Republicans And Money: A Bad Combination

Could you imagine a delusional idiot like this is a candidate for the Senate?

Yesterday Digby addressed the problem Democratic politicians Inside-the-Beltway are grappling with in regard to extending the Bush taxcuts to the wealthiest 2 or 3% of Americans. Billionaires feel that they own the country-- and, technically, the do own an awful lot of it (including the media, and entire political party and a good chunk of the other one)-- and they want to call the shots. And when they don't get to, they feel hurt. Digby said she has "a sneaking suspicion that the Democrats think that an extension of the Bush tax cuts would soothe that little boo boo. Except it won't. This is about more than money. It's about their wounded vanity and self-image as the most popular boys in school. I don't think mere money can fix this. It's going to require some very serious ass kissing."

The big problem for the rest of us, of course, is that if they don't vote on extending the tax cuts before the election, it's far less likely to pass. The arrogant Republicans of this lame duck congress will be screaming to high heaven about mandates and "consequences" and demanding that the congress and the White House fulfill the "will of the people" or they will burn the place down. And the Dems will acquiesce.

If they don't vote on this now, and win, it ain't happening short of a huge upset in the election. That could happen of course, but it's pretty clear that nobody's counting on it. The upshot is that all the Bush tax cuts are probably going to be extended. They'll "compromise" by sunsetting it until just before the presidential election-- when they can run the same game again.

Yesterday CNN reported on Forbes' annual list of the 400 richest Americans. In short: "The super-rich got even wealthier this year, despite the stumbling economy." The 400 richest saw their combined net worth climb by 8% this year. "Christy Walton took the No. 4 spot, while members of her family-- whose fortune comes from Wal-Mart-- took spots 7 through 9. Charles and David Koch, of private energy conglomerate Koch Industries, tied for No. 5 at $21.5 billion each. Both men saw their wealth skyrocket by $5.5 billion from 2009... Despite the recession, finance and investment industries continued to dominate the list; 55 members are from the finance industry, while 54 are from the investments sector."

Joe Sestak, the Democrat running for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, against a former Wall Street derivatives trader, far right extremist Pat Toomey, has a career of fighting for the country-- first as a military officer and then as a congressman focused on ordinary middle class families. He looked at the Forbes report and was concerned that "while Wall Street CEOs and oil tycoons saw their net worth soar... this past decade was the worst on record for middle class families in at least half a century. Despite this growing inequity, Congressman Toomey continues to fight for an agenda that favors the super-wealthy at the expense of ordinary Pennsylvanians."

"Middle class Pennsylvanians are struggling, but Congressman Toomey continues to look out for Wall Street. It's no coincidence these are the same special interests bankrolling his campaign," said Sestak spokesman Jonathon Dworkin. "Congressman Toomey has made his allegiances abundantly clear.  Working families are hurting and Pennsylvania needs a Senator like Joe who will put their interests ahead of Wall Street and the super-rich."

...For almost the last four decades, the annual incomes of the bottom 90 percent of American families have remained relatively stagnant, but the incomes of the top 1 percent have tripled.

After Congressman Toomey's reckless policies brought this country to the brink of economic collapse, he now staunchly defends his plans to lavish benefits on Wall Street and the wealthiest few. On Monday, Congressman Toomey told KDKA radio in Pittsburgh that he's unwilling to compromise on tax benefits for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, even if it jeopardized tax relief for the middle class.

Congressman Toomey has a long history of giveaways to Wall Street at the expense of the middle class:

• Congressman Toomey's plan to privatize Social Security would be "a windfall for Wall Street, generating billions of dollars in management fees for brokerages and mutual fund companies" but would gamble the retirement security of 20 million seniors. Working families have the least to gain from privatization-specifically low income workers, women, disabled workers, and survivors of deceased workers.

• Congressman Toomey wants to "get rid" of the current tax code and replace it with a regressive Flat Tax. Under Toomey's Flat Tax proposal, CEOs at bailed-out banks would pay nothing on their Wall Street earnings, while 95% of workers would see a tax hike of almost $3,000.

•  Congressman Toomey wants to add trillions to the national debt, all in the name of benefits for the super-rich at the expense of working families. Toomey's proposals to privatize Social Security ($4.9 trillion to the debt), eliminate all corporate taxes ($225 billion to the debt), and extend un-paid for tax cuts for the wealthiest few ($700 billion to the debt) would explode the debt and lead to heavy burdens on the middle class.

Sestak was one of the Democrats urging Pelosi to force the Republicans to vote of extending the middle class tax cuts and ignore the ignominious pleas of the cowardly and corrupt Blue Dogs. "This is no time to shy away from this fight -- because we're fighting for middle class Americans," he said. "We cannot let the extremists and the special interests shout us down, no matter how many millions they spend on deceptive campaigns against us. We were elected to fight for ordinary Americans, and this is the moment when we prove we can fulfill that public trust. This is the hour for courageous leadership. Working families are struggling, and we cannot afford to kick the can down the road. Let's stand up and say 'enough is enough.'"

Even though Republicans have already stated-- some publicly-- that their silly "Pledge" is just for show and not a serious statement with any consequences, the White House blog took at look at what would happen if their extremist fiscal plans to redistribute the wealth of the nation upward to the very richest families ever did get implemented. The part that especially caught my attention was about the impact of adding trillions to the deficit by making unfair and unsustainable tax cuts for the rich permanent.

We have been through this before. So let’s be clear again. Under the Obama plan, every American family will receive a tax cut up to the first $250,000 of their income. For those who make more than $250,000, this change would leave their tax rates on income above $250,000 at or below the rates that existed when President Clinton was in office and when the economy created 23 million jobs. As for the Congressional Republican plan, their pledge is to continue hold middle class tax relief hostage in order to provide an average tax cut of $100,000 to millionaires and billionaires. And the price is one we simply can’t afford: $700 billion. This tax cut would be, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, just about the worst way to jumpstart our economy and help create jobs... The Congressional Republican plan would add trillions to the deficit, including more than $1 trillion in additional unaffordable tax cuts over the next decade and more than $1 trillion in the subsequent decade from repealing the Affordable Care Act.

...Instead of supporting the Wall Street reform bill that would stop the practice of bailing out financial companies through programs like TARP, Congressional Republicans voted against it. Now, they are pledging to permanently end it. But TARP spending authority is already set to expire on October 3rd-- less than two weeks from now-- and thanks to the management of Secretary Geithner and the Treasury Department, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office expects the program to cost less than 10 percent of the $700 billion authorized. And the bank program, which was the subject of most controversy, is on track to make a substantial profit for taxpayers. The only thing it sounds like Congressional Republicans want to end is the Administration’s housing assistance program, which would mean 650,000 people will be denied a chance to receive a permanent mortgage modification that saves them an average of $500 per month.

Republican Party's Pledge Of Allegience To... The Banksters

The big news today is the GOP's Contract On America, the widely ridiculed (on both sides of the ideological divide) "Pledge" that they rushed out now that they feel the shot they had this summer to take over the House slipping out of their grasp. At first glance it sounds like an attack on Bush: "An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long-standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people. An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many. Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our people and blurring our sense of national purpose."

Right wing operative Erick Erickson called it "dreck... full of mom tested, kid approved pablum that will make certain hearts on the right sing in solidarity. But like a diet full of sugar, it will actually do nothing but keep making Washington fatter before we crash from the sugar high... This document proves the GOP is more focused on the acquisition of power than the advocacy of long term sound public policy." Boehner had an especially sleazy corporate lobbyist put it together but I wonder if it was Aaron Schock who wrote the dog whistle part about pledging to honor traditional marriage and if was Jerry Lewis who put in the line about transparency... maybe oily Joe Barton about "careful stewardship (although they noticeably left out what the government would be careful stewards of. Blah, blah, blah... one sack of bullshit piled on top of the other sacks of bullshit. And lots of militaristic crap and saber rattling one day after every single Senate Republican voted to filibuster a defense bill because it included the DREAM Act that the Pentagon says is so important for the military.

Within hours of their dramatic unveiling on The Pledge in a Virginia hardware store, the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 3470, Steve Cohen's Nationally Enhancing the Wellbeing of Babies through Outreach and Research Now Act, which was deemed too favorable to poor people and to people of color to be approved by the new guard of the GOP. Although most Republicans (106 of them) joined every single Democrat to vote YES, 64 of the furthest right members voted NO. That 64 included teabaggy favorites like Michele Bachmann (MN), Paul Broun (GA), Dan Burton (IN), John Campbell (CA), Virginia Foxx (NC), Scott Garrett (NJ), Louie Gohmert (TX), Jeb Hensarling (TX), Darrell Issa (CA), Steve King (IA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Tom Price (GA), Pete Sessions (TX), Lynn Westmoreland (GA) and-- in a very noticeable break from Boehner and Ryan-- Young Guns Eric Cantor (VA) and Kevin McCarthy (CA). They're the ideological tip of the spear the ones who are setting the real Republican Party agenda which is all about shipping middle class jobs overseas to low wage markets while crushing the small businesses they pretend to worship.

The rhetoric of House Republicans is that they have been working to help create small business jobs and save American jobs, yet their record has been the opposite. For example, just this Congress, House Republicans have:

Voted against closing tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas five times even as millions of jobless Americans are looking for work.

Voted against seven of eight small business tax cuts that have been enacted into law.

The truth about the Congressional Republican agenda is that it is designed to save jobs overseas, not here at home. On Thursday, House Republicans will likely again oppose the Small Business Lending and Jobs Bill, adding to their long record of voting against American workers and small businesses. This Congress, House Republicans have voted:

AGAINST the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (99% voted NO)

AGAINST the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act (99% voted NO)

AGAINST the Small Business Tax Relief Act (98% voted NO)

AGAINST the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Act (98% voted NO)

AGAINST the HIRE Act (97% voted NO)

AGAINST providing $40 Billion in Tax Credits for Small Businesses (100% voted NO)

AGAINST spurring Small Business Investment (97% voted NO)

AGAINST helping Businesses Recover Costs of New Capital Investments (100% voted NO)

AGAINST spurring Small Business Investment (100% voted NO)

AGAINST reducing Small Business Estimated Tax Payments (100% voted NO)

AGAINST providing Tax Relief (100% voted NO)

Instead of moving forward with real solutions for the American people, Congressional Republicans are focusing on their political future, doing the bidding of special interest lobbyists, and going back to the exact same policies that got us into this mess.

Just last month Boehner lit into President Obama and Speaker Pelosi for closing one of the worst of the greed-and-ideological inspired loopholes that rewarded companies with generous tax breaks for creating jobs overseas. Boehner brazenly and insultingly-- insulting to the unemployed and displaced workers of Ohio, I might add-- attacked the very idea that his supporters have now apparently identified as the economic priority they’re most interested in, more tax breaks for corporations shipping American jobs abroad.

Dan Pfeiffer, on the White House blog termed it, appropriately, the Republican pledge to special interests. "Instead of charting a new course, Congressional Republicans doubled down on the same ideas that hurt America’s middle class. Here’s what they made clear:

• Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires by borrowing $700 billion we can’t afford;

• Tax hikes for 110 million middle-class families and millions of small businesses;

• Cutting rules and oversight for special interests like big oil, big insurance, credit card and mortgage companies and Wall Street banks;

• Doing nothing to stop the outsourcing of American jobs or to end tax breaks that are given to companies that ship jobs overseas;

• All while adding trillions to our nation’s deficits.

Their plan is also notable for what it doesn’t talk about: protecting Social Security and Medicare from privatization schemes; investing in high-quality education for our nation’s children; growing key industries like clean energy and manufacturing; and rebuilding our crumbling roads, rails and runways.

This is the same agenda that caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression, costing 8 million jobs, wiping out trillions in family wealth and setting middle-class families back. Instead of a pledge to the American people, Congressional Republicans made a pledge to the big special interests to restore the same economic ideas that benefited them at the expense of middle-class families.

Here are two of the most vacuous and insidious voices of the GOP propaganda machine attacking Alan Grayson for trying to keep working families from being illegally foreclosed on:



UPDATE: And Republican Congressmen Are Already Admitting The Pledge Doesn't Mean Anything In Real Life

Just another cheap TV reality show, like Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Mad Men, or America's Next Top Model... only starring a lazy, orange-tinged, alcoholic golfer. Think Progress got to the bottom of the GOP pledge to hoodwink America with recycled ideas for America's Top Crooked Corporate Lobbyists.

Yesterday, after a Republican Ways and Means Committee members press conference, ThinkProgress asked Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) if Republicans would truly use the ideas from their own online platform-- as they said they would-- and include the popular idea to remove tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas in their “Pledge to America.” Brady, who actually voted to protect tax break for companies that ship jobs overseas, attacked the idea. After being pressed again, he flat out said “no,” and explained that Republicans would continue to favor tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporations that ship jobs overseas:

TP: I like the idea, letting people vote. As of last week, I don’t know the exact date, but the second highest idea, voted up by popular vote, was to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Do you expect something like that to be included in the new “contract” that will be unveiled tomorrow?

BRADY: I haven’t-- well, can you tell me what that provision is, because right now the ones we’ve seen from the Democrats and the White House actually penalize companies trying to sell and compete overseas. They do just the opposite. [...]

TP: So you think that some form of that, just different than what the Democrats have proposed, will be in the proposal tomorrow?

BRADY: No. I think our proposal is going to be how are you going to create the strongest economy in the world? And how’s America continue to lead for the next 100 years? All that has to do is lower taxes.