Obama urges public to pressure Congress on extending tax cuts for the middle class

By: Brenda Ramírez Vázquez 110460

Fuente: The Washington post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/fiscal-cliff/obama-urges-public-to-pressure-congress-on-taxes/2012/11/28/25716a4c-397c-11e2-a263-f0ebffed2f15_story.html?hpid=z1

In this news, President Obama urged Americans on Wednesday to pressure Congress to extend an income tax freeze for the middle class, warning that failure to agree on such a measure could cost families more than $2,000 next year, harm job growth and “drag our economy down.”

The news shows as advocates in Congress to the American people's voice is heard. Obama warned that “if Congress does nothing,” the typical middle-class family will see its federal income taxes go up next year by about $2,200. Also said that the  middle-class families just can't afford that right now.

Obama said such a tax hike would cause middle-class consumers to spend about $200 billion less, making businesses less likely to invest and hire and dragging down employment and the economy. Is important to know  how likely could this be?

Is interesting to think that Democrats and Republicans agree on the need to extend tax cuts for the middle-class. Before this Obama said that he believes both parties “can agree on a framework” for a comprehensive deal in the coming weeks.

Obama urged House Republicans to pass a bill, already approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate, that prevents taxes from rising on the first $250,000 of every family’s income.

Is evident that all this, was part of a full-fledged public relation being launched by Obama in hopes of using momentum from his election victory last month to avoid the looming “fiscal cliff” that could jolt the nation back toward recession.

Obama will hit the road this week for a campaign-style series of events with ordinary Americans, for increasing pressure on Congress to reach an agreement on heading off a series of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are scheduled to begin in January.

Democratic and Republican leaders work to avoid a confrontation on the issue, including the debate over Obama's insistence that tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans enacted by President George W. Bush to run. It is a good idea.

Sometimes Obama has been blaming the bad economy on Bush era economic policy, passed by a Democrat Congress. Part of the economic policy was the tax cuts that will soon expire. It seems odd that Obama is on the one hand blaming Bush and on the other asking that Bush economic policy that affects 98 percent of Americans be left unchanged. Finally most Republicans want cuts to well entrenched social programs to further cut spending. All of this raises an interesting problem for the President. The Republicans have little to lose, just the 2 percent or so in some case.