Archive for December, 2010

David Karki

Late last night, the House Democrats announced that they will not let the tax deal that President Obama and the Republicans made come to the floor. This means that on January 1, the biggest tax hike in history will take effect.

Unless, of course, you’re an insane Democrat in Congress or the media. Then this means the biggest tax “cut” in history will have been avoided. Yes, according to Democrats, keeping rates where they have been since 2003 is a “cut.” When people continue paying the same income tax for the next two years as they have been for the last seven, that is a “cut.” And raising rates for all income levels by ensuring the current rates expire is somehow not a tax hike.

Moreover, even though rates for the bottom two income levels were lowered in 2003 and will rise on January 1 – thanks to Democrats demanding they do so in order to have passed them at all in the first place – this was only ever a “tax cut for the rich” and only they will pay more upon these rates’ expiration. So all-consuming is the left’s class-warfare property-redistribution obsession that they no longer care about the collateral damage they’ll inflict in their Captain Ahab-like blind pursuit of rich Moby Dick. Read the rest of this entry »

Brett Noel

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Dan Calabrese

I don’t know about you, but every day I become more thankful that I wake up living in a country governed by the policies of a president who understands America and isn’t afraid to make the right call even when it’s unpopular. I’m glad to live in a country run by George W. Bush.

And run by Bush it is. Even today.

This podium is mine.

What were the main issues in the 2008 presidential campaign? Health care reform was really not one of them. It was part of the discussion, because you had a sense of what Obama and the Democrats would attempt to do if they go the chance. But Obama led in the polls because Bush was unpopular and John McCain insisted on running from him, but couldn’t make a case for himself.

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Bob Maistros

“And now, it’s time for our successor program to our hit “Let’s Make a Stimulus Deal.” Direct from the nation’s capital, it’s that new game-show sensation, “Let’s Make a Lame-Duck Deal.”  And here’s the star of our show, Washington’s new Big Dealer, Speaker Johnny Boehner!”

“Thanks, Jay.  And welcome, America, to Congress’ lame-duck session, where totally irresponsible, bad government deals get done.  Let’s get straight to our first contestant – lookin’ really buff in nothing but his bathing suit, towel and basketball, it’s the nation’s 44^th president, Barack Obama!  What’s with the getup, Mr. President?”

Whatta deal!

“Well, Johnny, I’m fixing to get out of town for a nice long Christmas vacation to Hawaii, where one hopes I won’t be interrupted with another Yuletide Undiebomber.”

“Not a long enough vacation, Mr. President, but we’re hoping to fix that in another two years.  So what are you hoping to trade for today?”

“I’m here in hopes of protecting my left flank and keeping my campaign promises by extending the Bush-era tax cuts only for those making under $250,000.  Not to mention shoring up my overall political standing by enacting anything that will make it look it look like I’m creating jobs.”

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David Karki

Congressional Republicans and President Obama agreed on a deal that will preserve current income tax levels for two more years. Contrary to the big lie being spewed by the lamestream media in its role as propaganda machine for the DNC, this was not a “tax cut” deal but a deal to prevent a tax hike. Nothing gets lowered,  no one is going to be paying less because this was done; all that happens is a whole lot of people don’t have to pay a whole lot more in taxes when the economy is already deeply in recession.

It’s merely the preservation of the status quo, save for the estate tax coming back in part (35% of estates above $5 million, rather than no tax) and unemployment insurance finally being something less than perpetual and eternal.

Of course, the only reason that we’re even having this discussion at all is because the Democrats’ insistence on the Bush tax cuts being temporary in order to agree to pass them at all a decade ago. They’re expiring on January 1, and thanks to the Democrats’ unconscionable dereliction of duty in trying to run out the clock in hopes that they could get an automatic trillion-dollar tax increase by doing nothing, we’re facing the last-second avoidance of that increase – and all the economy-killing disincentives it would cause – in the form of this deal. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Calabrese

Congressional Republicans have negotiated a pretty good deal with President Obama on the Bush tax cuts. Here’s the gist of it:

- The Bush tax cuts are extended two years for all income levels. That brings us to 2013, when a new president could conceivably sign legislation to make the tax cuts permanent.

Still the master of America's tax policy.

- The estate tax will return in 2011 as scheduled, after gradually dwindling to its current rate of zero percent. But at least in 2011, it will only be 35 percent, not 55 percent, and the first $5 million of an estate’s value will be exempt. That’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than what was going to happen.

In return, the Republicans don’t oppose another 13-week extension in unemployment benefits. I hate this as policy, but it’s not a bad concession as part of the larger deal because chances are it would have happened anyway.

Now, what do you make of this quote from Obama, who opposed extending the tax cut for “the rich” but wanted it for the so-called middle class? “Make no mistake, allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family and that could cost our economy well over a million jobs.”

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Brett Noel

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Herman Cain

My first car as a teenager was an old car with a lot of problems, but at least it was functional. It had an oil leak and I could not afford to get the leak fixed. It was cheaper for me to add oil occasionally to prevent the engine from totally locking up, or worse yet, catching fire.

This is your country . . .

The president, his administration and Congress are functionally leaking oil, and the American people are nervous about a total government shutdown, or worse yet, economic collapse. We are not too big to fail and as some people seem to believe, and Uncle Sam does not have a “sugar daddy” to bail us out.

Leaking of classified information by WikiLeaks has compromised our national security, and has put our military warriors in and out of uniform at risk. We have yet to see definitive action by the administration to address the issue, even though we have seen and heard a lot of news stories that make us uncertain that the situation is under control.

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Bob Maistros

Here’s how Hollywood would have scripted the scene last night at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland:

After quitting on the Cleveland Cavaliers in last year’s playoffs, deserting his hometown and its fans and rubbing their noses in it on national TV last summer, and becoming the new villain of the National Basketball Association if not the entire civilized world, LeBron James would return to Cleveland with his new team, the Miami Heat, which had limped through the early part of their season as the King failed to mesh with the rest of the team’s mighty Three Amigos.

Not Hollywood.

As a chorus of boos and catcalls by a sellout crowd cascaded down from the rafters, the scrappy Cavs would torment LeBron and force him into multiple errors, the heralded trio would collapse, and the home team would waltz away with an inspiring victory as Queen’s “We Are the Champions” thundered from the speakers.

Of course, Hollywood has never been a Cleveland sports fan.  We’ve lived in the real world too long.

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