It's an $858 billion, 2-year pop to the deficit, mostly from the tax cuts not expiring. You want tax cuts? Then cut spending. Make the Pentagon war machine your first target. The deficit is completely out of control, the national debt just hit $14 trillion, and borrowing costs are headed higher. The Helicopter was grounded after the deal was announced, as the blades were straight busted. Bond vigilantes went nuts. Treasuries were annihilated. Russia, China and Japan were likely heavy sellers. B-52 noticed and freaked out silently for hours in his secret room at the Fed, where he keeps the chronic for the really bad moments. Think about it. Everything Bernanke had gained from QE2 in terms of lower rates was wiped away in 4 short days.
Who is the Ben Ber-Nank to think he can predict the sovereign debt tipping point. It'll just appear one day, and he'll be rightly screwed. Ask Greece, Portugal, and Spain if they saw it coming. Yeah, we print our own money. So what. The world is already on Zimbabwe watch and Ben shot his load last month. My mom is on Zimbabwe watch, for chrissakes. She's 71 and paying attention because of all the money printing she's been hearing about during commercials for Dancing With Palin. Wise up fools, $100 billion per month of Treasury suckage won't do jack against pissed-off bond vigilantes. When they're done pounding the Eurozone, we're the next target. Bernanke and his legacy will be swept away by an avalanche of selling, leaving him 30 feet under, with his helicopter out of commish, buried next to his 'I am not a money-printer' ass.
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WASHINGTON – In the spirit of the holiday season, President Barack Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans is becoming a Christmas tree tinseled with gifts for lobbyists and lawmakers. But that hardly stopped the squabbling on Friday, with Bill Clinton even back at the White House pleading the president's case.
While Republicans sat back quietly, mostly pleased, Democrats and other liberals were going at each other ever so publicly. As Clinton lectured on, Vermont independent Bernie Sanders castigated the agreement for the TV cameras in the mostly empty Senate chamber.
The tax deal, reached behind the scenes and still informal, now includes ethanol subsidies for rural folks, commuter tax breaks for their cousins in the cities and suburbs and wind and solar grants for the environmentalists — all aimed at winning votes, particularly from reluctant Democrats.
Republicans generally liked that agreement, worked out by Obama and GOP leaders. Democrats generally didn't, hence the add-ons.
It's all expected to come to a decisive vote next week, total cost by the latest congressional estimate: $857.8 billion.
On Friday, there were contrasting events for public consumption.
On Capitol Hill, Sanders spoke vigorously for 8 1/2 hours in a virtually empty chamber, urging defeat of a measure he said would give "tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires who don't need it." He finally ended his speech, conceding "It has been a long day."
At the White House, Obama turned over the briefing room microphone to Clinton who declared, "I don't believe there is a better deal out there." All sides, he said, "are going to have to eat some things they don't like."
The add-ons were being attached behind the scenes.
Almost $5 billion in subsidies for corn-based ethanol and a continuing tariff to protect against ethanol imports were wrapped up and placed on the tree Thursday night for farm-state lawmakers and agribusiness lobbyists. Environmentalists won more grants for developers of renewable energy, like wind and solar.
For urban lawmakers, there's a continuation of about-to-expire tax breaks that could save commuters who use public transportation about $1,000 a year. Other popular tax provisions aimed at increasing production of hybrid automobiles, biodiesel fuel, coal and energy-efficient household appliances would be extended through the end of 2011 under the new add-ons.
The package also includes an extension of two Gulf Coast tax incentive programs enacted after Hurricane Katrina to spur economic development in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
The ethanol money was added despite a growing congressional opposition to subsidizing the fuel after decades of government support. Last month, 17 Republican and Democratic senators wrote to leaders calling the tax breaks "fiscally indefensible," since there's already a law in place that requires ethanol be blended into gasoline.
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Obama calls in Clinton to help with tax fight
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From yesterday...
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