Democratic Senators v. Obama on Bush Tax Cuts, ABC News The Note, September 9, 2010, by Z. Byron Wolf, quoted verbatim:

After tough votes for stimulus and health reform, Nebraska Dem Ben Nelson has voted against his party on a great number of issues.

Tax cuts will be no exception. Nelson issues a statement today breaking with the White House on the issue of extending Bush-era tax cuts. Nelson compares the tax cut extension with the stimulus bill.

“Just like the stimulus package in 2009, it is imperative that we take actions to help the economy. I hate deficit spending, but some matters are so urgent that they can’t wait. Such was the case with the stimulus package, which contained more than $300 billion in tax relief, and I believe the same holds true about the expiring Bush era tax cuts,” says Nelson in the paper statement.

He goes on to say the tax cuts should be offset if possible with spending cuts.

There are three Senate candidates who oppose President Obama’s Tax proposal – extending tax cuts only for those making less than $250,000 – Jack Conway in Kentucky, Robin Carnahan in Missouri, and sitting Sen. Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas.

Two more Senators who are not up for reelection have also said they oppose the President’s plan – Kent Conrad in North Dakota, the retiring Evan Bayh in Indiana, and Nelson in Nebraska.

The President wants to extend the tax cuts for people earning up to $250,000 but he conspicuously declined to issue a veto threat to a blanket extension during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday.

The Full Nelson statement.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

NELSON: EXTEND TAX CUTS FOR NEBRASKA FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES

September 9, 2010 – Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson issued this statement today concerning a series of tax cuts enacted during the previous administration that are set to expire at the end of 2010. Senator Nelson cast a deciding vote in favor of those tax cuts.

“I support extending all of the expiring tax cuts until Nebraska’s and the nation’s economy is in better shape, and perhaps longer, because raising taxes in a weak economy could impair recovery.

“Continuing all of the tax cuts could provide certainty for families and businesses in Nebraska and nationwide. Today, many businesses are sitting on cash because of uncertainty, which is holding back economic development across America.

“Just like the stimulus package in 2009, it is imperative that we take actions to help the economy. I hate deficit spending, but some matters are so urgent that they can’t wait. Such was the case with the stimulus package, which contained more than $300 billion in tax relief, and I believe the same holds true about the expiring Bush era tax cuts.

“That said, I’d like to see these tax cuts paid for as much as possible. We need to focus on reducing government spending and finding offsets, where we can, because that’s the fiscally responsible thing to do.

“The federal deficit’s real and Nebraskans tell me that while we need to revitalize our economy now, we must minimize adding to the deficit because it will drag our economy down and burden our children’s future.”

See Another day, another poll showing overwhelming support for taxing the rich, Daily Kos, September 10, 2010, by Joan McCarter, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Gallup released a new poll showing that America is still just fine with making the rich pay more taxes.

PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of Americans favor letting the tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration expire for the wealthy. While 37% support keeping the tax cuts for all Americans, 44% want them extended only for those making less than $250,000 and 15% think they should expire for all taxpayers.

Add it up, and that’s 59% saying the rich shouldn’t keep this tax break. Or, looking at it another way, 81% supporting tax cuts for the middle class. Even 43% of Republicans polled think they should either expire totally, or be extended only for the middle class. Of course, it’s not just Gallup that’s found this. Greg Sargent helpfully pulls all the polling together to show why this is “an argument Dems have a rather good shot at, you know, winning if they decide to go for it.”

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: According to the new poll, FORTY-ONE PERCENT of people are FOR extending the tax cuts for the rich. Therefore, I conclude that 41 percent of people consider themselves rich, or at least identify their interests that way. I know, it doesn’t work that way…. Only 26 percent of the population considers themselves Republican. There’s probably considerable overlap in the two groups, since a large majority of Republicans are for extending the cuts. Not all, though, as shown above, 43 percent of Republicans want the tax cuts to expire. Actually if really only 26 percent of the population is Republican, and only 57 percent of them are for extending the Bush tax cuts, that means that only 14.8 percent (.57 x 26) of the 41 percent for extending the cuts are Republicans. That means that some 25.2 percent of the population is NOT Republican but want the tax cuts extended. A lot of Independents, and Reagan Democrats, but still weird.

These people, probably most of them firmly in the upper middle class (I’d bet), a lot of small business owners included, have been conned by the Chamber of Commerce, Fox News and the rest of the mainstream media to believe they actually should extend the tax cuts for the rich, when the people themselves are not Republican and it must be that many of them are not rich. Some of them are Senators… oh excuse, me, Ben Nelson is basically rich. At least, he’s in Wall Street’s pocket. Um, fiscally conservative Democrats? I just don’t get how 41 percent (and especially that 25 percent) of Americans could be that intrinsically stupid, when some of them have to be NOT Republican and not rich. The bubba Fox News fans make up a lot of the remaining knotheads, I guess. A significant number must just be brainwashed idiots.

Never underestimate the capacity of the American people to vote against their own interests. We got George W. Bush didn’t we? Twice. Well one and a half times….

See Why are Democrats terrified of taxing the rich?, Salon, September 10, 2010, by Alex Pareene.

See Obama Says Congress Should Extend Middle-Class Tax Cuts First, Bloomberg Business Week, September 11, 2010, by Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama challenged congressional Republicans to make middle-class tax cuts permanent before debating whether to keep them for the wealthiest Americans.

Obama said at a White House news conference yesterday that lawmakers should find agreement on initiatives to spur economic growth and hiring, and on extension of Bush-era tax cuts for individuals who make less than $200,000 a year and couples earning less than $250,000.

Keeping the existing top rates as well, which Republicans advocate, is unaffordable and won’t boost the economy, he said.

“We’ve got an area of agreement, which is let’s help families out there who are having a tough time,” Obama said. “Why hold the middle class hostage in order to do something that most economists don’t think makes sense?”

See Why Are Complainers About “Uncertainty” Creating It On Middle-Class Taxes?, Campaign for America’s Future, September 10, 2010, by Bill Scher.

Neoliberalism: The Wrong Ideas for America

See The neoliberal bait-and-switch, Salon, September 10, 2010, by David Sirota: Why corporate-friendly Democrats like to blame our schools for not producing enough white collar specialists, excerpt quoted verbatim:

In simplistic, Lexus-and-Olive-Tree terms, the neoliberal economic argument goes like this: Tariff-free trade policies are great because they increase commerce, and we can mitigate those policies’ negative effects on the blue-collar job market by upgrading our education system to cultivate more science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) specialists for the white-collar sector.

Known as the bipartisan Washington Consensus, this deceptive theory projects the illusion of logic. After all, if the domestic economy’s future is in STEM-driven innovation, then it stands to reason that trade policies shedding “low-tech” work and education policies promoting high-tech skills could guarantee success.

Of course, 30 years into the neoliberal experiment, the Great Recession is exposing the flaws of the Washington Consensus. But rather than admit any mistakes, neoliberals now defend themselves with yet more bait-and-switch sophistry — this time in the form of the Great Education Myth.

No doubt, you’ve heard this fairy tale from prominent politicians and business leaders who incessantly insist that our economic troubles do not emanate from neoliberals’ corporate-coddling trade, tax and deregulatory policies, but instead from an education system that is supposedly no longer graduating enough STEM experts. Indeed, this was the message of this week’s New York Times story about corporate leaders saying America isn’t producing “enough workers with the cutting-edge skills coveted by tech firms.”

As usual, it sounds vaguely logical. Except, the lore relies on the assumptions that 1) American schools aren’t generating enough STEM supply to meet employer demand, 2) the education system — not neoliberalism — is driving this alleged STEM drought and 3) if America came up with more of such specialists, they would find jobs.

To know these suppositions are preposterous is to consider a recent study by Rutgers and Georgetown University that found colleges “in the United States actually graduate many more STEM students than are hired each year.”

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