Thank You All For Putting Up With My Comments

Comment By Bob L.
01-31-2013

I would like to thank all of you who read and follow my ramblings, but what we need is more people here and around the world to stand up and be counted, but it is hard to sit back and watch what is happening to this country and around the world, we don’t need wars, what we need is people stop meddling in our lives and learn to live their own, they don’t like it when some one meddles [ if you don’t know (to involve oneself in a matter without right or invitation; interfere officiously and unwantedly: Stop meddling in my personal life!) in theirs, so like they say what goes around comes around, and who is paying the price, innocent people, this means kids too.

What I am saying is that there are so many Brain Dead people who are so Brain Washed into believing that the Government is doing a good job of protecting its people, but the problem is that they are protecting them selves, just look at what they have compared to the working class who every day goes to work and tries to provide for their families.

And who do we blame for people not being informed of what is going on in Washington DC, didn’t you know that Fox news is a Lier and miss inform the people about the real truth  about what going on, and the other news media is telling the truth, BOY if you believe that than you are very brain-dead,  how about this. the problem is they won’t kiss his #$W#$@ like the rest.

When it comes to our Elected Nincompoops, they have Full Medical, Free Transportation, and Automatic Pay Raises, and you can not for get ARMED SECURITY, DO YOU, NO, you have to beg for yours every year or every three years, and then have the Government has the nerve to tell you NO, who are they protecting, you or Businesses, I think you know the answer to that, and for YOUR Security you sit back and watch it be taken away by Government Agencies, but you still have to pay for theirs. But yet they say the Government is doing a good job.

I am not against any one of them, I am against any one who does not stand up for the Constitution of the United States Of America, and the Bill Of Rights, and tries to destroy it, and what I have seen, this administration is doing a good job of it.

Who do we Blame About These Killings, YOU!

Comment By Bob L.
01-24-2013

All you HYPOCRITES, before you jump on the GUN BAN band wagon, you better stop admiring your self in the mirror and take a REAL GOOD LOOK at your self and what you have done.

I can remember in the earlier years when you went out side and played Cowboys and Indians, your parents told us that you don’t point any thing at any one unless you planed to kill them, in other words you never point any thing at any one, BUT as these kids grew up they decided that there was nothing wrong with pointing toy guns while playing.

Now look at where we are at today, Violent MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, LASER TAG, and PAINT BALL, and NOW they have added this, REAL GUNS, now WHO do you think is responsible, YOU YES YOU, you are the ones who gave your kids any thing they wanted, so now who do you want to blame, NOW YOU CAN LOOK IN THE MIRROR and see what a hypocrite looks like.

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL WHO IS THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL, gee don’t I look good, now who looks good, YOU or the DEAD CHILDREN.

Good luck all you YUPPIES that want every thing, well now you are going to pay the price.

(Part 2) LAW: To Many or Just LACK of Enforcement

Comment: By Bob L.
01-21-2013

You might think that this is dumb and stupid, but think about it, see what you come up with, but don’t think to hard, you might blow a gasket in that brain of yours because it has not been used for thinking on its own, so many have let the Government do their thinking for them, that mentality is going  cost them dearly.

You can pass all the LAWS in the World, but if the COURTS are not going to enforce them, and PUBLIC OFFICIALS keep cutting back the number of Police Officers to carry them out, and letting SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS interfere with the laws as written to suit them, then you might just as well get rid of  all LAWS if this how they are going to be enforced.

I feel that the Americans are being used as pawns and being lead to the slaughter with a Government out of control, who think that they can do any think that they want, and the American people can no longer stop them.

The problem is, they are right, the American people are now so brain washed  into thinking that the Government is GOD and our Saviour, or is it SATIN the one who Destroys, we have a lot of them today destroying this Country in changing our laws, some think that they are GOD, and some think they are SATIN, it is kind of hard to know, because some think they are better than, or is it their Shit don’t stink, because they went to College, all it shows is how dumb and stupid they are, but it also shows what they will do to protect themselves, just like Obama passing a bill having taxpayers to pay for protection him for the rest of his life.

With Obama trying to pass a gun control bill, he is passing a bill for his own life time protection shows that this gun control law does not mean a thing for protecting the American people, all it is just another law that will take Congress and the Senate away from their job of cutting down on runaway spending to do their job, and to fight over another Democratic joke against the people, and putting our police on the street again in the hot seat again for not doing their jobs. But as I mentioned in Part 1, the courts don’t protect our Police for doing their jobs enforcing the law.

Well let’s get down to the real problem of the laws of the Country, Government believes that by passing more laws, that will take care of any problem that comes along, but we have a problem with that, our Government is slowly reducing the number of Law Enforcement Personal, and Increasing their own Protection, so they can keep spending on things that the YUPPY class want, this has to do with safety of the people who put them in to office, to control taxes that we pay and so they are not misspent, boy are we the American people stupid to keep putting these same people back into office. Elect them now complain about their job performance later you had that chance before you reelected them, dumb and stupid come together.

Let’s look at the law that people wanted about smoking, they just had to have a law on second-hand smoke, how far has this law gone since it was passed, well I cannot see where it is being enforced today, but I can see how many businesses have been effected by it, how many jobs have been lost because of it. 

On the other hand these same people who wanted this smoking ban, these same people passed a bill to allow smoking of an Illegal substance, isn’t that also creating second-hand smoke, it is the same no matter where it comes from, which now goes against the ban on smoking that was so important, and to top it off, it is just as dangerous as a person drinking alcohol and driving a vehicle, which is also a drug.

From what I can see is that they don’t want to be bothered by it, because the same thing you here all the time is we don’t have enough people to enforce it, so give us more MONEY, that is always the same answer to why they cannot do their job, well if they cannot do the job for the money that they are getting paid for which they were hired for, then find another job, or is it that you cannot find another job to sit around and do nothing and get paid for it.

Here is another law that is not enforced but on the books: Handicap Parking, and you know that a person is not Handicaped that has a plackard when they jump out of their car or truck jacked up in the air and almost sprint into the store, they are not Handicaped.

How about gun control, they have these laws on that, “The President comes from Chicago, the city with the strictest gun laws and worst gun violence in the country. It has been proven time and time again that taking guns from law abiding citizens only emboldens thugs, thieves, and rapists, not stop them from committing crimes,” but are they or are not enforcing THEM, NO it is easier to waste tax payers money spending weeks if not months coming up with new laws, instead of getting this Country back in the BLACK and out of the RED, but it looks like this Administration would rather spend our Children future into Bankruptcy, instead of providing them with a FUTURE and jobs that they can live with.

You can go on and on and you will never come up with a solution with a Government that is so Stupid when it comes to money, instead of using it where it is needed, they would rather see people unemployed sitting back and living on the people who are working than see capable people go out and get a job, if they want to pass a law why not pass a law to make people who are capable of working get a job, and fine Companies who don’t hire or move out of the Country to keep from hiring, or who put in Computers to replace Employees so they can put more money into THEIR pay check and Stock Holders, it is time that these Companies put that money that they are pocketing back into the Company and hire more people,lower prices and profit s will come.

Eventually if people who don’t have a job will not be able to BUY these products (it is already showing), it has already gotten to the point that most people can not afford to buy what is on the market now, this is because of taxes and over pricing.

So how about a LAW against the Governmet to stop raise taxes in any way unless it has 100% approval by ALL legal American Citizens, not the Government, this should also go for their wages and cost of living , and tell them that they were not Elected to protect them selves.

Related articles

• Poll: 57% of Americans Want Stricter Enforcement of Existing Gun Laws (thealexandrianva.com)
• Poll: Americans want gun law enforcement, not new gun laws (redalertpolitics.com)
• Missouri Sheriffs Pledge To Not Enforce Obama’s Gun Control Laws (stlouis.cbslocal.com)
• Wagoner County Sheriff Says He Won’t Enforce New Gun Legislation (newson6.com)
• A Legislative Civil War Brewing over Obama’s Gun Control Plan (atlantablackstar.com)
• Sheriff: ‘Unconstitutional’ gun laws won’t be enforced (edition.cnn.com)
• Sheriff Will Not Enforce Obama Gun Controls (fox8.com)
• Mexico Shows That Tight Gun Control Laws Don’t Guarantee Compliance (reason.com)

(Part 1) LAW: Enforcement or the LACK of IT

Comment : By Bob L.
01-18-2013

Here we go again, another Dumb comment, but how can you not comment on what is going on with the Laws today, there are so many laws on the book that are not be Enforced, WHY you might ask your self, because each new law  counter acts another, don’t get mad at the me for my comments, get mad at the Instigator’s of the problems,  ALL Bleeding Hearts and Government Agencies who keep making these new laws instead of enforcing the ones that are already on the books.

New gun laws, how about enforcing the old ones, or is that to hard to do, get the Law Books Out and start Enforcing them NOW or you might just as well close all Prisons, Jails, and any place of Detention if you can not enforce these laws, you might just as well let vigilantes enforce the laws, oh that’s right, this is why they are out to take away your rights to protect your self and your Families lives.

Lets start at the bottom, you have high-priced Police Officers driving around in public owned vehicles thinking that if they just show that they are present they won’t have to do the job they were hired to do, BUT you CAN NOT HOLD that against them, they are doing what they can, they are putting their lives on the line every day to protect the public, but then you have bleeding hearts changing the laws or wanting new laws  because they are afraid that it might be them that gets stopped or arrested. Ask them (Police) how many times they have ARRESTED some one and find out they are back on the street before they can finish their paper work (or the ink dries), a good example of them not doing their job and still being called on the carpet by these Bleeding Hearts when they ( the Policemen), took it upon themselves to punish these vandals by making them do push ups on the sidewalk when they caught them instead of arresting them (gee police brutality), SO HOW do you expect them to do their jobs, and then you expect them to not have a temper with the way the laws are today with the attitude of people when they get Arrested or Stopped.

Now you have the Court System with over paid Judges which interprets the laws the way they want to, not the way it is written, good example, take California in the case of Rape, just look around you, look how many of these laws are misused today, how about this, you go to court with a jury trial, they find you not guilty, then the court turns around and says that you can be sued for wrongful, even though you were found not guilty by your peers, (miss use of the law) which in this case, YOU, should be able to sue for harassment, because you were found not guilty.

Then you have the Lawyer who get more money per hour then you can afford to pay, but if you need a Lawyer you have to pony up the money or take what the people against you will dish out, yet here we go again, interpret the laws the way they want, not how they are written, so when it comes down to it you are at the mercy of all these laws that are written to protect criminals, not law-abiding Citizens.

AND HERE AGAIN, WHERE DOES THE TRAIL LEAD TO FOR ALL THE PROBLEMS IN THIS COUNTRY, FEDERAL, STATES, COUNTIES, AND CITIES, OH WE CAN NOT FOR GET BLEEDING HEARTS.

Ten Times a Hypocrite Just Like the Rest

Comment: By Bob L.
01-16-2013

I might have some dumb comments, but they are no dumber than the way people act and things they do today, it is what I see and read that makes my opinion, Some might not be a true story today but usually ends up true later, but it is how I see it, and usually it does becomes fact down the road.

I remember a few years back when Nixon was elected on his Honesty, yet some did not trust him, and wallah look what happen, then no one admitted that they voted for him, well here we go again, another Honest President that has not done any thing but protect him self and his Family for life, but not YOURS, but a President who has done every thing to bring this country down, I have not seen so many U.S. Citizens so BRAIN WASHED  do so little to protect this County where they were born, I could say more, but that will be another Dumb story to what I see going on in this Country today from the past years.

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NRA hits Obama over ‘hypocrisy’ of armed guards for daughters

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket
01-15-2013

In a sign of how brutal, emotional and deeply personal the coming battle over gun violence is likely to be, the National Rifle Association on Tuesday accused President Barack Obama of hypocrisy for having the Secret Service protect his daughters even as he opposes the NRA’s call for armed guards in schools.

The Web video, first obtained by The Blaze, opens with a narrator asking, “Are the president’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?”

The 35-second video makes no effort to hide the tension and animosity between the NRA and Obama, even stepping into the recent “fiscal cliff” debate.

The video continues, “Mr. Obama demands that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security” as an altered image of the president peers over a stack of dollar bills, followed by images of “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Vice President Joe Biden.

A White House official declined to comment on the video. However, spokesman Jay Carney did announce that Obama would outline his administration’s plan to address gun violence on Wednesday.

Eric Pfeiffer contributed to this report.

And You Blame Republicans For The Problem, LOOK Again

Comment By Bob L. an Old Fart who Pays Attention
01-12-2013

Play Video

Some Dems urge Obama go around Congress …

NOW WHO IS OUT TO PROTECT AMERICA AND OUR CHILDRENS FUTURE, AND NOT THEIR POLITICAL FUTURES ??????

And To Think You Blame Republicans For The Problem With Washington, look again Fatheads, (I could come up with some other names for people who don’t care about America and Their Childern)Democrats and a President and Vice President will sell this Country to the Highest Bidder, and not Bat an Eye to have a Blank Check to do with how they see fit.

Well you better look now because the Dunce cap is going to be installed on all American Citizen again if they don’t get their head out of their @#%, because the Obama Administration and the Democrats are about to sell this Country if the American people don’t start doing some thing about it, this is what they are about to do.

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Democrats urge Obama to be ready to bypass Congress on debt cap

By Rachelle Younglai and Richard Cowan | Reuters
01-11-2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top Democratic senators urged President Barack Obama on Friday to be ready to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval in order to avert a damaging debt default.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his leadership team said Obama should use “any lawful steps” under his authority to “ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis.”

They urged Obama to act on his own if Republicans insist on a debt limit extension that is coupled with “unbalanced or unreasonable” spending cuts.

Democrats are anticipating another possible deadlock over the debt limit in Congress and hope a unilateral move, or the threat of one, by Obama would avoid a replay of the 2011 fight that pushed the country to the brink of default.

Obama has vowed not to negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling.

Republican reaction to Reid’s letter showed no willingness to back down from their demands that spending cuts be part of the debt limit debate.

“The Democrat leadership hiding under their desks and hoping the president will find a way around the law on the nation’s maxed-out credit card is not only the height of irresponsibility, but also a guarantee that our national debt crisis will only get worse,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, said, “The American people will not tolerate an increase in the debt limit without spending cuts and reforms.”

Some analysts and Democrats believe the 14th Amendment of the Constitution gives the president the authority to raise the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling unilaterally.

That provision states the validity of government debt shall not be questioned. But the White House has so far ruled it out. One Senate Democratic aide said other legal options were being explored.

The U.S. Treasury is shuffling funds around to continue paying government bills. Those accounting maneuvers are due to run their course around mid-February.

“We believe that you must make clear that you will never allow our nation’s economy and reputation to be held hostage,” said the letter, signed by Reid and the three other leading Senate Democrats.

Republicans have said they will only approve a debt ceiling increase if it is accompanied by spending cuts and changes to big government programs Social Security and Medicare.

The Democratic leaders agreed that the borrowing cap increase should be separate from a deficit reduction plan. They said any fiscal deal should include spending cuts as well as additional revenue from the wealthy and the elimination of certain tax breaks.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu and Peter Cooney)

Good Example Of Our Governments In Action

Comment By Bob L.
01-09-2013

This is a good example of our Governments at work, cut the most important to save money with no regards for Health or Safety, Other things are more Important, here is a good comment from a concerned citizen, [ Tacoma.  Can find $3,000,000 for the car museum, $760,000 for advertising a couple of years ago (That was when the city was facing over a $21 million deficit) , pay $12,000,000 for 3 acres of land, $600,000 for a “gift pagoda”, yet can’t keep fire stations open, or fully staffed, or after school programs operating in east Tacoma.]  (Looks Good on paper,but they don’t always come) and you can not for get supporting TWO Transit Companies out of the General fund. If they can not support EIGHTY Percent to operate, then they are to BIG and the taxpayer should not have to subsidize them to keep them in operation, private companies can not run this way, it is pay your way or go out of Business, this should also go for all Government Operations. They charge for the services, but the Taxpayer still has to subsidize them because they over spend to operate (they call that blank check).

It is not just Tacoma it all of them, from the Federal Government down to the smallest Village, nothing against workers, but there is a lot of Over Pay and Perks and still climbing with no thought to what they are causing in the community and around the area, they are not just hurting Tacoma, they are hurting every single American by wasting money on things like the comment (above) says, and then there is some that you don’t hear about that lines the pockets of their Buddies.

You can go on about the waste in Government, but you have to also put some of the blame on the people like the YUPPIES today who want all this stuff that is not needed just because it looks Coooool, I look at it this way, if IT can not SUPPORT it’s self then it is not needed, it is not up to the American people to support every cockamamy project that comes along  like bigger and fancy Highways, the latest lights, and Fancy Buildings, you can go on and on and see where all the waste is.

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Proctor fire station unable to respond to fire two blocks away after cutbacks, other station put out blaze

Controversial service cutbacks at three Tacoma fire stations will continue after more than a month of labor talks aimed at averting some budget cuts to the Fire Department have failed.
Lewis Kamb and Stacia Glenn; Staff writer
Published: Jan. 8, 2013

“Unfortunately, no mutually agreeable solution came forth,” Tacoma Fire Chief Jim Duggan said Tuesday. “The talks are done.”

The Fire Department began scaling back its services Tuesday at 7 a.m. with the deactivation of fire engines at Station 13 in the Proctor District and Station 15 on the East Side.

Less than an hour later, a house caught fire two blocks away from the Proctor station. Because the station at 3825 N. 25th St. no longer has a pump, hose or water tank, firefighters from Station 9 at 3502 Sixth Ave. responded to the blaze in the 4000 block of North 25th Street. They were able to confine the fire to a single room while the crew from Proctor’s Station 13 made sure nobody was in the home.

Duggan said the firefighters’ response was within the department’s four-minute travel time response goals.

Two firefighters now staff Station 13 from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. with an emergency response vehicle equipped with medical supplies. The station is not staffed overnight, when other fire stations will respond to fires in the Proctor District.

Station 15 at East 64th Street and McKinley Avenue also has lost staff and its engine, although it remains staffed around the clock.

Failed negotiations between the city and its firefighter union mean that those service cuts will remain in place and that Station 6 – Tacoma’s only fire station in the Port of Tacoma – will close after the Murray Morgan Bridge reopens in coming weeks.

Top officials for Tacoma Fire Union Local 31 said Tuesday that their union made two offers to the city to offset up to $1 million in cuts aimed for fire stations in Proctor and the Port of Tacoma. But the city rejected each without explanation or a counter-offer, they said.

“They just told us no,” union president Ryan Mudie said. “They don’t want solutions, they want more concessions — and it’s putting the public at risk.”

With the city facing a $63 million shortfall, Tacoma Fire was among the departments hardest hit by the budget ax under the 2013-14 general fund. City officials last month approved an austerity budget with $11 million in Fire Department cuts, including reductions of about 30 firefighters through retirement buyouts.

Councilman Anders Ibsen, whose district includes Proctor, said Tuesday that no one wants to see resource cuts but that the city must march forward to a new fiscal reality.

“What’s done is done,” Ibsen said. “The budget has been approved, and the bottom line is people’s (fire) service really isn’t diminishing. I have faith in Chief Duggan and our firefighters. I’m very confident the Fire Department will be able to respond in a manner so that public safety will be protected.”

In recent weeks, some City Council members and fire union officials expressed optimism that concession negotiations could help stave off some of the Fire Department cuts.

Local 31 offered $500,000 of contractual concessions more than a month ago, seeking to “split the costs” with the city to restore $1 million worth of cuts, Mudie said.

After the city rejected that proposal, Mudie said his union came back with a $1 million offer that would have increased firefighter work hours to help restore services. He didn’t fully explain how the proposal would have saved the city money.

The union floated the offer three weeks ago — before the council took its holiday break, he added.

But without explanation, Mudie said, the city informed the union Tuesday it was rejecting the offer. Council members discussed the offer during a closed-door session earlier Tuesday.

“We’re talking about something this important and they couldn’t get back to us for three weeks,” Mudie asked. “They took the holidays off because apparently they don’t care about public safety for the citizens of Tacoma. You can bet members of Local 31 were working over the holidays.”

Duggan, who declined to discuss details of the union’s proposals, said the city appreciated the union’s offers and thoughtfully considered them within a goal to find “a budget-neutral solution that would be sustainable for the long term.”

“They didn’t fit that,” he added.

City fire officials also plan to continually monitor the department’s performance amid the new cuts and will report back to the council within three to six months, Duggan said.

Department spokesman Joe Meinecke said the changes to staffing did not have a noticeable effect on response to Tuesday’s house fire.

“Our response times were good and from an operations standpoint, things went just like we talked about and prepared our crews for,” he said.

Investigators said the cause of the fire was a failure in the house’s knob and tube electrical wiring. Damage was estimated at $15,000.

Bigger Tax Bite for Most Under Fiscal Pact

Not Much Comment: By Bob L. But here you go.
01-02-2013

You can not say much, except, can you under stand the double talk, the ARTICLE SAYS IT ALL.

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By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM and CATHERINE RAMPELL | New York Times
01-02-2013

WASHINGTON — Only the most affluent American households will pay higher income taxes this year under the terms of a deal that passed Congress on Tuesday, but most households will face higher payroll taxes because the deal does not extend a two-year-old tax break.

The legislation, which was forged in the Senate and overcame resistance in the House late Tuesday will grant most Americans an instant reversal of the income tax increases that took effect with the arrival of the new year. Only about 0.7 percent of households will be subject to an income tax increase this year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. The increases will apply almost exclusively to households making at least half a million dollars, the center estimated in an analysis published Tuesday.

But lawmakers’ decision not to reverse a scheduled increase in the payroll tax that finances Social Security, while widely expected, still means that about 77 percent of households will pay a larger share of income to the federal government this year, according to the center’s analysis.

The tax this year will increase by two percentage points, to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent, on all earned income up to $113,700.

Indeed, for most lower- and middle-income households, the payroll tax increase will most likely equal or exceed the value of the income tax savings. A household earning $50,000 in 2013, roughly the national median, will avoid paying about $1,000 more in income taxes — but pay about $1,000 more in payroll taxes.

Sabrina Garcia, a 35-year-old accounting assistant from Quincy, Mass., who together with her husband made about $102,000 last year, said the payroll tax increase equated to “about $200 a month for my family.”

“That’s a lot of money for us,” Ms. Garcia said. “It means we will have to cut back.” She said in an e-mail exchange that she will most likely will postpone buying a new computer. “And forget about being able to save money,” she added.

The deal will impose larger tax increases on those who make the most. It will raise taxes in two ways: by restoring limits on the amount of income affluent Americans can shelter from federal taxation, and by returning to a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent. The current rate is 35 percent.

For married couples filing jointly, the deduction limits apply to income above $300,000, while the top tax rate kicks in above $450,000. But both numbers are somewhat misleading, because “income” in this context is a technical term, referring only to the portion of income subject to taxation after exemptions and deductions.

Few households with actual incomes of less than half a million dollars will face a tax increase. The Tax Policy Center calculated that less than 5 percent of families earning $200,000 to $500,000 will actually pay more.

The size of those increases will be much smaller than President Obama originally proposed. The net effect, according to the center’s estimates, is that the top 1 percent of households will see an average income tax increase this year of $62,000 rather than $94,000. “The high-income people really are doing very well in this compared to what the president wanted to do,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

The deal passed by the Senate and the House will impose fewer limits on deductions than the White House plan. It will also tax income from dividends at a flat rate of 20 percent, rather than the same marginal rate as earned income. And there is another important point, often misunderstood: Affluent households will pay the new 39.6 percent rate only on income above $450,000. They and everyone else will still will pay lower rates on income below that threshold.

Households making $500,000 to $1 million will pay an additional $6,700 in taxes on average. Those making more than $1 million will pay an additional $123,000 on average.

Changes in the estate tax will also benefit affluent families. The tax will not apply to the first $5 million of an inheritance, extending the current exclusion rather than reverting to the $3.5 million threshold that President Obama initially favored. However, wealth above that amount will be taxed at a rate of 40 percent rather than the previous rate of 35 percent.

The Obama administration did win a five-year extension of tax breaks for lower-income families, including the child tax credit and earned-income tax credit. Those credits eliminate income tax liability for many lower-income families. In many cases, the government actually makes a direct payment to the family to help offset the burden of payroll taxation — up to $1,000 a child under the child credit and up to $5,900 total under the earned income credit.

The deal will also restore unemployment benefits for about two million Americans. People who can’t find work, and have already received government checks for the standard period of 26 weeks, have been able to stay on the rolls for up to an additional 47 weeks. But financing for that program, which is aimed at the states with the highest unemployment rates, expired Saturday. Under the terms of the deal, people who are eligible will receive any missed benefits retroactively.

The deal also includes new rules for the alternative minimum tax, which threatened this year to impose higher taxes on roughly 30 million households. The tax was created in the 1960s to set a lower limit on the taxes paid by the most affluent households, but the eligibility threshold was not indexed to inflation, so it theoretically encompasses a larger share of households with each passing year. Congress has repeatedly passed short-term increases in the threshold; the deal will make those increases automatic, obviating the annual ritual.

That is small consolation for middle-income Americans like Joe Interlandi, 61, a long-haul trucker who on Tuesday was driving a load of tomatoes from Florida to Los Angeles.

Mr. Interlandi, writing from a rest stop, said he understood the need for higher taxes. He will rather pay more now than impose higher taxes on his children and grandchildren, he said.

But Mr. Interlandi, who estimated that he worked 100 hours many weeks, added that the payroll tax increase still meant he will need to spend even more time on the road. Describing things he will have to cut back on, he wrote, “Family outings like vacations, and time together.”

Related Articles

• Divided House Passes Tax Deal in End to Latest Fiscal Standoff
• Senate Passes Legislation to Allow Taxes on Affluent to Rise

An average of $1,000 more for a household at the national median income.

Fiscal Cliff Deals

Comment By Bob L
Jan.02,2013

Are there going to be any surprises coming out of this before the February Fiscal Cliff battle again, or do we have to wait and see what they do then and see the Democrats sit back on their thumbs again and say, we will not pass any thing that the Republicans send to them.
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“Fiscal cliff” deal looks so-so for U.S. businesses on taxes

By Kevin Drawbaugh and Kim Dixon | Reuters
01-02-2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The “fiscal cliff” deal that slowly, painfully took shape in the U.S. Congress in recent days fulfills some of corporate America’s tax policy goals, but leaves others unmet, including a big one – meaningful deficit and debt reduction.

The bill, which received final congressional approval late on Tuesday on a 257-167 bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, would provide businesses with greater tax certainty in the short term.

About $46 billion in business tax breaks were included in the compromise, forged by Democratic Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and approved early on Tuesday by the U.S. Senate.

President Barack Obama was expected to sign the bill soon.

The legislation contains a long list of tax “extenders,” or temporary tax provisions that will be perpetuated for a year.

Some big-ticket items were part of that, including an extension through 2013 of the widely claimed research and development tax credit. Also included was a provision allowing businesses to write off immediately half the value of new investments, known as 50 percent bonus depreciation.

The legislation also includes a wide range of other favors for select industries, including tax breaks for railroad track maintenance, restaurant and retail store improvements, auto racetracks, film and television production, and rum production in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

WIND POWER BACKED

Numerous tax breaks for wind power production and other alternative energy technologies were also included.

“This agreement might not be seen as perfect by everyone, but it gives American consumers and businesses the certainty they need to put worries over this issue behind them,” said Matthew Shay, head of the National Retail Federation.

Washington’s army of business tax lobbyists need not fear that the bill will leave them with nothing left to do. Just as notable as what is in the deal is what is not, especially when it comes to reducing the federal deficit.

The legislation postpones for two months the deep federal spending cuts, known as the “sequester,” that were a central worry of the “fiscal cliff.” That delay could set up another fiscal cliff in late February, analysts said.

Corporate America has dedicated millions of dollars in recent months to lobbying lawmakers for deficit and debt reduction, seen as crucial to preserving the nation’s credit standing and financial power. The legislation would do little on that.

NO ‘TERRITORIAL’ SYSTEM

The compromise also makes no mention of setting up a new method of taxing profits made offshore and brought into the country by U.S. multinational corporations. Many such businesses have been pushing for a “territorial system” that would let them bring foreign-earned profits home with little or no taxation.

The White House did note in its summary of the legislation that it left “substantial scope’ for “reforming corporate taxes” and cutting the corporate tax rate to make it more competitive with the rate in other industrialized countries.

That had been a key goal of lobbyists.

Guggenheim Partners policy analyst Chris Krueger said the deal was “far above what was expected” for business.

He said, “On the deficit reduction side of things, it was clearly a miss, but I suspect they will take the short-term certainty with extenders over entitlement reform any day.”

On the other side of the business tax fence, advocates of closing special loopholes that help certain industries had reason to be disappointed. The legislation contains no mention of ending key tax breaks for the oil and gas business, or for senior managers of private equity firms and hedge funds.

Also left out was a proposal once trumpeted by Obama, in a piece of political symbolism, to end accelerated depreciation of corporate jets. An Obama proposal to end last-in-first-out accounting, a cost-saving business accounting method, also was nowhere in sight.

Those omissions from the compromise plan mean much work remains for those wishing to overhaul the U.S. tax code. That is a project that may or may not materialize in 2013.

Happy Holiday OR Unhappy Holiday

Comment By Bob L.
January 1 2013

I would like to thank you all who have followed me through good or bad post continue reading, some times I misspell or miss use a word, what do you expect from an Old Fart who has seen a lot of change and how it has hurt a lot of Americans through the years, SEASONS GREETINGS TO HOPEFULLY A BETTER YEAR.

I hope to see that every one gets to have a HAPPY New Year, but  the way this Government  put their priority’s to give them selves more power, I don’t see any way that 2013 is going to be any better, but if I heard the news right, Obama wants to give them selves a Nine Hundred Dollar Pay-raise ($900.00) that Obama passed last week, Plus restore their Cost of living, that to me is a slap in the face to all the people who are close to being home less on minimum wage or getting only Four Hours of work a day, and who don’t get the advantage of cost of living raises.

I have to look back to years growing up and seeing the Working people getting cuts that the Government has added to them selves, they expect the people to work Three Hundred Sixty Five Days a year to pay more taxes plus give Companies more power against workers, and then you have Unions that have become a business in them selves and no longer protect its workers like they should, sure they look good standing up there and saying how much they are protecting the American worker, but when you get a pay raise how much do they get out of that raise, when you look at where they spend a lot of time, you can guess who is getting the benefits from the Government.

When I read an article, I look at what it could do to this Country if it was true or faults, and I feel that it is some thing that should be brought up, True or Faults, but some of these Faults stories some how end up becoming a law down the road and should be stopped before some Idiot thinks it is a good idea, and that is my opinion and hopefully that Americans believe too, and where this comes from is how the Government passes laws behind closed doors and keeping them Classified so the people don’t know what is in them, good example, Obamacare, does any one know what the total outcome is by the time it hits full power, signed, sealed and delivered behind closed doors, and told, you have to pass it if you want to know what is in it, the American People need to have these DOORS CLOSED meetings closed permanently.