ACTION ITEM: Block Card Check By Fiat

What a great picture of our Barry, in all of his Maoist glory.

Contacting representatives now.

Here is the full text of the article. Hopefully, it will be memory hole-proof.

Backdoor taxes to hit middle class

By Terri Cullen Terri Cullen – Mon Feb 1, 4:09 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters.com) –The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year — effectively a tax hike by stealth.

While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks for individuals who earn $250,000 a year or more, middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases.

The targeted tax provisions were enacted under the Bush administration's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Among other things, the law lowered individual tax rates, slashed taxes on capital gains and dividends, and steadily scaled back the estate tax to zero in 2010.

If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.

Investors will pay more on their earnings next year as well, with the tax on dividends jumping to 39.6 percent from 15 percent and the capital-gains tax increasing to 20 percent from 15 percent. The estate tax is eliminated this year, but it will return in 2011 — though there has been talk about reinstating the death tax sooner.

Millions of middle-class households already may be facing higher taxes in 2010 because Congress has failed to extend tax breaks that expired on January 1, most notably a "patch" that limited the impact of the alternative minimum tax. The AMT, initially designed to prevent the very rich from avoiding income taxes, was never indexed for inflation. Now the tax is affecting millions of middle-income households, but lawmakers have been reluctant to repeal it because it has become a key source of revenue.

Without annual legislation to renew the patch this year, the AMT could affect an estimated 25 million taxpayers with incomes as low as $33,750 (or $45,000 for joint filers). Even if the patch is extended to last year's levels, the tax will hit American families that can hardly be considered wealthy — the AMT exemption for 2009 was $46,700 for singles and $70,950 for married couples filing jointly.

Middle-class families also will find fewer tax breaks available to them in 2010 if other popular tax provisions are allowed to expire. Among them:

* Taxpayers who itemize will lose the option to deduct state sales-tax payments instead of state and local income taxes;

* The $250 teacher tax credit for classroom supplies;

* The tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses;

* Individuals who don't itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid;

* The first $2,400 of unemployment benefits are taxable, in 2009 that amount was tax-free.

[...] Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this | // Posted by Justin at 1:47 PM Tagged with: Big Labor, Check Card, check card by fiat, Craig Becker, National Labor Relations Board, SEIU, terrible politics, Unions, Wade Rathke [...]

John….. double check that phone number. I think it is a 202 area code.

I like it BigMike!

"They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue! That's the Chicago way." Sean Connery – The Untouchables

Funny that. Law without legislation is the hallmark of oligarchy, whatever the flavor.

Yes,we hit the phones early this morning to call from PST to reach offices at EST. Mark Mix was also on alerting his base. A TRUE STORY-
Back in 1978 I worked for GM Fisher Body Division. As a new hire you go through 90 days of probation before your automatically inducted into the union whether you like it or not. As a union worker, I couldn’t take the absolute waste of manpower the UAW insisted upon. One account(of many) I vividly remember. During my shift, a guy sat on crate chewing tobacco in like a spray booth (like a self serve car wash)for 8 hours. Never hit a lick the entire shift. I asked a coworker, “what is that guys job”? He replied, “oh, he sprays off the welder dies when they need cleaning”. I said, “well what if there aren’t any to clean off”? He said, “he can just sit there”. I thought, WOW no wonder a Chevy costs $10,000 (back then)! Now as we look back on unions and the demands they forced, the $ cookie jar is almost empty and the low-productive high wage, UAW worker is cause for reflection on the free markets to work long term. Andy Stern, Craig Becker and his type can go to India for members. Leave the USA since you hate it so much.

You are quite correct, Maxine. The DC area code is, in fact, 202. Good catch! I can't imagine why you would get a thumb down for that, so I put it back. It must have been a prolib troll looking to trample our free speech rights.

I've noticed a lot more trolls lately. I wish everyone would just ignore them, it would make it much easier to scroll through the comments that are intelligent and thought provoking. The trolls seem to be so hateful for those that have views that differ from theirs – who cares what they think with that attitude!

Feinstein doesn't even have her answering machine on.

Well, Maxine, you seem like a sweet person. It's a shame that you have had to become involved in all of this- but I'm proud that you have chosen to, even though your sensibilities protest against it. It's never pretty when you have to fight the mud-slingers, but we can't allow them to control the debate. Every lie told that might be believed by someone sitting on the fence must be answered. In doing so, we prove our point and propagate our message to an ever wider audience.

Personally, I find the trolls to be very useful. Aside from the fact that they are fun to insult, they are also frequently very helpful in illustrating a particular point. As my father told me, no one is worthless. You can always serve as a bad example. you just need the proper perspective to appreciate these trolls for what they are!

That is the double speak Obama style.
They hug you all the while intending to stab you in the back.

Its very important for everyone – when we look at any of these initiatives from this administration and this congress to understand the impact to our lives.

Hit the sumbitches twice as hard!

Hey, remember Obama said he wanted to build a Citizen Army. He already has his ACORNs across the country and now the Unions. Next he'll want to take over whatever else he can get away with, for his National Socialist Party of NAZI Democratic party, All for the good of the Fatherland. This is Fascism and we are watching it unfold right in front of our eyes.

We have an UN-AMERICAN President in the Oval Office. Way to vote in a Traitor Democrats!!

This is the difference between socialists and progressives. The Socialists came to my grandmother's farm in Hungary and kicked them out at the point of a gun. The Progressives also believe that people should not own private property (or businesses) but they don't use a gun. They "nudge" or pole vault- they cut water off to the farms or introduce fatal legislation (farmers can no longer use their diesel equipment..) or raise property taxes too high for people to pay. At least the guy with a gun doesn't try to tell you he's doing it for your own good.
I believe union members still like saying: "This is a free country". I believe union members are good Americans. We have to ask them to stop giving these budding communists any power. Don't be robot slaves for your union bosses!

I'm just curious what portraying president Obama as Mao has to do with opposing him? Do you guys even know what Marxism is? It was simply a critique of capitalism. Marxist-Leninism and Maoism were brutal regimes that murdered millions upon millions of people. Don't you feel the least bit ashamed of lessening their memory by comparing Obama, a decent man who has different politics than you, to these brutal killers? Isn't that just a bit, you know, fanatical? I live in Canada, and we have a conservative prime minister. Many people disagree with his politics, but I would never dare compare him with Mao. Furthermore, I know there been some bad mouthing of the Canadian health care system on these american forums, especially with the NFLND Premier going to the US to get treatment so lets set the record straight:

He could have gotten his surgery in Canada, but he lives in the poorest province in Canada. The trip south of the border was closer. He is also very wealthy. So, he can get first in line. So, that is no proof that he can get better health care in the states. It's just proof that, if you have the money, you can skip to the front of the line, despite the people who may very well be in more urgent need.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/759760...

This lawyer has been on retainer to SEIU and the AFL-CIO for years. Lastly, Obama has said he wants all work on legislation to be “out in the open” , however, when the senate and the house wrote the healthcare bills, the democrats did it behind locked doors and didn’t let anyone see them until they were finished and then wanted a vote before anyone could read them.

Since I only have (D) senators, I get asked that every time. I hope to know soon what it feels like to have an (R) to call.

I've read the communist manifesto, I'm a political science graduate. Van Jones participation in STORM hardly makes him an "avowed communist", nor does his position as "green czar" put him in any area of particular authority. Secondly, I didn't question your association of President Obama with Marxism, or progressive politics, but with Maoist and Leninist ideology, which promote violence and are responsible for millions of murders. I don't know what 'individual' you are referring to, but if it's Rivera, or the current chairman, a graduate of harvard, would hardly be considered 'revolutionary'. Furthermore, Hugo Chavez may very well be a tyrant but you've not given any specifics as to how the FCC would be run.

Additionally, the Cheney-Bush administration was incredibly secretive, and broke many of its promises during its campaign (like to avoid nation-building)…did you complain then?
Furthermore, card checks simply make it easier for Unions to organize. You'll find few blue collar workers who don't love their union. But Obama supporting something that is pro-union, well that might make him a democrat, or a liberal, or perhaps even a 'social democrat' but it hardly makes him a communist.
Finally, your use of the initials of the president "BHO", clearly making reference to his middle name, Hussein, demonstrates your tacitly (that means it might not be intentional) racist agenda: you seek to highlight that the president is not white. What other reason would there be to refer to him as BHO? George Bush with a middle initial makes sense, because there was two of them. So don't try that rebuttal, either. Presidents rarely get the dignity of their middle initial until long after their presidency is complete.

And, to sum it up, in Canada, where i live, our CONSERVATIVE government (they're called the "Conservative Party of Canada") supports public health care, bank regulation (it's why our banking system was named most stable in the world). He would hardly be considered a marxist, or a communist. Nor would all the other european conservative leaders (such as Nicolas Sarkozy) who quite strongly support many of the same policies Obama does. You can disagree with his policies all you like, but at least do it with some facts to back it up.

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