The news today is that the meeting between obama and the leaders of congress to discuss extension of the current tax rates has been pushed back from tomorrow until November 30th. Additionally, news reports say that Senate Democrats are in disarray on the issue of taxes and some are quoted as saying that they do not even know what the alternatives are. This mess is unbelievable. Absent action by Congress, millions of people will pay the alternative minimum tax this year and others will not be able to get the various credits for childcare and similar items. This is wholly apart from the massive tax increases scheduled for everyone for 2011. the conventional wisdom is that something will get done before the end of the year, but I am not that sanguine. The Democrats who totally control Congress have not yet even put forward a draft bill, any draft bill, that would deal with taxes. What the hell are they doing?
In the election, one of the reasons that Democrats lost so much is that they failed to listen to the American people. Do they now think that hiding from the decisions is the way to proceed. They have had two years to come up with positions in this session of Congress. I know the GOP position: extension of all of the current rates at least for two years. From the Democrats we only hear bits and pieces from different groups but this is coupled with Obama saying he is ready to negotiate. Mr. President, despite what your advisers are saying this is not a poker game. This is a life and death decision for many in this country. The CBO estimates that under the position that you espoused during the 2008 campaign (which you make clear is no longer you fixed position), there will be over a million fewer jobs in the country. Can you please tell us whether you still favor killing that million jobs or if you now agree that the tax rates cannot be raised in the middle of hard times. Show some leadership for once!
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