil; tax the rich; make the rich pay their fair share; they’ll make more than you’ll...

The White House continued to push Sunday for Congress to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans, teeing up a lame-duck standoff over the issue in Washington once lawmakers return from the campaign trail. David Axelrod, the president's senior adviser, said Sunday that the Obama administration still wants the tax cuts extended for middle-class families making up to $250,000. "That would be stimulative, because people who need money in their pocket to spend and pay for the things that they need to live would have more money in their pocket," Axelrod said in an interview. But he...

Lincoln may support extending tax cuts for the wealthy in light of 'circumstances'By Darren Goode - 10/09/10 10:32 AM ET Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) Friday signaled she is open to extending Bush administration tax cuts beyond the middle-class incentives President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders are seeking. Lincoln – one of the most endangered Democratic incumbents in the Nov. 2 midterm election – said she may support extending tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year for those making as much as $1 million annually. "I don't think we should have to say that we're either going...

Here comes the Boehner’s genius: rich democrats talk class warfare only because they believe the Republicans are there to protect their success. If the Republicans give up and let the radical left President run wild without a check – all those rich democrats will have to walk the walk to IRS, not only talk the talk. House Republicans Leader (and soon to be Speaker) John Boehner called President Obama’s bluff and stated he will vote for extending only part of the Bush tax-cuts if the Democrats have no will to give tax-cuts for the wealthy. That sent shock-waves through the...

The Wealthy Left Needs to Buy Our Debt – NOW!!! If the Obama administration insists on promising exponential growth in entitlements, AND, If wealthy lefties are pledging to give their life savings to charity, The time is now – Buy our debt!!! Buy it from Obama and Buy it from China. Put your money where your mouth is. Do it for world peace! This means you... Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison, ...

Wealthy Americans aren't spending so freely anymore. And the rest of us are feeling the squeeze. The question is whether the rich will cut back so much as to tip the economy back into recession — or if they will spend at least enough to sustain the recovery. The answer may not be clear for months. But their cutbacks help explain why the rebound could be stalling. The economy grew at just a 2.4 percent rate in the April-June quarter, the government said Friday, much slower than the 3.7 percent rate for the first quarter. Economists say overall consumer spending...

Don't hold your breath for a bounce in home pricesBy ALAN ZIBEL (AP) – 1 day ago WASHINGTON — Thought the housing crisis was over? Not quite. Despite four years of falling prices and recent signs that they were finally bottoming out, homes are expected to lose still more value in many metro areas over the next year. Parts of the country already pummeled by the housing crisis, like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami, will be hit hardest. But even some places that have rebounded or held up relatively well — including New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. —...

After getting frustrated out of the lemons his problems gave him, David Miller made his own corporate lemonade. Due to the frustration of always having to call technical support to solve his own frequent hardware problems, he started taking the initiative to educate himself.

WASHINGTON -- After a year of being pilloried and persecuted in Congress, many of Wall Street's donors have ended their rocky, odd-couple relationship with the Democrats and closed their checkbooks. The news that a growing number of Wall Street fat cats are no longer giving money to the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees is the latest in a lengthening saga of bad news for the Democrats who face what could be catastrophic losses in the midterm elections. Since the 2008 election, Wall Street tycoons who helped elect Barack Obama and bankrolled the Democrats' gains in Congress have become the...

The Democratic-controlled Legislature pushed Monday to send new income taxes for the highest-paid Minnesotans to a tax-averse Gov. Tim Pawlenty as part of their plan to wipe away a $2.9 billion deficit. The proposal barely cleared the Senate on a 34-33 vote before heading to the House. Pawlenty, a potential Republican presidential candidate, eliminated any suspense by promising to veto it. Lawmakers and the governor are hard-pressed to balance the budget before the state constitution requires the legislature to adjourn in a week. The state Supreme Court made the crisis more acute last week when it said Pawlenty exceeded his...

We've said again and again that hiking taxes on the "rich" won't increase revenue - instead, all it will do will be to retard economic growth, and hurt working families through job losses...

What is it with women? One minute they say they want to forge their way in the world, use their education, make their own money. The next, they want to be back at home raising children, living a life of cupcake-making domesticity. Then they ask, couldn't we have both? And when that happens, they want a lie down and their old traditional life back. Even that renowned analyser of human desires and motivation, Sigmund Freud, was stumped by the fairer sex. 'The great question that has never been answered', he said, 'and which I have not yet been able to...

$8 million in assets - and can't get a mortgage By Les Christie, staff writer January 20, 2010: 3:41 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The wealthy have money problems, too -- yeah they do. Even refinancing a mortgage for their fancy digs or getting a new loan can be near impossible these days thanks to skittish lenders. And the higher the loan value, the more they worry. Still, that people with high six-figure incomes, stellar credit histories and gobs of assets get mortgage requests turned down seems weird. "It's amazing really," said Susan Bruno, a financial planner with Beacon...

There is class warfare going on in this country -- but it's not against the established rich. It's against those who are trying to become wealthy. President Obama has declared that those who make over $200,000 will pay higher income taxes. Caps on payroll taxes are supposed to come off as well for the upper class. Envisioned estate taxes will take 45 percent of individual inheritances valued over $3.5 million. Many states have also hiked their income taxes on the upper brackets. Again, most of those targeted are not the already rich - a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates -...

?Tax the rich, Feed the poor, ‘Til there are no Rich no more." - "I'd Love to Change the World" Ten Years After (1971) Over the Columbus Day weekend, my wife and I traveled to Brooklyn, N.Y. to visit our daughter and her boyfriend. I was strictly admonished by my wife not to talk politics during the visit, since my daughter's boyfriend is a radical leftist. He, being a well-educated social science buff, and I, being who I am (a well-educated "right-wing nut job"), we had created many spectacular fireworks during past political debate sessions.