perfect

Mike Thompson

Jonathan Capehart: And now let’s turn our attention to the controversy surrounding Teamsters chief James Hoffa and his remarks preceding President Obama’s Labor Day speech in Detroit. The indignation from Tea Party members and others is just a bit much. I would say those in glass house shouldn’t throw stones, but that wouldn’t be fair to Hoffa now that I know exactly what he said.

… Tea Party folks and others ready to clobber Hoffa, unions, progressives, “the left” somehow didn’t hear him say, “Everybody here’s gotta vote.” While his language was salty, Hoffa put the emphasis where it belonged, the ballot box. The only way for labor to end what it sees as the “war on workers” is for labor to vote the Tea Party out of office. And I have no quarrel with that.

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shades of recovery

President Obama, accompanied by Rick Wuest, chief executive officer of Thompson Creek Manufacturing, meets with workers, Jan. 7, in Landover, Md

President Obama introduces new members of the White House staff at Thompson Creek Manufacturing in Landover MD. They are, left to right: Heather Higginbottom, Deputy OMB Director, Gene Sperling, director of the Council of Economic Advisors, Katharine Abraham, a member of the council and Jason Furman, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

‘historic tax relief for average americans’

The Atlantic (Derek Thompson): The White House and Republicans have reached an agreement on the Bush tax cuts, and it’s a whopper. Republicans get their tax cuts. Democrats get their second stimulus…

Let’s think about what this means from both a short-term stimulus perspective and a long-term deficit perspective. In the near future, this means significant help for American families and businesses that seemed out of reach just a few days ago. Unemployment benefits are considered the most effective form of stimulus. The payroll tax holiday will double the relief from the Making Work Pay tax credit, giving average worker thousands — yes, thousands — of dollars in additional after-tax income. The extensions to the refundable portions of the Child Tax Credit and EITC will also target low income families hit hardest in the downturn.

In short, a $60 billion tax cut for the richest will be unsavory to some people, but it’s become a vehicle for historic tax relief for average Americans. Of the six stimulus ideas analyzed by the CBO in the summer, this deal has four, including the two most stimulative: jobless benefits and a payroll tax cut, both of which target the middle- and low-income Americans.

…..Today, Americans at every income level got a major stimulus. But tomorrow’s deficit debate just got louder and more urgent.

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