Last updated on 2012.02.02
My opposition to the two-month payroll tax cut extension isn't entirely satirical. Rep. Kristi Noem is right when she says that "making policy 60 days at a time" is a bad idea.
However, by casting a vote that she knows will raise taxes on nearly every working person in South Dakota on January 1, she is letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. If my daughter hasn't had supper and I'm eating a bologna sandwich, I don't say to her, "No, honey, you wait until tomorrow and we'll see if we can go to the store and get a week's worth of bread and ham and cheese, then you can eat... maybe." I share my sandwich right now!
Noem's vote is more kamikaze politicking: dig in, wreak havoc, and see just how hard the right-wing can push without compromising. Noem frets about the "uncertainty" of a two-month extension. But how can vague uncertainty be worse than the immediate practical impacts of her vote: come Janaury 1, millions of workers get smaller paychecks. Millions of workers have less purchasing power. It's almost as if Kristi Noem and her fellow House Republicans want the economy to falter. Gee now, why would anyone want that with a Presidential election coming up?
Kristi's Democratic challengers are having an easy time pounding this bad vote:
[Jeff Barth]: Right now bookkeepers looking at doing payroll starting January first have no idea what the tax rate is going to be. They're not going to be able to know until 12:01 a.m. on the first of January. Just that alone is enough uncertainty.
[Matt Varilek]: It's one thing if there are other factors that caused this, but when it's simply a matter of there not being political will to come together to help people, you just can't defend that.
[Barth]: Our current recovery from this recession is pretty fragile. It won't help. It will hurt and I don't think right now is the time to raise taxes on regular people. I don't think this is the right time to raise taxes on millionaires. [Hey, Jeff, was that last point necessary? Think twice about playing past the primary crowd so soon!]
[Varilek]: "This came, to a large degree, from the tea party folks in the House who said they didn't care what had been negotiated. They just wanted what they want.... For Kristi Noem to separate herself from both South Dakota senators on something like this is quite out of the ordinary.
Expect Noem to spend a lot of 2012 trying to string words together to defend this vote.
GOP dissolving like wicked witch in the land of oz:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/another-gop-domino-falls-in-payroll-fight-after-wsj-cries-uncle.php
Ah, Kristi - fulfilling the mandate of WWED: What Would Ebenezer Do?
Exactly. Their argument is absurd on two fronts.
1. A few weeks ago, they were against the payroll tax cut altogether. Now they can't get enough of it. Two months is bad, it has to be a year.
2. If you do this you're just kicking the can down the road, so we won't vote for it unless you kick the can a mile instead of just two blocks. Because we want to make a more long range plan right away, but not in two months, let's put it off a year.
Ridiculous. Sibby-like.
p.s. Cory, they have been inching this along for seven votes now. Now all of a sudden it's not good to take baby steps until we see where the economy is headed? Baloney.
"Ridiculous. Sibby-like."
Bill I have been advocating shutting down the biggest rip-off going for a long time. Why are you Dems all of a sudden turning on a dime and shutting down the funding to "Social" Security? You can try and answer that too Cory.
Comments like that just make you look like another earth hater, Steve. It's why we want to run against Ron Paul.
You scare me, man.
larry, earth hater? what does that have to do with the government using seniors as political pawns?
I am the government, Steve, so are you. We're all political pawns because we're all playing the game.
I'll take a discussion with you over civil war any day.
The Constitution is only hanging by a thread because the GOP has chosen to gnaw its paw off.
what it comes down to is that Noem cares more for big business, she says we need stability for the "job creators", then keeping the middle class taxes from rising. Hopefully the people of South Dakota will now see what the Democrats have been saying all along. That she puts the Tea Party and the far right above the interests of South Dakotans.
[CAH: "Job creators" is a bogus term dreamed up by GOP propagandists to cover their favoritism for the 1%. Kristi needs to think about the 99%, the job doers!]
"Constitution is only hanging by a thread"
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/whitehorseprophecy.htm
Some diseases are so toxic that they kill themselves off. Such is the Tea Party (of which Kristi is a part), so it would seem.
Corey:
You and other democrates should be thrilled with this. How many times have you blogged that taxes need to be increased to help balance the budget?
Minnesota GOP in steep collapse:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/12/21/minnesota-gop-challenges/
Tim, the taxes Democratics are small increases on the rich who are paying less in taxes then they ever have.
But the Republicans want to cut taxes for the rich and now with this action tax the middle class more.
Cory, I'm going to disagree with your headline. To say that Kristi rejected something is to give her too much credit for thinking on her own.
She didn't examine the bill, or even check with her constituents on what to do, she just did what she was told.
But if Kristi did think, here's what she must be thinking:
Kristi thinks that eliminating EPA safety regulations on boilers was more important than raising taxes on the majority of South Dakotans.
Kristi thinks that creating profits for the owners of the Keystone pipeline is more important than raising taxes on the majority of South Dakotans. Especially if they can sell the oil to China and build the pipeline with Russian steel.
Kristie thinks that states rights are 'stoopid' if it means listening to the Republican governor and people of Nebraska.
Kristi doesn't care that South Dakotans who have paid into medicare and the doctors that treat them will be adversely affected.
Kristi thinks that partisan politics is a greater virtue than actual governance that will benefit the majority of South Dakotans.
Kristi is jealous of John Boehner's iconic burnt orange tan.
Kristi won't have a public town hall meeting.
But, she shouldn't worry. The Wall Street Journal has her back.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577110573867064702.html
Oh wait...that wasn't very supportive. Maybe Republican Senator John McCain can help Kristi out:
http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/200773-mccain-praises-wall-street-journal-editorial
That didn't look so good either. Does anyone have something positive Kristi can fall back on?
[CAH: Jana, you are the reason Kristi Noem doesn't hold town hall meetings. I would so love to hear you unload on Kristi face to face with an indictment like what you've written here. So powerful!]
Waiting for an answer to Sibson's question (at 10:34).
Owen, why not close loopholes though tax reform first? Then maybe Billionaire Buffet can feel better about himself.
Bruce, the only one advocating to shut down Social Security is Sibby. That is because he has gone daft. Surely you've not joined him, have you brother?
[CAH: Ditto! We are not obliged to answer questions that Steve manufactures in separation from reality. As Bill points out, the Republicans are the dime-turners here.]
Bruce, I don't think you are very sincere about your concern for Warren Buffett. (don't forget that it is 2 t's)
Just curious why you think that the American icon of capitalism is wrong in thinking that tax rates should be fairer?
I'm sure that Warren will take your advice if you can convince him of his ignorance. He's actually pretty well grounded and willing to be persuaded if the facts are there.
"We are not obliged to answer questions that Steve manufactures in separation from reality."
Cory, I am one who realizes that sending retirement funds into an identity that has debt past it eye balls is a problem. Sad that when I place reality on your laps, I received personal attacks designed to be strawman diversions.
It's Sibby time! Here's a nice picture of the Sibsonator's house in Mitchell:
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00cCTQPBvnbHoD/Pine-Cuckoo-Clock-FHC-811B-.jpg
Steve: do you realize that your comment makes no sense to anyone else reading this blog? Do you realize that no other commenter could effectively bite into whatever you just said and join the conversation with a rational response? You disappoint me.
The point here is that Noem just voted to raise darn near everyone's taxes. Sibby's red herrings don't change that ugly fact or justify her vote.
Since you don't want to deal with my first questin, then answer my second question Cory. Does it make sense to send retirement funds to an entity who has a debt issue? You may find the answer by studying Europe.