The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
The Good: the Federal unemployment benefits for people out of work for more than 26 weeks may be renewed.
The Bad: the renewal is only for 13 months, when it should have been tied to the unemployment rate, i.e. in effect until the rate falls below 7%.
The Ugly: All of the tax cuts that are building the deficit ever higher have been renewed for two years. The estate tax cut was renewed, adding even more to the deficit. They are reducing the FICA tax withholding for two years. They are not extending the BABs [Build America Bonds], which were keeping state and local governments from bankruptcy in some cases. There was no extension of unemployment benefits beyond 99 weeks.
Taxes are the worse way of stimulating the economy, because the number of people paying taxes is shrinking. The employment numbers for last month show that Christmas hiring was pathetic because people can’t afford to spend on Christmas.
The FICA tax cut is part of the plan to destroy Social Security and was proposed by the Republicans.
People need to keep in mind that this was a “compromise” between Obama and the Republicans. The Democratic Congressional leaders were not part of this deal, and Obama had better get 100% support from the Republicans if he expects this thing to pass.
December 8, 2010 6 Comments
My Current State Of Mind
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John Lennon
1940-1980
December 8, 2010 Comments Off on John Lennon
