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Michael D. Pitman reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Michael at Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2010 > August > 13
Friday, August 13, 2010
Boehner, Bernstein blog battle wages on
U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., and Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economic adviser, both came out swinging in round two of battle of the blogs yesterday.
This debate is an interesting glimpse into party talking points on both sides of the aisle, and how each side will attempt to frame the argument over job creation, stimulus and deficit in this election year.
While I’ll post the text of the blogs here, you should go to the blogs to see links both proffer to back up their arguments.
Since Boehner got the last jab in before the bell in round one, we’ll start with the White House blog:
In a blog post on this site yesterday, we noted that if Congressman Boehner really wants to end the stimulus, then he really wants thousands of Ohioans to lose their jobs.
In response, the Congressman was quoted as saying that our administration owed his constituents “…an explanation of how raising taxes on small businesses will do anything but further hinder job creation in Ohio and across the country.”
Again, Congressman Boehner is confused. So we thought we’d take him up on the invitation to explain to the people of Ohio who has been fighting for small businesses here in Washington and who’s been obstructing that fight.
President Obama has consistently worked with anyone who would join him to help small businesses lead this economy back to health. But in virtually every case, House Republicans led by Rep. Boehner have opposed our attempts, while Republican Leaders in the Senate have used procedural gimmicks to keep them from even coming up for a vote.
Most recently, and most egregiously, House Republicans voted against the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (the Democratic majority passed the bill, only to have the vote blocked by Senate Republicans). This bipartisan bill would have reduced taxes on small business by zeroing out capital gains taxes on their investments, “bonus” depreciation, and immediate expensing of equipment purchases (all three of these significantly lower their investment costs). The bill would also create a fund for small, community banks to lend to small businesses.
So here’s a bill that helps small businesses and small banks, strongly supported by the White House (and, for that matter, small business advocacy groups like the Chamber and NFIB), yet Rep. Boehner’s team opposed it.
Unfortunately, that’s not a new position for them. They tried to block the HIRE Act (a tax cut for businesses that hire the long-term unemployed), Recovery Act loan guarantees and fee forgiveness supporting around $30 billion of small business lending, and let’s not forget their opposition to a $40 billion tax credit for small businesses that provide health care to their workers.
What, then, was Rep. Boehner talking about in that quote? He and his team want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest households, and they’re trying to do so under the guise of helping small business.
Again, the facts of the case point exactly the other way. Virtually every small business would benefit from President Obama’s plan to preserve the tax cuts for families with incomes below $250,000. Only three percent of filers report small business income above that level, and they’re mostly high-end professionals like someone with a small legal practice—perfectly worthy business folks, of course, but not the small entrepreneurs we’re trying to reach with the plans the Republicans continue to block.
Check out this graphic to see for yourself who benefits from the tax cut Rep. Boehner is advocating. Compared to what the President wants to do, it delivers less to the middle class, and, at the expense of adding billions to the deficit, massively delivers to millionaires.
So, collecting his positions over the past couple of days, Rep. Boehner wants to: a) end the Recovery Act that has put more than 100,000 Ohioans to work, b) add $37 billion to the deficit by cutting taxes of the wealthiest households, and c) block tax cuts and new lines of credit to middle-class, small businesses.
It all sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because it’s precisely the policy prescription that got us into this mess. And it’s the last place we want to go back to.
And, of course, Boehner has a response. This time it was posted on the GOP Leader Blog:
For the second time in as many days, the Vice President’s chief economist, Jared Bernstein, has used the official, taxpayer-funded White House blog to rant about Republicans’ opposition to raising taxes on American families and small businesses in a weak economy.
This is a tax hike plan, by the way, that is opposed by a majority of the American people and economists on the left, center, and right - including ‘stimulus’ booster and Obama Administration favorite Mark Zandi, who wrote last week in The Washington Post that “raising taxes on anyone now … would be a mistake.”
One thing Mr. Bernstein failed to mention during his diatribe is that according to the non-partisan Joint Economic Committee, half of the small business income in America will face higher taxes under the president’s plan. This bears repeating: at a time when Americans are asking ‘where are the jobs?’ and small businesses are being declared “missing in action,” President Obama and Mr. Bernstein want to raise taxes on half of small business income in America.
In his post, Mr. Bernstein also trots out Democrats’ canard about the ‘cost’ of stopping tax hikes on families and small businesses. Only in Washington would it be acceptable to think that taxpayers should have to pay for the privilege of not having to send more of their hard-earned money to the federal government. But if indeed there is a ‘cost’ to stopping all of the Democrats’ tax hikes, how much will the president’s plan to stop some of the tax hikes ‘cost’?
As Leader Boehner said yesterday, “We will not fix the deficit until we cut spending and have real economic growth - and we won’t have real economic growth if we keep raising taxes on small businesses.”
Washington Democrats are certainly fighting for somebody here, but it’s not small businesses and it’s not jobless workers. It’s the public-sector union bosses who strong-armed Speaker Pelosi into calling a special session this week to pass a $26 billion ‘stimulus’ bailout. It’s the state governments that desperately needed this handout because they followed Washington’s lead and spent well beyond their means. What about the small businesses agonizing over the prospect of higher taxes on top of all the job-killing policies of the last 18 months? What about the 15 million unemployed workers who just saw Congress make it more expensive to create jobs in the United States and less expensive to create them overseas?
This is a moment when we should be listening to the American people and setting out clear and positive solutions to cut spending and create jobs. Instead we are getting more Obama Administration attacks and more of the same failing ‘stimulus’ policies. It’s time for Mr. Bernstein to go back to the drawing board (though hopefully not the same one that produced the report he co-authored showing that the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ would keep unemployment below eight percent.)
Washington Democrats’ failure to lay a strong and stable foundation for recovery has left our economy rudderless. These job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses won’t change that.
So, who do you think won round two?
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TweetSaying hello to a new adventure
For the past five years I have been the Fairfield reporter for the Fairfield Echo and Hamilton JournalNews. And for the past 18 or so months I’ve covered Fairfield Twp.
I believe I’ve written many quality stories involving these two communities.
Now, as Josh Sweigart makes his exit north to the Springfield News-Sun, I will take on the news coverage duties of Butler County government.
Josh did some good work for the JournalNews, Middletown Journal and the Butler County weekly newspapers. He truly was a watchdog of Butler County.
But just as everyone has a personality unique to themselves, my reporting style will likely differ from Josh’s. My approach to the job may also differ. But regardless of how the news is acquired, the bottom line will still be the same — I will shed light where there is darkness and continue the ongoing discussions of important news stories.
I also plan to start new conversations.
I often try to follow some sage advice once said by Albert Einstein: “The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
This blog will likely not see many changes outside of my name and contact information in the bio box and my picture instead of Josh’s.
So if you have any story ideas, let me know.
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