and it is now clear to most people who they are

Obama has just delayed a horrible outcome.

He has saved those in the middle class who are now working from having to pay the tax rates that those now retired and retiring in the future paid all their lives.

And now, on to the cuts and the bargaining with Republicans over the debt ceiling. And that is where Obama will just shake his head and claim he did the best he could to avoid cutting government pensions, military pensions, Social Security and other programs for the poor and elderly.

For those of us now retired, this deal is part I of a 2-part double-cross. It's a bad deal for America.

some seats, and some tea baggers were thrown out

For those out of work, they just got a life line, that means a lot to them. Same with those on different programs that would have been cut if they went over the cliff

Does the delay guarantee something better, no. However, in my view the current congress could not get any worse. The new one can only get better

myself but for friends in my age group who are much worse off even than I am.

Obama blames the Republicans; the Republicans blame Obama.

Seniors who don't need to have this kind of anxiety in their lives are the pawns in a vicious game. Seniors, some of whom lost their homes and went bankrupt thanks to the mismanagement by the bankers of our economy, have nothing to fall back on and very low monthly benefits from Social Security.

My heart goes out to the woman I know whose inheritance was squandered not by her but by an unscrupulous or stupid broker. My heart goes out to the couple in their 50s I know whose business was ruined in the 2008 crash, who are trying to start over in a dismal economy and who are about to lose their home.

These people do not get unemployment insurance.

Obama should not have agreed to make these tax cuts permanent in my opinion. That is a giveaway that he should not have made. Not when people like those (and I know many even worse situations) I describe will be called upon to pay the price for the taxes the rich do not pay.

And as someone who relies on Social Security and Medicare, you should certainly know that by now.

"Permanent" anything is subject to change any time in the future...with a new administration or with this one.

This is a different President Obama than the last 4 years. This one isn't trying to get re-elected. He holds the ace -- the 14th amendment. He can do by executive order what needs to be done.

We simply need to do our part, which is keep up the pressure on congress.

. . . as is his way, and that of his ilk.

Putting a brave face on a defeat. Looks like the Tea Baggers will bend to Obama's will.

Yes - they know they are retreating on this bill - with a little give on a few of the very rich, who won't even feel it. They' know they've got the next round - when it really counts - in the bag.

And guess who loses? Again.

You've forgotten your satire icon.

If Obama says something positive on a deal they will doubt it, if a republican says something positive about the same deal(in their favor) it will be taken as gospel. if both speaks positively then the republican view will win since /everybody/ knows that Obama always caves(and lies to the left)

with all due respect to du'ers from OK

The tax cuts for the middle class are PERMANENT.

They locked in a 1 to 1 ratio between tax cuts and tax hikes for the next round, they also fixed the ATM tax crap forever.

The settled on the Estate Tax which has been up in the air for years.

in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling.

That's the game here. Sorry to spoil your fun. But that is the truth. Just wait and see.

last time.

Too bad people have figured out that making Uncle Sam a DEADBEAT isn't very popular...

Really?

And people here believed it because it validated their dim view of POTUS' accomplishment in the context of the dysfunctional Congress with which he was dealing.

And so this GOP statement is to be believed at face value? 2010 redux.

And they're just as certain. They believe that they can now propose to roll back higher taxes on EVERYONE and we'll have to go along with it, because of the public clamor after going over the cliff.

1 The repubs can threaten to shut down the government...Ask Gingrich how well that works...

2. The Repubs can default on raising the debt ceiling and send the U. S. AND Global economies into a tail spin. How did that work for you when you blackmailed last time Boner...I mean Boehner?

Nope Repubs don't have a good hand in this one....

...GREAT, if you are a Republican.

*The Republicans got a 2 year extension of the ruinous Bush tax Cuts.

*The Democrats got a 6-month extension for a relative handful of Americans whose unemployment insurance was about to expire, ignoring the millions whose UI had already expired.

Hey Ma!
I traded the Family Cow for a handful of beans!!!
...but the guy said it was a Good Deal because
the beans might be MAGIC!!!



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]

but like Charlie Brown, I really really believe that Lucy will let me kick the football next time...

the GOP. Mostly the rich will get hurt if we default...the Feds will simply keep paying with new money for the entitlements but the markets will implode.

But I hate the fact that all this arguing over the debt ceiling and the tax cuts is distracting us from the job that is most important -- building our national infrastructure and our economy so that we can be safe and prosperous in the future. That is what we should be talking about.

We got FUCKING SHIT LEFT!

We can shut down the Govt and/or Default on Debt.

Does that sound like leverage to you?

FOR MOTHER FUCKING FUCKS FUCKS FUCKS FUCKS FUCKS SAKE! When will people ever learn that Repukes are liars!

What you mean "we", kimosabe?

"We now have a great deal more leverage against the White House."

The interpretation was therefore "We"


And if they shut down the government then 2014 will be a blood bath

We actually have some of the increase that we wanted along with things like an extension for unemployment insurance.


To me it looks like we got something and they got nothing.

I don't see how their leverage has increased.

Look, it's too early to know who wins and who loses in this deal.

Lots of folks here are convinced otherwise - pro and con. And professional commentators have already hit the blogs with commentary across the spectrum. But it's still too early.

As for leverage? I don't think so. The president made the republicans look like fools, and they're going to spend the next little while chewing on each other, and I'd (almost) be willing to put money on the likelihood that future compromises will come out on the democratic side of the ledger.

or military pensions or SSI or any of the other programs for the poor that are so vital and keep the weak who are unable to work alive.

We have been had.

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned"

-14th Amendment

It's time to make this nonsense debt ceiling bargaining chip go away for good. I'm glad Obama didn't use it for negotiating. When it comes up, I hope Obama just says, "Nope, I'm not even going to discuss it."

The time to discuss cutting this program or that is when the budget is argued, not when the debt ceiling has to be raised.

The 14th Amendment was written at a time when people still remembered how indebted we were after the American Revolution. We paid some of our soldiers with land grants as I recall because we didn't have the money to pay them. If I am wrong about this, I hope some historian will correct me.

Debts have to be paid. Promises have to be kept.

And you take the tax money from those who can afford to pay taxes.

"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785. ME 19:18, Papers 8:682

http://www.famguardian.org/Subjects/Politics/ThomasJefferson/jeff1330.htm

Remember he was the first one who came out and said GOP should accept some tax hikes. And they did.

He knows what he's talking about.

People saying he doesnt know anything apparently forgot the past 2 months.

Credible source? Really?

The President now has the high ground. The GOP has nothing but more obstruction to offer.

but obstructing is what they do best (in fact it's the only thing they know how to do). Obama has to speak with more clarity and leadership on this and other issues. Showing frustration isn't enough. I don't believe for a second that there will be a "bloodbath" in 2014 unless the unemployment rate falls to 5%-which will never happen.

his ass and those like him are being tossed under the bus. This is when he becomes irrelevant. Back bench sitter. Bypass The Chuckleheads.