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Exclusive: Republican Camp won't rule out tax increases

By Donna Smith | Reuters – 2 hrs 38 mins ago...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Republican lawmaker would not rule out tax increases on Thursday if they could boost economic growth, adding that "everything is on the table" for a congressional panel charged with forging a deal to cut the deficit. Representative Dave Camp, head of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, told Reuters in a telephone interview that the deepening global financial crisis would prompt him and other super committee members to pull together.

Asked what sort of pressure the economic turmoil put on the committee, he said, "It does add an importance to what we are trying to do. It makes the stakes even higher." Camp, who was named on Wednesday to the new special deficit reduction panel, voiced optimism that the group of six Republicans and six Democrats would overcome the political divide and reach agreement.

"I don't want to rule anything in or out," Camp said. "I am willing to discuss all issues that might help us reduce our short and long-term debt and grow our economy," Camp said.

"Everything is on the table, until we as a group rule it out," he said. The economy and jobs are priorities, he added.

"Economic growth and job creation in the private sector -- that's what we need to use as a benchmark about any policy, but particularly tax policy," Camp said.

Camp's fellow Republicans have stood firm against raising taxes to reduce the deficit, arguing that higher rates would harm an already fragile economy. They also have resisted efforts to end special interest tax breaks, such as a tax credit for ethanol producers, outside the context of a broad tax reform.

RESTORE CONFIDENCE

With global stock markets swooning over worries about the historic U.S. credit rating downgrade and Washington's huge annual budget deficits, Camp urged a broad look at how to fix the U.S. fiscal mess.

"We do need to restore confidence and have substantive decisions made about our short- and long-term debt," he said.

Lawmakers engaged in a partisan battle over spending and taxes for more than three months before agreeing on August 2 to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling, avoid a U.S. default and establish the super panel.

Noticeably absent from the deal were any tax increases in a first round of deficit reduction, despite President Barack Obama's insistence that a balanced approach to fixing the budget was necessary. Instead, the approximately $900 billion in short-term savings come from spending cuts.

The new panel Camp is serving on has been asked to find around $1.5 trillion more in budget savings over 10 years and issue its recommendations by November 23. Those savings can include spending and tax measures.

It is being called a "super committee" because its recommendations must be voted on by Congress by December 23 and no amendments will be allowed.

If the panel fails to reach agreement, or Congress fails to act, some $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts will be triggered in 2013.

TAXES AND CUTS

In making its decisions, the panel will be looking at everything from tax reform to politically popular programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid health programs for the elderly and poor as well as the Social Security retirement program which is facing increasing financial strains as the aging baby boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, retires.

Democrats have resisted cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as long as Republicans kept tax increases off the table.

Besides Camp, the super committee includes Republican Senators Patrick Toomey, Rob Portman and Jon Kyl. Republican House members along with Camp are Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Representative Jeb Hensarling, who will serve as co-chairman of the panel.

Democratic senators named to the panel are Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, John Kerry and Patty Murray, who also will serve as co-chairman.

House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday named James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, to sit on the panel, along with Xavier Becerra and Chris Van Hollen, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

Ah MAximo ou sonje jan ke msie tap ranse eh byen map tann li fwa sa'a paske se nan zo li pwal frape! Mwen ta swete li ta vinn remesye mwen pou gwo kado anvan Noel sa'a! Map sove pension li pou li ka aksepte of poul finalman ale an Ayiti kote li ka chanje lajan li an BANCOR! Sak konnen?

merci dilibon je ne parle pas anglais .mais j ai entrevu certaines choses pas droles du tout

dili

mwen diw mèsi pou avertissment saa ou mete sou sit la.Men se tout jounen map resevwa newsletter sayo.Mwen te pran yon subscriptyon nan yon deja men li pat anpechem pèdi 25% nan 401 k mwen.se yon sel bagay mwen regret mwen pat mete plis lajan nan lor paske mwen pat kwè ke lor ta vinn monte konsa.Pwiske pri subscriptyon mounche saa pa pi chè mwen pral wè sal genyen nan djakout li.Mwen pa vle mete debit kat numerom konsa sou sit la. mwen pral ekri li pito.Antouka mwen di w mèsi.Mwen admet ke bagay yo dwol anpil vre se pye kout pran devan mwen pral koumanse mete kek sak diri ak pwa ak lwil doliv nan grage lakay la.ah ah ah ah

Neg w ap lage kol Trinidad tande.Mwen pè ayiti twop mwen pap viv lontan sim tounen ayiti.

maximo, moun ap toujou beswen kay pou yo domi tande.map ka manje kan menm.

Mwen pap vann magazinn non. Achte ou pa sa pa regade'm vreman men mwen te vle mete w a jour sou devlopman bagay yo nan peyi a. Referans msie yo bon. Se pou jis demontre w ke kesyon USA se toro gwonde pa genyen anyen ki ka rive l pa kenbe. Tout sak monte dwe desann. Le ou gade listwa ansyenn depi tan medyeval jiska jounen jodya anpil gwo wayom ki pase nenpot 300 a 500 zan disparet. Lamerik se youn peyi jenn anpil e li gentan fe anpil nan vi li vre men depi ou kite kom grann pwisans maladi awogans ak anvi pwan tout mond nan pwan w denye moman w pa lwen. Mwen kwe fok tout moun pridan e toujou pre tankou skout paske deja genyen anpil mob vityel ki deja ap oganize yo menm jan ou we sak sot pase nan Londr lotre jou a. Mwen pa pe pou Deza ak Maximo paske 2 mesye sa yo, mwen te gneyen chans vizite e evalye preparasyon yo, mesye yo deja two pare menm, neg yo genyen bon jan zengzeng pou defann tet yo ak fanmi yo! Mwen manke kek zouti a long pote men mwen pa lwen. Anpil katoush anvan youn nonm rantre lakay mwen papa! Mwen pa nan okenn zafe pe zam, pe defann mwen, pe lame, ni nan plenyen manman imoush ak okenn vagabon papa! A bon entendeur Salut!

temwen jehovah yo di tou sa nou wè la yo pral fini, wou menm ou di ke pral genyen goumen nan tout vil o zeta Zuni se pou nou chache yon kote retire pou nou pran refij lè Amagedon an komanse. e byen mwen pral wè si ma achte yon kabinn nan morn N.C.konsa ma val kache.Antouka map tann market la yon ti jan stable poum mete yon ti lajan nan lor ak arjan.

Bon sa yo pral di si Amagedon a pa rive?

An nou gade bagay yo an chif met la! pwan ti chez ba w pa pase main w pou w pa blese tande!

Federal Budget 101 & Catherine’s Response

Catherine, News & Commentaryon August 4, 2011 at 4:08 pm By: David Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
Equitas Capital Advisors LLC

The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let’s put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:
•U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
•Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
•New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
•National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
•Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.


•Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
•Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
•Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
•Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
•Amount cut from the budget: $385

So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending?

It is a start, although hardly a solution.

Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).

You would think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress.

The root of the debt problem is that the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money. They are sent there to bring home the bacon to their own home state.

To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders.

It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it now.

In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money. Moreover, the American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the possibility of going into rehab.

To: David Thomas
From: Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari Inc.
Re: Federal Budget 101

David:

Thank you for your comments. I believe you may want to add a few items to your marvelous presentation:
•The Jones family numbers presented are not reliable. They have refused to produce audited financial statements as required by law for fifteen years. Mysteriously, their bankers continue to operate their account and credit card companies continue to extend credit despite this absence of proper accounting and disclosure.
•The Jones family bank accounts do not balance. In fact their banks have reported undocumentable adjustments of over $40,000 and no one knows where the money went. The banks have promised it will not happen in the future, but have made no effort to find out what happened or to return missing funds.
•There are significant allegations of collateral fraud in their mortgage borrowings. It appears their covert revenues have been far in excess of what has been reported and their debt as a result of fraudulent mortgages may be greater by many multiples than their stated mortgage payable. It appears the fraudulent mortgages may have been packaged into securities by their banks and sold to the Jones pension plan.
•Over the last two years, the Jones made gifts and loans to their banks of $270,000 as a result of threats that their finances would otherwise collapse. They did not get a report or accounting on how the funds were used.
•The purchasing power of the Jones savings and income dropped by approximately 50% from 2003 to 2008, and probably by a similar amount since then. Their banks are able to print money that debases them. They have no power to stop it.
•The Jones’ banks have used the lending power from their deposits in combination with gifts and loans to finance the shift of the manufacturing base abroad to profit from cheaper labor and to hire lobbyists to ensure that tax rules are such that they do not have to be pay taxes in the US. As a result, it is anticipated that the Jones are likely to lose their jobs in the reasonably near future. Given the possibility of cutbacks in unemployment and other governmental programs, it is not clear how they will fund their daily expenses no matter how much they reduce their budget.

Is the problem that the Jones need to cut back or that the entire financial ecosystem needs to be illuminated and reengineered, including a return of funds stolen and misappropriated by the banks?

Catherine Austin Fitts
Solari, Inc.

Gold Sells Off as Investors Pile Into Equities Alix Steel 08/12/11 - 10:34 AM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- Gold prices were slipping Friday as investors turned to stocks. Despite the selloff, underlying worries over a global double dip recession were keeping prices near record high levels. Gold for December delivery was down $12.80 to $1,738.70 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price has traded as high as $1,770.90 and as low as $1,737 while the spot gold price was losing a steep $31, according to Kitco's gold index.

Silver prices were up 5 cents to $38.72 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index was slightly lower at $74.53 while the euro was flat vs. the dollar.

Gold prices were down for a second day as investors opted for riskier stocks, particularly after France, Spain, Belgium and Italy implemented a short selling ban for two weeks. Traders were also less apt to buy gold after the CME and Shanghai Gold Exchange both raised margin requirements for gold -- requiring investors to cough up more money upfront to buy gold contracts.

Gold prices also hit an overnight high Thursday of $1,817.60 an ounce, prompting sales as investors worried that that level represented a short term top. "Investors clearly view gold's sharp price rally as exaggerated and have taken profits, as financial markets calm," wrote Commerzbank in a recent note. "Even so, the persisting uncertainty among market players should prevent a stronger fall in gold prices in our view."

The end of August kicks off a series of holidays in India, which vies with China as the number one gold consumer in the world, and significant price dips might be viewed as buying opportunities. Pat Heller, general manager at Liberty Coin Service, a U.S. based bullion dealer, said that Wednesday the company set a record for most in-store purchases in a single day, when gold settled at a record of $1,784.30 an ounce. Heller notes that mail-order customers are actually buying silver, the cheaper metal rather than gold. Silver has not partaken in gold's rally as it is also an industrial metal. Prices have been weighed down by fears of a double-dip recession but are also supported by safe haven buying.

Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco.com, says it's this lag in silver that could derail gold prices. "If silver manages to break beneath the $37 level," argues Nadler, "that disconnect eventually should result in gold being dragged significantly lower." Nadler admits that gold could see another interim top around $1,860 an ounce but that a 35% correction, once the fear premium comes out of the market, wouldn't be far off.

"At this point [a correction in gold] doesn't need good news it just needs news of a different flavor," says Nadler who says if money keeps heading into equities and if things calm down in Europe both should be catalysts to lead a selloff in gold, something that is evident in the market Friday. Gold mining stocks were losing steam Friday. Barrick Gold(ABX) was flat at $49.83 while Newmont Mining(NEM) was down 1% at $57.69. Other gold stocks, Goldcorp(GG) and AngloGold Ashanti(AU)were trading slightly lower at $50.28 and $44.78, respectively.

This is the reason I was always hesitant to buy Gold.I remember when gold was selling at 200 dollars an ounce.A borker was calling me every week to buy Gold and I did not listen to him.It is very difficult to know when to buy these metals.With the uncertainty of the stock markets I think it is very risky right now to invest in any metal (Gold or silver).I think the best advice I heard so far it's Suzy's :We should keep at least one year of monthly expenses in a savings account and keep some money in a strong currency.

The analogy of the Jones family with the federal government is not completely approrpiate to explain the federal deficit.As an analyst said last week.What would happen if a diasaster hit the country.should we stop helping the people because we can not augment the federal debt?I am not a proponent of fiscal irresponsibility.But the concept of balancing the budget immediately at any cost is ludicrous.Yes we need to put our house in order ,but we have to do it over a long period of time,and everybody must share the pains.To blame President Obama for this deficit is hypocritical.This is the reason why when this guy is talking about the confort bias I understand what he is trying to convey to people ,but he is also a fiscal conservatist who wants to blame Obama for everything that is wrong with the economy.I am wondering if you and he are creating fears in the mind of the people in order to make Obama a one term president.

President Obama does not anyone to criticize his unwillingness to defend his core values! In my opinion, he wasted to much time looking for bi partisanship face to an opposition that has only answer NO. If he become one term presidnet, he only has himself to blame. Indeed, he inherited a bad set of cards from George W Bush economic decisions. However, he was not bold enough to come up with a set of strtegies to grow the economy and to reduce the country high spending in defense and entitlements. He had a majority of democrats to do so at the beginning of his presidency, and he failed miserably. Then comes the Tea Party elected who brought him to his knees unnecessarily... Read on!

Obama’s Jobs-Message Problem By National Journal | Exclusive – Tue, Aug 9, 2011.

By Jim Tankersley National Journal

Nearly halfway into his speech from the State Dining Room on Monday, President Obama finally launched into what amounts to his core job-creation message these days. He ticked off a familiar trio of policy initiatives — extend unemployment benefits and the temporary payroll tax cut, spend more on infrastructure — and then blamed congressional Republicans for not enacting them.

"These are all ideas that traditionally Republicans have agreed to, have agreed to countless times in the past," Obama said. "There's no reason we shouldn't act on them now. None."
Markets were unmoved. Stocks fell before the midday speech, and they kept right on falling afterward. No one should have been surprised. Obama needs a sharper, weightier economic message — and perhaps, many of his ideological allies suggest, a revamped policy plan as well.

Here's why the president is struggling to get through: There appear to be two key fears driving investors and businesses right now. First, fear about the erosion of the U.S. and global recoveries, which are rooted in economic fundamentals and seemingly immune to any presidential speechifying. There's also widespread concern, voiced by Standard & Poor's in its downgrade of U.S. debt on Friday, that Washington lawmakers have lost any ability to work together to solve tough economic problems. As the National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday, in releasing another survey showing a glum outlook from small business owners, "for all the activity in Washington, D.C… they have done nothing but create a sizeable helping of anxiety, exactly what we don't need." That concern would seem to be inflamed by Obama's message of, 'I've got all these great economic ideas, but Congress won't play along.'

HOUSING: Downgrades Won't Hasten Fix

Part of Obama's struggle is that, despite his much-touted push to "pivot" to jobs after the end of the debt-ceiling fight, he's still talking first and foremost about deficits. The first 650 words of his 1,500-word speech on Monday centered on the S&P downgrade, the details of the debt-limit deal, his willingness to talk about reducing social safety net spending and his commitment to stay on deficit reduction "until we get the job done." Obama's other problem is the simplicity of his opponents' message. Everyone knows Republicans' economic mantra: Cut spending, create jobs, don't raise taxes. There's little economic evidence to suggest such an "expansionary austerity" plan will work — but the rhetoric is dynamite.

Administration officials hint strongly that Obama's next messaging move is to take Republicans head on in the court of public opinion. He'll attempt to engineer a repeat of the grassroots-pressure strategy he executed in the debt fight, when Obama used his bully pulpit to urge voters to phone their members of Congress and demand compromise — a move that jammed Capitol switchboards, but didn't appear to alter the terms of the bargain he struck with Republicans.

Jared Bernstein, a former Obama economic adviser who is now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said a grassroots strategy is the president's best bet — and that it should be themed on a simple policy plan. (Bernstein would go with a plan he calls FAST!, which would pump billions of dollars into maintenance and retrofit projects at local schools across the country.) Obama needs to "latch onto one big, visible idea that will create a lot of jobs," Bernstein said. "Argue your heart out for it. And if the opposition gets between you and action on jobs, tell the American public who's blocking you." Other left-leaning economists advise an even bigger policy shift.

"He needs more than a message," said Robert Shapiro, a former Clinton administration economic adviser who now runs the consulting firm Sonecon. "He needs a fresh program that provides a narrative of how his continued leadership will lead to much stronger job creation, income gains and growth than we're seeing today. This would entail, for example, cuts in payroll taxes on both sides, and a serious plan to bring down foreclosures and stabilize housing prices."

MEMO TO INCUMBENTS: You'd better watch out

Michael Mandel, the chief economic strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute, said Obama must rethink his economic approach entirely — starting by jettisoning the notion that more tax cuts or spending to stimulate demand will actually boost the recovery. (Mandel contends pumping more money into the economy largely helps Americans buy more imported goods, creating jobs overseas but not at home.)

"His message should be: We've come to a fork in the road," Mandel said. "We have deep structural problems. Our production base is eroding, our innovators are being tied up with regulations, and we have an investment shortfall. I will do whatever I can to fix these problems." He added: "But the first thing he has to do is admit that the economy has problems that can't be solved by demand stimulus, including a growing competitiveness problem that's not going to go away."

Administration officials suggest that Obama probably won't shift his message or his policy much, if at all, until Congress returns after Labor Day. Presidents, after all, don't typically roll out big new plans in August. Then again, this isn't a typical August.

Cut spending, create jobs, don't raise taxes. There's little economic evidence to suggest such an "expansionary austerity" plan will work — but the rhetoric is dynamite.


dilibon

Isn't this hypocritical.:Cut spending,create jobs with what?,don't raise taxes.Didn't he talk about creating 100.000 jobs for veterans? As I said before the fight in Washington is not really about limiting the debt ceiling which ,by the way, was raised 7 times during the Bush administration,but rather about making President Obama a one term president.

Le gros roseau a écrit:Cut spending, create jobs, don't raise taxes. There's little economic evidence to suggest such an "expansionary austerity" plan will work — but the rhetoric is dynamite.


dilibon

Isn't this hypocritical.:Cut spending,create jobs with what?,don't raise taxes.Didn't he talk about creating 100.000 jobs for veterans? As I said before the fight in Washington is not really about limiting the debt ceiling which ,by the way, was raised 7 times during the Bush administration,but rather about making President Obama a one term president.

What are you talking about? Where did I say that?

I copied it from the preceding text.Where would he find the money to create the jobs if he must cut spending, dont raise taxes to the rich.In a previous text you said that the federal government cannot keep printing money and sell IOU to finance the deficit,I agree.But to expand the economy and to create jobs he needs money.Is it fair for a middle class family to pay more taxes than GE and Exxonmobil?

Le gros roseau a écrit:I copied it from the preceding text.Where would he find the money to create the jobs if he must cut spending, dont raise taxes to the rich.In a previous text you said that the federal government cannot keep printing money and sell IOU to finance the deficit,I agree.But to expand the economy and to create jobs he needs money.Is it fair for a middle class family to pay more taxes than GE and Exxonmobil

Oh Ok because it seemed that you quoted me! Now, if your question is what is my opinion on the Tea party and the whole republican party now premises on your quote that is quite different!

He has to start by evaluating how those expenses have skyrocketed over the years. How he could lead to cut fraud, services duplication, and effciency. He needs to cut programs and unused or not needed military installations around the world. Absolete military programs from the Cold war era and other areas.

Or

He has to use his popularity to present a new job program to stimulate the economy by new borrowing or new prints that could jump start the economy. Now, if the republicans reject his plan, then he will take his case to the American people for the next election! Those are politics fundamentals. However, the cowardish and weak personality of the present president is not reassuring!