President Obama says he is now "agnostic" about raising taxes on households making under $250,000 a year to help cut budget deficits, signaling a possible retreat from a campaign pledge.
In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek on newsstands Friday, Obama said a presidential budget commission needs to look at all options for deficit reduction - including tax increases and cuts in spending on such programs as Social Security and Medicare.
"The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table," Obama said. "So what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions."
Yeah, sure. What a load of crap from the Craploader in Chief.
He said exactly the same thing on health care, and single payer was off the table from the start.
So it's all wired up. Prepare for the big wienie, people! Social Security looting, Medicare cuts -- a.k.a. "entitlement reform" -- and tax hikes.
Looks like the only constituents Obama gives two shits about are the "savvy businessmen"* who crashed the economy, threw us out of work, and laughed all the way to the bank!
NOTE * From the same Bloomberg interview. Some interview.
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It was inevitable...
This is what neoliberals like Obama do. They destroy the middle class so their bosses can have more cheap labor.
Obviously we middle class types are holding on too tight to life and limb. More war, less health care, fewer jobs. STAT!
Never vote for people who hate you.
ERA Now!
The Widdershins
Craploader in Chief
Works for me.
That Fits
For me too. Craploader in chief sure fits.
ALL ideas?
"The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table"
What about war funding, is that on the table? Nah.
ALL ideas?
What about a Tobin tax? Is that on the table?
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
No, no...
You don't defund what destroys the middle class. Silly blogger!
Destroying the middle class is the goal with Obama, I believe. You can't have a strong democracy, in which its representatives are answerable to its electorate, without one. And as we've seen from the way the Republicans and the Obamacrats "won" the Presidency in the past three elections, small-d-democracy is their enemy.
Taking money that should be spent on social programs, which encourage social mobility and build a more stable and democratic society, and throwing it into the evil maw of the military-industrial complex, is not insane to the oligarchy-patriarchy. It's just another part of the strategy to apply the Shock Doctrine to America, for fun and profit.
Never vote for people who hate you.
ERA Now!
The Widdershins
All ideas? What about Medicare for all...with a robust private
option?
Oh, yeah. Gotta please and fluff the Corporate Overlords. Gotta keep the profits high for the for-profit insurance companies and the rest of the Big Health Industry Players.
Damn, during the primaries I worried Obama would damage the Democratic Party brand image, but I figured it would take the whole first term, maybe two.
Now, he's on the verge of destroying it entirely! Plus, he's doing it in less than a year and is now just piling on!
Even BushBoy and Darth Cheney took more than a year to ruin the Repub image. And R's are much better at lying to rebuild "image" than D's are.
We are so fucked.
He's never going to get it, is he? And he's sure enabling those Blue Bunny Dems.
Blue Bunnies are like Blue Dogs, only they always run and hide from anything the R's or MCM (Mainstream Corporate Media) chide them about, much less go into full attack mode over...sheesh.
The Costs of Empire
How about the Empire recognizing that it is an Empire? And, maybe, just maybe, cutting back on the imperial armed forces and all those damned military bases we have all over the world including the several we have in Germany so our generals and admirals can play golf there.
That Prez commission
won't have power or authority over Congress to do anything.
However, let him try it. That creaking sound will be the door shutting on any possible second term. http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/door_sounds/door_door-creak-closing_wav.shtml
Obama doesn't care about a second term
He's said so; believe it.
Think of elected offices as unpaid internships and you'll have the elite perspective on this.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I take his no-second-term signals as...
... more faux grassrootsiness.
"This campaign is about you." "You're the ones you've been waiting for." "Change comes from the bottom up." Ad nauseum. (Well, de nauseum, too.)
It just wouldn't become such a chill Cipher-in-Chief to appear too clingy to the job.
That's not to say that he won't be an LBJ (without the Civil Rights or social programs commitment) and fold his tent, but I'm not convinced that doesn't want a second term as Transformative Messiah.
He thrives on adoration
He just wants his minions to say "Oh No! You HAVE to run because what would we do without your wonderful awesome self?"
The sycophant factor
If you are surrounded by sycophants, you start believing the hype about yourself. It leaves you prone to sticking by something that clearly is not working. Sure you can have outside detractors, but if the majority of what you hear are the sycophants, than you can easily ignore the legitimate criticism and believe you are bordering on divine. I believe this happened to Bush II and is the case with Obama. Its also common for many pols I have encountered. I have a good friend like this. Successful and pleasant but hears absolutely zero criticism other than my constant bombardment. After a time, you can notice the changes from the sycophant factor. It seems very real to me.
Oh, and having listened to sooooooo many political speeches and been part of or analyzed numerous campaigns, the "happy being a one termer" line is just that, a line. It should be taken as seriously as the candidate who says they "aren't running" for office when its clear as day they are. Have we all forgotten how Obama almost laughed at the idea of running for president in 2008 because it was too soon?
Only tyrants rig elections.
Combined with the Endless Campaign phenomenon
where it seems the Tsar is deliberately surrounding himself with the most syncophantish counselors, and it's a big fat formula for clueless hubris in addition to sincerely held beliefs in horrid policy.
campskunk at Allegre's:
Because the problem is not that we have too little condescension from our tribe. -- okanogen
If he doesn't cut the crap
and do something useful for people, it's not going to matter whether he or not. wants second term. Let's get us somewhere else to go for 2012.
Raising Taxes
Saying he'll consider raising taxes publicly is a third rail move. I find it inexplicable, unless this statement was the usual off-teleprompter word fog. I know he doesn't feel responsible to the voters, but surely he understands there's no better way to ensure a stampede to the right or Tea Partiers than to talk about raising taxes out in the open?
I suppose it could just be more scare tactics to underscore the fake urgency of cutting Social Security, I can't think of a better way to ensure not getting re-elected.
Because the problem is not that we have too little condescension from our tribe. -- okanogen
Tax increases and deficits go hand in hand
Of course Obama is going to push to raise taxes on the middle class. That is the whole point of increasing the deficit and the national debt. Deficit spending is simply a way to force taxpayers to hand over their income to corporate fat cats in the guise of interest payments. That's the whole point. That's why they are pushing so hard to increase them. They've already got the interest payments up to $400 billion a year, and the plan is to increase that to at least a trillion within the next few years. The idea is to eliminate all government services ("ask not what the country can do for you") and make the federal government entirely into a machine that siphons money from working people to bankers ("ask what you can do for your country"). Deficits are the essence of the neo-con/liberal/right-wing philosophy and program.
You think taxes are bad now folks? Just wait. In 2000 days or so the interest will be a trillion a year. And that's just not for one year. That's every year, forever and ever. (Of course, that's only if interest rates stay low. But they won't. It more likely will be double that.) Think about that, and think about the impact of that on your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I'm only 353 days away from Medicare...and your points make it
very possible Obama will do something really ugly with Repub assistance (as well as Corporate Dems and Blue Bunny Dems) which will make that program go cowpie.
Wow. How did we get to this point? (Rhetorical question)
Medicare for All...with a robust private option. (I think it's become crystal clear why Obama will not support that. Occam's razor kind of thing: If he says he won't even discuss it, why would we think he could be persuaded to go against the wishes of the Corporate Overlords and work for it?)