Will The Richest 1% Give A Few Pennies For The Elderly To Buy Cat Food?

In order for the Cat Food Commission to proceed with issuing a final report, it has to have the backing of 14 members, something that looks nearly impossible at this point. As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka reiterated Wednesday, the latest deficit commission proposal tells workers 'Drop Dead'-- again. Trumka is urging all the members to "vote against the latest blueprint presented by commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, which calls for keeping the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy while cutting Social Security and Medicare." He may sound like he's railing against Republicans, but it's the transpartisan conservative elite, of which Obama is a part, that he's addressing this:

Fifteen million people are out of work, and another 11 million have given up looking or are working part-time involuntarily. We need to end tax breaks that send American jobs overseas and invest in jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and green technologies. 

We need to put jobs and economic growth first; we must invest in education and infrastructure to be competitive in the 21st century; Wall Street and the wealthy must bear their share of the burden; and we need to deal with the growth of health care costs.

Only 7 corporate shills have endorsed the plan so far: the co-chairs Bowles and Simpson; conservative Democrat Kent Conrad and Republican Judd Gregg, the leaders of the Senate Budget Committee; former OMB and CBO director and hateful Wall Street whore Alice Rivlin; Honeywell CEO David Cote; and Ann Fudge, a former CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands. But as many commissioners have already said NO, 4 who see it the same way as Trumka: Dick Durbin, Andy Stern, Jan Schakowsky and Xavier Becerra, who oppose fixing the deficit on the backs of the poor and elderly, plus 3 Wall Street shills who oppose any kind of balance at all-- Paul Ryan, Dave Camp and Jeb Hensarling. Obama's Wall Street-oriented economic team will no doubt include a number of the commission’s proposals in his next budget and his favorite Republican, Paul Ryan, the new House Budget chairman, will write the worst of the panel’s ideas into the fiscal 2012 congressional budget resolution.

First thing Thursday morning Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) attempted to get the Senate to pass the Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act, which would put a $250 cost of living check in the hands of seniors. The Republicans refused to even allow a vote. On the other side of the Hill, the House passed, 213-203 the rule to allow a vote later today on the Middle Class Tax Cuts as a stand alone proposition without further enriching the wealthiest families with billions of dollars that the country cannot afford. Notice all those Blue Dogs licking Boehner's ass. Expect to see two years of that starting in January-- as though it hasn't been going on for years already. Many of the conservative, vehemently anti-family Democrats who joined the Republicans in voting against the rule were defeated by the own constituents last week and, thankfully, won't be in the House next year-- like John Adler (NJ), Travis Childers (MS), Melissa Bean (IL), Allen Boyd (FL), Bobby Bright (AL), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Jim Marshall (GA), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Walt Minnick (ID), Zack Space (OH) and Harry Mitchell (AZ). The problem is that there are still a few loud, right-wing Blue Dogs inside the Democratic caucus who voters overlooked and who showed their fangs today when they crossed the aisle and voted against middle class tax cuts: Dan Boren (OK), Heath Shuler (NC), Jim Matheson (UT), Jason Altmire (PA), Lipinski the Younger (IL), Mike Ross (AR)...

The greatest loss to America-- by far-- in the midterms was the loss from government, hopefully only temporarily, of Alan Grayson. Yesterday he was on the floor of the House explaining the mania inside the GOP for extending tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%. The truth is ugly and no one wants to say it aloud-- the Republican decision makers are the wealthiest 1%. Watch Grayson explain their "endless braying" in a way no one won't understand:



For his part, Boehner looked even more puffy, teary-eyed and orange than usual when he did another complete flip flop and referred to a bill to give relief to 98% of American taxpayers as "chicken crap."

“I’m trying to catch my breath so I don’t refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, alright?” Boehner told reporters in the Capitol Thursday. “But this is nonsense. Alright? The election was one month ago. We’re 23 months from the next election and the political games have already started, trying to set up the next election. We had an honest conversation at the White House about the challenges that we face to get out of here and to take care of what the American people expect of us. And the roll this vote out today, it really is just what you think I was going to say anyway.”

Speaker Pelosi's blog dealt effectively with the twisted Republican lies that the media has obligingly and uncritically injected into the debate:


Whopper #1: We don’t have a taxing problem; we have a spending problem.

TRUTH: A decade of Republican rule in Washington nearly doubled the national debt, and turned a record surplus into a record deficit. It’s time to stop exploding the deficit with a $700 billion giveaway to the wealthiest Americans-- which economists have shown has not trickled down to the Middle Class.


Whopper #2: Democrats want to raise taxes on America’s small businesses.

TRUTH: Led by Democrats, this Congress has cut taxes eight times for small businesses-- over the objections of Republicans.

Not giving a deficit-busting tax cut to the wealthiest few would ALSO not affect the vast majority of America’s small businesses. The nonpartisan Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact labeled this GOP claim a “pants on fire” falsehood. As PolitiFact concluded:

Two independent studies that looked at the impact of the Democratic proposal on small businesses found that only between 2 to 3 percent of tax filers who report having what can be thought of as small business income will be affected.

Whopper #3: Okay so it’s only 3% of small businesses-- but that 3% includes 750,000 businesses and accounts for 50% of small business income.

TRUTH: Who are they? Included in that small percentage of “small businesses” affected (2-3 percent) is anyone who receives any type of partnership or business income-- and many of them are not what you would consider “small business owners.” They include hedge fund managers, private equity fund managers, owners of privately held multinational companies, lobbyists, and partners in major law firms.


Whopper #4: Tax cuts for the rich create jobs.

TRUTH: America is just starting to come out of the worst economy since the Great Depression after a decade of a giant tax cut for the rich. Conversely, we had our strongest economy in years-- creating 22 million jobs-- and four years of budget surpluses at the end of the Clinton administration. Democrats would like to return to that kind of economic growth, deficit control, and tax rate for the wealthiest few.

In fact, top economists have busted the myth that tax cuts for the rich create jobs.

Alan Blinder, Co-Director of Princeton University’s Center for Economic Policy Studies and former Vice Chairman of the Fed

“Not all budgetary dollars are created equal. Some have a lot of bang for the buck, and some have very little. The GDP increase per dollar of budgetary cost is in the range of 1.6, 1.7 for things like food stamps and unemployment benefits, and in the range of .35 for extending the Bush tax cuts. We could get some substantial job creation by simply reprogramming the $75 billion that would be saved over the next two years by not extending the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts and spending it instead on unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the like.”

William Gale, Co-Director of the Tax Policy Center

“Are there other ways to use that same amount of money that would give a bigger bang for the buck? The answer is definitely yes…Extending the Bush tax cuts came in No. 11 [in a recent CBO analysis] – the worst option, the lowest bang for the buck of any of the other options.”

Paul Krugman, New York Times Columnist and Winner of Nobel Prize for Economics

“…it’s hard to think of a less cost-effective way to help the economy than giving money to people who already have plenty, and aren’t likely to spend a windfall.”

Whopper # 5: We shouldn’t raise taxes on Americans in a recession.

TRUTH: That’s not what’s being proposed. Congressional Democrats and President Obama will permanently cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses-- and help get the Bush deficit under control.

In the end, the vote was 234-188. The only 3 Republicans willing to break ranks with their fascist party and vote in favor of their own constituents were John Duncan (TN), Walter Jones (NC) and Rand Paul (TX). On the other hand 20 conservative Democrats cross the aisle in the other direction and once again showed disdain for ordinary working families. That number included most of the usual suspects, many of whom were defeated last month. Among the ones who will have to be dealt with in 2012 are Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), and Jerry McNerney (CA).



UPDATE: Obama Stacked His Cat Food Commission With Anti-Social Security Warriors But They Couldn't Kill Social Security Anyway

Obama's so-called Deficit Commission, the nadir, so far, of his ill-starred administration, completely failed. Needing 14 votes to open the door to dismantling Social Security-- the conservative dream for 75 years-- they missed another opportunity, although Durbin betrayed working families at the last minute and voted with the Big Business interests he pretends to oppose on most days. The final vote was 11-7 and Obama couldn't serve the interests of the ruling elite that financed his presidency. Voters need to be more careful about what's behind the symbolism and slogans they take to heart in the future.

The final vote was 11-7, short of the 14 votes needed to prompt congressional action according to the panel's rules. It was supported by three elected Republicans and three elected Democrats, along with five of Obama's appointees. Three Republicans and three Democrats voted no, along with one Obama appointee.

"I believe that we can do it without further eroding the middle class in America," said Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, the most vocal critic of the panel's plan. Noting it involves painful decisions, she asked, "painful for whom?"

Now it will be up to Obama and congressional leaders to deal with the commission's far-reaching recommendations. But no action is required, as would have been the case if the plan had received 14 votes.