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02 Jan 2011 12:05

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U.S.: Dear early-bird tax filers: The IRS isn’t ready for you guys yet

  • good Obama got the tax compromise through late last month, even if it didn’t have absolutely everything he wanted in it. There’s no more uncertainty, which is good.
  • bad As a side effect of it coming so late in the year, the IRS can’t take as many as 50 million itemized tax forms until late February, due to tax code changes. Sorry, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Dec 2010 00:27

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U.S.: Obama gets his tax compromise, pulls off triangulation hat trick

  • Alright guys. Time to rock and roll. Obama got his tax compromise, even after House Democrats got all uncomfortable about it towards the end there. The process was a little tense, but eventually the House passed it as-is, 277 to 148. Obama learned the art of triangulation well from Master Sensei Bill Clinton, and will now be in the good graces of the GOP for approximately ten minutes. Savor them, Barack, because you’ve earned them. You only had to sell out the estate tax and a number of your people in your own party to do it. But sometimes, to Get Things Done, you have to do some selling out. This is why Superdrag isn’t on the radio anymore and Weezer is still going strong. Weezer Got Things Done. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Dec 2010 10:24

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Politics: Here’s Obama’s tactical strategy for the tax compromise

  • So, how does Obama expect the tax compromise to pass? According to David Axelrod (who spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” today), it’ll go a little like this: First, the Senate will take up the compromise Monday, written in such a way that it’ll probably pass there (barring more awesome Bernie Sanders filibusters). Then … well, we’ll let David finish this: “We believe that when it comes back to the House, that we will get a vote, and that we’ll prevail there.” So, long story short – the Obama administration expects one chamber to fall, and when that one does, so will the other one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Dec 2010 21:00

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Politics: One well-known dude in Obama’s compromise corner: John Kerry

  • Obama can count on one influential Democrat in his corner. Problem is, it’s John Kerry, who’s as exciting as vat of ketchup. OK, now that we’ve gotten the veiled insult at his wife out of his way, let’s see what he has to say about the compromise: “The truth is, the President got a lot of things here we’ve been fighting for that we haven’t yet been able to win any other way.” It’s one of a number of messages that the White House has been distributing tonight. We have to emphasize, though, that we’re with Andrew Sullivan on this one: It’s frustrating to see Obama compromise, but he’s playing a pretty good game of handball with the GOP in making this compromise. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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