The Senate Caves (Rolling Stone)

[tishaLA]

... But Schumer's love of his made-up friends in the middle class didn't stop him from championing one of the biggest tax breaks for billionaires in the history of the republic. Last year, Democrats in the House fought to close a loophole that levies a tax rate of only 15 percent — barely half what real-life versions of the Baileys pay — on hedge-fund managers who make as much as $3.7 billion a year. But when the debate reached the Senate, Schumer broke with his fellow Democrats and sided with Wall Street — inspiring the hedge-fund industry to hail him as its "guardian." ...

In a recent interview with Reid in his opulently chandeliered suite in the Capitol, I ask why the Democrats had not used their majority in the Senate to close the hedge-fund loophole. He greets the question with dead silence. When he finally speaks, he tells me something I never thought I would hear from a Democrat: that it would be wrong to single out the nation's wealthiest investors simply because they are bilking the treasury out of billions.

"The only difference between hedge-fund operators and other folks similarly situated," Reid argues, "is that they make more money." He and Schumer would be "totally in favor" of taxing them, he adds — so long as the same tax rates were brought to bear on thousands of far less profitable business partnerships whose activities the tax break was intended to boost. The "fairness" stance appears reasonable, until you consider that Reid and Schumer used it to transform a modest tax reform — one co-sponsored by the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee — into a far more sweeping measure that was easily blocked by the GOP minority in the Senate.

What Reid also failed to mention is that the real difference between hedge-fund billionaires and others "so situated" is that they are the ones underwriting efforts by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee run by Schumer. According to campaign-finance records, seven of the country's 10 richest hedge-fund managers contributed an average of $24,400 to the DSCC last year. "Schumer didn't want to turn the spigot off," says Bob McIntyre, director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Tax Justice. All told, the hedge-fund and private-equity sectors have showered the Democrats with more than $14 million this year — double what they have given Republicans. ... Rolling Stone

[Vincardog]

1. This is exactly why we have to demand PUBLIC FINANCING OF OUR ELECTIONS.

[Gabi Hayes]

2. we need a party that represents US. the demopubs are two sides of the

same slimy, legalized bribery-driven political coin

I really hate most of the dem senators, and Reid just joined Schumer at the top of the list, alongside Feinstein

[tishaLA]

3. It was a disappointing read, huh?

And it made Pelosi look astonishingly progressive by comparison.

[Gabi Hayes]

8. I only read bits and pieces of most of this stuff, as it is VERY bad for

my health.

I shouldn't even be here.

Words can't express the disgust I feel with the Vichy Party these days.

on a scale of one to ten in corruption, the pugs are about, oh, a googleplex, the dems, say, an eight.

[Octafish]

4. And people wonder why their jobs disappeared to Mexico and China.

The higher-ups don't recognized the Middle Class, let alone the Working Poor, any more.

Not surprising. When I had money, I had a lot of friends. When I was poor, life got lonely.

[Gabi Hayes]

9. I'll be your friend.

can you stand me a fiver, bud?

[Octafish]

10. Those things are scarier than your Hieronymus Bosch things.

Hey! I've always considered You a Friend, Gab-ster.

[Gabi Hayes]

11. amen to the scary....'what fresh hell' are we slouching toward, if things

work out the way I'm afraid they will

I'm checking out that Bosch site....better detail than any others I've seen

since you brought it up, try reading "Leap" by Terry Tempest Williams

it's all about the Garden triptych. she spent, literally, over a year combined sitting at the Prado, studying it, occasionally zoning out, finding herself almost inside the painting, experiencing it quite viscerally. that was just the time she spent looking at it. the rest was spent researching everything from ALL the fauna appearing in it, musical instruments, mores, folkways of the time, on and on....sort of like Annie Dillar on mesc. an excellent respite from...........

[Jefferson23]

5. This is not the first time Schumer has been on the wrong side of an issue

and certainly not the first time for Reid....this type of action needs a reaction by the voters..throw these bastards out. DO NOt re-elect.

[Individualist]

6. Schumer and Reid are DLC members

"The Democratic Leadership Council's agenda is indistinguishable from the Republican Neoconservative agenda.." Dennis Kucinich

[Jefferson23]

7. Kucinich is absolutely correct on this!

[saigon68]

13. Ah Yes Chuck Scummer a miserable little man

Who was the subject of taunts by young girls for his lack of masculinity.

A real panty waist who doesn't like "Big Guns"

[Eric J in MN]

12. As long as the DSCC, DCCC, and DNC can accept $25,000+,,,

...we're not going to get "government for the people."

[Kaleko]

14. Utterly depressing

So, K & R ! x(

[tishaLA]

15. ...

:kick:

[bdamomma]

16. kick

[Truth2Tell]

17. K&R for taking back OUR Party

from these shitstains.

[tbyg52]

18. >>"The only difference between hedge-fund operators and other folks similarly situated,"

"is that they make more money."

Well, yeah, and that's the only difference between me and Warren Buffett! And he has plainly said that means that he should pay a higher percentage than I do!