Day: December 11, 2009

A New Path To Bi-Partisanship

In case you are wondering…..Hell is in the process of freezing over!

That is the buzz word for Washington….Dems say they are trying to form an alliance with the Right….the Right accuses the Dems of NOT working in a bi-partisan way…..bi-partisanship….will it ever change?

Well, a quick answer is yes…it will…..I know…How can I say that with all the polarization in the nation’s capital?

Hebert and Cappiello of the AP have reported:

Senators trying to craft bipartisan climate legislation offered a revised proposal Thursday that would add incentives for building nuclear power plants and open the way for expanded oil and gas drilling off the nation’s coastlines in hopes of attracting wider support.The new framework for a Senate climate bill would ease back requirements for early reductions of greenhouse gases. It calls for cuts in the range of 17 percent by 2020, instead of 20 percent, similar to reductions already approved by the House and what Obama will call for at an international climate conference in Copenhagen.

The senators said the bill would include tax credits and a substantial increase in government loan guarantees for building nuclear reactors as well as some streamlining of the reactor permitting process. Currently loan guarantees for new reactors — which can cost $9 billion or more each — are limited to a total of $18.5 billion, and even those have yet to be awarded by the Energy Department.

The framework provided only a broad view of what a compromise bill would include with details to emerge early next year. But it reflects a widespread view that the climate bill that advanced out of committee in early November would need to be significantly revised for any hope of getting bipartisan support from at least 60 senators.

Are the Dems this desperate that they will water down an important bill just so they can say it was bi-partisan?  Or is it just an attempt to make the delegates think that the Washington crowd is serious about climate change?  Once again there are the ever present tax breaks….that seems to be the standard answer for all the country’s problems….tax breaks and the sun will shine again……personally, I think all this is pure manure!

A new path to bi-partisanship?  Why not?  The majority has been a limp penis so far….why take your Viagra now?  God forbid that the people doing the most damage to the climate should have to pay to repair it….hell that would be down right Un-American!

Make The Bastards Pay!

We have all heard the yelling coming from Main Street….sometimes loudly……the banks took taxpayer money, by the billions, now they are somewhat solid they want to pay the same group that caused the meltdown,  millions in bonuses….so they get bailed out for making crappy decisions and now they want their reward for doing so…..and now the ones that still owe TARP money are scrambling around trying to find money to pay back the loans so that they too can avoid any governmental interference in their bllod money, in the form of bonuses…..

There has been many in Congress that say that it is not right that they get a reward and of course their are those that think all is cool with it and that they should get the bonuses……there is tap dancing in Washington to try and make these thieves suffer a bit….you know the way they forced all of us to suffer…..

The UK has an excellent idea…….

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Wednesday that the government will impose a 50% charge on bankers’ bonuses worth more than GBP25,000 to be borne by the employer, responding to increasingly sour public sentiment toward the banking sector.Laying out plans for borrowing and spending in his pre-budget report, Darling said that the bonus measure would apply to all U.K. banks and building societies, and foreign banks with branches or subsidiaries in the U.K. The measure starts today and will end April 5.

The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority announced new rules on pay in August that require banks to defer the bulk of bonus payments for staff over several years and link those deferred payments to the future performance of the bank and the employee’s division within it.

Apparently this is not such a bad idea….why?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering a tax on 2009 banker bonuses exceeding 27,000 euros ($39,800), following the U.K. government’s introduction of a similar levy, said two French government officials. French banks would pay the charge, though the rate hasn’t been set, said the officials, who declined to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the press.

An aide to Sarkozy said he expects other governments to be pressured by public opinion to follow suit. Germany has no plans to follow Brown and Sarkozy’s bonus tax, a government official said on condition of anonymity today.

Now there is a novel idea….maybe the US should consider it….what is the novel idea?  Governments that are pressured by public opinion….too bad that is not the case in the US…..our system is that whoever pays the best for Congress members gets the voice…..

Congress this year unsuccessfully considered a 90 percent tax on bonuses at companies that received more than $5 billion in aid after retention pay for employees of American International Group Inc. sparked a public furor. The House passed the measure, while the Senate retreated when President Barack Obama said the U.S. shouldn’t “govern out of anger” and AIG employees promised to repay their bonuses.

(Thanks to Bloomberg and nasdaq.com for some of the content)

I see what the President means….why should we expect the thieves of Wall Street to be held responsible for their actions….a silly concept….huh?

Tax Incentives?

For as long as I can remember in the political arena, tax incentives have been a buzz word to try and convince people that something is being done that will help whatever the situation is at the time….

The more things change, the more they stay the same…..someone somewhere made that line famous…..Obama’s new job proposals is the same line that has been talked about for generations….that is about all it generated ….talk!

President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed a tax incentive for small businesses that add workers, even as Congress struggles to figure out how such an idea would work.

Obama’s other tax proposals were more familiar to lawmakers. He proposed extensions and enhancements of several tax breaks that were part of the economic stimulus package passed in February, including enhanced tax write-offs for companies that buy new equipment.

Obama also proposed eliminating capital gains taxes on small business stock, if it is purchased in 2010 and held for at least five years, expanding a tax break enacted in the stimulus package.

The Repub response to the proposal was a predictable as winter…….they hated everything the Prez said about jobs creation….and I mean EVERYTHING!  But their ideas sound familiar also……

–Give small businesses a tax deduction equal to 20% of their income.

–Let small businesses band together in associations to buy health insurance more cheaply.

–Curb civil lawsuits.

–Lower individual income tax rates.

–Expand health savings accounts, which are being squeezed in some of the current health-care reform proposals.

–Increase businesses’ ability to recover current losses by refiling prior tax returns.

Basically they are saying…….Cut regulations. Freeze spending. Cut taxes. No new taxes…..oh God forbid let us not leave out the old reliable…tort reform….there you have the Repubs answer to the current problem of NO jobs….Sorry, Batman….but that whole line of ideas is tired and antiquated……as a matter of fact it sounds very familiar to their health reform ideas….basically, the answers are the same regardless of the issue….one size fits all…..

But is this the big answer to a huge problem?