Obama And Republicans Agree On Tax Cut Extension

NPR reports Obama And Republicans Agree On Tax Cut Extension. "Monday night, Obama announced agreement with Republicans to extend tax cuts for all Americans, renew jobless benefits and grant a one-year reduction in Social Security taxes for millions. The emerging agreement also includes tax breaks for businesses that the president said would contribute to the economy's recovery from the worst recession in eight decades."

I can see what the Democrats gave up, I don't see what the Republicans gave up in this "agreement".

And I really don't understand this: "'Make no mistake, allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family and that could cost our economy well over a million jobs,' he said at the White House."

I think the rate would have gone up 3%, so the "typical American family" makes $100,000 a year? I don't think so.

The New York Times has some more details. "He said that in return for agreeing to Republican demands that income tax rates not go up on upper-income brackets, he had secured substantial assistance to lower and middle income workers as well as the unemployed." I'm not sure that Republicans were so against this to begin with.

"Some details remain to be worked out, and Mr. Obama could have trouble bringing his party along with him. The package would cost about $900 billion over the next two years, all to be financed by adding to the budget deficit." So we can now assume the Republicans no longer care about the deficit. Riiiight.

And I really don't get the cuts in the Social Security payroll tax. The Republicans are complaining how broken Social Security is (when it's really not so bad, Medicare is much worse) and this just makes it worse. I'm sure in the GOP is already planning on using the new numbers to show how broken Social Security is and to force the Dems to reduce benefits. They're already setting up for the next thing. Sigh.