New Obama Deficit Plan

[ProSense]

Source: Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama is expected to offer a new plan to reduce the federal deficit by about $3 trillion over a decade, roughly half of which would come from tax increases, people familiar with the proposal said.

While some pieces of Mr. Obama's plan may be agreed upon, Congress is unlikely to pass the package as proposed given Republican resistance to tax increases. Instead the plan marks the White House's opening salvo in negotiations over the next two months on how to reduce the deficit. It is the president's fourth package of deficit-reduction ideas this year.

Mr. Obama's plan, which will be offered to the lawmakers charged with negotiating a deal by Nov. 23, will include roughly $1.5 trillion in tax increases primarily on wealthy Americans and corporations, people familiar with the proposal said. It will lay out principles for an overhaul of the tax code.

The president will also propose changes to Medicare and Medicaid that would reduce the deficit by about $300 billion over 10 years. He isn't expected to propose increasing the Medicare eligibility age, people familiar with the plan said, and won't include changes to Social Security.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576579090001282966.html

[dkf]

1. Is the WSJ the only place with details?

That sucks.

[Pirate Smile]

4. I had to google the title and then it let me get it for free. I clicked on a twitter link from Sam

Stein and got the firewall.

""I think this is less 'Let's be the grownups in the room and start at the 50 yard line,' and more 'Let's start on our side of the field,'" said Jared Bernstein, former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

-snip-
A White House official disputed GOP contentions that Mr. Obama is seeking tax increases in the current weak economy. "Let's be clear, the president is not proposing a single penny of tax increases this year or next, on even high-income people," said Gene Sperling, the president's top economic adviser.

The more than $1.5 trillion in tax increases that Mr. Obama is expected to propose would include the expiration in 2013 of the Bush-era tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year. Mr. Obama will also include a set of tax increases he put forward last week to pay for his $447 billion jobs bill: limiting itemized deductions for families with taxable income of $250,000 or more a year, and ending tax breaks for oil companies, corporate-jet owners and investment-fund managers.

-snip-
In addition to not including any changes to Social Security, Mr. Obama won't call for raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, an idea he was willing to agree to in negotiations this summer with House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). His proposed changes to Medicare are expected to focus on cutting payments to providers of medical services, people familiar with the plan said."

[alp227]

22. wash. post too

"Obama’s debt-reduction plan: $3 trillion in savings, half from new tax revenue":

Obama will propose new taxes on the wealthy, a special new tax for millionaires, and eliminating or scaling back a variety of loopholes and deductions, officials say. About half of the tax savings would come from the expiration next year of the George W. Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthy.

But the president won’t call for any changes in Social Security, officials say, and is seeking less-aggressive changes to Medicare and Medicaid than previously considered. He will propose $320 billion in health-care savings but will not include raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, officials said.

Any reduction in Medicare benefits would not begin until 2017, they said. Other cuts in domestic spending would bring the total spending savings to $580 billion. About $1 trillion in savings is also expected from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[msongs]

2. meidcare for all, government buying power to lower drug costs, eliminate 1/2 the military. what else

[Doctor_J]

6. Flying pigs and a night with Norah Jones for Doctor_J

and here I thought Americans were becoming LESS optimistic.

[wordpix]

53. no-- END Medicare for the wealthiest in this country. We're paying for Dick Cheney's operations

and health care through Medicare, I'm sure, and he can damn well afford to pay for his own health expenses. :grr:

[Imagevision]

3. When Obama taxes the millionaires/billionaires it comes out to 4+ trillion over 5 years!

[Doctor_J]

5. So his INITIAL bargaining position puts 1/2 of the burden on the needy

and 1/2 on the megazillionaires. Yippee. More shared sacrifice. No wonder the Murdoch Journal is celebrating this.

[ProSense]

7. Um

"So his INITIAL bargaining position puts 1/2 of the burden on the needy"

...where the hell does it say that?

[creeksneakers2]

18. No, it doesn't

Only $300 billion over 10 years comes out of Medicare and Medicaid, which would come out of provider payments. That's only $30 billion a year out of a much larger sum. Most that isn't taxes comes out of ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and reduced interest payments.

[ixion]

8. So I guess the jobs issue is all resolved now...

:eyes:

[ProSense]

9. Well

"So I guess the jobs issue is all resolved now..."

...he's working on that too.

[Pirate Smile]

10. The article said that he was immediately going back to promoting the jobs plan. He'll be in

Boehner's backyard on Thursday pushing it.

But keep up the great attitude. :)

[davidwparker]

11. He needs to spend the next 14 months campaigning. n/t

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[roguevalley]

13. I disagree with Obama a lot. I don't agree on his appeasement

of the freak show or his unwillingness to do what he said he would. I suppose that makes me a freak? What the FUCK!

Actually, kid, it makes me an American because I remember when you could disagree. Sorry you don't.

[Force11]

14. Look forward past the first step

Won't increasing taxes on the 250k+ crowd cause LESS jobs, not more? I run a business myself and will definitely be passing any tax hike along to emplyees in the form of cuts. Heck, I might even downsize things to get below the taxmark. The government wins by getting more money to give to campaign supporters and the "rich" pass the tax along to the middle class. Hooray! Wait, what now?

[creeksneakers2]

19. If you can run your business for less,

why aren't you doing it now? Why don't you downsize to zero and avoid paying taxes entirely?

[No Elephants]

23. LOL!

[DLnyc]

26. So you're running a PROFIT of 250K per year from your

business? Sounds like things are pretty good. Guess you could afford to chip in a little to keep the country afloat. But of course maybe you would rather get twenty old ladies who are trying to survive on 30k a year in Social Security to each chip in a few thousand instead. Then you could bank all your 250K in profit for a while. Until the entire economy collapses because you tried to pull all the money from people on the bottom, and now they can't afford to buy your damned product, so your 250K a year in profit just turned into a lot of bills from the bankruptcy lawyers. But don't worry, you can still get social security. But, oops, we destroyed social security while we were protecting your 250K a year in profit so I guess you're just shit out of luck.

So what kind of business is it you are running and how many years now have you been pulling in 250k in profit, after all losses, expenses and deductions? Or was that just sort of an allegorical sort of statement and you don't run a business at all, or you do run a business but the 250k is really the gross revenue and your profit is around 50k per year putting you well out of reach of any top-level tax increase?

[Hissyspit]

15. Um, you want to back that up with, uh, something...?

anything?

[girl gone mad]

16. Hello depression.

:(

[ProSense]

17. You're

"Hello depression."

...upset that the President is going to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations?

[girl gone mad]

20. Cutting taxes with the goal of reducing the deficit is not wise right now.

The economy won't recover unless we increase the government deficit.

I do believe that taxes need to be raised on the top brackets, but government spending has to increase to make up for the reduction of private sector wealth.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Firebrand Gary]

21. Lozocollo was right, I have to admit it.

Huffpo has a "Breaking" article that states the Obama administration has advised the President will veto any "Super Congress" legislation that cuts Medicare without raising taxes. So with November just around the corner, it looks like the triggered cuts are going to kick in.

Stunning check mate, indeed.

[No Elephants]

24. Stunning for the disabled and elderly, too..

[Firebrand Gary]

25. Either way, our chances of picking up the House while retaining the Oval and the upper chamber

Have dramatically increased.

[MrMickeysMom]

27. Obama’s new debt-reduction plan to draw contrasts with Republican vision

Source: The Washington Post



The president will propose $1.5 trillion in new taxes as part of a plan to find at least $3 trillion in budget savings over a decade, according to a person familiar with the matter. Combined with his call earlier this month for $450 billion in new stimulus, the proposal represents a more populist approach to confronting the nation’s economic travails than the compromises he advocated this summer.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obamas-new-debt-reduction-plan-to-draw-contrasts-with-republican-vision/2011/09/18/gIQAI9XddK_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

---

Is is listening to us? I'll be interested to know more Monday morning...

I can still hope, can't I?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

28. The Republicans don't know which way to turn!

[Joe Bacon]

51. The Republi¢an$ alway$ lu$t for money

An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

Your car is broken down

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

Your house is on fire

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

You can't bowl a 300 game

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

Lindsay Lohan goes to Rehab

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

You're constipated

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

A hurricane is headed your way

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

You have The Heartbreak of Psoriasis

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"

No matter what

Republicans will say "Cut Taxes On The Rich"...

[griloco]

29. Vision

Progressives are visionaries.
Regressives look for clocks to turn back.

IOW, "Republican" and "vision" are incompatible terms.

[No Elephants]

30. There isn't a sane economist, Republican or not, who says we can do without tax increases.

What separates one party from the other, or should, if we still have a two-party system, is where the cuts will come.

[wordpix]

54. LOL "Republican vision" - That is a nation of, by and for the wealthy

[Hoosier Daddy]

32. Oops!

This is the original thread on the subject. Sorry, ProSense. :blush:

[Hissyspit]

33. Obama Deficit Plan Aimed at Democratic Base

Source: Reuters

Obama deficit plan aimed at Democratic base

By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON | Mon Sep 19, 2011 1:01am EDT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will lay out a plan on Monday to cut the U.S. deficit, striking a populist tone aimed at galvanizing his Democratic Party base ahead of the November 2012 election.

Obama will vow to veto any cuts proposed for the government-run Medicare health program for the elderly unless Congress agrees to raise taxes on companies and the wealthy.

The president's recommendations to a congressional "super committee" would deliver deficit savings of more than $3 trillion over the next decade, his aides said, with roughly half of those savings coming from higher tax revenues.

Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, are firmly rejecting any tax hikes to raise revenues. Many Democrats see that as a sign for Obama to stop trying to compromise with Republicans over tackling the debt, and instead to fight for the voters who put him office.

"These things are critical to the base," said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington and a former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/19/us-usa-debt-obama-idUSTRE78G2K320110919

[msongs]

34. so this says if repubs agree to tax increases it will be ok to cut medicare for the elderly. Thanks!

[MannyGoldstein]

36. I'm proud that my President can stand up against

the elderly, the poor, and the infirm.

[HDPaulG]

35. Sounds like caving in to me....

No surprise...Let's attack the elderly to return to pre Bush Tax cuts in return. Fail...again...again

[UnrepentantLiberal]

37. THIS is supposed to please the base? "Come base. Table scraps.

Now sit. Beg. Yummy. Good base."

[Fuddnik]

38. His Wall Street base.

The ones who funded his 2008 campaign.

[Kolesar]

41. Please elaborate...eom

[bread_and_roses]

46. exactly (n/t)

[Hoosier Daddy]

39. I think this is a duplicate thread

But judge for yourselves, mods:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4998463

[bowens43]

40. so now obama agrees to decimate medicare......

unfucking believable......

[wordpix]

55. I'm for ENDING Medicare---for the wealthy

They can pay their own hospital and drug costs when they're worth millions and billions, geesh

[leveymg]

42. Where was he two, three years ago when some of this could've, should've passed?

He was too busy cutting deals with Big Pharma and the Gang of Eight to create a system of mandatory private health insurance in America.

Sorry, Barack, a couple trillion dollars short, two or three years too late.

[No Elephants]

43. Cuts to Medicare are critical to the President's base? Would that be the DLC and Republicans then?

Is Bernstein genuinely delusional, or just lying through his teeth?

[jerseyjack]

44. I predict Obama caves by November 10th. Its not if he caves, but when.

[pam4water]

45. +1

[Vinca]

47. I don't think "the base" is worried about the deficit all that much.

"The base" listens to experts who say it is better to spend right now rather than cut. Has he confused "the base" and "the baggers?"

[Omaha Steve]

48. Obama to propose $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue

Source: AP-Excite

By JIM KUHNHENN

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's proposal to reduce long-term deficits with $1.5 trillion in new taxes is less an opening bid in a negotiation than it is an opening salvo in a struggle to draw sharp contrasts with congressional Republicans.

Obama's proposal is aimed predominantly at the wealthy and comes just days after House Speaker John Boehner ruled out tax increases to lower deficits. It also comes amid a clamor in his own Democratic Party for Obama to take a tougher stance against Republicans. And while the plan stands little chance of passing Congress, its populist pitch is one that the White House believes the public can support.

The core of the president's plan totals just more than $2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. It combines the new taxes with $580 billion in cuts to mandatory benefit programs, including $248 billion from Medicare.

The administration also counts savings of $1 trillion over 10 years from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110919/D9PRFBVO1.html

---

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks on his American Jobs Act legislation, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

[pam4water]

49. Wow it's almost like he is running for president.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

50. One the Bright side,

Its good politics to make the pukes vote it down before a national election.

[wordpix]

52. The richies will spin their tax increases as "stealing from the American people"

[BenzoDia]

56. More info at cnn.com

http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/19/news/economy/obama_debt_plan/index.htm?hpt=hp_c1

Mandatory spending cuts: $580 billion.

Of the total cuts in mandatory spending, $248 billion will come out of Medicare. And about 90% of those savings will come from reducing overpayments in the system, a senior administration official said. He added that any changes to Medicare benefits won't kick in before 2017.
Another $72 billion will come from Medicaid and other health programs.
The plan also includes $250 billion in savings from other mandatory programs. They include $33 billion in savings from farm subsidies; $42.5 billion from federal worker benefit programs, including those for civilian workers and military personnel; and $92.2 billion the administration estimates it can save from "restructuring government operations and reducing government liabilities."

He stressed in his speech today that he's recommending ways to improve efficiency in our medical system and to save on costs by paying doctors based on results not procedures.