Debt deal doomed by the ghost of Bush's tax cuts

[FreakinDJ]

Source: Andrew Leonard

Debt deal doomed by the ghost of Bush's tax cuts

Three reasons why the Gang of Six budget proposal won't solve the debt ceiling crisis

The Dow Jones Industrial Average starting surging moments after President Obama endorsed the new Gang of Six deficit reduction plan on Tuesday. The Dow closed up 200 points -- its biggest day of the year, and a sign, according to some commentators, of investor class enthusiasm at the prospect for a debt ceiling disaster-averting budget deal.

Initially, the notion that a breakthrough was imminent didn't seem completely crazy. There is at least one practical reason for judging the Gang of Six's plan as something that could attract bipartisan buy-in: the sneaky way it can be interpreted as simultaneously increasing revenues and cutting taxes.

But after a day of reflection, the Gang of Six plan may not be the gamechanger that financial markets are hoping for, after all. There are at least three reasons to be skeptical.

1) The Gang of Six plan assumes that the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy will expire in 2012. For House Republicans, this constitutes sacrilege of the highest order. Even worse, when the Bush tax cuts are factored in, the Gang of Six proposal actually raises more revenue than the Obama "grand bargain" deal the House has already rejected.


Read more: http://www.salon.com/news/budget_showdown/?story=/tech/htww/2011/07/20/three_reasons_why_gang_of_six_debt_plan_will_fail

[Fearless]

1. Why don't they mention that they actually overarch the Bush tax cuts... cutting deeper?

[No Elephants]

3. Possibly for the same kinds of reasons we're still calling them "Bush" tax cuts?

:shrug:

[No Elephants]

2. Democrats have had the ability to end the so-called Bush tax cuts since at least

January, 2009, maybe January 2007, through the end of the most recent lame duck session, i.e., January 2011.

Bush tax expired December 31, 2010, by which time, Bush had been out of office for almost two solid years and powerless to do anything further about tax cuts.

When is anyone going to be honest about the tax cuts we are operating under now? Bush had nothing to do with them. Obama asked a Democratic Congress to pass them and it did.

BTC,MA.

Edit: Changed January 2006 to January 2007