It is Worse Than a Crime, It Is A Mistake

Well, the White House completely caved on tax breaks.
What the Republicans got:

• A 2-year extension to all the tax cuts, including the tax cuts for those making more than a $¼ million a year.
• Setting a new exemption on the inheritance tax at $5 million.
• Dropping the tax rate on the inheritance tax at 35%.

What Obama got:

• A 13 month extension to emergency unemployment benefits.
• Which means that Republicans will kill extended unemployment benefits in January 2012, putting the economy in a tail spin as the presidential election rolls around.
• A 1-year 2% holiday in Social Security, which will provide a family earning $50K about $1K.
• The difference is supplied from the treasury, so it does not hit the trust fund, and this is probably the best tax cut for boosting the economy.
• Continuation of the college tuition tax credit.
• Which, of course gets taken back out by the financial aid department, which makes awards on the basis to pay.

It's a remarkably one sided agreement, and Barack Obama followed this up with a lie:

Mr. Obama said he was insisting on a temporary deal on the tax rates for high earners and wealthy estates on the belief that he would ultimately prevail.

“I’m confident,” Mr. Obama said, “that as we make tough choices about bringing our deficit down, as I engage in a conversation with the American people about the hard choices we’re going to have to make to secure our future and our children’s future and our grandchildren’s future, it will become apparent that we cannot afford to extend those tax cuts any longer.”

Let's be clear, Barack Obama has no intention whatsoever to raise taxes on the rich or on the inheritance of drooling rich heirs.

He's a pimps harder for the well off than Bill Clinton ever did, and it should be noted that Clinton did it before the rich ratf%$#s on Wall Street blew up our economy.

When one looks at what Obama has done, one can only conclude that we got sold a bill of goods by a Blue Dog.

If he had even the smallest bit of a progressive bent, he would have bent.

He sells out to Republicans because he supports most of their policies.