Replies to post #108916 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

and of course ...in alaska ..joe miller states 'unemployment insurance' is unconstitutional..

he couldn't answer any question that EVEN the fox shills asked him .. and they KEPT asking him the same question . over and over again .. . "what would you do to help the people who lost their jobs?"

Around the same time, Miller appeared on Fox News and reiterated his opposition to Social Security and Medicare, preferring a system in which he "can put my money where the government can't steal it."

What's more, host Chris Wallace noted new data showing 43.6 million Americans living in poverty, and asked the extremist candidate how he would go about helping them. Miller replied by talking about a national debt he considers "unsustainable."

So, Wallace asked again about what Miller would like to do, if anything, about the tens of millions of Americans in poverty. Miller complained that Americans have "an entitlement mentality" that includes a safety net. The would-be senator wants to replace the entire system of government as it currently exists, and create a system more in line with his interpretation of the 10th Amendment.

In other words, when Wallace asked what Miller would do in the Senate to look out for the interests of poverty-stricken American families, the answer was surprisingly simple: nothing.

Indeed, that may be giving Miller too much credit. Given that he wants to do away with unemployment aid altogether, and those benefits saved millions from poverty, Miller actually wants to increase the number of Americans living in poverty.

Did I mention that Miller is currently the frontrunner in a U.S. Senate race this year? And he enjoys the backing of the entire Republican Party establishment?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_09/025745.php

[StephanieVanbryce]

GOPers Back 'Small' Biz Like Bechtel And PriceWaterhouse

Says Bechtel, PricewaterhouseCoopers & Other 'Small Businesses' Will See Tax Hike ..SEE The Charts

FROM the TAX POLICY CENTER





As the fight over the expiring Bush tax cuts drags on, Democrats and Republicans are vying for public support by citing figures about business tax rates. According to President Obama and the Democrats, 97 percent of small businesses will see their tax rates remain the same. Republican counter that the remaining three percent of small businesses -- about 750,000 of them -- constitute half of all small-business income. There's only one way both of those statements can be true: Many of those 750,000 small businesses aren't small at all. Some, like Bechtel Corporation, are positively enormous.

The Democratic and Republican figures come from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation. But numerous think tanks and government organizations have examined the data and come to similar conclusions: First, that letting the Bush tax cuts on the top two brackets of "small-business" income would impact a tiny percentage of those businesses; and second, that many of the "small businesses" that would be impacted are actually giant companies -- which explains why such a tiny fraction of them can account for half of small business income.

Once MORE ..

According to the Washington Post, which obtained its information from House Democrats, some of the "small businesses" that could see a small increase in their marginal taxes are household names like accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers and Tribune Corp. -- privately-owned behemoths whose owners and managers dodge corporate taxes by reporting profits on their income tax returns.

It's those receipts that allow Republicans to claim, based on a recent report by JCT, that Obama's plan will ensnare 50 percent of all "small business income. JCT addressed this in the same report. "These figures for net positive business income do not imply that all of the income is from entities that might be considered 'small.'"

Over the last three decades, the numbers of these types of businesses -- both small, large, and enormous -- has exploded.



(Source: Joint Committee on Taxation)

That creates a great deal of distortion when the biggest of the firms are Bechtel-sized. In 2005, partnerships with over $50,000,000 in receipts accounted for two-thirds of all partnership receipts, even though they accounted for only 0.2 percent of all tax returns from partnerships, according to data from a 2008 report from JCT.

It's more than a stretch, then, to call these businesses "small," as Republicans do. Even conservative economists call it a stretch. Alan Viard -- a member of George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers -- told the Post: "How can it be that 3 percent of owners are accounting for 50 percent of small business income? Those firms they're owning can't be all that small.... They're very large."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/gop-bechtel-pricewaterhousecoopers-and-other-small-businesses-will-see-tax-hike-charts.php?ref=fpa