Sure! Lets increase taxes in the middle of the worst depression since the 1930s! All economists say that this will be a big help!! The Death Tax is a nice touch too!

It´s 10 years not 20. It only seems like 20. Why not start a few trade wars too.

Did John get bought off?

One by one the squishy cave.

Hey John, go pound sand you idiot.

Yes. It´s exactly what the Republicans should do. Raise taxes on everyone, especially the rich, and let the Democrats spend whatever they want on any social program that comes to mind.

Yes, it will wreck the economy, but the only way to get anyone´s attention any more is a complete catastrophe.

We neglected our military until Pearl Harbor. We ignored terrorism until 9/11. Our only choice is to create an economic 9/11. Then, people might start to realize that liberalism is a fraud and always will be.

Makes sense to me. The people want Big Santa?

Fine. You´re going to get it good and hard...and you are going to pay for it.

Can´t remember who said this recently on TV but, the reason Republicans aren´t just letting the Dem´s have the big tax increases is because they´re scared the Dem´s would hit GOP for raising taxes then cut tax rates and claiming they are the party of tax cuts.

Agree with Hinderaker here. Let the tax cuts expire and get the best deal possible.

Yes, yes, yes. I have been saying this all week. It is time for the democrats to OWN their policies. Let the people see.

We have been saving the democrats from themselves since 1994. I REMEMBER the 70´s and 80´s and my 13% mortgage. But do any of those who voted for obama remember them? I doubt it.

The standard of living for MOST Americans is about to go way down THANKS TO LEFTIST policies. They are NOT going to have the life they did under George W. Bush who actually helped the middle class a great deal and kept prices of goods way down. Now we will suffer shortages and NO CAPTIAL INVESTMENT into new and more EFFICIENT products and ideas. Just wait and see....

The very people the leftists claim they want to "help" will be significantly hurt.
THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT FOR THEM TO TAKE (read be given by democrats, imho) when smart and industrious Americans say: ENOUGH, NO MORE. We are done. No more exceptonalism.

We have turned our country over to people who actually hate it...they just want what we have built, imho. But they will have a rude awakening, imho.

And then there´s Cloward Piven...

Mediocrity thy name is the democrat party and its supporters, imho. Bad karma, imho.

Hinderaker is right. If they had done this months ago, we´d be in charge now.

What will come of letting the tax rates expire will be lot of pain. Across-the-board a lot of pain. Coupled with the 0bamacare taxes, sequestration, mounting regulation and the debt ceiling, the resulting calamity will separate people into two classes real quick. And I´m guessing the class with all the pain will be larger and more reactive then ever.

All of this is bought and paid for by 0bama. He owns it and cannot blame anyone else nor can the LSM make claims to the contrary. It will take the country down a peg or two, we might even see some violent outbreaks here and there. I doubt anything on the scale of civil war. Yet. But it will crystalize the left and the right. There will be no middle ground. From this place there will be enough people to start retaking our country and re-establish a constitutional republic. It won´t be easy and it will take some time, but that is what it will take to realize a free United States of America again.

These people don´t seem to have even a basic understanding of how economics works.

This article is so correct. Every time I hear some idiot talking about the Bush tax cuts for the rich I say exactly what John has said here. The Republican House members have to drive this point home in the press every time they are in front of them. The democrats know what will happen if the tax cuts expire. It´s up to the republicans to make sure the democrats own it.

It´s time for a major correction, not only to our economy but to the voters who are bound and determined to repeat history. Let it happen, I´m ready.

We had a long recession. We are in, to put it charitably, an anemic recovery. Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, along with sequestration, payroll tax cuts expiring, and the ObamaScare tax increases, will not push us off the financial cliff, it will throw us over it, and cause another recession.

And, guess what is the classic definition of a depression: its a recession, followed by an anemic recovery, followed by another recession. This will be Obama´s depression. There won´t be any way he can believably blame it on George Bush or those wascally Wepublicans.

I hate the economics of this, but I love the politics of this...

This is so right on! I love it:


[[[This approach has major advantages. Currently, upper-income taxpayers are pretty much pulling the whole sled, as the U.S. relies on its upper-income citizens to a greater extent than any other developed country. This is an unhealthy situation. When it comes to income taxes, most Americans have little or no skin in the game, so why not vote for more government largesse? Raising everyone’s income taxes will give more voters a stake in federal spending. America desperately needs to get its spending under control, and that won’t happen as long as most voters think spending is not their concern since they don’t, to any significant extent, pay for it. The most important consequence of increasing marginal rates on all taxpayers is that it will cause federal spending to be scrutinized more critically.]]]

The sombre sound of chickens coming back to roost

Let´s talk about even more taxes. The Gates Foundation has a $35 billion endowment, Harvard $31 billion, Ford Foundation $10 billion. Give them all a haircut.

A one time excise tax on the FMV of the endowments of all private foundations would work nicely. To be fair, the rate should be low for the small guys and 90% for the behemoths like Ford and Carnegie and graduate down to 10% for under $10 Million. After that they not only pay taxes like the rest of us but they have 20 years to spend what´s left or it reverts to Uncle Sam.

Some colleges have much larger endowments than others. I propose a graduated rate based on a multiple of the theoretical income to the school if all students enrolled at the beginning of the school year paid full tuition and fees. If the FMV of the endowment is less than ten times that number the excise tax would be nominal. The rate for a school like Harvard where the income alone from the endowment could pay the combined tuition and fees of all students with lots of money left over should be 90%. After that impose a 25% excise tax on the endowment if a future tuition increase exceeds the CPI.

Craziness. Why throw working people under the bus when they´re the least of this country´s problem. We need to be putting an end to welfare to save the country.As long as we continue to feed that hog,it´ll only get fatter.

Even if we caved on the taxes on the rich,Obama would have signing statements exempting his donors. You could simply say anyone related to public service would be exempt. That would include selected gov´t workers,contractors and even trial lawyers who perform a public service by suing people out of business.People in the entertainment industry would get carved out because they provide a service to the public.

I´ll bet anything that Obama donors gave him money for a carve out on higher taxes.

I´m in favor of raising the capital gains rate for people making over a certain amount. They´re not investing in this country anymore and are making a fortune on emerging markets overseas,sometimes with ultra cheap borrowing from the fed.

Recession = When the other guys lose their jobs.

Depression = When you lose YOUR job.

And let´s make sure to distinguish the sayings "Bush tax cuts" and "Obama tax increases", just to let the ignorant know who owns each. Give Zero everything he wants, and be sure the bill guts all refundable tax credits, slashes every welfare program, and includes a provision tying tax return filing to the voter rolls.

The problem herein is that Zero is incapable of work, invariably does nothing in order to effect a contrived "crisis", and brings nothing to the table. If the Republicans bring his alleged ideas to the table, it will be their fault when it collapses. If they don´t, the demagoguery starts anew. It´s well past time for Boehner to tell Zero to specifically put up or shut up. I´d take either one, but would far prefer the latter to save my mute button.

Those stupid demonrats want to raise taxes so they can take the money and waste it somewhere else. Guaranteed.

I agree. Let them expire. We are going to have another recession anyway so let´s put the blame on dems.

The sunset clause in the Bush era tax cuts was put in there at the insistence of the ´Rats. Republicans should not take any moral responsibility for that. Its the you broke it you own it rule.

The biblical story of Rehoboam, Solomon´s son is instructive. The older, wiser counsellors (republicans) to the king (obama) advised reducing the tax burden from the previous king (bush) but the young cool crowd (demo-gogues) wanted to flex the king´s political power, talking rough (I won! Soak the rich!) when they were really petty neighborhood bullies.

He never attained to the stature of his predecessor but ruled over a declining nation which became a vassal state of Egypt. The difference is that this probably doesn´t bother Obama; for him America is exceptionable rather than exceptional.

Really? Perhaps you missed the election last week where people that were dependent on the government voted for democrats. What do you think is going to happen when more people are added to the rolls?

27, maybe vassal state of Egypt is what The Won has in mind.

Given the stupidity of the American voter, most people do not know that the Bush tax cuts affected everyone. At the very least I would enjoy hearing the cries of outrage as the lower incomes suddenly start paying due to the taxes on the ´rich,´ particularly among my relatives.

Sadly, the Repubs will cave and raise taxes on those above $250K. Then the myth that the tax cuts were only for the rich will be forever written into history.

It seems like all of us are heading into a financial train wreck, which is logical since the drivers are financial illiterates. I expect the slow footed Republicans to continue to be scapegoats no matter what disaster comes up.

This series of events is as stupid as the Children´s Crusade and that is appropriate since millions of sub 30 idiots voted for this. I blame them for being morons, but I reserve a lot of contempt for their parents who failed to teach them anything useful about life as an adult.

I agree with this article. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire would mean more Americans have skin in the game, unlike the 47% now who pay no income taxes.