Thread: It looks like there's a deal in the works

As usual, apart from the general sturm und drag of public politics, there appears to be a backroom deal on the tax issue which includes the unemployment issue. As a pragmatist, if it comes off as described, I won't be all that upset. This is from Steve Benen at www.washingtonmonthly.com:

While direct participants in these talks insist there is no deal as of yet, multiple reports suggest the outlines of an agreement are coming together. Republicans would get a two-year extension on all Bush-era rates; Democrats would get a 13-month extension of federal unemployment benefits, and tax breaks included in the Recovery Act, including the Make Work Pay and college-tuition tax credits. The possibility of raising the debt ceiling now, as opposed to next year, also appears to be in the mix. (According to the NYT, the one thing the White House wants most in the negotiations is an extension of unemployment aid, which officials consider critical to the health of the economy.)

I'm really sick of our elected officials playing with people's lives.

Time for the American People to play with theirs!

Soooo - deficits don't matter (again). And two years from now guess what Republicans will be wailing about during the election? The deficit. And the base will fall for that shit again.

What seems to benefit the Republicans most is the attention deficit disorder the voters seem to have.

They just lied to us again about this jobs release.....these are part-time jobs and holiday type jobs.....as soon as December is over with....so too those jobs. Bullshit they created 93,000 more jobs.....and none of the media reported that missing little bit of info either.

Originally Posted by Midwest Media Critics

They just lied to us again about this jobs release.....these are part-time jobs and holiday type jobs.....as soon as December is over with....so too those jobs. Bullshit they created 93,000 more jobs.....and none of the media reported that missing little bit of info either.

Here's a better picture. The graph shows only private employment, not government employment (i.e., it isn't distorted by the temporary census job bubble). Blue is Obama, Red is Bush.

Originally Posted by Tidetracker

Here's a better picture. The graph shows only private employment, not government employment (i.e., it isn't distorted by the temporary census job bubble). Blue is Obama, Red is Bush.

Don't confuse them with proof.

Originally Posted by Gypsy

Don't confuse them with proof.

You're right.... ideologues have a particular aversion to the truth.

It's rather a shame, of course. These folks simply can't connect the obivous pieces of data together. Let's see: there's modest private sector job growth (too modest, by a lot... but at least it's in the right direction)... yet unemployment remains stubbornly high. Corporate profits are skyrocketing. Massive amounts of cash sit on the sidelines.

And these people have to resort to this incredibly stupid ruse about 'tax uncertainty'?