Bernie Sanders = My New Hero!

[DailyDi]

Don't threaten to Filibuster... stand up and start talking! lol

[Little-Daddy-Toa]

lol let's see where they get us this time. Maybe they will finally improve?

[redneck diaper boy]

A filibuster would delay it. They last thing, that the Marxist Democrats want is a tax increase on their watch.

My only problem with the "deal" is that it extends un-employment compensation. When the benefits disappear, these people will find work.

As for increasing taxes on rich people, no poor person ever gave me a job. At one time we had a 70 percent tax bracket. People deserve to keep the money they earn.

Don't threaten to Filibuster... stand up and start talking! lol

[DailyDi]

A filibuster would delay it. They last thing, that the Marxist Democrats want is a tax increase on their watch.

My only problem with the "deal" is that it extends un-employment compensation. When the benefits disappear, these people will find work.

As for increasing taxes on rich people, no poor person ever gave me a job. At one time we had a 70 percent tax bracket. People deserve to keep the money they earn.

I agree 99 weeks is more than enough unemployment insurance, that's almost 2 years. At the minimum we should require them to be in some kind of training program to increase their chances of finding work.

I agree with letting the "rich" tax cuts expire. They've had them for years and it hasn't helped the economy, so I see no logic in continuing them.

I disagree with the "payroll tax holiday." As Mr Sanders said, there is never a "temporary" tax cut, next year we'd be hearing the same argument that not continuing the holiday would be a tax increase.

[Guest lilme]

A filibuster would delay it. They last thing, that the Marxist Democrats want is a tax increase on their watch.

My only problem with the "deal" is that it extends un-employment compensation. When the benefits disappear, these people will find work.

As for increasing taxes on rich people, no poor person ever gave me a job. At one time we had a 70 percent tax bracket. People deserve to keep the money they earn.

I have been on unemployment since January 2010. In that time, I have applied and continually searched for employment weekly/faithfully. None of the places I have applied to have even called me except 1, and that was only an over the phone interview to which I never heard back.

I understand that there are *some* people who abuse the system, try to live off of unemployment. I am not one of those. I just had to say to those of you who feel that way (which I respect your opinion), if it weren't for the unemployment benefits, I'd be homeless just for starters.

Even the benefits do not pay what my job used to. Slowly over the past year I have fallen further and further behind on bills. My car financer was about to repo my car.

The unemployment benefits are a God-send. I would be SO screwed if it weren't for them. And personally, I have no problem being on those benefits until I can find another job. My taxes have paid into things like that since I started working at the age of 16...

I was seriously holding my breath on this tax bill they're passing.

I will say what I thought was funny was... Obama shut bernie sanders down hard by bringing out Bill Clinton to the podium.. after that.. you heard NOTHING about bernie haha

~lilme

[drynot]

99 WEEKS of unemployment. Wow. That is a lot.

A good thing for those who need it, for sure.

[Total Trash]

When the benefits disappear, these people will find work.

One of my favorite bloggers said it best:

Getting laid off is not the same as getting fired.

Those 8 million workers got up and their seats were taken away. They cannot find new seats because there are not nearly enough seats to go around. Those 8 million or so workers cannot simply find new jobs because there are 8 million fewer jobs to be found.

The most recent figures, if you want to be precise: 14.2 million looking for work; 3.4 million job openings. That means 10.8 million Americans right now, today, are royally, epically screwed.

[LILJIM]

I look at it the same as others do at work. Give a rich guy a tax break (Just say $3000 he will sit on it. Give a poor guy $3000 tax break he is going to pay rent house payments pay other bills.) So I asks which helps the economy more???

[wishing for diapers]

As for increasing taxes on rich people, no poor person ever gave me a job. At one time we had a 70 percent tax bracket. People deserve to keep the money they earn.

The problem (due to our overly complex tax code) is that the truly rich don't pay into the taxes nearly as much as the lower levels. This is mainly because they can afford the accountants that find all the various loop holes. So even if they revoked this tax break, it really isn't going to do anything one way or another outside of being a talking point.

I agree in principle that you should get to keep the money you make, but as a larger society there are things we need to do to support each other and the ways we want to live. To do those things takes money. What really needs to happen is that we need a more simplified tax code where everyone is taxed equally and fairly without all the loop holes and shelters.

One of my favorite bloggers said it best:

Except that isn't always true, especially in bigger companies. I worked for a large company for over half my life when I was finally laid off. Prior to that they had lay offs every year they would then start hiring again within a month or two. Outside of businesses that are truly going under, layoffs are used for 4 major purposes:

1) Cull the under performers.

2) Cut groups/divisions that don't fit the plan anymore and can't otherwise be absorbed.

3) Cut large (non-exec) salaries from the books.

4) To fire those that aren't worth the legal risk of explicitly firing (e.g. you can't sue for wrongful termination in a lay off).

Even in this economy, the next company I worked for had a lay off and then started hiring again a month after the lay offs were complete. And my former co-workers that have spread to other major companies in the area all report the same type things at their new companies.

That's not to imply that there are uncounted jobs out there, I'm just pointing out that lays offs don't remotely mean that a job slot is lost (though the new spot that gets created may be for less pay or in a different part of the business).

I look at it the same as others do at work. Give a rich guy a tax break (Just say $3000 he will sit on it. Give a poor guy $3000 tax break he is going to pay rent house payments pay other bills.) So I asks which helps the economy more???

I remember reading a study years ago where they actually found that if you gave the money to a truly poor person, they would actually go and blow it all rather than save it or pay for basic needs (mortgage/rent, non-extravagant food/clothes, etc..).

[Diaper Mike 05]

The unemployment benefits are a God-send. I would be SO screwed if it weren't for them. And personally, I have no problem being on those benefits until I can find another job. My taxes have paid into things like that since I started working at the age of 16...

Unemployment taxes are paid by employers, not your taxes.

And to everyone saying tax cuts for the rich do not accomplish anything - the point made by Redneck is right. No poor person ever created a job. And the second thing is that people who have ideas that could take off may cull their achievements some to avoid Obama's tax increases. If I were to start a business, I would make sure to limit my and the company's earnings to pay less in taxes. $200,000-$250,000 starts meaning small business owners and people who have made the effort to be successful. And I refuse to pay more to those who refuse to get a job and wave around their benefits card around like a badge of honor (those who are making an effort and just can't make it aren't advertising their cards - it's out of their wallet, in their hand, swiped, and back in the wallet in record time because they are actually needing it even though they'd rather be off the system).

[Guest lilme]

Unemployment taxes are paid by employers, not your taxes.

I did not know that

But still.. I have made the effort and I'm not trying to live off the benefits (Not saying you said I was, I'm just being perfectly clear.. bottom line is, there are waaaaay more people out there than there are jobs ATM. I have applied and even re-applied to over 110 places, and I know this because I have to keep track of it to continue recieving my benefits. I'm not sure how it works anywhere else, but in NY if you arn't actively seeking work... they *will* cut you off).

Now, what I can't stand, is the abuse of Welfare. I have no beef with those who need it, that's what it's there for. But I'm so sick and tired of seeing 18 years olds go into convenient stores with 3 or 4 of their friends and buy everyone soda chips and slim jims, then whip out their benefits card. That really pisses me off (I've worked retail for years, I've been on the cash register side of the counter). I have beef with that because my taxes *are* going for that.

I think EBT cards should only be allowed for use in places like Aldi's or Save-A-lot or similair type stores... and you can only use it to buy groceries... NOTHING else...

Just my opinion *shrugs*

~lilme

[Total Trash]

The problem (due to our overly complex tax code) is that the truly rich don't pay into the taxes nearly as much as the lower levels. This is mainly because they can afford the accountants that find all the various loop holes. So even if they revoked this tax break, it really isn't going to do anything one way or another outside of being a talking point.

I agree in principle that you should get to keep the money you make, but as a larger society there are things we need to do to support each other and the ways we want to live. To do those things takes money. What really needs to happen is that we need a more simplified tax code where everyone is taxed equally and fairly without all the loop holes and shelters.

No argument here.

Except that isn't always true, especially in bigger companies. I worked for a large company for over half my life when I was finally laid off. Prior to that they had lay offs every year they would then start hiring again within a month or two. Outside of businesses that are truly going under, layoffs are used for 4 major purposes:

1) Cull the under performers.

2) Cut groups/divisions that don't fit the plan anymore and can't otherwise be absorbed.

3) Cut large (non-exec) salaries from the books.

4) To fire those that aren't worth the legal risk of explicitly firing (e.g. you can't sue for wrongful termination in a lay off).

Even in this economy, the next company I worked for had a lay off and then started hiring again a month after the lay offs were complete. And my former co-workers that have spread to other major companies in the area all report the same type things at their new companies.

That's not to imply that there are uncounted jobs out there, I'm just pointing out that lays offs don't remotely mean that a job slot is lost (though the new spot that gets created may be for less pay or in a different part of the business).

While the economy is adding jobs, it's at a rate that barely scratches the surface of unemployment.To reiterate what I posted before:

The most recent figures, if you want to be precise: 14.2 million looking for work; 3.4 million job openings. That means 10.8 million Americans right now, today, are royally, epically screwed.

I remember reading a study years ago where they actually found that if you gave the money to a truly poor person, they would actually go and blow it all rather than save it or pay for basic needs (mortgage/rent, non-extravagant food/clothes, etc..).

Well, the whole point of stimulus is to get people spending money. That's why interest rates are being kept low: to discourage saving and encourage lending.

If I were to start a business, I would make sure to limit my and the company's earnings to pay less in taxes.

Progressive income tax brackets don't just apply a flat rate to someone's income. The first $8150 you make would be subject to the lowest tax rate, the next $25,600 would be subject to the next highest rate, etc., and not renewing the tax cuts for the top bracket would only affect anything you made over $250,000. Corporate tax rates work differently, but as far as I know the proposed legislation doesn't include changes to them.

lilme posted:

I'm not sure how it works anywhere else, but in NY if you arn't actively seeking work... they *will* cut you off

By definition, only individuals actively seeking work are considered unemployed, which is why unemployment rates tend to discount discouraged workers who have given up looking.

[BoTox]

This country's current administration has attempted to do too much for too many and has spent too much. America is the land of opportunity, not the land of perpetual handouts. I'm all for hand ups! I think once you've drawn 60 days of unemployment, to keep getting unemployment you should have to take drug test and work for the state in some form. If the problem is illegals are taking our jobs, then you would have to do a job an illegal would do to get your unemployment check.

There are always jobs in this area but nobody wants to do the work. It is beneath them.

Frankly, I've paid taxes for more than 30 years and drawn unemployment once for two weeks between jobs. It helped but I never once thought it was free money. There are way too many people that have gamed the system. I suspect there are web pages that teach you how to get the most for nothing. I know a person that coaches others on how to get a "crazy check" so you never have to work a day in your life. This culture of "me, me, ME!" has got to end.

My other piss-off button is taxes. Government acts like I'm robbing them when the tax rates are reduced. Government doesn't earn anything but my contempt. They steal money from those that have earned it to give to those that didn't. Charity by virtue of threat of imprisonment is not charity, it is robbery made legal by the ones that make the laws.

I'm all for paying my fair share, and do, but current tax code is neither fair nor reasonable. Taxes should only be levied on purchases and there should be exemptions for basic items such as food and essentials, such as health insurance. In this way, when a poor man buys a $1,500 car, he pays taxes, when I buy a $10,000 car I pay more taxes and when a rich guy buys his dozen Porches in rainbow colors, he pays taxes. Taxing earnings and spending is double dipping and adds up fast to oppression.

It angers me to no end at the disgraceful manner in which government blissfully squanders billions and billions of dollars when they didn't earn the money and can't possibly do a better job with 90% of the projects and programs they woefully fund.

[Total Trash]

I think once you've drawn 60 days of unemployment, to keep getting unemployment you should have to take drug test and work for the state in some form.

Amen! We should follow FDR's example and create massive public works projects to fix up America's crumbling infrastructure and create a sustainable power grid. Better yet, the government could provide training for skilled positions (i.e. healthcare) that are always strapped for manpower.

Taxing earnings and spending is double dipping and adds up fast to oppression.

Which is why there's no federal sales tax (edit: This is no longer completely true. There's now a 10% tax on indoor tanning.) Most states have both sales and income taxes, but preventing states from imposing additional taxes as they see fit would go against that whole "state's rights" thing that conservatives are so fond of.

[Bettypooh]

lol let's see where they get us this time. Maybe they will finally improve?

Rather than get into the current rich vs poor argument here, I'll just comment on this post

These are the same people we've had in the political system for years. Do you really expect them to act differently now? The results prove my contention that they ALL need to be gone

Bettypooh

Footnote: Filibustering became known as "Putting on the Diaper" after Sen. Strom Thurmond had his housekeeper fashion a home-made diaper for his record-setting 24 hour solo 1957 filibuster

[drynot]

Amen! We should follow FDR's example and create massive public works projects to fix up America's crumbling infrastructure and create a sustainable power grid. Better yet, the government could provide training for skilled positions (i.e. healthcare) that are always strapped for manpower.

I agree with this 100% Obviously there are people out there who are going to abuse the system and will want to sit around and get paid and not work. However, I think the majority of the people who are out of work would jump at the chance to get re-trained for a different career if their current career is on the decline.

However, where would the money come from to support these new initiatives? Canadians and Americans are already taxed heavily so unless there are cuts to current programs or an increase in taxes these ideas couldn't get off the ground today.......

[Yvhuce]

Tax the rich until they're netting as much as the poor. That way, the government can have its money and we can eliminate the rich/poor gap once and for all. The reason we're in such a mess in the first place is because the government favors the rich... Of course, that also means that no one'll have fancy stuff like iPhones or new cars, but if we can live without that stuff, they can learn to live without them, too.

[Diaper Mike 05]

Tax the rich until they're netting as much as the poor. That way, the government can have its money and we can eliminate the rich/poor gap once and for all. The reason we're in such a mess in the first place is because the government favors the rich... Of course, that also means that no one'll have fancy stuff like iPhones or new cars, but if we can live without that stuff, they can learn to live without them, too.

Worst idea ever.

Government doesn't favor the rich, it favors those who do nothing and want free handouts. If that were to happen, all business would collapse as there would be no reason to start a business if you were going to end up like the lazy bum who does nothing.

Achievement is only taking what you are naturally given and making the most of it, while taking a few chances along the way. Like they say, water finds it's own level, and people do to. And people should be rewarded for taking chances and being successful doing it.