Thursday, January 03, 2013

And the New Year Begins...

So, what happened with the whole "fiscal cliff" thing? says yee.
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Very little says I.
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Dead Men Tell No Tales.... (it's a Disney Pirates of the Caribbean thing...)

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Actually almost nothing happened.  
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- On the Bush Tax Cuts that were set to expire in 2010, then 2012... well for the "middle class" (those that make less than $400,000 a year) they were extended forever.  For those that make more, any monies OVER $400,000 to $450,000 (depending on marriage - straight heterosexual marriage only) are taxed at a higher rate.
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- On the spending sequester where a bunch of money was going to be removed from the Dept of Defense and Entitlements in equal measure if they did nothing.  They did almost nothing.  The new deadline is 2 months from now.  Because if RumpleCongress couldn't spin gold from shit in 12 months - maybe the next Congress can do it in 2.
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- On the debt limit (which authorizes the Treasury to pay for the bills Congress has already approved and spent) absolutely nothing.  We should have another of out famous working groups get on that ASAP.
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- On Hurricane Sandy rebuild funding.  Fuck all nothing.  Because disasters in Republican Louisiana and Florida count while disasters in Democratic states don't.  The "promised" vote allowed by speaker John Boehner was believable as anything else from the lying lips of Congress.  It was promised right after the Fiscal Cliff vote.  Congress was adjourned instead.  
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However a rethink happened after Republican New Jersey Gov Chris Christie, and Republican House Representatives from New York publicly called on Wall Street donors to Stop Donating to Republicans.  
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Chris Christie called John Boehner (who didn't take his calls) so he held a news conference saying that Congressional Republicans had "failed a basic test of public service."  He also said that "this is why the American people hate Congress; it is why they hate them." Nice.  A vote was scheduled for tomorrow for $9 Billion (you know instead of the $60 Billion promised).