The good, bad, and (mostly) ugly of the fiscal deal.
And then there is this: Six idiotic things included in the fiscal cliff deal that will add to the national debt.
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I agree with Klein’s conclusion. Like any bill, there is good and bad. The “Republican” tax rate was made permanent for 98% of the population. That percentage is a win in any game. Plus fixes to the AMT, which was insanity anyway.
He’s right about the process…it was, and remains, awful. It seems big things cannot be accomplished anymore, only incremental fixes one at a time. Delaying the spending cuts is ridiculous, but at least during the next two months that should dominate the conversation without the silly (my opinion) distraction of 2% of the population getting returned to the previous tax rates. Once we got past Nov. 6th, that was going to happen anyway and it only made messy, and has now delayed, the implementation of spending cuts.
So here’s to maintaining the sequester. Don’t think it will happen, but one can hope.
All I can say is that at least the Bush Tax Cuts are now permanent and should no longer be called Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy (they never should have been called that anyway).
It is interesting the Obama was offered $800b in increased taxes and turned down that offer and now is getting less. Although, no spending cuts were probably appealing to him.
It was also nice to see Hollywood get some much needed tax relief after all those videos they made about paying their fair share.
People don’t realize the impact of our deficit spending. Right now, our yearly interest payments are greater than $400b a year. That is closing in on the biggest most expensive government programs like Defense, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.