a mea culpa of sorts

[KEVWYO]

Yes, you heard it here first. "You guys" often say the MSM is in the tank for Obama. Perhaps you are right on occasion but I often think that "you guys" are way too sensitive to what is said in the MSM.

Well, the MSM includes such places as MSNBC.com. I think you will be surprised that a place such as MSNBC would run a story such as this. I know many of you will say "I told you so" but I can also say the MSM in certain cases is not as "in the tank for Obama" as you say. At any rate, as I mentioned this is a mea culpa so I don't post this with any great joy but I do encourage you to read an article from a place that is usually considered "in the tank" for Obama.

Obama tax pledge unrealistic - White House- msnbc.com

Analysis
updated 3:09 p.m. PT, Wed., July 8, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama promised to fix health care and trim the federal budget deficit, all without raising taxes on anyone but the wealthiest Americans. It's a promise he's already broken and will likely have to break again.

Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have already increased tobacco taxes — which disproportionately hit the poor — to pay for extending health coverage to 4 million children in working low-income families.

Now, lawmakers are looking for more revenues to help pay for providing medical insurance to millions more who lack it at a projected cost of $1 trillion over the next decade.

The floated proposals include increasing taxes on alcohol, which could raise $62 billion over the next decade, and a new tax on sugary drinks such as soda, which could raise $52 billion.

Senate Democrats this week pretty much rejected a proposal by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., to tax health benefits, an idea that Obama repeatedly criticized during the presidential election campaign but has refused to take off the table.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said negotiators are still looking for revenue alternatives. Asked during an interview with The Associated Press if they included tax increases on families with incomes less than $250,000 a year, Schumer said, "There are lots of things on the table now."

Stark reality

The health care bill is a long way from Obama's desk, but tax experts say the debate illustrates a stark reality: It is simply implausible for the vast majority of Americans to get a free ride while the nation tackles such an incredibly difficult — and expensive — issue.

"We're all going to have to contribute," said Eugene Steuerle, a former treasury official in the Reagan administration and now vice president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Paying for Obama's agenda might be easier, Steuerle said, if the nation wasn't already facing massive federal budget deficits for the foreseeable future.

"The dilemma is trying to do the new while the old is still unpaid for," Steuerle said.

The federal budget deficit is projected to hit an unprecedented $1.8 trillion this year — on top of a national debt that has already topped $11 trillion. Obama insists that any bill on health care or climate change not add to the debt.

Obama says much of the $1 trillion needed for his health care overhaul will come from cutting costs. So far, drug companies and hospitals have agreed to provide 10-year savings of $235 billion.

‘Yes, for the middle class, too’

Health care experts say cost cutting alone won't produce enough money to insure the nearly 50 million Americans who lack coverage. Moreover, Congress is obligated to follow budget rules that might not recognize many of the promised savings.

"The administration has an extremely difficult educational problem on its hands," said Henry J. Aaron, a health care expert at the Brookings Institution. "They understand that at some point tax increase are going to be necessary across the board.

"Yes, for the middle class, too," he added.


Obama made a firm tax pledge during the presidential campaign, repeating it numerous times in the weeks and months leading up to Election Day: no tax increases for individuals making less than $200,000 a year or couples making less than $250,000.

"Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes," Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year.
But less than a month after taking office, Obama signed an expansion of child health care financed by 62-cent tax increase on each pack of cigarettes.

Obama also signed an anti-smoking bill in June that grants authority to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. To pay for the new program, a fee is being imposed on the industry — and presumably passed on to consumers — estimated to generate more than $5 billion over the next decade.

While not directly increasing taxes, a House-passed version of Obama's plan to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming would similarly increase American families' home energy bills by $175 a year on average, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Obama hasn't offered a detailed plan to fix health care, though his aides are working with lawmakers as they craft proposals. Obama included only a down payment for health care reform in the budget proposal he unveiled this spring.

He proposed limiting itemized tax deductions for individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000. The plan, which faces stiff opposition in Congress, would limit deductions for mortgage insurance, state and local taxes and charitable contributions, raising about $270 billion over the next decade.

Obama also proposed a series of business tax increases and accounting changes that would raise an additional $30 billion.
Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for the OMB, said Obama's cost reductions and tax increases add up to "a plan which gets you really close to what you need."

"Congress has other ideas," Baer said. "We'll work with them."
The appeal of Baucus's proposed tax on health benefits was the amount of money it could raise. Currently, employer-provided health benefits are not taxed, regardless of how generous they are.

One version of it would tax health benefits that exceed the value of the basic insurance plan offered to federal workers, raising about $420 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. But limiting it to individuals making more than $100,000 a year and couples making more than $200,000 would raise only $162 billion.
The math illustrates how difficult it is to raise enough money to pay for expensive programs, when tax increases are limited to the wealthy.
"We're living in an era, over a period of 20 years or more, in which the idea that tax rates would actually be boosted is unutterable," said Aaron, the health care expert. "That has to stop."

[LittleDave]

It's an AP story. No big whoop. When Kieth 0lberman talks about it you let me know.

[ForTehNguyen]

silly Barry, he pulled a Gitmo on our federal budget. Spend first, think about how youre gonna pay for it later!

[trik396]

Ok... let me get this straight.... You are apologetic because of a liberal media channel telling the TRUTH...

OR.... you are apologetic because Obama pulled the wool over your eyes?

Or both...

???

[.40-.45]

We all knew he was going to raise our taxes, the question is............

How do you feel about it?

[jmichna]

Originally Posted by trik396

Ok... let me get this straight.... You are apologetic because of a liberal media channel telling the TRUTH...

OR.... you are apologetic because Obama pulled the wool over your eyes?

Or both...

???

In my best Chicago Taylor Street accent: Tony, Tony, Tony.... why you gonna ask des tough questions!?

[AZXD]

If we get a few more on board ... Then I will believe change is about to occur.

Originally Posted by AZXD

BOOM
Moving forward through time I can see why a shift must occur

The candidate of choice, The Messiah, The Original Anti-Christ, The savior, The Annointed One, The Chosen One, The Speaker of Hope and Change ... Is a LIAR and an Arrogant A$$.

Currently ... All I envision is that no one will have the nerve to look Obama in the face, when the house of cards (lies) collapses, and say "You arrogant ass! You've killed US!"
.
.
.

[XDConvert9mm]

An article about media coverage in general is below. The fact that AP actually did their jobs in no way supports the idea that Media has been neutral toward Barry or the ridiculous clkaim in the OP that they've been Pro Obama only "sometimes".

Brent Bozell : News Executives In The Tank - Townhall.com