caitlinbbsc: Whos Making Money

A new report from CTJ shows that the Bush tax cuts supported by Senator Kyl will provide $231 billion in benefits to the richest fifth of taxpayers in 2012 and just $3 billion to the poorest fifth of taxpayers during that same year. [...]
The CTJ report points out that a better option would be to revive the Making Work Pay Credit that expired at the end of last year, which has been discussed by some Senators but ignored by leaders of both parties.

The report finds that if the Making Work Pay Credit was in effect in 2012, the richest fifth of taxpayers would receive $11 billion while the poorest fifth of taxpayers would receive $7 billion, making it a less costly and more targeted tax cut.

Josh Bivens, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, agrees.

The simple history of how we got the payroll tax cut is pretty straightforward. In December 2010 the Bush tax cuts were set to expire, while the unemployment rate stood at 9.8 percent. The GOP Congress wanted an extension of the Bush tax cuts while the Obama administration wanted fiscal support to help lower unemployment. The primary outcomes of their negotiation were a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, a one-year extension of emergency unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, and a one-year payroll tax cut. This payroll tax cut in a sense supplanted the Making Work Pay (MWP) tax credit – a policy that President Obama campaigned on and which was part of the Recovery Act.
It seems obvious why Republicans didn’t like the MWP credit—it was actually well-targeted at low- and moderate-income households and it was a tax cut associated with the Obama administration. So, to grease the wheels of getting more fiscal support into an economy that needed it, the administration acquiesced to this swapping out of the MWP credit for a payroll tax cut. One is surely allowed to be ambivalent about whether this deal should’ve been struck, but it’s awfully hard to criticize the administration’s impulse behind it—they were actually trying to help ameliorate the very real problem of unemployment. And the MWP-for-payroll tax cut swap actually got more money out into the economy, so it wasn’t all bad.

But the payroll tax cut is pretty middling fiscal support in terms of jobs created per dollar it adds to the deficit. It is notably less efficient as a job creator than the MWP credit. It also provides a political hammer to opponents of Social Security who can claim that the cut has depleted the program’s Trust Fund ahead of schedule, requiring cuts in benefits. These opponents are wrong, of course: the legislation that cut the payroll tax also instructed Treasury to credit the Trust Fund for the lost revenue—but since when has being factually wrong defanged a political argument? And who’s to say that the next year of payroll tax cuts will maintain this commitment to hold the Trust Fund whole?

Now might be a very good time to start talking about it more. Congress has two months to figure out how to proceed on a longer-term fix for helping out low and middle-income families and keeping those families spending. The MWP might just be the best solution. And who knows? After the debacle they've just been through, Republicans might be willing to change the subject.

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If you don’t know who Buddy Roemer is, it’s probably through no fault of your own. The former Louisiana Governor and Congressman — the only candidate running for President who has experience in both roles — has been ignored by debate organizers and left out of most national polls. It has him trapped in a vicious circle: he needs exposure from debates to get a boost in the polls, but he needs decent poll numbers to get invited to debates. To those who know Roemer, it’s a sad state of affairs — the man is considered brilliant (he started classes at Harvard University when he was 16), charming, and qualified. His main issue is campaign reform, and he won’t accept more than $100 from anyone wishing to donate to his quest for the Presidency.

Governor Roemer sat down with Mediaite and discussed the frustration of being marginalized by his party, the dangers of letting Super PACs run wild, and the progress that he’s making in New Hampshire (In the latest 7NEWS/Suffolk University Poll, Roemer’s 2% helped him pass Rick Perry, tie Rick Santorum, and landed him just one percentage point behind Michele Bachmann). More of the biographical information on him can be found at his campaign website, BuddyRoemer.com

MEDIAITE: Since you haven’t had a chance to do this at the debates, how about we start with the typical tradition of you having 30 seconds to introduce yourself?

BUDDY ROEMER: I’m Buddy Roemer, I’m from the great state of Louisiana, I’ve been Governor, I’ve been Congressman eight years from Louisiana. I’m the only guy running who’s been a Governor and Congressman. I’m a father, I’m a grandfather — three kids, three grandchildren. I’m a banker. I built a billion dollar bank, we didn’t foreclose on anybody, we are profitable, we didn’t take any bailout money. And I’m running for President because I think the country’s headed in the wrong direction. I think Washington is bought and sold by special interests. I think the average citizen has no chance. I think the average person can stand a lifetime in a line waiting for opportunity and a guy with the big check can come up the last minute and take it away from him. It’s not right – jobs and justice, that’s why I run.

M: It has to be frustrating to have these credentials — and plus, you’ve been both a Democrat and Republican — and still get pushed to the side.

BR: I haven’t been heard yet, and that’s what’s frustrating. Look, if people hear me and they don’t want to vote for me, it’s a free country and I’ll be proud to be a guy who ran for President. But if they think this country can be made better by working together—Democrats and Republicans and Independents, I want them to look at me. I’m 68, I have no ego drive. I’ve been to the White House many times as a young Congressman working with Ronald Reagan. If I never go back, I’ll be happy. But I don’t see anybody else — anybody else — who’s not taking the big money. Bought and sold. It’s a disgrace.

M: So when you look at the other candidates out there, are there any that you kind of… like?

BR: I like them all. They all have some talent and they all have dignity, but they don’t have integrity. By this, I mean if you spend enough time in the trough of special interests and government gifts then you don’t smell a pig when it comes. And Newt Gingrich has been in the trough so long he can’t smell a pig. Everything smells about the same to him. Mitt Romney has four one-million dollar checks. Hidden in his campaign. Jon Huntsman has no money in his campaign. Nobody gives him any money. Yet he’s getting all of his money – he spent $4.3 million in New Hampshire — from his daddy and the Super PAC, which is completely illegal. His daddy can give him money, I wouldn’t stop that. But they need to pay taxes on it.

Rick Perry has seven super PACs. Mitt Romney has three. Barack Obama has two. It never stops. I can’t find a candidate, and let me be just deadly honest here — I can’t find a candidate that talks about campaign reform. I can’t find a candidate who says no to the special interests. And, therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t find a candidate who’d be worth a damn as President. If GE’s going to make the decisions, why don’t we elect GE?

M: And you’ve really prided yourself on staying out of this… limiting donations to $100, right?

BR: I have raised $250,000. My average gift is $51.45. I’ve had contributions from every state in America. I am running a social media, social network campaign. I am centered in New Hampshire, and I am on the rise. I am on the rise. Only three candidates improved their votes in the last 10 days in New Hampshire… Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, and Buddy Roemer. And I’m the only one that doubled my percent in the polls. And I’m going to double it again in the next ten days. And then double it again. You know why? The word’s getting out: Roemer is free to lead, and by God, he knows how to create jobs.

M: This is nothing new to you, right? You made a really big comeback when you were running for Governor of Louisiana.

BR: I did. I had no chance to win. Just like here, people wrote me off, they laughed at me. All the politicians, particularly: ‘He can’t win. He doesn’t take the big checks.’

With 45 days to go, I had 2% of the vote. On Election Day, I beat everybody running. The race was over. They didn’t even have a runoff. I beat three Congressmen, a Governor who had never lost an election — and had been elected Governor three times — and a Secretary of State. I beat ‘em all! It wasn’t that I was so good, it was the issue is so good. How about we the people running Washington rather than the lobbyists? It’s just that simple.

M: The difference was that they let you debate in that election…

In Louisiana, I was included in every debate. Even though I was the lowest-ranked candidate. I always had respect in my home state. Because they had watched me work and they knew that my key word was integrity. I never took a penny of PAC money, and that’s what I’m doing as President. And you know something? This race is wide open, man. I’m telling you. It’s wide open. The Republicans haven’t decided who the best warrior will be. I want to be the last man standing. I’m just hoping that I stay alive long enough to make three or four debates and have people see me operate under pressure, see me be tough on my opponents, but fair. See me build a team. I want you to watch me do that. And then this race will be over.

NEXT>>>> “More money was given by lobbyists four years ago, in McCain and Obama’s race, than in 32 states combined. Your country is owned by someone else. It’s scary.”

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caitlinbbsc

Monday, January 9, 2012

Whos Making Money

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