Tax Day 2013: When Will We Say Enough Is Enough?

April 15, 2013 5 Comments

It’s tax day here in America. We can expect an onslaught of local news stories about last minute tax filers and the post offices that service them. All propaganda to take focus away from what’s really going on today. No tax in the history of this country has been worse for freedom than the income tax. This tax allows government to be involved in our personal lives like no other tax. In fact, there are cases out there that admit that all of our income belongs to the government, it’s only through the benevolence of Congress that we are allowed to keep any. A quick read of the 16th amendment suggests the court interpreted it correctly.

President Obama released his tax returns over the weekend. How did we get to the point where we expect the President to release his personal tax information? Obama’s taxes are really none of our business and he should feel no obligation to share them with the world. Since he did, we can note that despite qualifying for the highest income tax bracket he only paid 18% of his income in Federal taxes. Not surprisingly Obama isn’t cutting a check to the Treasury in order to pay his “fair” share. Like everyone else, Obama paid the most he was required under the law. Rather than lead the way for evil rich people, Obama only paid the bare minimum.

Obama’s 2014 budget is largely dead on arrival. It includes any number of tax increases, he’s back on his corporate jet tax kick again. Obamacare kicks in next year along with its individual mandate tax. Some of the taxes for Obamacare are already in place, including the medical device tax that most of the Senate tried to repeal. (interestingly the media never reported this) This year 80% of the country saw a tax increase, it hit the middle class more than anything else which is why we’re seeing a dip in consumer confidence and spending.

As a nation, Federal tax freedom day isn’t until April 20th. Meaning we as a nation are working for the Federal government from January until the middle of April. That’s before we start working for the state and local governments who all have their hands out and their police force waiting in the wings to take our money by force. At what point do we say enough is enough? Obama and the Democrats clearly don’t think we’ve hit enough yet, the President has any number of tax increases he would like to push through. Democrat governors are passing tax increases left and right. At what point do we the people say enough is enough, especially as we watch the utter incompetence with which government spends our money?

Tax day gives us the opportunity to ask these questions. Unfortunately so long as we have a vast underclass being fed off the government teet we’ll have a significant number of people who don’t think we’re being taxed enough. We have 45 million plus on food stamps, millions on housing subsidies, welfare and other government handouts. We have millions added to the social security disability roles, just in the last few years we’ve seen substantial increases. These people don’t pay taxes in any significant way, for them there is no enough. They’re net takers. FDR paid people with tax money to vote for him, Obama has done the same. It’s going to be very difficult for Republicans to win so long as the vast underclass is being paid by government while not paying anything into the system.

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Obama Tax Increases Hurting Lower, Middle Classes

February 25, 2013 Leave a comment

In 2008 President Obama promised he wouldn’t raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000. He broke that promise with all of the Obamacare taxes. He broke it again when he raised taxes this year on 80% of the country. The average middle class family is paying $1,000 more in taxes this year. The Obama tax increase, which he pretends was a tax increase on the rich, has done little more than seriously hurt the lower and middle classes. We now have less money to spend in the economy. Make no mistake that trickles down throughout local communities. Obama isn’t much interested in that, he wants more tax increases.

Wal-Mart is seeing lower sales numbers thanks to these tax increases. The left loves to hate Wal-Mart but there is no business in this country who has raised standards of living more than Wal-Mart. Their customers tend to be lower and lower middle class. Many stores are in rural areas that are underserved by other chain stores. Wal-Mart has raised standards of living by offering consumers lower prices on goods they would have purchased anyway. Thus consumers have more money to spend on goods they couldn’t have otherwise purchased. That Wal-Mart is seeing lower sales figures since the tax increases shouldn’t be a surprise. Their customers just got hit with a massive tax increase.

Darden Restaurants is also seeing lower sales figures. Darden manages Longhorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden and Red Lobster. No doubt Darden had issues heading into the tax increase. But the tax increase has hurt them even more because their customer base is being hit with a tax increase that takes a dinner out of each paycheck. McDonald’s is also seeing lower sales figures. Again, like Darden McDonald’s has other issues at play. They’re nevertheless seeing lower sales figures. This should hardly be surprising since their customer base has seen their taxes rise substantially.

The extreme left will cheer these corporations losing money. They’ll whine about Wal-Mart selling cheap items and driving grandpa out of business. They’ll moan about unhealthy and generally poorly prepared food at Darden and McDonald’s. The left will do this and complain about CEO salaries at the same time, imagining the Obama tax increases are sticking it to rich CEO’s. In reality it’s those on the lower end of the pay scale that are hurt the most.

When Wal-Mart customers aren’t buying as many  products, workers are going to be the first to go. When Olive Garden doesn’t have as many patrons come for dinner, it’s wait staff and cooks who lose their jobs. The same is true at McDonald’s, where line cooks, cashiers and other employees will be the first on the chopping block. At Wal-Mart we’re generally talking about poorer people in need of a job. At McDonald’s and Darden we’re often talking about high school and college students just entering the workforce. If they lose those jobs, they’re losing valuable experience to say nothing of lost wages.

The Obama tax increases are going to be a disaster for the lower and lower middle class, if it hasn’t been already. Jobs will eventually be lost. For the rest of us, the tax increases have already reduced our standard of living by cutting on average $1,000 out of our budgets. Since nearly all of that money is spent on consumer goods, our standard of living has been cut by $1,000. What’s amazing is that the left wants even more tax increases. Liberals like Paul Krugman will come right out and admit he wants to raise taxes on the middle class. Obama claims he wants more tax increases on the rich. In light of the fact that his last tax increase on the rich included 80% of the country, no one should believe he won’t raise middle class taxes again.

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Minimum Wage Proposal Distracts From Obama’s Tax Increases On Poor

February 14, 2013 4 Comments

On Tuesday we were all supposed to walk away from Obama’s State of the Union speech believing the President truly cared about the middle class. He’s going to tax those rich robber barons to death and spread the wealth around to all of us. He’s going to raise the minimum wage, which doesn’t exactly help the middle class but it sure shows he cares about the masses. In other to believe all of this we would have to ignore his actions of less than two months ago. Remember, it is this President who proudly signed into law a tax increase for 80% of Americans. How soon we forget.

Tax increases lead to less consumer spending. Less consumer spending leads to fewer jobs, less pay and general stagnation in the economy. The economy shrunk during the 4th quarter last year. Unemployment continues to hover around 8%, it would be even higher if the government didn’t indiscriminately remove tens of thousands of the unemployed from the workforce for no discernible reason. We aren’t creating jobs in the numbers necessary to keep up with population growth. Increasing taxes have done nothing to  make the economy stronger. It barely makes a dent in Washington’s $1 trillion budget deficit.

Yet Obama cares about the little guy because he wants a minimum wage increase. How disingenuous can this President get? This is a President who just raised taxes on the lower and middle class by 2%. We’re not even talking about a 2% income tax hike which would be subjected to deductions, we’re talking about a social security tax hike. This 2% is on all of your employment income, you get no deductions or personal exemptions. Obama acted like letting the Bush tax cuts expire was some sort of big hit on the rich. In fact, the bill Obama lobbied for and signed was a big hit on working Americans. Now he wants to turn around and increase the minimum wage? Why doesn’t he cut our taxes first?

There is nothing that would be worse for our economy than a minimum wage increase. Not with over 12 million counted as unemployed in this country. At this point $7.25/hour is already a barrier to enter the workforce. Increasing the minimum wage by nearly $2/hour does nothing for the 12 million unemployed and it likely hurts those currently earning minimum wage. It’s not like we have low unemployment and a booming economy. In the labor market, it’s a buyers market and that means lower wages. If government indiscriminately raises the minimum wage, it’s once again going to be unskilled workers who bare the brunt of Obama’s intrusive government. Already suffering a draconian tax increase, they will now suffer a loss of their job or loss of hours.

Obama couldn’t care less about any of these problems he’s creating. If anything, more unemployed unskilled workers is a good thing. They’ll get on welfare and be ever more dependant on the government. His goal is to create a permanent underclass of Democrat voters. The President exposes how little he cares for the lower class by proudly increasing their taxes by 2%. We won’t even pretend he cares about moving these people up into the middle class, he doesn’t care much for the middle class either as evidenced by his middle class tax increases and failed promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. A minimum wage increase, which has no chance of passing through Congress, is nothing but a shiny object meant to distract us from the fact that Obama raised our taxes.

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Fiscal Cliff Deal Raises Taxes On Middle Class

January 4, 2013 22 Comments

Congress rushed through a fiscal cliff deal on Tuesday, only scant details were reported at the time. The President, who couldn’t be bothered to stick around Washington to sign the bill, declared victory because taxes were raised on those making over half a million dollars. Interestingly the upper income tax increases were less than what Boehner had agreed to just a couple weeks ago. The devil here is in the details as middle class Americans will see their taxes increases. In fact, those making $30,000 a year will see a bigger percentage of their income taken in taxes than those making $500,000. While Obama declared victory, he wasn’t even involved in the final bill.

The American media is largely ignoring the fact that over 77% of American families will see their taxes increase thanks to the fiscal cliff bill. The bill eliminated a 2% reduction in social security taxes, which largely benefits the lower and middle classes. The total cost of the tax increase for middle class Americans is $115 billion. That’s $115 billion less we’ll have to pay for groceries, clothes, school supplies or a night out. While Obama is declaring victory, one has to wonder what he actually won. For someone who declared in 2008 he would never raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year, he’s managed to do just that via Obamacare and the fiscal cliff deal.

There is a bigger question as to why Obama is declaring victory. The President wasn’t even involved in the final bill. Harry Reid more or less kicked Obama out of the negotiations and negotiated his own bill with Sen. Mitch McConnell. Joe Biden had more to do with the final negotiations than Obama. In fact, Obama didn’t get half the tax increases he wanted, He only got 75% of the tax increases John Boehner had already agreed to.

Boehner is getting heat for saying he won’t negotiate with Obama one on one anymore. Can anyone blame him? Obama doesn’t negotiate in good faith. He extracts a compromise from the Republicans then demands more. The President apparently believes that it’s the job of Congress to cater to his will and when they don’t he picks up his marbles and goes home. This of course leaves the country at an impasse every single time a major bill must be negotiated as House Republicans aren’t going to simply cater to the President’s will and the President is apparently unwilling to compromise via one on one negotiations.

This is the second major bill passed since the GOP took control of the House that wasn’t negotiated by Obama. The debt ceiling deal in 2011 left Obama out after he demanded more taxes from Boehner who had already caved substantially. That bill was negotiated in Congress, just like the fiscal cliff deal. Both cases saw Obama shut out of the negotiating, largely because of his inability to compromise. Now the President is claiming victory yet he didn’t get half of what he wanted and now he’s responsible for increasing middle and lower income taxes.

We have in the White House a bully in chief who believes he would be better off as a dictator. The House Republicans should let him continue down that path. He needs Congress to pass a debt ceiling deal more than Congress needs it. Let the President make his demands, let him threaten to coin platinum coins and try to borrow off of them in order to circumvent Congress’ debt ceiling. The President can dig his own grave by being obnoxious in his speeches and press conferences. The Republicans should let him do just that while negotiating directly with the Senate or simply refusing to pass spending bills. Obama thinks he has the GOP right where he wants them, weak and incompetent. If Boehner holds true to his promise not to negotiate with Obama, the GOP can turn the tables on the President.

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Fiscal Cliff Deal A Victory For No One

January 1, 2013 2 Comments

Senate Republicans largely caved on a tax increase bill passed at 2am today. For every dollar of spending cuts, there are $41 dollars worth of tax increases. Of course the Senate and the President failed to address the real problem this country faces: Spending. While the Senate and President will run around touting $620 billion in tax increases (interestingly less than the $800 bill Boehner caved to just a couple weeks ago) that figure is over a decade. In other words, it will only bring in $62 billion this year. We have a $1 trillion budget deficit. Do the math, even when you add in $15 billion in allegedly up front spending cuts we’re not even reducing the budget deficit by 8%.

The entire point of this episode was a class warfare. Obama isn’t the slightest bit interested in reducing the budget deficit. He truly cares not about our nation’s $16 trillion debt that is likely to rise to $20 trillion by the end of his term. Whether Obama is a Keynesian or the sort of socialist who doesn’t have a clue about economics, either way Obama is uninterested in addressing the real problem we face. If we Republicans were  honest, we would acknowledge that neither was Mitt Romney as he never presented a plan that seriously reduced spending. Even if we won in November, we’d be facing the same problem and the same refusal to cut spending.

While the media and President will run around today claiming the fiscal cliff was avoided, the fact is they’re only pushing it off a few years. The debt our nation has is unsustainable. Especially so with the paltry economic growth we have faced under Obama. There is going to come a point where we can no longer afford interest payments on this debt. We’ll be forced to decide whether we continue paying for the military, long term unemployment and social security payments or pay interest on the debt. If we refuse to cut, defaulting on our loans will have the same effect as cutting those programs.

Massive cuts in the future could be avoided if we would start cutting now. Small across the board spending cuts, caps on Federal hiring, not replacing retiring employees etc can reduce the deficit. But the Senate and the President refuse to do any of that and the House is leaderless. No party has a mandate to do anything but more of the same. The country either doesn’t care about this problem or doesn’t understand it. Rather than doing what’s best for the country, Congress and the President are playing class warfare games that don’t even amount to a 10% reduction in the annual budget deficit even if their numbers are accurate. If we really wanted to be honest we would acknowledge that despite rate increases the rich will find tax shelters and the Feds won’t walk away with $62 billion in new revenue absent massive economic growth.

We’re fooling ourselves if we think this is some grand deal worked out by the Senate. It barely involved Obama, once again he has displayed a complete inability to negotiate with anyone in Congress. John Boehner was rendered irrelevant a couple weeks ago. If anything House Republicans came out victorious as the tax increases come in at less than what Boehner originally agreed to. Perhaps the Tea Party still has some power, they got a better deal by holding out. But this is hardly a victory for anyone, especially the American people. We still have a government that refuses to address its spending problem.

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Obama Wants To Take Nation Over The Fiscal Cliff

December 24, 2012 9 Comments

One week from today is the last day before we go over the fiscal cliff. It seems unlikely at this point that we won’t go over it. This is what Obama has wanted all along, it’s why he’s in Hawaii right now rather than in Washington negotiating. Remember when Bush spent his August vacation at his Ranch and the media would go mad over it? Where are they now that Obama is in Hawaii? We’re facing a major fiscal crisis, middle class taxes are about to go up and that will cripple our entire class. We’ve already lost income during the last four years, now we’re about to be hit with an on average $2,500 a year tax increase. Obama is in Hawaii and no one seems to care.

Not only does Obama not care about the plight of the middle class, he’s basically refused to negotiate the entire month. Now he’s running around threatening to use his inaugural address and State of the Union speech to attack Republicans if we go over the cliff, as though he won’t attack them otherwise. Obama apparently told Boehner, who at the time offered $800 billion in tax increases, that he gets that for free. He offered Boehner nothing in return. It’s painfully obvious that Obama wants to go over the fiscal cliff. He couldn’t care less about what that means for middle class Americans.

Obama has one goal in mind: Destroy the enemy. Who is the enemy? He has multiple enemies here but the main one is the Republican Party. He’s already vanquished Romney, who apparently didn’t even want to run. (no wonder his campaign was so lackluster) Now he wants to destroy the entire GOP. He’s of course overplaying his cards. If middle class taxes increase, Obama will share in the blame because of his inability to compromise with Republicans. John Boehner may be a dreadful Speaker who cannot control his own Caucus but Obama hasn’t negotiated in good faith with him or any of the Republicans. That’s hardly gone unnoticed.

Obama believes he was given more of a mandate than he really was. He received millions fewer votes in 2012 than he did in 2008. He lost independents in most of the battle ground states. Obama won because he got his base out and Romney didn’t get his, largely because there are millions of conservative evangelicals won simply won’t vote for a Mormon. But putting the GOP end of it aside, Obama lost independents and he didn’t equal his vote total. He’s the first President to fail to be re-elected with more votes since FDR in 1940 and the first to have that happen on his first run at re-election since Wilson. Obama doesn’t have the mandate he thinks he has.

While Obama is gallivanting around in Hawaii and Boehner is trying to get his Caucus on board with something, anything, the middle class is staring down a massive tax increase. The President is unwilling to compromise in order to protect us, he won’t even meet the Republicans halfway. As such your income taxes will go up dramatically in January. Dividend taxes will triple, capital gains taxes will increase 50%, death taxes will increase. How is this good for the economy? Obama simply doesn’t care, he is hellbent on demonizing the “enemy.” Obama is overplaying his cards, the blame will be shared by both he and the House GOP. Obama’s failure to negotiate, his refusal to compromise will earn him blame.

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Boehner Caves, Is Anyone Surprised?

December 18, 2012 8 Comments

It appears that Speaker John Boehner is going to go with with Nancy Pelosi plan and raise taxes on people earning over $1 million. While the media is calling this a tax cut plan, in reality this is nothing more than an extension of current tax rates for everyone but those earning over $1 million. The plan wouldn’t include any debt ceiling extension nor would it include any spending cuts. Taxes go up January 1st, when spending cuts will happen is anyone’s guess. This is a weak, pathetic move by Boehner. Let’s be honest though, we expected nothing less from a man unashamed of weeping in public.

Not agreeing to spending cuts in exchange for a tax increase is nothing short of a disaster for the GOP. Yes, the debt ceiling remains an issue. But there are those out there who believe Obama can get around the debt ceiling by coining money. The Constitution allows the Treasury to mint and coin money. There are those on the left who believe the government could mint a platinum coin, give it a value of, say, $2 trillion and then rack up debt on the coin. It would be like the Fed printing more money except in this case the coin would never go into circulation. It would sit in a Treasury vault while the Obama administration creates new debt based on the declared value of the coin.

We don’t know that the Obama administration is preparing to put on this sort of a ruse for the American people. But it’s an idea that’s out there and we know there are many on the left, including Paul Krugman, who want Obama to go there and thus take the debt ceiling out of the hands of Congress for good. Let’s say Obama goes down this route, Boehner will have given the President tax increases for nothing and then he’ll be left with a meaningless debt ceiling and no way to for the President to make any cuts at all. Worse, he’s setting up a future showdown over gun control which will be tied to spending cuts by Obama.

We Republicans need to recognize that we have an incompetent running the House Caucus. It’s time for the rank and file to revolt against Boehner. He’s weak and he doesn’t play his cards very well. He’s fallen into one Obama trap after another. Boehner is about to give the President tax increases for nothing while setting up a future showdown where we all know Obama will tie spending cuts to gun control or some other horrible piece of legislation. Even if Obama doesn’t go down the platinum coin route (it’s unlikely that he will) does anyone really believe Boehner is going to get any significant spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling?

It’s time to send Boehner back to his tavern in Ohio. We need a Speaker who isn’t going to bow before the President, we need one who can negotiate with this man without weeping. One of the biggest problems the GOP has had since Bush 41 is that we’ve always had very weak appearing leaders. There have been few exceptions and they have usually had such glaring flaws that they’ve been made weak by them. Who the next Speaker should be is anyone’s guess. But does anyone really think the GOP could do worse than Boehner at this point?

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GOP Should Walk After Ridiculous Obama Tax Proposal

November 30, 2012 2 Comments

It appears the Obama administration has made its first offer in the fiscal cliff negotiations. It includes a $1.6 trillion tax hike, $50 billion in new stimulus spending, an elimination of the debt ceiling and undefined spending cuts to be magically decided next year or in layman’s terms never. Yeah, this is the Obama administration’s offer. They aren’t kidding around. Speaker Boehner shouldn’t kid around either, he should walk out of negotiations immediately. Until Obama is going to negotiate in good faith the GOP should refuse to negotiate with him. If one thing is clear, Obama is not being reasonable here nor is he trying to negotiate in good faith.

There have been those who wonder whether Obama really wants to avoid the fiscal cliff. He has a lot to gain by allowing the country to fall apart. He can blame Republicans, which he’s been successful at doing. The media is on his side, they’ll pretend like this is really all about tax increases for the “rich” that the GOP is trying to protect. But a $1.6 trillion tax increase over a decade is hardly a tax increase for the rich only. We have a $1 trillion annual deficit, $160 billion a year in additional tax revenue only makes up for 16% of that deficit. Next year, it’s even less if Obama gets $50 billion in meaningless stimulus spending.

The problem here isn’t revenue, it’s spending. Obama obviously isn’t interested in controlling spending, it’s how he got re-elected. While he blames Republicans for refusing massive tax increases, we’re seriously facing a $20 trillion debt at the end of his second term. How can we ever expect to pay that off in my lifetime, to say nothing of my kids? We need to control spending, pushing it off until sometime next year isn’t going to cut it. Of course Obama’s plan eliminates the sequestration cuts that were part of the debt ceiling deal last year. That ought to tell you were magical spending cuts next year will get the GOP.

Boehner and the House Republicans shouldn’t waste their time negotiating with this clown. This proposal isn’t serious, it isn’t meant to kick start serious negotiations. It’s a Democrat’s dream proposal, as though they have total control of the government like they did in 2009. But they don’t have total control, the country elected Republicans to the House and it’s up to them to check Obama here. Boehner can do that by just walking out and refusing to come back until the President offers a real proposal that isn’t a Democrat fantasy.

Obama doesn’t care if a deal gets done or not. He’s going to blame the GOP and the media will go right along with it. Let him do it, we cannot be afraid to stand for our principles. It’s not worth it for the GOP to cave and give Obama everything he wants. It’s two years before the next election, eventually Obama is going to have to come to the negotiating table lest his popularity take a hit. The country cannot afford a massive tax increase that will hurt the economy. We absolutely cannot afford $50 billion in new spending and we sure can’t afford to put real spending cuts off until a fictional time next year. Obama’s proposal is a disgrace, Boehner and the Republicans have to walk out.

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Will Raising Taxes On Rich Increase Middle Class Morale?

November 28, 2012 6 Comments

According to Warren Buffett, raising taxes on those making over $250,000 a year will “raise the morale” of the middle class. Who are these people in the middle class who will jump for joy at the prospect of increased taxes for those making more than them? Obviously this is the 21st century class warfare that Obama is ushering in, where we middle class Americans get all excited at tax increases for the class we aspire to join. It’s understandable when those in the lower 20% get excited about the prospect of wealth transfers via higher taxes on the rich, no matter foolhardy that position is. But what is the middle class going to gain?

Obama’s tax increases are nothing more than a form of class warfare. They aren’t going to lower the deficit and they aren’t going to pay for more entitlement programs. All these tax increases will do is take money out of the private sector where it can create jobs and hand it over to the Federal government where it will pay for what we’re already buying. The tax increases Obama proposes will barely cover one week of Federal spending. They won’t cut the annual deficit by more than 10%. This is of course assuming that the rich actually realize their capital gains at the same level they do now. The rich have a way of finding tax shelters when capital gains taxes increase.

Obama’s proposed tax increase (little more than allowing Bush’s tax cuts on the wealthy to expire) won’t realize more than $90 billion in revenue. Yet he seems to be staking his entire political future on these tax increases. It is odd to say the least because this is such a paltry sum of money when we have a $4 trillion annual budget and $3 trillion in annual revenue. The problem the Federal budget faces isn’t that there isn’t enough revenue, it’s that they spend too much money. But of course cuts in entitlements and just about everything else is off the board. Getting either party to agree to cut anything in Congress is worse than pulling teeth. Unfortunately we elected a President who is even less interested in cutting government. Don’t fool yourselves, Romney would have been no better.

If we want to raise the morale of the middle class, it begins with a strong economy. Tax increases aren’t going to make for a strong economy, especially when all other economic factors are dim. Yet Buffett believes we in the middle class will jump for joy over tax increases on those making over $250,000. What exactly do we get out of these tax increases? Surely we will be seeing no increase in middle class entitlements. The Federal budget is going to largely remain the same whether the government increases taxes or not. Even if we in the middle class saw some big entitlement come our way, is it really worth it when the class we aspire to join is being taxes to the point where it doesn’t become worth it to us to join the upper class?

While Obama talks about taxing millionaires and billionaires, the truth is the top 1% begins around $250,000. That’s quite a way from being a millionaire. Most of the families hit by the tax increases don’t make $1 million, no matter how much the President talks about millionaires. One of the aspects of the American Dream is that we are upwardly mobile. When the dream fails, as it did during the Depression for example, it’s because it no longer makes financial sense to be upwardly mobile. The only way it makes no sense to be upwardly mobile is if taxes increase thus making the extra effort not worth it. Make no mistake, this is part of Obama’s “fundamental transformation” of America. He’ll be successful and for the time being we’ll be stuck with a fairly rigid American caste system.

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Obama Misleads On Tax Debate; Boehner Looks Foolish

December 23, 2011 7 Comments

Weepy Speaker John Boehner caved to Obama and the Senate Democrats by passing a two month extension of the 2% payroll tax cut from a year ago. Boehner and House Republicans were looking to extend it a year. The whole debate bordered on absurdity. The Senate passed the two month extension and then skipped town. Somehow it would be the House Republicans fault if the tax were increased. Never mind of course that the House passed a year long extension before the Senate passed their two month extension. Facts can be pesky things.

Speaking of pesky facts, Obama spent the better part of the past few days claiming that not extending the tax rate would cost middle class Americans $40 a week. Let’s do the math shall we? It’s a 2% tax hike if the tax was not extended. A family making $50,000 a year would see an additional $1,000 in tax, which works out to about $20 a week. Keep in mind the average family makes $50,000. In order to see a $40 tax hike you have to make $100,000 a year. Only about 20% of families make this much or more each year, meaning 80% make less. Obama was being disingenuous as usual.

But of course the President went over the top, running around DC with his dog and several pizza boxes claiming that family pizza night would be ruined if the House GOP didn’t pass the two month tax extension. Not only would family pizza night be ruined, but surely someone wouldn’t be able to afford gas to go visit their elderly father at the old folks home. We’ll pretend that not authorizing the Keystone pipeline isn’t responsible for that. Obama laid it on thick most of the day. He looked utterly ridiculous and unpresidential in doing so. But this has never stopped Obama before.

Speaker Boehner meanwhile comes off as a complete dufus. What was the point of this battle? Reasonable people can see that the House passed a year long tax rate extension before the Senate passed their two month extension. The Senate’s two month extension is ridiculous, most people understand that. But what did Boehner think he was going to gain by threatening not to pass the two month extension? Did he really think Harry Reid was going to call the Senate back to pass a full year extension?

Speaker Boehner had an oppertunity to run around the country accusing the Democrats of playing politics by passing a two month extension and making this issue come up again in February. He had the chance to scream to the high hills that the Democrats were going to threaten to increase middle class taxes in two months. Instead, Boehner threatened to let the tax increase unless the Senate passed a year extension. This was a pointless error. The only positive around this error is that it happened at a time of year when few are paying attention. But it was pointless nonetheless.

Everyone came off looking like a fool during this debate. Obama was misleading about how much the tax cut was really worth to middle class Americans and he looked ridiculous with his pizza boxes and sob stories. Boehner looks like an utter fool for having spent the week threatening not to pass a two month extension before passing it. Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats look like fools for only passing a two month extension in the first place. But let’s be honest, the big loser is Boehner because the left-wing media is setting up the story that way. In turn, it’s the GOP who lost here. One wonders for what purpose.

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