This and That

President Obama signs a line worker’s shirt after touring the Amazon fulfillment center in Chattanooga, Tenn., July 30 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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Steve Benen: Why would the GOP balk at a corporate tax cut?

As promised, President Obama spoke in Tennessee this afternoon, and made congressional Republicans an offer they probably shouldn’t refuse: the GOP would get corporate tax reforms, including lower rates, while Democrats would get investments in infrastructure and manufacturing.

…. GOP opposition is just a little more difficult to understand. Sure, when the White House proposes new tax revenue from the wealthy, it stands to reason that Republicans will scream bloody murder. When the president talks about increasing the size of government in any appreciable way, we know the GOP will go berserk.

But corporate tax breaks and infrastructure jobs? Why announce knee-jerk opposition to these ideas?

I’ve spent some time this afternoon collecting Republican complaints about the new Obama offer, so let’s take them one at a time.

More here

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To understand PBO’s grand bargain on taxes, read @Smartypants32 on conciliation as ruthless strategy. http://t.co/8XFSg4oNGE

— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) July 30, 2013

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Smartypants:  A common sense proposal for NSA reform

Now that it appears as if the American public is ready to move beyond their fear-based approach to national security, I agree with President Obama.

I’ve got to tell you though Charlie, I think this is a healthy thing because its a sign of maturity that this debate would not have been taking place 5 years ago. And I welcome it.

That means that perhaps we can have a rational discussion about the NSA and potential reforms that make sense. Of course folks like Greenwald are not going to initiate a discussion about solutions – that would mean actually owning some responsibility rather than simply screaming from the sidelines (not to mention that solutions are terrible link-bait). But somebody needs to do it. As is often the case, that part is left to the pragmatists.

More here

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And now for a balanced, informed view of the Manning verdict. Kidding, it’s Hamwald.

— Ethan Peretz (@MperiousRex) July 31, 2013

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Seems many journos also don’t get that the beneficiary of true whistleblowing is supposed to be THE PUBLIC, not their byline. @Lawrence

— Only4RM (@Only4RM) July 31, 2013

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@whitehouse This morning, President Obama and VP Biden met with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on resuming peace talks

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ThinkProgress: Obama Calls Out Republicans For Wasting Time On Keystone: ‘That’s Not A Jobs Plan’

In a speech on Tuesday focused on repairing the American economy, President Obama called out Republicans in Congress for flouting serious job-creation efforts in favor of trying to repeal environmental regulations and push for the creation of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

While Republicans have advocated for Keystone by insisting that it will create jobs, Obama slammed that assertion Tuesday, pointing to the Cornell University estimate that Keystone would only create 50 permanent jobs….

More here

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Check it out: The restaurant industry is growing, and average hours are up. #ObamacareIsWorkinghttp://t.co/U8VXtXD3iC

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 30, 2013

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Thank you, PBO! Took my kids to doctor for annual checkups, NO COPAY for first time ever! I Love, Love, Love the ACA! #ObamaCares

— Aღanda (@AC_BOwen) July 30, 2013

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Very funny historical comparison by @NYTimeskrugman on Marco Rubio’s latest gibberish about Obamacare: http://t.co/0Olfck2SYY

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 28, 2013

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We’ve come a long way—but there’s still more work to do. #TransformationTuesday, pic.twitter.com/IPgpU2o7C2

— The White House (@whitehouse) July 30, 2013

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BREAKING! We now have a fully confirmed @NLRB board. —> http://t.co/xFtN04CKGO#1u#NLRB

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) July 30, 2013

RT @richardtrumka: For the first time in more than a decade America now has a fully staffed #NLRB

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) July 30, 2013

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The most useful invention since the wheel?

Seen on the shelves at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Chattanooga just visited by POTUS: pic.twitter.com/WI1lidi76q

— Jay Carney (EOP) (@PressSec) July 30, 2013

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Will catch up with whatever good stuff I missed in tomorrow’s R&S

inconvenient truths

Crooks and Liars: …. House Republicans swaggered into the White House Wednesday for the latest negotiation to end their economic hostage taking. One, Rep. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, refused to attend and be “lectured to by a president whose failed policies have put our children and grandchildren in a huge burden of debt.”

Sadly for Rep. Landry, the nation’s mounting debt is largely attributable to wars, a recession and tax policies President Obama inherited from his predecessor. Worse still, the Ryan 2012 budget proposal backed by almost every Republican in both houses of Congress would not only drain another $4 trillion in tax revenue from the Treasury, but fail all of the spending and balanced budget targets they themselves propose. Nevertheless, Republicans who voted seven times to double the debt ceiling under George W. Bush would risk the national economic suicide they admit would come to pass if their demands are not met.

Here, then, are 10 Inconvenient Truths About the Debt Ceiling:

1. Republican Leaders Agree U.S. Default Would Be a “Financial Disaster”
2. Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt
3. George W. Bush Doubled the National Debt
4. Republicans Voted Seven Times to Raise Debt Ceiling for President Bush
5. Federal Taxes Are Now at a 60 Year Low
6. Bush Tax Cuts Didn’t Pay for Themselves or Spur “Job Creators”
7. Ryan Budget Delivers Another Tax Cut Windfall for Wealthy
8. Ryan Budget Will Require Raising Debt Ceiling – Repeatedly
9. Tax Cuts Drive the Next Decade of Debt
10. $3 Trillion Tab for Unfunded Wars Remains Unpaid

More here

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an inconvenient truth…

Really?

Politicususa: Beneath all of the Republican and Tea Party grumbling about taxes, one key fact continues to be ignored:

According to the Tax Policy Center, Federal taxes are lower than at any time since 1955. Obama has now reduced taxes by more than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

According to the Orange County Register, “For the past two years, a family of four earning the median income has paid less in federal income taxes than at any time since at least 1955, according to the Tax Policy Center. All federal, state and local taxes combined are a lower percentage of per-capita income than at any time since the 1960s, according to the Tax Foundation. The highest income-tax bracket is its lowest since 1992. At 35 percent, it’s well below the 50 percent mark of much of the 1980s and the 70 percent bracket of the 1970s.”

The problem is that the tax cuts have not promoted economic growth and have caused the federal deficit to explode … The answer to America’s revenue shortfall is to raise taxes. The US revenue gap could be closed immediately with a tax increase, but Republicans and tea partiers go insane as soon as the prospect is mentioned…The Tea Party set believes to their core that they are being overtaxed, but reality doesn’t match their perception.

In fact, most Americans have no idea that Barack Obama has lowered taxes. According to a 2010 CBS News/New York Times Poll, only 12% of Americans knew that Obama has lowered taxes. 53% thought that he kept taxes the same, and 24% believed that Obama has raised taxes. Not surprisingly, only 2% of Tea Party supporters knew that Obama had lowered taxes. 44% of them thought that the President has raised their taxes.

The right believes this because they got the idea from Fox News and talk radio…..While the Tea Party takes to the streets to keep tax rates low for billionaires, Barack Obama has lowered their taxes to historically low levels.

The bottom line is that beneath all the GOP spin the fact remains. Barack Obama, not Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, is the greatest tax cutter in American history.

Full article here