Obama is making a big economic mistake by

[Green_Lantern]

Being so concerned about the deficit and possibly letting tax cuts expire. I can't understand why this is the issue he puts his foot down with Republicans on.

He was never this forceful with Republicans on getting the larger stimulus we needed.

The Economist magazine did explain this in terms of political impact as opposed to economic impact.

Making rich people pay the same rate paid under Clinton appeals to me on the surface and appeals to the progressive base.

But economically I doubt it'd make much difference as long as we fail to implement a larger stimulus package.

[David Zephyr]

1. By eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the top end, the projected deficits will drop.

Most people assume the only reason the GOP doesn't want the tax breaks for the rich to expire is because they are the party of the rich. That is true. But, if that income bracket Bush tax cut expires, then the projected deficit will shrink and that would lower the hysteria the GOP uses to scream about the deficit.

[Green_Lantern]

2. the Economist says that the top rate increase won't be

Enough to eliminate the deficit for one. http://www.economist.com/node/17043472

Secondly, the GOP screaming about deficits isn't going to cost us votes.

What costs us votes is Obama buying into the GOP line that deficit spending is always bad. Not implementing a large enough stimulus keeps the economy lagging.

Voters blame bad economies on those in power.