Bad Deeds for 11-20-2010

 

Richest Americans could buy a $83,000 Mercedes every year if Bush tax cuts are extended – Just how much money the top one percent of earners would keep if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to continue? $83,347 each year!

The Bush tax cuts reduce the top marginal federal income tax rate from 39.5 percent to 35 percent. The tax cuts are scheduled to expire this year, and Republicans in both the House and Senate want them extended.

The top one percent of earners in the United States make $1.4 million dollars or more. If the Bush tax cuts were allowed to continue, those who earn this sum would get a tax break of $83,347 a year.

The Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans would provide them with enough money to purchase an $83,000 Mercedes Benz E-Class car, not just once, but every single year for the next decade for which they will say to the Republican party, ‘Thank you very much.’”

The Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans would provide them with enough cash to buy a bottle of Chatteau d’Yquem wine bottled in 1787 for only $56,588, that will leave them loose change in their pocket of $25,000. They can buy a bottle of wine from 1787 every year for the next decade. Thank you Republican Party.

Or they can buy 20,000 jars of their favorite mustard, Grey Poupon. 20,000 jars,” Grayson exclaimed. That’s certainly enough for them, their family, their friends, even a few poor people.

Thank you Republican Party!

 

Who are you going to believe? The American people or what Republicans say the American people are saying? – This week on CNN, host Wolf Blitzer confronted Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) with a recent poll that found Americans don’t want to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and wondered why Schock — who has made both extending all the tax cuts and listening to the American people a priority — isn’t exactly listening to what they want. But Schock simply ignored the poll, saying, “The American people reject” letting the tax cuts expire for the wealthy.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) got caught playing a similar game yesterday, also on CNN with Blitzer. Pence — who has also made listening to the American people a priority — argued that in order to reduce the deficit, the government should cut spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But when Blitzer told Pence that a recent poll showed that Americans don’t want cuts to those programs, the Indiana congressman pulled a Schock:

PENCE: Well, I don’t know if they’re saying don’t touch it. I think they’re saying for people who are on Medicare and Social Security or depending on Medicaid today, let’s keep the promises we’ve made to seniors.

Perhaps it’s a congenital selective hearing disability among Republicans. Or to borrow from Gary Larson “Blah blah blah TAX CUTS! blah blah blah TAX CUTS! blah blah blah.”

 

Republican leaders reject separate vote to extend all but highest tax breaks – House Republicans showed little interest Friday in budging on their demand that all the expiring tax cuts be extended in a single vote.

The top two GOP officials, incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), rejected a Democratic-led plan that would schedule a separate vote on extending tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000 per year and individuals earning less than $200,000 per year.

It’s not clear whether the Democratic proposal will have the votes to advance through Congress. If all 41 Republicans hold together in the Senate — something Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Thursday was likely — they could block any move to separate the tax votes.

That’s also to assume that no Democrats defect on the issue of taxes. A number of centrists broke with party leadership in a symbolic vote on taxes before Congress adjourned earlier this fall.

 

Your chance to be on Glenn Beck’s blackboard – Glenn Beck has targeted many progressive groups, including Media Matters, Center for Constitutional Rights, the Ruckus Society, Color Of Change and the Ella Baker Center.

We have to send a strong message to Beck, that we progressives won’t be intimidated. And we’re not afraid to stand up for progressive values or
the groups who fight for them.

Join me and thousands of other CREDO members in telling Beck that he will not scare us into silence. For every person who signs, CREDO will donate $.25 to five groups Beck absolutely hates

Regards,

Jim