Deal Struck on Tax Package/ Obama's address Monday

Wall Street Journal  "President Barack Obama reached agreement Monday with Republican leaders in Congress on a broad tax package that would extend the Bush-era income tax cuts for two years, reduce worker payroll taxes for one year and give more favorable treatment to business investments.

"Other elements of the deal include a temporary reinstatement of the estate tax at 35%—the level favored by most Republican lawmakers—as well as an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed."

Obama's capitulation   "His speech last night was very bitter ...even a bit petulant. Part of Obama's core philosophy is that people who earn the big bucks do so by exploiting others, and it is the role of government to straighten this out. Obama sees taxes as a way to enforce some idea of fairness where economic liberty produces results that aren't to his liking. Now there will be people out there who are earning and keeping more money than he thinks they should be allowed to keep. " Plus these comments:  (Neal Boortz)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Tax Deal  "Moreover, the temporary nature of the package is disappointing. There will be very little economic boost from this deal. As mentioned above, people generally don’t increase output in response to short-term provisions. I worry that this will undermine the case for lower tax rates since observers may conclude that they don’t have much positive effect."

The Black Sphere on Facebook

A Qualified Victory on Taxes "It is possible that Republicans could have gotten an even better deal next year, since their numbers in Congress will increase in January. But that would have left them having to cut taxes retroactively and left households paying first higher and then lower taxes. Acting now reduces both uncertainty and volatility. Republicans can now spend the next two years advancing spending cuts and long-term tax reform." National Review

Mr. Lonely  "The trick to dealing with the left is to always remember the Chinese proverb: “he who rides on a tiger can never get off”."

Thomas Sowell: Rhetoric Rides Again "It also takes a lot of brass to talk about taxing "millionaires and billionaires" when most of the people whose taxes the liberals want to raise are neither. Why is so much deception necessary, if your case is good? "

Freeze Taxes, Freeze Spending, and Go Home  "”Make no mistake: Allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family. And that could cost our economy well over a million jobs.” It’s great that a leader of the progressive movement is willing to recognize the link between higher taxes and lost jobs."



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