Key Democrat backs keeping tax cuts for rich

[still_one]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100721/pl_nm/us_taxes_conrad_3

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A fiscally conservative Democrat who chairs the U.S. Senate's budget committee on Wednesday said he supports extending all of the tax cuts that expire this year, including for the wealthy.
"The general rule of thumb would be you'd not want to do tax changes, tax increases ... until the recovery is on more solid ground," Senator Kent Conrad said in an interview with reporters outside the Senate chambers, adding he did not believe the recovery has come yet.
Conrad's comments are sympathetic with Republican arguments against raising taxes amid a fledgling economic recovery. They frame a debate gaining steam over whether stimulus to bolster the economy's recovery, or deficit reduction, should be the top policy priority.

[kentuck]

1. How much more proof do they need that they do not work ??

Obama and the Democrats already extended them for two years. They should have been repealed in January 2009. They have only put us further into debt and have created a system whereby the wealthy bribe the rest of America to give them what they ask for or else...Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We need to take our government and our free enterprise system back from these crooks. They are in control of everything. Including our military and our Supreme Court and the Executive Branch and Congress. They own it all. We are slaves to their demands.

We need to take those chains off our backs and start swinging them around our heads at a high rate of speed, screaming, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" The working man is getting screwed.

[upi402]

2. I guess I'm not supposed to

QQ for an opposition party anymore. Don't worry be happy.

[bluestateguy]

3. That would be pissing money down a rathole

Tax cuts for working people will be spent; they will be pumped right back into the economy.

Tax cuts for the rich will just go straight into their fat bank accounts, IRA's and 401 K's and sit there, doing nothing to help anybody but themselves.

[OregonBi]

20. I have a question....

...dumbshit...what good is *MY* 401K if I can't spend it?

Try `n figure that out....

[Raineyb]

4. What's the dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans again?

Because when Democrats say shit like this I can't see any difference.

[Dawgs]

7. Oh Bullshit!! Not all Democrats are the same.

Quit using libertarian arguments to try and make your point.

[Ganja Ninja]

15. No they're not all the same and that's the problem.

Some of them are republicans pretending to be democrats.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. Republicans are disciplined, with effective leadership

they consistently vote as a bloc, with rare exceptions.

Democrats are not as organized.

[Roland99]

11. The Blue Dogs are. The DLC is just as vile as the GOP

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

19. I'm sure the Republicans have cliques and factions too

and the hard-core right wing is quick to accuse moderates of being RINO. But when it's time to vote, they come together in a resounding "NO".

Discipline and leadership.

We Democrats just love our circular firing squads.

:hi:

[laughingliberal]

5. And we must remember, this is one of the men who insisted on the Cat Food Commission.

He and Judd Gregg were adamant about it and when the Senate, correctly, defeated the bill to create it, Obama yielded to pressure from these 2 and created it by executive order. We can afford to extend the Bush tax cuts but not to feed our seniors.

He was also one of those instrumental in killing the public option-one of Baucus' hand picked gang of six thugs.

[democrank]

6. Surprised?

You shouldn`t be.

[ladjf]

8. Screw Conrad. He is wrong and probably a crook as well. nt

[GoneOffShore]

9. We don't need to tax the rich......

We need to eat them.

[Cresent City Kid]

14. Even a nibble seems to work

The Clinton era tax hikes on the $200,000+ were modest despite the "biggest tax increase ever" rhetoric. Coming soon, the expiration of tax cuts for the rich will be framed as raising taxes on all.

edit: winkydink, we must have had the same thought at the same time. Another classic is how a smaller increase in military spending is framed as a "cut".

[WinkyDink]

12. Any Democrat who calls this expiration a "tax increase", the Republican term, is NOT A DEMOCRAT.

[marmar]

13. Their corporate masters have trained them well.

nt

[laughingliberal]

16. Cat Food Conrad wants to cut SS to fix the deficit so the wealthy can continue to skate.

He's in the same camp as Cornyn.

[glitch]

18. Catfood Conrad. Perfect. Let's make it viral. :) nt

[Urban Prairie]

17. Oh pshaw, how will ending tax cuts to the wealthy negatively affect the economy?

Just another off-the-cuff statement by a fiscally conservative politician, who added no hard facts to back it up.

Yeah, lets worry instead about whether or not a multi-millionaire might personally be worth a paltry 80 million instead of 100 million next year...:eyes:

Yeah, Michele Bachmann is sooo right, we ARE running out of rich people in this country, because being truly "rich" is now rapidly becoming defined as being what once was called a middle-class citizen with a stable career job, advancement opportunities, a pension plan, and an affordable health and dental insurance plan provided by their employer.