okay seriously, is it possible to defend a point without attacking one's mistakes's, character etc. Barry is not without his personal issues in the past, etc. but I am not going there. I am not tying my boat solely to that of Rush, Hannity or Beck or anyone else. But through out this thread with me you never cite any facts just ad hom crap like everyone else. I know all politicians in this day and age basically suck...so let's throw that out the window too. I can actually be critical of the "Republican" side as well. I wanted a sticker during the campaign that read "I am a conservative...I have no candidate". Just man up and admit that Barry has not been transparent, as promised, not appointed people of high ethical standards in some of the most prominent positions, and shoved a bill through that was full of Pork, when he said it wasn't. If we are going to go ad hoc, or ad hom here, here we go: If Barack was in Bush's body and said and did all the things he has in the past month, from walking into a White House window, bumping his head on Marine One, appointing the people who didn't pay taxes, rushed a bill through before it could be read, predicted doom and gloom if not passed, put only conservative writers on the front row of Pressers, etc...he would be put through the ringer!! At best he's no better than Bush...but no one can even admit that!!
How hasnt he been transparent, the guy has been in office what a month. Show me the pork in the bill? Matter of fact, I'll take it to the point where he had the house strip the bullshyt out of the bill. Like the STD funding and some of the other crap. Also define what you would consider pork. Just like everyone else you added your ad hom crap and presented no facts either. Even I wasnt happy with the pork that the first draft of the bill had. Then the guy sat down with Republican lawmakers and added a ton of tax cuts to the bill that they wanted. No better than Bush is just your opinion and a bad one at that. Why dont you man up and just admit that you are being as partisan as I am by criticizing him because you are a conservative. Dont try to pass your post of as objective. Its far from that.
lol, I kinda figured that, but I wasn't so sure. here are some of the facts and tax cuts from the bill. http://www.propublica.org/special/stimulus-plan-taxcut-list you can go to this website and drop down each menu item for more details. Tax Relief for Individuals $246,869,000,000 "Making Work Pay" Tax Credit. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and $800 for working families. This tax credit would be calculated at a rate of 6.2% of earned income, and would phase out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). Taxpayers can receive this benefit through a reduction in the amount of income tax that is withheld from their paychecks, or through claiming the credit on their tax returns. $116,199,000,000 Economic Recovery Payment to Recipients of Social Security, SSI, Railroad Retirement and Veterans Disability Compensation Benefits. The bill would provide a one-time payment of $250 to retirees, disabled individuals and SSI recipients receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration, Railroad Retirement beneficiaries, and disabled veterans receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The one-time payment is a reduction to the Making Work Pay credit. $14,225,000,000 Refundable Credit for Certain Federal and State Pensioners. The bill would provide a one-time refundable tax credit of $250 in 2009 to certain government retirees who are not eligible for Social Security benefits. This one-time credit is a reduction to the Making Work Pay credit. $218,000,000 Increase in Earned Income Tax Credit. The bill would temporarily increase the earned income tax credit for working families with three or more children. Under current law, working families with two or more children qualify for an earned income tax credit equal to 40% of the family’s first $12,570 of earned income. This credit is subject to a phase-out for working families with adjusted gross income in excess of $16,420 ($19,540 for married couples filing jointly). The bill would increase the earned income tax credit to 45% of the family’s first $12,570 of earned income for families with three or more children and would increase the beginning point of the phase-out range for all married couples filing a joint return (regardless of the number of children) by $1,880. $4,663,000,000 Increase Eligibility for the Refundable Portion of Child Credit. The bill would increase the eligibility for the refundable child tax credit in 2009 and 2010. For 2008, the child tax credit is refundable to the extent of 15% of the taxpayer’s earned income in excess of $8,500. The bill would reduce this floor for 2009 and 2010 to $3,000. $14,830,000,000 "American Opportunity" Education Tax Credit. The bill would provide financial assistance for individuals seeking a college education. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide taxpayers with a new tax credit of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition and related expenses paid during the taxable year. Taxpayers will receive a credit based on 100% of the first $2,000 of tuition and related expenses (including books) paid during the year and 25% of the next $2,000 of tuition and expenses paid during the year. Forty percent of the credit would be refundable. This tax credit will be subject to a phase-out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $80,000 ($160,000 for married couples filing jointly). $13,907,000,000 Computers as Qualified Education Expenses in 529 Education Plans. Section 529 Education Plans are tax-advantaged savings plans that cover all qualified education expenses, including: tuition, room & board, mandatory fees and books. The bill counts computers and computer technology as qualified education expenses. $6,000,000 Refundable First-time Home Buyer Credit. Last year, Congress provided taxpayers with a refundable tax credit that was equivalent to an interest-free loan equal to 10% of the purchase of a home (up to $7,500) by first-time home buyers. The provision applies to homes purchased on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. Taxpayers receiving this tax credit are currently required to repay any amount received under this provision back to the government over 15 years in equal installments, or, if earlier, when the home is sold. The credit phases out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 in the case of a joint return). The bill eliminates the repayment obligation for taxpayers that purchase homes after Jan. 1, 2009, increases the maximum value of the credit to $8,000 and removes the prohibition on financing by mortgage revenue bonds and extends the availability of the credit for homes purchased before Dec. 1, 2009. The provision would retain the credit recapture if the house is sold within three years of purchase. $6,638,000,000 Sales Tax Deduction for Vehicle Purchases. The bill provides all taxpayers with a deduction for state and local sales and excise taxes on the purchase of new cars, light truck, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles through 2009. This deduction is subject to a phase-out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $125,000 ($250,000 in the case of a joint return). $1,684,000,000 Temporary Suspension of Taxation of Unemployment Benefits. Under current law, all federal unemployment benefits are subject to taxation. The average unemployment benefit is about $300 per month. The proposal temporarily suspends federal income tax on the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits per recipient. Any unemployment benefits over $2,400 will be subject to federal income tax. This proposal is in effect for 2009. $4,740,000,000 Extension of Alternative Minimum Tax Relief for 2009. The bill would provide more than 26 million families with tax relief in 2009 by extending AMT relief for nonrefundable personal credits and increasing the AMT exemption amount to $70,950 for joint filers and $46,700 for individuals. $69,759,000,000 Tax Incentives for Businesses $6,150,000,000 Extension of Bonus Depreciation. Businesses are allowed to recover the cost of capital expenditures over time according to a depreciation schedule. Last year, Congress temporarily allowed businesses to recover the costs of capital expenditures made in 2008 faster than the ordinary depreciation schedule would allow by permitting these businesses to immediately write-off 50% of the cost of depreciable property (e.g., equipment, tractors, wind turbines, solar panels and computers) acquired in 2008 for use in the United States. The bill would extend this temporary benefit for capital expenditures incurred in 2009. $5,074,000,000 Election to Accelerate Recognition of Historic AMT/R&D Credits. Last year, Congress temporarily allowed businesses to accelerate the recognition of a portion of their historic alternative minimum tax or research and development credits in lieu of bonus depreciation. The amount that taxpayers may accelerate is calculated based on the amount that each taxpayer invests in property that would otherwise qualify for bonus depreciation. This amount is capped at 6% of historic AMT and R&D credits or $30 million, whichever is less. The bill would extend this temporary benefit through 2009. $805,000,000 Extension of Enhanced Small Business Expensing. To help small businesses quickly recover the cost of certain capital expenses, small business taxpayers may elect to write-off the cost of these expenses in the year of acquisition in lieu of recovering these costs over time through depreciation. Until the end of 2010, small business taxpayers are allowed to write-off up to $125,000 (indexed for inflation) of capital expenditures subject to a phase-out once capital expenditures exceed $500,000 (indexed for inflation). Last year, Congress temporarily increased the amount that small businesses could write-off for capital expenditures incurred in 2008 to $250,000 and increased the phase-out threshold for 2008 to $800,000. The bill would extend these temporary increases for capital expenditures incurred in 2009. $41,000,000 5-Year Carryback of Net Operating Losses for Small Businesses. Under current law, net operating losses ("NOLs") may be carried back to the two taxable years before the year that the loss arises (the "NOL carryback period") and carried forward to each of the succeeding 20 years after the year that the loss arises. For 2008, the bill would extend the maximum NOL carryback period from two years to five years for small businesses with gross receipts of $15 million or less. $947,000,000 Delayed Recognition of Certain Cancellation of Debt Income. Under current law, a taxpayer generally has income where the taxpayer cancels or repurchases its debt for an amount less than its adjusted issue price. The amount of cancellation of debt income ("CODI") is the excess of the old debt’s adjusted issue price over the repurchase price. Certain businesses will be allowed to recognize CODI over 10 years (defer tax on CODI for the first four or five years and recognize this income ratably over the following five years) for specified types of business debt repurchased by the business after Dec. 31, 2008 and before Jan. 1, 2011. $1,622,000,000 Incentives to Hire Unemployed Veterans and Disconnected Youth. Under current law, businesses are allowed to claim a work opportunity tax credit equal to 40% of the first $6,000 of wages paid to employees of one of nine targeted groups. The bill would create two new targeted groups of prospective employees: unemployed veterans and disconnected youth. An individual would qualify as an unemployed veteran if they were discharged or released from active duty from the Armed Forces during the five-year period prior to hiring and received unemployment compensation for more than four weeks during the year before being hired. An individual qualifies as a disconnected youth if they are between the ages of 16 and 25 and have not been regularly employed or attended school in the past 6 months. $231,000,000 Small Business Capital Gains. Current law provides a 50% exclusion for the gain from the sale of certain small business stock held for more than five years. The amount of gain eligible for the exclusion is limited to 10 times the taxpayer’s basis in the stock or $10 million gain from stock in that small business corporation, whichever is greater. This provision is limited to individual investments and not the investments of a corporation. The non-excluded portion is taxed at ordinary income rates or 28%, whichever is less, instead of the lower capital gains rates for individuals. The provision allows a 75% exclusion for individuals on the gain from the sale of certain small business stock held for more than five years. This change is for stock issued after the date of enactment and before Jan. 1, 2011. $829,000,000 Temporary Small Business Estimated Tax Payment Relief. The bill reduces the 2009 required estimated tax payments for certain small businesses. $0 Temporary Reduction of S Corporation Built-In Gains Holding Period from 10 Years to 7 Years. Under current law, if a taxable corporation converts into an S corporation, the conversion is not a taxable event. However, following such a conversion, an S corporation must hold its assets for 10 years to avoid a tax on any built-in gains that existed at the time of the conversion. The bill would temporarily reduce this holding period from 10 years to seven years for sales occurring in 2009 and 2010. $415,000,000 Repeal of Treasury Section 382 Notice. Last year, the Treasury issued Notice 2008-83, which liberalized rules in the tax code that are intended to prevent taxpayers that acquire companies from claiming losses that were incurred by the acquired company prior to the taxpayer’s ownership of the company. The bill would repeal this notice prospectively. -$6,977,000,000 Treatment of Certain Ownership Changes. The bill would clarify the application of section 382 to certain companies restructuring pursuant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. $3,163,000,000 Business $3,540,000,000 Industrial Development Bonds (IDB). Under current law, certain manufacturing facilities are eligible for tax exempt bond financing. The definition of a manufacturing facility is limited for the purposes of such financing to facilities that are used in the manufacturing or production of tangible personal property. The proposal amends the definition of manufacturing facility to any facility used in the manufacturing, creation or production of tangible or intangible property. Intangible property is any patent, copyright, formula, process, design, pattern, knowhow, format or other similar item. The proposal also clarifies which physical components of a manufacturing facility qualify as ancillary and therefore are subjected to a 25% limitation in the amount of bond issuance used to build or re-construct those components. $203,000,000 Expands assistance programs for service sector workers affected by outsourcing to all countries, including China and India; increases training funds to states by 160% to $575 million per year; and reauthorized all trade assistance programs, which expired in 2007, through Dec. 31, 2010 $1,600,000,000 Prohibits Customs and Border Protection from demanding that lumber, steel and other companies repay duties that CBP collected on Canadian and Mexican imports and then gave to the companies between 2001 and 2005 $90,000,000 Advanced Energy Investment Credit. The proposal establishes a new 30% investment tax credit for facilities engaged in the manufacture of advanced energy property. Credits are available only for projects certified by the Treasury secretary, in consultation with the Energy secretary, through competitive bidding. The Treasury must establish a certification program no later than 180 days after date of enactment and may allocate up to $2.3 billion in credits. Advanced energy property includes technology for the production of renewable energy, energy storage, energy conservation, efficient transmission and distribution of electricity and carbon capture and sequestration. $1,647,000,000 Other Tax Relief $6,858,000,000 New Markets Tax Credit. Under current law, there are $3.5 billion of new markets tax credits (NMTC) available for each of 2008 and 2009. The provision increases the available credits for 2008 to $5 billion and the available credits for 2009 to $5 billion. $815,000,000 Recovery Zone Bonds. The bill would create a new category of tax credit bonds for investment in economic recovery zones. The bill would authorize $10 billion in recovery zone economic development bonds and $15 billion in recovery zone facility bonds. These bonds could be issued during 2009 and 2010. Each state would receive a share of the national allocation based on that state’s job losses in 2008 as a percentage of national job losses in 2008 (each state will receive a minimum allocation of these bonds). These allocations would be sub-allocated to local municipalities. Municipalities receiving an allocation of these bonds would be permitted to use these bonds to invest in infrastructure, job training, education and economic development in areas within the boundaries of the state, city or county (as the case may be) that has significant poverty, unemployment or home foreclosures. $5,371,000,000 Treasury Department Low-Income Housing Grants in Lieu of Tax Credits. Under current law, taxpayers are allowed to claim a low-income housing tax credit for certain investments made in low-income housing. These tax credits help attract private capital to invest in the construction, acquisition or rehabilitation of qualified low-income housing buildings. Current economic conditions have severely undermined the effectiveness of these tax credits. As a result, the bill would allow taxpayers to receive a grant from the Treasury in lieu of tax credits. Under this provision, state housing agencies would receive a grant equal to up to 85% of 40% of the state’s low-income housing tax credit allocation in lieu of the low-income housing tax credits they would have received. The sub-awards are subject to the same requirements (including rent, income and use restrictions on such buildings) as the low-income housing tax credit allocations. The grant program would apply to each state’s 2009 low-income housing tax credit allocation. $69,000,000 Tribal Economic Development Bonds. Under current law, tribal governments are limited in their ability to issue tax-exempt bonds. Projects funded by bonds issued by tribal governments must satisfy an "essential governmental function" requirement. This requirement is not imposed on projects funded by bonds issued by state and local governments and can limit the ability of tribal governments to use tax-exempt bonds for economic development. The bill would temporarily allow tribal governments to issue $2 billion in tax-exempt bonds for projects without this restriction in order to spur economic development on tribal lands. It would also require the Treasury secretary study whether this restriction should be repealed on a permanent basis. $315,000,000 Modify Speed Requirement for High-Speed Rail Exempt Facility Bonds. Under current law, states are allowed to issue private activity bonds for high-speed rail facilities. Under current law, a high-speed rail facility is a facility for the transportation of passengers between metropolitan areas using vehicles that are reasonably expected to operate at speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour between scheduled stops. The bill would allow these bonds to be used to develop rail facilities that are used by such trains. $288,000,000
lol i know they call me flash. But seriously its helpful to know whats in the bill, I can admit I dont agree 100% with everything in the bill, but it has its really good parts and its really bad parts.
You know what I find interesting about this comment? You forgot about some of the appointees that didn't pay taxes. One more thing... Obama wasn't even sworn in yet and there were ethical issues and probably cover ups. Everyone understands that Ron Emanual at least had some conversations with the governor of Illinois to fill Obama's seat. I think most would agree that Ron Emanual wasn't speaking on his own behalf which leads one to believe that Obama was linked to this controversy. The investigation stopped at some point for no reason? Imagine if this was anyone other than a democrat! What a difference media coverage is for these two parties. John Edwards was right, there are two Americas. One for Democrats and one for the opposition!
