If Bill Gates and Warren Buffett make about 5% on dividends and 5% oncapital gains on about $100 billion, did they stop by the White Houseto thank Obama for giving them what could be an extra $1,477,351,600over 2 years, by charging America’s children about $1,600 a piece?

President Obama met with Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett
in the Oval Office this morning.

...During the visit, they also discussed ideas for growing the economy
and making America more competitive including investment in education
to better prepare the next generation
and investing in innovative areas with opportunity for growth.

USA Today

If Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are worth about $100 billion,
and make about $10 billion per year between long term capitol gaines and dividend interest
could they save about $1,477,351,600 over two years if Obama’s Tax Deal passes?

…….……………………….…………..…Tax Cuts Extended…………….Tax Cuts Expired

Dividends and LT Capital Gains………..$10,000,000,000…………………$10,000,000,000?

Tax Liability……………………………….…..$749,741,250 ……….$1,488,417,050?

Average Tax Rate………………………………..14.99%…………………..……. 29.77%?

$749,741,250 – $1,488,417,050 = about $738,675,800 x 2 years = about $1,477,351,600?

Tax Plan: Tax Cuts Extended vs. Tax Cuts Expired    
Tax Year:  2011
AMT Patch:  AMT Patch in effect

Tax Calculator

 

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000,
and their portion of the tax cuts cost $120 billion
are America’s elected leaders
about to charge everyone’s kids $1,600 each
to give Bill Gates and Warren Buffett about $1,477 billion?

$120,000,000,000 / 75,000,000 Kids = $1,600 per American Child?

If budget deficits were a dominant 2010 campaign issue, why did congress pass and the president sign a $900 billion bigger deficit about a month later?

Sometimes people mistake the way I talk

for what I am thinking.

Idi Amin

If Michael Bloomberg made 5% per year on $20 billion, and paid half his taxes on long term capital gaines and half on dividend interest, will he "earn" an extra $295 million over the two years with Obama’s Tax Deal?

"President Barack Obama should tell Democrats angered by his compromises with Republicans

on extending tax cuts to “suck it up,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

“He says, ‘Look, this is what I did, this is the best I can do. Suck it up,’” Bloomberg said,

when asked how Obama should deal with Democrats angered by the tax measure

and other compromises with Republicans."

Molly Peterson and Gopal Ratnam

If Michael Bloomberg is worth about $20 billion,
and makes about $1 billion per year on long term capitol gaines and dividend interest
could he save about $295,470,320 over two years if Obama’s Tax Deal passes?

.......…………….............…………..…Tax Cuts Extended…………….Tax Cuts Expired

Dividends and LT Capital Gains...........$1,000,000,000…………………$1,000,000,000?

Tax Liability…………………................…..$149,948,250 ………………….$297,683,410?

Average Tax Rate………........................…..14.99%……………….....……. 29.77%?

$297,683,410 – $149,948,250 = about $147,735,160 x 2 years
= about $295,470,320?

Bundling, Conduit and Conflict of Interest defined

Bundling -- The practice of pooling individual contributions from various people -- often those employed by the same business or in the same profession -- in order to maximize the political influence of the bundler. Typically, all of the checks collected in this way are sent or delivered to candidates on the same day.

 

Conduit -- A person, group, or organization that forwards others' contributions to candidates, a legal activity under federal law.

 

Conflict of Interest -- The situation that results when an umpire takes money from the players, when a judge takes money from defendants and prosecutors, and when government officials take campaign contributions from people whose economic interests are affected by government policy-making.

 

Coming to Terms:

A Money-in-Politics Glossary

"States will contend with about $140 billion in deficits in the next fiscal year"

"Jerry Brown returns as California governor today after an absence of almost three decades, facing a “day of reckoning” over a $28 billion budget gap...

Brown...has pledged an austerity budget, due Jan. 10...told Californians they’ll face painful choices to restore fiscal health.

...States will contend with about $140 billion in deficits in the next fiscal year after closing $160 billion in gaps this year...

...The reductions may include eliminating local redevelopment agencies, shrinking social-services benefits, slashing aid to state universities and closing parks...

...The governor inherits the nation’s third-highest unemployment rate at 12.4 percent, what the treasurer’s office says is $88.3 billion of bond debt and as much as $500 billion of pension liabilities following the longest recession since World War II.

...Curbing the cost of state workers’ salaries and their pensions may put Brown at odds with the labor unions that supported his campaign, such as the 120,000-member California Federation of Teachers.

...Payments to the two public-employee pensions, the largest in the U.S., will consume 5 percent of the general fund."

Michael B. Marois

Estimated Revenue Effects of EGTRRA and JGTRRA

"...the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT)
...estimated the revenue effects of EGTRRA and JGTRRA
...imply a loss of revenues totaling $165 billion in 2007.

...the debt-service costs that would result in 2007 from the legislation
under an assumption that they were financed in full by additional debt
rather than offset elsewhere in the budget.

On that basis, CBO estimates that the revenue loss in JCT's projections
 would lead to additional debt-service costs of $46 billion in 2007,
for a total budgetary cost of $211 billion.

On the same basis, the agency estimates the total budgetary costs, including interest,
for 2008 through 2011 to be $233 billion, $245 billion, $269 billion, and $215 billion, respectively.

The short-term effects of EGTRRA and JGTRRA
in stimulating aggregate demand in the economy
have largely dissipated by now,
and the supply-side effects of those policies are uncertain but are probably small.

...the two tax laws increased the budget deficit,
and doing so tends to reduce economic growth over the medium and long term.

...once those various factors have been taken into account,
the overall impact of the tax legislation on the economy is likely to be modest.

Peter R. Orszag
Director
Congressional Budget Office, July 20, 2007

Treason

"...treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of betrayal
of one's sovereign or nation.

A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor.

Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as
"...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against,
 or seriously injure the [parent nation]."

In many nations, it is also often considered treason
to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government,
even if no foreign country is aided or involved by such an endeavour.

...the word "traitor" may also be used to describe a person
who betrays...their own political party, nation, family, friends, ethnic group,
team, religion, social class, or other group to which they may belong.

...the term "traitor" is used in heated political discussion
– typically as a slur against...officials in power
who are perceived as failing to act in the best interest of their constituents."

Wikipedia

"...With a total debt of more than $13 trillion, our government is in the midst of forcing the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth the world has ever seen."

"...With a total debt of more than $13 trillion, our government is in the midst of forcing the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth the world has ever seen.

Instead of accepting that truth, and living within our means, each party is using its own favorite myth to make things worse. And they have the nerve to call the result a "deal."

...There are good reasons to cut taxes, of course. Lower tax rates really do spur economic activity, attract investment, and encourage entrepreneurs to start new businesses. But you can't get something for nothing.

...Our children will have to pay it all back, plus interest.

...Every dollar of debt resulting from extension of the Bush tax cuts is a dollar that must be paid back, plus interest, with new taxes on our young and future workers.

The net effect is not a tax cut at all, but an increase.

...In the long run, a dollar of spending must be paid for with a dollar of new taxes.

If you hate taxes, cut spending.

...Instead of some combination of reduced spending and increased revenue, we continue to borrow until there is no turning back. 

Increasingly, economists recognize that we are near the point where simply paying the interest on the debt will crowd out other government programs ...as well as business investment..."

Michael Munger
Professor of political science and economics at Duke

"Senate Tax-Cut Plan Would Add $857 Billion to U.S. Debt," or will the Tax Deal really cost at least $1,472.92 trillion?

"...The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which estimates the revenue effects of tax legislation, said the provisions would cost the government $801.3 billion in forgone revenue over 10 years. Extending unemployment benefits for 13 months, another feature of the package, would cost $56 billion, the Obama administration has said."

$857 Billion @ 4% x 30 years = $1,472.92 trillion

$857 Billion @ 5% x 40 years = $1,983.56 trillion

$857 Billion @ 6% x 50 years = $2,706.77 trillion

$857 Billion @ 7% x 75 years = $4,523.35 trillion

The proposal would extend Bush-era tax cuts for all levels of income. A two-year extension of those rates would cost $407.6 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

...The tax agreement lacks revenue-raising offsets."

Ryan J. Donmoyer

 

Mortgage Loan Calculator

"Senate Democrats rolled out a year-end, governmentwide spending bill [with] thousands of the appropriations earmarks so adamantly opposed by critics of Congress."

All animals are equal,
but some animals are more equal than others.

George Orwell

"“It’s completely inappropriate; I’m vigorously in opposition to it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who then had to admit the bill included earmarks for projects in his home state of Kentucky.

My opinions will never change
no matter what the facts are.

Steven Colbert

Taxpayers for Common Sense Tuesday night estimated that it had found 6,600 such legislative provisions in the omnibus directing where $8 billion within the bill should be spent."

DAVID ROGERS

The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance
 as though they were realities,
and are often more influenced by the things that seem than those that are.

Niccolo Machiavelli

"$277,000 for potato pest management in Wisconsin
$246,000 for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 for cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 for oyster safety in Florida
$349,000 for swine waste management in North Carolina
$413,000 for peanut research in Alabama
$247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington
$208,000 beaver management in North Carolina
$94,000 for blackbird management in Louisiana
$165,000 for maple syrup research in Vermont
$235,000 for noxious weed management in Nevada
$100,000 for the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage Visitor’s Center in New York
$300,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii
$400,000 for solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas"

John McCain via Drudge

If Mitt Romney is worth at least $190 million and makes about 5% of dividends and 5% on capital gains, could he bring in an extra $5,656,178 by charging America’s children about $1,600 a piece?

Should Mitt Romney have disclosed his conflict of interest in his USA Today Op-Ed?

..............................Tax Cuts Extended   Tax Cuts Expired 

Taxable Income........  $18,981,000   $18,990,350?
Tax Liability.............    $2,839,650........$5,622,239?
Average Tax........ Rate    14.95%............29.59%?

$5,622,239 - $2,839,650 = $2,782,589 x 2 years = $5,565,178?

Married, No children
Tax Plan: Tax Cuts Extended vs. Tax Cuts Expired      
Tax Year:  2011
AMT Patch:  AMT Patch in effect

Tax Calculator

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000,
and their portion of the tax cuts cost $120 billion
are America’s elected leaders
about to charge everyone’s kids $1,600 each
to give all the households making more than $250,000 per year
an average of $70,629.78 each?

$120,000,000,000 / 75,000,000 Kids = $1,600 per American Child?

$120 billion divided by 1,699,000 = $70,629.78?

Medicare Accounting Ripoff?

"Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed on -- and passed by a vote of 99-0 -- a one-year extension of the so-called "doctor fix" for Medicare.

The result is almost certainly going to mean higher deficits and more debt piled on the backs of our children.

the Obama administration and congressional Democrats made matters worse by including the "savings" from that 23 percent cut in the cost estimates for the ObamaCare law. This allowed them to pretend that the reform cost less than $1 trillion over its first 10 years...

...Now, faced with having the cuts kick in on Jan. 1, Congress, unsurprisingly, has once again voted to postpone them for a year, at a cost of $15 billion.

But wait. Congress found a way to pay for it: It voted to reduce subsidies under the president's health reforms -- in 2014.

That's right. Congress will spend the money next year, but you needn't worry because it will reduce subsidies four years from now.

...So, four years from now...Congress will use that repayment to repay the money it borrowed to spend this year to avoid making cuts in a program that is trillions of dollars in debt.

Feeling better now?

If November's election meant anything, it was that the American people were fed up with business as usual in Washington.

If this latest Senate deal tells us anything, it's that business as usual is alive and well."

Michael Tanner

If US Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) was worth about $19.64 million in 2008, about how much did he just vote himself over the next two years?

The 50 Richest Members of Congress (2008)

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000, and their portion of the tax cuts is about $120 billion...?

If US congressman Darrell Issa is worth about $303 million and makes about 5% of his net worth per year, could he charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $1,387,836 in Tax Cuts over two years?

Could US Senator John Kerry charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $500,036 in Tax Cuts over two years?

If Britney Spears makes about $64 million per year, could she bring in another $5,876,704 from President Obama's Tax Deal over the next two years?

If Michael Bloomberg makes 5% per year on $20 billion, and pays half his taxes on long term capitol gaines and half on dividend interest, could he bring in an extra $295 million over two years with Obama's Tax Deal?

If Rush Limbaugh makes about $78 million per year, could Obama's Tax Deal give him about $15,324,704 more over the next two years?

If there are about 75 million kids in the United States of America, will congress and the president charge them $12,000 a piece to bail out the financial mismanagement of their parents?

Can any American legislator who votes for a $900 billion deficit increase run as a "fiscal conservative" in 2012?

How could some American legislators opposed to raising the debt ceiling, vote to increase the nation's deficit by $900 billion over 2 years?

If Us Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) was worth about $80.40 million in 2008, about how much did he just vote himself over the next two years?

The 50 Richest Members of Congress (2008)

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000, and their portion of the tax cuts is about $120 billion...?

If US congressman Darrell Issa is worth about $303 million and makes about 5% of his net worth per year, could he charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $1,387,836 in Tax Cuts over two years?

Could US Senator John Kerry charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $500,036 in Tax Cuts over two years?

If Britney Spears makes about $64 million per year, could she bring in another $5,876,704 from President Obama's Tax Deal over the next two years?

If Michael Bloomberg makes 5% per year on $20 billion, and pays half his taxes on long term capitol gaines and half on dividend interest, could he bring in an extra $295 million over two years with Obama's Tax Deal?

If Rush Limbaugh makes about $78 million per year, could Obama's Tax Deal give him about $15,324,704 more over the next two years?

If there are about 75 million kids in the United States of America, will congress and the president charge them $12,000 a piece to bail out the financial mismanagement of their parents?

Can any American legislator who votes for a $900 billion deficit increase run as a "fiscal conservative" in 2012?

How could some American legislators opposed to raising the debt ceiling, vote to increase the nation's deficit by $900 billion over 2 years?

How could Virginia US Senator Jim Webb explain why he may vote to charge each and every US child about $1,600 each to give US congressman Darrell Issa what could be about $1.3 million in Tax Cuts over the next two years?

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000, and their portion of the tax cuts is about $120 billion...?

If US congressman Darrell Issa is worth about $303 million and makes about 5% of his net worth per year, could he charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $1,387,836 in Tax Cuts over two years?

Could US Senator John Kerry charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $500,036 in Tax Cuts over two years?

If Britney Spears makes about $64 million per year, could she bring in another $5,876,704 from President Obama's Tax Deal over the next two years?

If Michael Bloomberg makes 5% per year on $20 billion, and pays half his taxes on long term capitol gaines and half on dividend interest, could he bring in an extra $295 million over two years with Obama's Tax Deal?

If Rush Limbaugh makes about $78 million per year, could Obama's Tax Deal give him about $15,324,704 more over the next two years?

If there are about 75 million kids in the United States of America, will congress and the president charge them $12,000 a piece to bail out the financial mismanagement of their parents?

Can any American legislator who votes for a $900 billion deficit increase run as a "fiscal conservative" in 2012?

How could some American legislators opposed to raising the debt ceiling, vote to increase the nation's deficit by $900 billion over 2 years?

How could US Senator Charles E. Schumer explain why he voted to charge each and every US child about $1,600 each to give New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg what could be about $295 million in Tax Cuts over two years?

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000, and their portion of the tax cuts is about $120 billion...?

If US congressman Darrell Issa is worth about $303 million and makes about 5% of his net worth per year, could he charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $1,387,836 in Tax Cuts over two years?

Could US Senator John Kerry charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $500,036 in Tax Cuts over two years?

If Britney Spears makes about $64 million per year, could she bring in another $5,876,704 from President Obama's Tax Deal over the next two years?

If Michael Bloomberg makes 5% per year on $20 billion, and pays half his taxes on long term capitol gaines and half on dividend interest, could he bring in an extra $295 million over two years with Obama's Tax Deal?

If Rush Limbaugh makes about $78 million per year, could Obama's Tax Deal give him about $15,324,704 more over the next two years?

If there are about 75 million kids in the United States of America, will congress and the president charge them $12,000 a piece to bail out the financial mismanagement of their parents?

Can any American legislator who votes for a $900 billion deficit increase run as a "fiscal conservative" in 2012?

How could some American legislators opposed to raising the debt ceiling, vote to increase the nation's deficit by $900 billion over 2 years?

How could US Congressman Howard Coble explain why he may vote to charge each and every US child about $1,600 each to give US Senator John Kerry what could be about $500,036 in Tax Cuts over two years?

If about 1,699,000 US households make more than $250,000, and their portion of the tax cuts is about $120 billion...?

If US congressman Darrell Issa is worth about $303 million and makes about 5% of his net worth per year, could he charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $1,387,836 in Tax Cuts over two years?

Could US Senator John Kerry charge every US child $12,000 to vote himself about $500,036 in Tax Cuts over two years?

If Britney Spears makes about $64 million per year, could she bring in another $5,876,704 from President Obama's Tax Deal over the next two years?

If Michael Bloomberg makes 5% per year on $20 billion, and pays half his taxes on long term capitol gaines and half on dividend interest, could he bring in an extra $295 million over two years with Obama's Tax Deal?

If Rush Limbaugh makes about $78 million per year, could Obama's Tax Deal give him about $15,324,704 more over the next two years?

If there are about 75 million kids in the United States of America, will congress and the president charge them $12,000 a piece to bail out the financial mismanagement of their parents?

Can any American legislator who votes for a $900 billion deficit increase run as a "fiscal conservative" in 2012?

How could some American legislators opposed to raising the debt ceiling, vote to increase the nation's deficit by $900 billion over 2 years?

The hidden tax increase and job killer in the tax cut deal

The hidden tax increase and job killer in the tax cut deal

"...A glut of government debt should lead to much higher interest rates.

Higher government borrowing also tends to divert savings and investment capital
that would otherwise flow into the jobs-creating private sector.

However, with the Fed engaging in quantitative easing,
...the money needed to buy the additional debt is simply printed.

As such,the nasty side effects have been avoided in the short term.

Instead we are set up for more inflation...

...working Americans will see the real values of their paychecks fall,
as consumer price increases outpace the gains in after tax incomes.

As a result, this plan will do nothing to help our economy.

The benefits of holding taxes low
will be more than mitigated by damage done by larger deficits.

In fact, despite the Fed's efforts to artificially suppress interest rates,
the fear of larger deficits is already driving rates up.

...the only thing this plan will stimulate is larger deficits,
meaning the Fed will be forced to do more, not less QE
in an effort to restrain rates.

...nothing in the plan addresses the fundamental economic imbalances
that underlie our economy and that brought us to the brink of ruin in the first place.

What we really need are massive cuts in government spending so we can have true tax relief. 

...By expanding government and increasing debt,
the plan puts us farther than we have ever been from a real recovery."

Peter Schiff

Pork in the Tax Deal that will cost every American child $12,000

"The bill also now extends dozens of other expiring provisions, usually for a year or two. Among them: help for elementary and secondary school teacher expenses, those who employ people who work on or near Indian reservations, domestic film and television producers, economically depressed areas of Washington, D.C., and areas devastated by 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

"This is a great day for American workers," added Denise Bode, the chief executive officer of the American Wind Energy Association, after learning that the bill would extend a key investment tax credit for a year.

Many of the small breaks are for education and energy interests, which have strong constituencies on Capitol Hill. Seven breaks are education-related, while 11 deal with energy interests, affecting biodiesel and renewable diesel, refined coal, marginal oil and gas wells, and electronic transmission, as well as ethanol and alternative energy sources.

Next year, the same interests could return seeking another extension, said Williams of the Tax Policy Center — and that's what's troublesome about the system.

"In theory, extending these provisions for a year implies they'll look carefully at them next year," he said, "but they rarely do.""

David Lightman

Jane Bryant Quinn on the Tax Cuts

"...The deal eliminates Obama’s signature tax cut, Making Work Pay.

...Low-income families got more from Making Work Pay than they will from the reduction in their payroll taxes, so their tax bill will go up.

Taxes for about 5.7 percent of federal, state, and local government employees will rise, too.

They pay into public pension systems instead of Social Security.

They lose the Making Work Pay credit and gain nothing from the payroll tax cut.

...Rising federal deficits look like the answer for sparking near-term growth, but they also risk America’s position in the world.

Creditworthy governments normally spend no more than 10 percent of their revenues to service their debt. The United States gets wiggle room, because of the country’s underlying strength.

But if we start paying 14 percent of revenues, as we might in 2015, the markets could turn on the dollar  – reducing its value, driving interest rates sharply higher, kicking the stock market down, and tumbling the world into another deep recession.

...Given the options, economist Sinai would choose spending cuts and slower growth, regardless of the harm. His fear is that the global market will suddenly force austerity on us, as it has with Ireland and Greece. ...he reads bad signs into the recent spikes in long-term interest rates."

Jane