President Obama makes a point during a news conference in the Brady Press Room of the White House in Washington, December 7, 2010. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)
–David Leonhardt explains why the tax cuts deal is a stimulus Trojan Horse.
Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, predicted that the package would accelerate economic growth, adding more than 1.6 million jobs next year and driving unemployment down to 8.5 percent by the end of 2011.
–David Kocieniewski helpfully does the math on the proposed tax package. One thing that jumped out: Swapping the ARRA’s Making Work Pay credit for a payroll tax cut will actually raise the taxes of individuals making less than $20k a year and families making less than $40k.
–James Pethokoukis thinks the absence of Build America Bonds program in the tax deal is very bad news for underwater states and public employee unions.
–Politico counts votes and determines the deal is in pretty good shape in the Senate and, with a coalition of GOPers and Blue Dogs, has decent prospects in the House.
–Jim DeMint will hold the conservative line and vote against it. His nonsensical explanation:
“…most of us who ran this election said we were not going to vote for anything that increased the deficit. This does.”
[snip]
DeMint said that “the biggest problem” he has with the plan is that it does not extend the tax cuts permanently.
–Nate Silver predicts that Republicans will claim any future recovery is all thanks to the Bush tax cuts.
–One thing I still don’t get: The Obama tax deal that has liberals so incensed includes stimulative measures like a 13-month UI extension and a payroll tax cut. I’m skeptical either of those would be feasible outside the deal, especially after the new Congress is sworn in. Its main concessions are in essence lower taxes for rich people — an ideological defeat for sure and a big contribution to the deficit, but the former is mostly symbolic and latter is not typically a big issue for the left (or anybody in reality). If anything, I might expect liberals to be upset that Obama didn’t get prizes like BABs, major infrastructure spending or a carbon tax included, but all of those would be political long-shots. The left has largely argued for the last year that boosting growth in the short term should be a priority and that structural deficits are not something to be tackled in a recession. Isn’t this deal a step in that direction and certainly better than anything they could hope to get once Republicans take over the House?
–House Republicans have set their committee chairs. Of note: Fred Upton beat out Joe Barton on Energy and Commerce, and Spencer Bachus, despite (because of?) his relative weakness as a foil to the bombastic Barney Frank, will remain the GOP’s top man on Financial Services.
–And the Obama administration is abandoning the settlement freeze demand, the much maligned centerpiece of its Mideast peace policy to date.
I was off the radar yesterday and surely missed a lot.