re: #176 tradewind

Obdi, if you think it’s Republicans and conservatives who are now blaming Obama for the lack of a recovery, you’re not paying attention. (By the way… today, the CBO came out and said ’ leave Dubya’s tax cuts in place ‘).

uh… not quite

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf testified before the Senate Budget Committee today and dropped something of a bombshell. Extending the Bush tax cuts, he said, will “probably reduce income relative to what would otherwise occur in 2020.” The reason is simple: Debt.

A permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts would provide a temporary boost to the U.S. economy and then become a drag on growth by pushing up interest rates, the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.

Today, Elmendorf made two key points before Conrad’s panel: one will be used by Republicans to argue for a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts; and the other will be used by Democrats to argue for letting Bush’s high-income cuts expired. Both will, of course, bolster Conrad’s argument for his own compromise position on tax cuts.