Obama Cut Taxes for 95 Percent of Americans

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past four quarters.

Most voters don’t believe it.

A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds that by a two-to-one margin , likely voters in the Nov. 2 midterm elections think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk, and the billions lent to banks as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program won’t be recovered.


The Obama administration has cut taxes -- largely for the middle class -- by $240 billion since taking office Jan. 20, 2009. A program aimed at families earning less than $150,000 that was contained in the stimulus package lowered the burden for 95 percent of working Americans by $116 billion, or about $400 per year for individuals and $800 for married couples.

Other measures include breaks for college education, moderate-income families and the unemployed and incentives to promote renewable energy.

Still, the poll shows the message hasn’t gotten through to Americans, especially middle-income voters. By 52 percent to 19 percent, likely voters say federal income taxes have gone up for the middle class in the past two years.

No Legos?

BREMERTON, Wash., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A 4-year-old boy playing with a semiautomatic shotgun in Washington State accidentally shot and wounded his mother, police said. Investigators say the boy was given a shotgun cartridge by his father. The father apparently gave the boy the cartridge because he was interested in guns.

Digby & Watertiger Tonight on Virtually Speaking

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OUR MEDIA NOT THEIRS ---- THIS WEEK: DIGBY & WATERTIGER

DIGBY
An American political blogger and founder of the liberal blog Hullabaloo, digby has contributed to Campaign For America's Future's blog The Big Con, Salon Magazine, Eschaton and Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars and Firedoglake.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

WATERTIGER
NYC-based aquatic feline that likes long walks on the beach, illuminating the hypocrisies of "family values" Republicans, and engaging in snarling snarkitude.

http://www.dependablerenegade.com/ | http://twitter.com/WatertigerNYC
http://firedoglake.com/author/watertiger/ | http://www.wakeupworld.tv

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ABOUT VIRTUALLY SPEAKING SUNDAYS
A weekly news review and counterpoint to the network opinion shows. Each week, two well regarded bloggers discuss the events of the week, with an emphasis on U.S. politics and policy.

400,000 Documents Shed Light on Truth of Iraq War

WikiLeaks has published 400,000 U.S. government documents relating to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The New York Times has extensive coverage.

Heads You Win, Tails He Loses

Politico, quoting George Will:

"If Democrats lose both houses, Obama will seem repudiated. If they lose neither, he will seem impotent. So, if Democrats lose big, he loses big. If they lose smaller, he loses bigger.”

HIS WORK IS DONE

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- AIG Chief Risk Officer Robert Lewis is stepping down after saying that the company underestimated the risk of bets tied to subprime mortgages. “We were wrong about how bad things could get,” Lewis told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in June. “What ended up happening was so extreme that it was beyond anything we had planned for.”

Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche is overhauling management at the insurer, which was bailed out in 2008 by taxpayers and posted the biggest quarterly loss in U.S. Benmosche said in a memo to staff today that Lewis will remain with AIG for “a period of time to ensure a smooth transition.”

Lewis joined New York-based AIG in 1993 and was named chief risk officer in 2004, according to the memo. He told the FCIC that responsibility for liquidity-risk management fell to others at the company.

Brazil Clown May Be Barred From Congress

Sao Paulo (AP) -- The clown who got more votes than any other candidate for Congress will have to convince authorities he can read and write if he wants to take office.