The payroll-tax-cut debate is not really about the payroll tax, which is a very weak-kneed economic stimulant and a lackluster job creator because of its temporary nature. Without permanent incentives at lower tax rates, these rebates don’t do anything for growth and jobs.
Instead, the key to understanding the payroll-tax debate is to grasp Pres. Barack Obama’s leftist vision of taxing successful earners (the millionaire surtax) and his obsession with clean energy at the expense of fossil fuels. These are ideological positions. They support the Obama vision of class warfare and his attachment to radical environmentalism.
And the key to understanding this state of affairs is the disposition of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, which Republicans cleverly threw into the payroll-tax debate as the only real job creator.
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By siding with the radical greenies and standing against the Keystone pipeline, Obama has turned his back on the most traditional voting bloc in the Democratic party: blue-collar, hard-hat workers.
Manufacturing workers. Construction workers. Truckers. Pipefitters. Plumbers. The Keystone opposition coming out of the White House is completely alienating all these people, the folks who work with their hands. And it’s these workers who have been decimated in the recession far more than any other group in the economy.
David Barnett, the head of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, told me on CNBC that unemployment is currently running at 20 to 25 percent in this blue-collar sector. He has repeatedly lobbied the White House to allow the Keystone pipeline to go through, and he notes high environmental standards in the work his men do. And yet even now, three years after the initial Keystone reviews began, the issue is still not resolved.
How can you have a jobs bill without putting blue-collar workers back to work? Answer: stubborn ideological insistence.
The Teamsters support the Keystone. So does the AFL-CIO. So do the machinists. And along with the plumbers and pipefitters, so does the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
And we’re not just talking about the 20,000 jobs that would accrue directly from the pipeline, but the secondary and tertiary jobs from a long supply chain that total well over 100,000.
As of this writing, the White House may dump the millionaire surtax. But that’s not much of a concession, since it never would have passed anyway. Republicans are adamant. It’s a nonstarter in the House, and probably the Senate too. Meanwhile, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell told me the Keystone pipeline is the key to the payroll-tax-cut deal.
What? Central Planners don't really CARE about the proletariat? Is there any historical precedent for this conclusion?
It would appear conservatives should give the Speaker and his Whip some credit because this House bill exposes the Democrats' hypocracy in so many areas.
1) Oops, turns out that allowing a temporary tax cut to expire IS the same thing as a tax hike, as most conservatives and Republicans have long pointed out but which the Democrats only recently recognized with their supposed interest in another temporary extension of the payroll tax cut.
2) As it turns out, middle class tax cuts are not NEARLY as important as raising taxes on "the rich", or what many of us call class warfare.
3) Private funding providing viable (bad) energy cannot be permitted to be juxtaposed against government funding of wealthy donors to recycle campaign donations under the guise of providing non-existent (good) energy.
4) Programs emanating from anywhere other than the Central Planning Politburo of our current administration cannot be permitted to proceed lest the proletariat be reminded that Big Government doesn't always know best.
5) Notwithstanding the fact that there is ALREADY a keystone pipeline from Canada to the US, this enhancement to that existing infrastructure must be killed using environmental concerns meant to suggest it is a brand new program of destruction of our natural resources.
6) It now appears quite obvious Al Gore was lying about that Social Security lockbox after all and that Democrats have no concern whatsoever about the long term viability of that program if it can be used politically against Republicans.
7) I haven't checked exactly what EPA regulations are weakened or rolled back but I would venture to guess they were chosen to permit the Democrats the opportunity to embarrass themselves by defending them. Same goes for Obamacare implementation.
That's not a bad day at the office for the House majority. In fact, the only thing that would have made it better would have been if they'd decided to raise the ante by making the tax cut permanent and offer optional personal retirement savings accounts in lieu of participation in Social Security within this bill. In fairness, that's probably too much for a bill that already achieves so much as it is.
When I heard the Republicans were going to use Keystone as the "key" to passng the payroll tax bill the president wants, I laughed out loud. The president is being forced to show his true colors, and I applaud the Republican leadership for a brilliant strategic move. More of the same, please!
Larrry, first, they aren't the "green radicals" but rather as Mr. Delingpole advises us in the current "Uncommon Knowledge", they are "Watermelons" - Green on the outside, Red on the inside.
To point: of course Obama is applying strict ideological logic to this decision. That's what he's always done. To suppose otherwise or as so many pundits have posited that he'd "tack to the center" is both a discredit to him (he's a myopic narcissist) and to howl into the wind. So give him his due, he does as he does. A dog isn't going to meow, he barks! Obama is going to stay far left of center and use whatever "Chicago - style" gangsta political tactics it takes to win.
As to offending the blue collar union folks - no way. They are so far up Obama's a - - that they can't think without his saying "boo". If they're a little peeved for a bit, then let them pout he'd say, "they'll stay close, who else they got?". And so it is.
I think the ones he's really double-crossing are the Watermelons. He's playing them for their votes. He knows he can defer the decision until AFTER the election (more or less vote "present" as is his way) as the Canadians will still be there to build the project. In the meantime, I'm sure he's let the union bosses know with a wink-wink, nod-nod that it'll be there later, just work with him for now. Then, in early 2013 he'll approve the project, the unions will sigh - knowingly- and the watermelons will be left holding the bag. THAT is at least the PLAN.
Of course, it's academic, we'll never know because I believe (a) GOP will finally exercise some backbone and stand by the current bill and Senate Dems will buy in, forcing Obama's hand (it'll actually HELP him as he'll just throw up his hands to the enviros exclaiming, "heah, I held out, but what can I do, throw people out of work". and (b) he won't be re-elected, therefore making any decision other than what shirt to wear the to the next President's inaugural moot.
The tragedy however, is that his approval, while required of course, will NOT clear the path as dozens of lawsuits await TransCanada in the coming months and years.
So Larry he's spending the nation into bankruptcy on purpose, stifling jobs in the energy sector on purpose, and undermining our energy independence and national security. His policies destroy jobs, while he holds "job summits" with business leaders for political/media cover. It's like holding your hand over the patient's mouth and nose while asking a paramedic, "Gosh, how can we get him breathing again?" At what point do you realize and admit that the man truly hates the United States as it has always been and is determined to destroy it?
Larry -- Thank you for identifying the real issue with the Keystone XL pipeline: foreign policy flexibility. The pipeline will lessen our dependence on Mid-East oil which opens up options in dealing with Iran and a string of other potential hot spots. Canadian oil supplies are certainly much more secure than Mideast or Venezuelan sources. By holding up the pipeline the President is damaging his flexibility in foreign affairs.
Worse! Far, far worse!! Obama is mortgaging this country's energy security, compromising its economic well being, while at the same time sacrificing jobs. All for one objective - HIS RE-ELECTION !!
Talk about shared sacrifice. Now that's a joke!! We sacrifice - he shares in the benefits of it. When are independents and people with any sense of pride in their country going to wake up and see what a loser this guy is!!!
The Left cares more about power over other people's life than "green" energy. They only like expensive energy that needs to be subsidized. They liked expensive natural gas as a "bridge fuel", but hate the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing that has made it less expensive. If solar panels became super efficient and dirt cheap, they'd find find some toxic material in them that they oppose.
Keystone XL is also a powerful symbol of Red States being held back by Blue States. It's privately funded and crosses zero states that will ever vote for a Democrat for President. They hate the idea that we might be able to fuel our pickup trucks without asking for their permission.
the article and the comments are all fantastic. One thing though, the Keystone requirement will pass the Senate, and 'Bam will veto it , and Repubs will pass the payroll cut w/o Keystone. BUT, 'Bam will have been exposed to indy voters as the Leftist that he is. Making this guy actually do something helps defeat him. The more I see of him the more I dislike 'Bam, I disagree with him because he's a Lefty, I detest him because he's a punk hypocrit of the highest order.
The reason why I know obama's decision is purely ideologically based is the reality that it favors greens over unions. The unions actually turn out far more 'bell ringers' than do the greens. obama wants to be re-elected and will need these troops. Jeopardizing the union folk's participation is totally illogical.
Please be aware that this is also a national security issue. The amount of oil involved here would go a long way to significantly reduce our imports of oil from nations that are either enemies or unfriendly to us. In a war, this could be a very big deal. We need this secure source from a North American neighbor.
You wrongly suppose the Green issue is the only driver here. A perhaps larger driver is Obama's love of the Muslocracrats of the Middle East that will lose oil market share to Canada.
Want to de-fund Hezbollah, Mad Mullahs, etc.? Develop the Keystone, pat the Canucks on the back, and FRACK the Hell out of Obama, the EPA, and George Soros (who wants us buying oil shipped in from his toadies in Brazil: Petrobras.)
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