White House Sees ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal as Game Changer

The White House redefines “victory” as a patch on a bald tire, and national media agrees.

Obama compromised. I didn’t think it was possible. Unless the $250K threshold was just a red herring all along.

Dems and Obama GUARANTEED us ad nauseam that those making over $250,000 annually would (and must) lose their Bush tax breaks. Now, it’s just those making over $400,000 — a scant 0.6% instead of the 2% who are making $250,000 annually. It’s a complete, total collapse by Obama and the Dems — As if a $250,000 annual salary (the top 2%) does not represent the super-wealthy in this country. You might just as well say only those making over $5 million a year will lose the Bush tax cuts. It is equally meaningless. YET ANOTHER OBAMA–DEM BETRAYAL — even though they held all the high cards in the deck.

If Obama and the Dems are going to cave-in this badly, one is hard-pressed to explain why the Dems didn’t just give Repubs everything they wanted a long time ago. But they wanted to hide the bologna (BS) in a fraud, a deception, a counterfeit ‘adjustment’ that deludes the public into believing Obama & the Dems “stuck to their guns” as they promised, regarding tax breaks for the wealthy. It’s a fraudulent SELL-OUT by Obama & the Dems. Even the ultra-right-wing Norquist Group likes this deal. As Truth Tracker put it: “YET ANOTHER OBAMA–DEM BETRAYAL — even though they held all the high cards in the deck.”

It’s a fraudulent SELL-OUT by Obama & the Dems. Even the ultra-right-wing Norquist Group likes this deal. As Truth Tracker put it: “YET ANOTHER OBAMA–DEM BETRAYAL — even though they held all the high cards in the deck.”

The AMT was made permanent, the taxes were less than he wanted (above $450K vice 250K), the tax cuts were made permanent for nearly all middle class citizens, and, he did not achieve control of the debt limit as he wanted. At best he only had a partial win. However, as we all know, victory is as he perceives victory to be. As for the spending cuts . . . they will be handled during the next debt limit fiasco where the Republicans will have a clear upper hand.

Time to get that AK47 or AR15, fortify your homes, and stock up on survival food, clean drinking water, various medicines, and of course ammo. Bible and/or religion strictly up to you. I like traffic lights, but not when they are red.

I agree Jane, Obama has not ended the recession.

$620 in new taxes, $15 billion in spending cuts over ten years. Meanwhile add another tillion plus a year to the national debt.

If it passes the House, then its a good start, but nothing should be “set in stone”. Future tax increases should still be on the table, but the focus now obviously needs to be on spending cuts.

Time to get that AK47 or AR15, fortify your homes, and stock up on survival food, clean drinking water, various medicines, and of course ammo.—————–Chicken Little where have you been lately ? Lol . And anyway , when the power / heat / running water goes off you and the other “survivalist ” wanna bes will start collectively whining like a bunch of little pups within hours . What hard headed people ( i.e. right wingers ) need to do is to learn how to accept / live peacefully amongst other people they don’t necessarily agree with rather than making their life’s work a quotidian preparation for some kind of apocalypse / mass social upheaval . As for the article , I’m glad Obama had the guts to compromise , I know a lot of people were depending on his leadership to keep the US economic ball rolling forward in a good direction ( as opposed to the ” fiscal cliff” . )

the wealthy among us need to thank the Republicans for watching their backs, as always. The Republican Party is the party of the rich, as all policies they put forth protect those who finance their campaigns — you get nothing for nothing. Greed rules this country and it will be our downfall, as there are far more poor than there are rich. And as that gap widens so does resentment toward a party that has used all its resources and energy toward protecting a very small percentage of its constituency. At some point, those supporting the Republican Party based solely on principles that it no longer values will wake up and realize they don’t matter.

Do some of you ACTUALLY believe this is going to be a hardship on the rich? Oh yes, they might have to forego the caviar from 3 times a week to 2… By the way, I don’t consider 450,000 annually all THAT rich… but they will not be hurting by ANY stretch of the imagination. They will continue to reap the rewards of hard work and risk… Only the very greedy will miss the paultry sum they will be paying in to the country that allowed them their success.

Victory or you kidding? For who? Not the American people…

Obama sees fiscal cliff as a game is the correct headline. He only thinks about hurting the opposition, not what is best for the American people and the news media lets him get away with it. His speech the other day in front of Democrats, clapping and cheering was very un-Presidental. The campaigning is suppose to be over but this President can’t seem to do anything with out applause. Shameful.

A fair title of your article based on its content would have been “Both Obama and Republicans Each Claim Victory After Fiscal Cliff Compromise”. But of course the Democrats and Obama must always win and of course are always right in ABC News yellow journalism land.

Correct, Eunice, but who cares about how he goes down in history. The objective is to work together through compromise that benefits everyone. We all suffer without compromise. It’s funny how everyone wants it but only according to his/her specifications. That’s not compromise. it is also impossible to please everyone. Obama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining. They feel power in anger. And the meek shall inherit the earth. The species that does not adapt is the species that does not survive; and so on. What the hell is wrong with working together!

Freedom, you have it backwards. You cannot be serious! Obama’s only concern is getting back at the opposition. My friend, how soon we forget the Republican agenda since the day he was elected — make him a one-term president no matter the cost to the American public. Every move the Republicans made those first four years of Obama’s terms was designed to thwart his every effort to improve the economy, etc. It was about taking him down, not what was best for the American people. You cannot have it all your way. Compromise benefits everyone; no compromise benefits no one. would you rather have a country where we live side by side despite our differences because we compromise, agreeing to disagree, or would you rather have a country where we are taking up arms against one another because we refuse to compromise? I don’t believe that’s how democracy works. You will never have a great country without some form of compromise that benefits all people.We all have the right to representation and having our needs met. It’s a two-way street.

Raising the income cap for the tax increase to 400K for individuals and 450K for families was a good compromise solution that worked to end the impasse in the Senate and hopefully will work to do the same in the House. However, doing victory dances in the White House, Senate and/or House isn’t appropriate. We are still 16+ trillion in debt and unable to live within a passed budget that’s balanced and followed by everyone without supplemental spending bills. Long-term, I honestly think a citizen committee of non-elected officials could come up with better short-term and long-term solutions for fixing our long-term debt and spending issues than Congress, the White House, and political commentators. The latter are all too polarizing to produce consensus results, and end up just stirring up hornets’ nests. We desperately need a majority Moderate Party in this country to represent the 40+% of us who are not extreme in our political, social, or economic views, and just want to live in peaceful co-existence with our neighbors by adhering to respectful give and take in our societal decision-making processes. Maybe that party and its voice will materialize in 2013 and become the driving force it needs to be to make America functional again.

Carole, the only reason the GOP wanted OBama to be a one term persident is because of what is now happening!! $16 billion dollars in debt (at the time that was said, we were “only” $10 billion in debt). The knew pretty early that this president was going to spend, spend, spend – to hell with any kind of a budget. Senate STILL has not submitted a budget. What is it now? 2 years? 3 years? Shameful. And congress turned down all the stupid OBama proposals because he only wanted to spend – not cut ANYTHING! (Even the democratic Senate turned down every one of his submitted bills). That should tell you who has done all the compromise and who is truly concerned about America. It certainly isn’t Obama and his democrats!!!!

So this was all about having republicans agree to raising taxes and not what’s best for the country and economy. This president is the most pathetic and unqualified person ever to run this country and it shows. Its obvious by his statement that these tax increases are permanent he is mentally challenged. Nothing is permanent in politics and policies and after he leaves when nobody cares what he has to say things will change again hopefully for the better.

Posted by: Jake | January 1, 2013, 7:20 pm 7:20 pm

Obama is smart. Smarter than you, for instance. What he often and repeatedly said was he would veto any bill that extended tax cuts for the top 2%.

“The president would veto, as he has said … any bill that extends the Bush-era tax cuts for the top two percent of wage earners, of earners in this country,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a briefing.

Grover is on my tv right now. He seems like the creepy guy no one ever invites to the party

POSTED BY: ROSCOE CHAIT | JANUARY 1, 2013, 12:45 PM 12:45 PM not to count the billions the Hollywood Elite gets in tax relief from this deal,

Posted by: Lizzie | January 1, 2013, 10:27 pm 10:27 pm

Oh really? Tell us all about that. Which particular part of this agreement that the Republicans signed off on does that?

tv wrote:” They only want what they want”
.
Unlike the Parasite Class…. they only want.

When are the republicans going to figure out the Constitution? It is the sole responsibility of the Congress to make laws and spend money. Why the President and Vice President had to get involved to make them do their job is beyond me.

The media re-enforces this stupidly by putting the responsibility on the President because he is more news worthy than these lame leaders in Congress. The media also needs to do their job, to “educate” as well as inform the public.

I saw this morning that the President said he was tired of their BS and was going to try and stay out of the fight over spending cuts and the debt ceiling. He will either sign the bills or not.

We’ve lost a third of our government due to the inadequacy of Congress.

DALMATION

Most economists, at least the ones with some common sense, will tell you the national debt is meaningless. The founders knew this when they didn’t insist on a balanced budget when they wrote the Constitution. It’s Americans owing Americans.

The republicans have been using this con job for 100 years. It’s just an excuse so they can give everything to their rich backers.

“Most economists, at least the ones with some common sense, will tell you…”
Posted by: tmferretti | January 2, 2013, 9:06 am

Whew! That’s a relief! For a second there I thought we had a problem. I mean, if $16 trillion in debt is the same thing as me owing myself $16 trillion, then I can write a check to myself for a million dollars and cash it at the nearest bank.

I’ll kindly inform the bank teller not to worry about the check bouncing because “It’s money I owe to myself.” And if the bank has the audacity to refuse my sizable deposit, then they’re just using a con job, and need to hire an economist with some common sense!

LOOK AT ME EVERYBODY! I’M A MILLIONAIRE!!!

PERPLEXED

I know enough about econmics to know the FED controls interest rates. They’ve been keeping them low in order to stimulate economic growth, What make you think that all of a sudden they’ll raise them while were in this recession?.

It has nothing to do with the debt and deficit.

DALMATION

“Americans owing Americans”, is more accurately described as “future Americans owing present-day Americans”. You’re right again.

I was born a few years after WWII and the great depression. Those damn people saddled me with a debt that was four times (adjusted for today) as our debt is now.

You know what; I never lost any sleep over it. In a few years after that, because we had a good economy that debt was reduced by 80%.

The greatest generation was not just the greatest generation because they won WWII; it was also because they had enough sense and love of country to invest in infrastructure, education, research and other programs that made our country the most powerful and economically attractive in the world.

It’s too bad those people are dwindling, we can all learn from them.

DALMATION

The road map is the same as it was in the 30s and early 40s. Spend money and put people back to work.

If people back then thought as they do now, there would be no electricity in the South, we’d be driving on dirt roads, no Hoover Dam, no Las Vegas, California wouldn’t have enough water to be the greatest agricultural area in the world, and neither would the Midwest.

You can’t grow an economy and reduce the debt (if that’s so important) by cutting spending and putting millions out of work. The economy is dependent on the middle class. When that middle class is confident enough to spend money the tax base grows and the debt is reduced.

There’s no other way. All these BS spending cuts won’t solve anything but will make the recession worse.

“The road map is the same as it was in the 30s and early 40s. Spend money and put people back to work.”
Posted by: tmferretti | January 2, 2013, 11:21 am

The difference between then and now is you didn’t have Truman joking about the shovel-ready jobs not being so shovel-ready. Where did Obama’s stimulus money go that was supposed to put people back to work? Solyndra? A123? Abound Solar? EV Battery? General Electric? Fisker Auto?

The stimulus was a trillion dollars that was SUPPOSED to keep the unemployment level below 8 percent, and didn’t. It was SUPPOSED to put people back to work with buckets of government funding, and didn’t.

It was a boondoggle, it didn’t work, and your solution is to keep doing it.

If Obama had spent that trillion or so dollars on something like improving the existing electrical grid, instead of handing it out to dubious companies that gave him campaign contributions, you’d have a point. He didn’t.

The debt and deficit are a “boogie man” invented by the republicans to try and scare the American people into doing away with our government.

This is because the government is the only thing that stops them from forcing their extreme right wing views on the rest of us.

Americans are smart enough to see this. Only 16% say their first worry is the debt. 80% say jobs is the most important issue. They know that if you fix the jobs problem the debt becomes non-existent.

The republicans have been conning the American people for 100 years. Now because of social media and instant news the rock they hide under has been lifted and the American people see what they are really about; trickledown and that they are the party of the 2% not the 98% middle class.

“This is because the government is the only thing that stops them from forcing their extreme right wing views on the rest of us.”
Posted by: tmferretti | January 2, 2013, 11:50 am

Government stands between me and my over-the-counter asthma medecine.
Government stands between me and my 75W incandescent lightbulb.
Government sits between me and my toilet.
Government stands between me and my Slurpee.
Government stands between me and my tanning bed.
Government stands between me and my church.
Government stands between me and the school bake sale.
Government stands between me and the corner lemonade stand.
Government stands between me and my SUV.
Government stands between me and a better school I want to send my kid to.

“[Republicans] are the party of the 2% not the 98% middle class.”
Posted by: tmferretti | January 2, 2013, 11:50 am

Isn’t it interesting that what used to be the 1% against the 99%, is now the 2% against the 98%? How long before it’s the 49% against the 51%?

What you support isn’t government protecting the week from the strong, but government picking winners and losers. In the eyes of Obama, the 2%, soon to be the 49%, have had it too good for too long and he’s going to level the playing field.

Posted by: tmferretti | January 2, 2013, 1:00 pm

Your ‘model’ appears to have a linear start and finish to a process that is probably more circular than linear -like the food chain. People invest money, or open bank accounts, giving banks capital to loan to businesses which hire people who deposit their paychecks back into the bank -and around it goes.

It doesn’t start with people or business or banks. It started millions of years ago when one caveman realized that his buddy made a much better spear than he could, and found something to trade for it -and specialization was born.

The economy is continuous, and extremely complex, and when government thinks they’ve figured it out they try to improve upon it and screw it up -like when they thought solar panels were the future, so they sank millions of dollars into Solyndra.