Day: July 12, 2011
Feinting with Damned Praise
And I want to say I appreciate Speaker Boehner’s good-faith efforts on that front … I think Speaker Boehner has been very sincere about trying to do something big … My experience with John Boehner has been good. I think he’s a good man who wants to do right by the country.
— President Obama, going out of his way to praise House Speaker John Boehner at his press conference today on the debt ceiling negotiations.
Harpootlian on Huntsman’s Lips
Here’s a guy who had his lips firmly planted on the president’s butt three months ago, and now is speaking ill out of ’em out of those same lips. Can you trust a guy who turns this quickly?
— South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian, quoted by Politico, on a DNC conference call about Jon Huntsman’s visit to the state. He added, “I don’t think the DNC’s going to ask me to do these anymore.”
Public Split on Raising Debt Ceiling
42%
Of those surveyed see greater risk in a potential default stemming from not raising the nation’s debt ceiling, while 47% are more concerned about more government spending if the debt limit is raised, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research poll. Surprise — results fall along party lines.
Sting on Bachmann Christian Psychology Clinics Uncovers Dangerous Anti-Gay Quakery, Ethical Violations
Thanks to an undercover investigation by Truth Wins Out, TWO, a group that exposes the “ex-gay” movement, it appears that Rep. Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, lied when he asserted that the Christian psychology clinics he and his wife own, routinely conduct so-called “reparative therapy” on gay Christians:
Debt Free America Act Would Switch U.S. from Income Tax to Consumption Tax
Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat, has introduced a bill — the Debt Free America Act — in every Congress since at least 2004 that would convert the United States’ primary source of tax revenue from income to consumption — which is the tax system deployed by most industrialized economies. Rep. Fattah says the switch would “wipe out the national debt within seven years and then fund the federal government while abolishing personal income taxes.”
Everyone would pay one cent on the dollar for every such transaction in America every day — whether $3 million on a $300 million business acquisition, $300 on the purchase of a $30,000 car, or $5 on a $500 ATM withdrawal
Here’s how he describes the system:
Under the Debt Free America Act, the 1 percent fee on transactions in the United States would be directed to eliminating America’s national debt that existed on January 20, 2009 — about $10 trillion — and reducing the deficit. Once that debt is paid off, over the next seven years, the fee’s proceeds would be directed to broad-based tax reform to include elimination of personal income taxes.
Taxpayers earning $125,000 (or $250,000 for those filing jointly) would receive a year’s-end 1 percent credit on their income, eliminating the impact of the transaction fee on middle class and low income Americans. In addition, my bill provides statutory authority for the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action to control and limit federal spending, recently established by President Obama by executive order.
