Bloomberg Urges Super Committee To Go Big, Promotes Higher Taxes For All

By Andrea Salazar

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on federal lawmakers Tuesday to seriously address the nation’s debt and deficit by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire.

In a speech at the left-leaning Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., Bloomberg touted the plan put forth last year by President Obama’s debt commission. The proposal co-crafted by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, featured large spending cuts, scaled-back tax breaks, increases to personal tax rates and tweaks to federal entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“The spending cuts in Simpson-Bowles, plus Clinton-era tax rates, plus closing some tax loopholes and ending wasteful subsidies would save $8 trillion and effectively bring our budget into balance by 2021,” Bloomberg said during a speech at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

Bloomberg warned that the current deficit committee’s goal of $1.2 trillion in cuts “would be almost as bad as getting no deal at all.” He called that figure “a drop in the bucket” compared to the nation’s $14.6 trillion debt.

“It will allow Congress to walk away from real deficit reduction until at least 2013.”

Calling for “a flatter and lower” tax, Bloomberg called on President Obama to allow the Bush tax cuts expire for all tax brackets.

“All income groups have to be part of the solution,” Bloomberg said. “It’s fair to ask those who earn more to bear more of the burden. That is the whole idea behind a graduated income tax,” Bloomberg said. “But all of us should help carry the load.”

However, the Mayor, who also happens to be the 12th richest person in the U.S., acknowledged that his recommendations are not a “cure-all,” adding that entitlement, tax and immigration reforms are also necessary.

Addressing the gridlock in Congress, Bloomberg pushed Democrats and Republicans to compromise. “We are not going to be able to cut our ways out of the problem and we’re not going to be able to just tax our ways out of the problem,” he said. “We must do both.”

“All sides have to be willing to give on something,” Bloomberg added. “We don’t have to slaughter the sacred cows but we do need to get a little milk from them.”

Barney Frank Proposes Steep Military Cuts

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told progressive activists gathered in Washington Tuesday morning that the only path to a long-term deficit reduction plan is via substantial defense cuts.

“There is no way at all to do a socially responsible deficit reduction plan…without very significant reductions in military spending,” Frank animatedly told participants of the Take Back the American Dream conference.

The current U.S. military budget is $670.9 billion, which is more than any other military in the world. Frank suggested reductions between $225-250 billion per year.

“We overspend because we are overcommitted,” Frank said.

“I am all for America being the strongest nation in the world, but the substantial problem is that we have acted now for 60 years as if we had to be not only the protectors of the world but the guarantor of stability in the world,” Frank added.

Frank argued that the U.S is not only protecting its own country but also heavily subsidizing the defense of the wealthy nations of Europe. According to Frank, the U.S. is spending more now proportionately than during the Cold War.

Frank justified that military spending reductions will lead to more money that can be invested in jobs production.

“They are talking about $1.25 trillion in deficit and we can do twice that in military alone and be a stronger and better and happier nation because of it,” he said.

Opponents of defense cuts, however, say doing so would substantially increase unemployment and further plunge the U.S into economic instability.  

The three-day conference, which concludes tomorrow, is giving progressive activists a chance to share strategies to advance their economic agenda.

Poll: Americans Favor Jobs Plan, Taxing Rich

President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans as a method of paying for the American Jobs Act has gained some considerable support from the American public, according to recent poll figures. 

A new poll released by Gallup found that seven in ten Americans favor increasing taxes on corporations by eliminating tax loopholes. Additionally, 66 percent also favor proposed tax rate increases on individuals earning more than $200,000 and families earning more than $250,000. 

Among conservative voters, 53 percent agree on eliminating corporate tax deductions while just 41 percent favor tax hikes on individual and household incomes. Comparatively, nearly 86 percent of Democrats and those leaning to the left favor hiked taxes on both entities. 

Additionally, poll figures found that Americans generally approve of the President’s jobs plan. Most notably, a proposal that would provide tax cuts for small businesses , which includes incentives to hire workers, garnered wide bipartisan support with Republican and Democratic voters, 84 and 87 percent, respectively.  

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted between Sept. 15-18 with a random sample of 1,004 adults over the age of 18. 

GOP Presidential Contenders Critical Of Obama's Deficit Reduction Plan

President Obama is taking some harsh criticism from a group of individuals over his new proposal to hike taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help pay for his newly unveiled jobs bill.

That group? The GOP presidential field.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, who’s seen her status in the field dip in recent weeks, called Obama’s plans “gimmicks” and simply said “you don’t create jobs by increasing taxes on job creators.”

“If Warren Buffet believes he doesn’t pay enough taxes, then he should write a check today to the Treasury,” Bachmann said in a statement. “He and the President shouldn’t enact warfare on the millions of small businesses, charities and on middle class America with increased tax burdens.”

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) recently emerged victorious in this weekend’s California Straw Poll and his national poll figures have followed suit. Paul now sits just behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry.

In response to Obama’s new proposal, Paul said that by increasing taxes on the “so-called rich,” the president is actually targeting small businesses. Paul continued by saying the President’s policies are putting Americans in opposition with each other, stopping just short of using the words “class warfare,” a term that has grown in popularity among conservatives critical of Obama’s plan.

“The President’s class-baiting rhetoric categorizes Americans into opposing groups and pits them against one another, purely for his own political gain,” Paul said.

Romney, who prides himself as a guy who knows the mechanics of the economy and a job creating guru, argued that higher taxes will only be detrimental to economic growth.

“Higher taxes mean fewer jobs - it’s that simple,” Romney said. ” This is yet another indication that [Obama] has no clue how to bring our economy back.”

Perry shot right to the top after joining the GOP presidential field, using Texas’ job creation numbers as a staple in his new White House campaign. Perry tagged Obama’s proposal as a “bait and switch” plan that would only provide temporary tax relief as a trade off for higher taxes.

“The President penalizes investment when it is needed most,” Perry said. “Worst of all, the Obama plan fails to provide the certainty employers need to create jobs and the spending and deficit reduction our economy needs.”

The candidates will likely address and dissect the President’s American Jobs Act and his proposal to pay for it at their next debate this Thursday, Sept. 22 in Orlando, Fla.