A BILL
To express the sense of the Senate on shared sacrifice in resolving the budget deficit.
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1: SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SHARED SACRIFICE.
- (a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:
-
- (1) The Wall Street Journal reports that median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies increased 19 percent to $2,900,000 last year.
-
- (2) Over the past 10 years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500.
-
- (3) Twenty percent of all income earned in the United States is earned by the top 1 percent of individuals.
-
- (4) Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals.
- (b) Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.
Yea 51 Nay 49
Harry Reid needed 60 votes to pass this resolution. He didn’t have it. What he did get was 49 Republicans saying no to millionaires having any sense of responsibility towards making a more meaningful contribution to help reduce the budget deficit. Who is to say what ‘meaningful contribution’ means. It could mean each of them paying $100 more a year towards budget reduction. The wording was vague. Yet all 49 of the Republican Senators voted NO.
The vote speaks volumes and will continue to speak volumes for many years. Republicans need to rethink their protection of the very rich.
I just dont understand the reluctance to acknowledge the middle class is struggling, and has been for some time. It use to be women had a choice to work, now, for most families, it is a neccessity.
Hmmm, meanwhile, close to 50% pay zip, nothing at all, and we can’t figure out why unemployment is at 9.2% with “the one” in office. Why aren’t the poor hiring more people? I suppose people get what they deserve!
You mean like GE? They didn’t pay zilch. Probably some other corporations didn’t either.
Interesting thing about those 50%, which this past year is 40%, no one says what their income is. Folks want us to assume it is the poor. I expect it is a lot of fat cats who can afford fancy accountants to find the loopholes.
That jobs creator myth is so bogus. Where are the jobs? where were the jobs? Why would a CEO working for anthem or pick a company be creating jobs? They aren’t.
Its fairly simple. Create some tax incentives to get the real job creators off the hook and jack the fat cats up a few %s. I don’t feel sorry for anyone making 10M a year.
Repeating the Tea-vangelist motto enough times about who is creating jobs doesn’t make it true. In fact, no one is really believing the BS nowadays. Its all political bluster to push your buddy Omana aside for a big republican win. It doesn’t look like its going to happen if the crown prince/heir appararent is going to be “Bain” Romney or Bachmann with her ever so cute Tea-gay-curing husband. The mavericks are beginning to look like a stampede. All they are doing is making a lot of noise and digging up a bunch of earth with their hoofs.
@Moon-howler
In response to #4.
Then what’s the issue? If no one is believing the BS then Obama will win and rainbows and sunshine will appear on the horizon.
Everyone will have a chicken in their pot, more than a few coins to rub and an electric car to plug in.
Why do you think that businesses aren’t investing in new jobs? If we’re to ignore the tax issue.. What do you think is wrong? Why aren’t local small businesses or the megacorporations hiring? Why is unemployment so high?
Hard to swallow the idea of shared sacrifice when 40% of the people are excluded.
Interesting that the Nay’s for this bill we’re bipartisan. The Yay’s we’re partisan.
@marin,
Where are you getting your figures from? Businesses aren’t hiring for many reasons, probably not all the same. Remember–Great Recession. Remember the Great Depression lasted at least 12 years. The housing market still hasn’t finished whatever it is doing. The ‘fear itself’ is doing a number on everyone. Oil prices and food prices are excessively high.
Any incoming president would be facing the same challenges. Wouldn’t it be nice if Obama could have come in after the Great Crash, wiggled his nose and righted things.
Frankly, I am tired of hearing all the political BS. We are facing something that could have a devastating effect on the economy and the party of NO is still saying NO. No one likes people who don’t compromise. They were the people who picked and told the American people they were going to fix the economy. Apparently some people believed them. I did not, if for no other reason, I recognize BS and I have studied history.
Here’s some artwork to go along with the thread content: http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/83500/Eat-The-Rich–83953.jpg
This resolution reminds me of the quote “From each according to ability, to each according to need.”
I know a few people that do not pay taxes – those on Social Security and no pension.
I do not think it is right to soak the person with a high income – but, the high incomes have increased over the last few years, while for many, the salary has been stagnant (my case), or actually reduced. Why do I have to pay AMT and a higher percentage of my dollars than a person with a very high salary?
@Moon-howler
Interesting that you went to attacking parties even though you said you were tired of the political BS. Taking politics out of the equation. No -R or -D here.
Why aren’t businesses hiring? What are the reasons for it?
Will the proposed solutions by either party help that?
What are the solutions here from the peanut gallery to start the economic engine working?
To your point. Why are food and energy prices high?
@Cato, loved it.
Do we actually pay this guy Harry a salary for doing kidstuff like this? Well, if so, I can see a good place to start with the budget cuts.
@Wolverine
I think that the nay votes speak volumes. Every republican voted against ANY reasonable increase of any kind. That would include each millionaire paying a dollar more. Meanwhile, payrolls might not be met, SS and medicare on the chopping blog, etc. I wouldn’t want MY name on that NAY list.
I think that the NAY vote was only a whisper. I hadn’t even heard about it until it was posted here, and I am always flipping back and forth between this site and the news. How could I have missed such a resounding blare of Searchlight Harry’s partisan trumpet?
Speaking of Searchlight Harry, whom I wouldn’t trust further than I can spit, I do have a suggestion for him if he really wants a bit more revenue. How about a supplementary and very hefty federal “sin tax” on all gambling emporiums, since those businesses make their big bucks by preying on human addictions. Tongue-in cheek, of course; since I think Searchlight would probably be quite adverse to picking the pockets of his best buds.
Shared Sacrifice? Really? The Senate has time for this bull crap but can even present a budget? How are we supposed to have budget talks if the Democrats refuse to put up numbers? Shared sacrifice? Ok. Kill all the pensions and salaries of Congress. Do that first, Senator, and then I’ll believe you. Stop taking corporate money and union money, and then I’ll believe you.
Define reasonable. 1% of the people pay more taxes than 95% of the rest. Ok. So do you want that 1% to pay more than 96%? 97%? They should give us a number? What’s reasonable?
The politicians don’t care about taxes. They KNOW that they could confiscate the TOTAL wealth of the rich and not pay for ONE YEAR’S DEFICIT. Then what? This is just a weapon against political opponents. I don’t see THEM voluntarily giving more to the government. Obama took ALL of his exemptions. He’s a millionaire. Why does he have to be forced to follow his own advice? Same for Reid and Pelosi. When those hypocrites start paying, then I’ll believe about shared sacrifice.
How about this? Everyone pays 15% above the arbitrary poverty level. No exceptions. No targeted tax breaks. NO nothing. That’s it. If you make one dollar above the poverty level, you pay 15 cents to the government. THAT is SHARED sacrifice. We all pay the same rate.