The_Dunedan

Are taxes going up, or not?

Which was part of the problem.

No, he inherited a projected surplus, which projections were made with the assumption that there were no systemic or structural faults in the economy, and that the growth of the late 90's would continue unabated and unslowed into eternity. That projected surplus was predicted based upon the assumption that there would be no more recessions, bubbles, corrections, or even simple down-swings in the market and economy: they were based upon the assumption that nothing would ever go wrong. That was idiotic. That projected surplus never fucking existed.

Edited to add: if this sounds similar to the CBO's projections regarding Obamacare, there's a reason. The projections that Obamacare will save XYZ Dollars are based upon the same core assumption: that nothing will ever go wrong/. That nothing will be late, or over-budget, or require modification, or require more staff; that there will be no economic downturns/spikes, that inflation/deflation will remain status quo, that the ForEx markets won't go bonkers thanks to the Chinese dumping inflated Dollars, that the Commercial Mortgage bubble won't burst, etc. etc. etc. When's the last time a FedGov project came in on time and on budget? I can't remember.

Again, one of the problems with the original cuts: they had an expiration date.

What are these "other sources?" I frankly don't trust anything the Joint Committee on Taxation says: they are Gov't employees, bureaucrats, Statists and tax-parasites every one. It is in their interest to distort this information in order to continue and aggrandize their grotesque power and affluence. They -want- these expansions, and will do a great deal to get them: if WikiLeaks has taught us anything (which we/you should have learnt long before now) it should be this: Politicians LIE.

Even assuming these figures are true: how many people do those businesses employ? How much economic activity and liquidity do they generate? And how much will -both- of these figures fall? My experience in the small-business world says a lot and a SHIT-TONNE.

Then maybe the Feds should quit draining the Treasury with ridiculous unproductive wars, bailouts for businesses which deserve to fail, and every welfare benefit imaginable. Maybe if they kept to their Constitutionally-mandated bailiwick, and kept out of other Country's and States' business, they wouldn't -need- to take 35-39% of a persons' or businesses' income, depriving people of jobs and the opportunity to advance and depriving how many unknown millions of people of the benefits of technological advancement.

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"I personally think that America's interests would be well served if after or at the time these clowns begin their revolting little hate crime the local police come in and cart them off on some trumped up charges or other. It is necessary in my opinion that America makes an example of them to the world."

--Strange Famous, advocating the use of falsified charges in order to shut people up.