With only three weeks left until the Bush tax cuts are set to expire,Congress is scrambling to save taxpayers from the largest tax increasein history. There have been several proposals tossed around on the Senate and House floors, including extending the cuts only for those families making under $250,000 or individuals making under $200,000 per year.

It appears as though Bush’s tax cuts benefited the non-wealthy after all. Even Obama had to admit that the average American family profited from Bush’s tax policies:

Make no mistake: Allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for the typical American family. And that could cost our economy well over a million jobs.

Last Saturday, the House passed a bill that would increase taxes on “wealthy” Americans only, but five Democrats in the Senate joined with the Republicans to kill it. Our politicians had to go back to the drawing board.

The current deal that has yet to be voted on is Obama’s compromise with Republicans. If passed, Bush’s across-the-board tax cuts will be extended for two years (with the exception of the inheritance tax, which will go from 0% to 35%), and the payroll tax would be cut by 2%, benefiting every working American. In exchange for the concession, federal unemployment insurance would be renewed for 13 months.

Read the rest at The Stir

Nancy Pelosi asserts that unemployment benefits are great for the economy. “It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name,” she says.

In other news:

• Candy bars are good for weight loss
• Never saying no to your children makes them well-behaved
• The best way to help an addict is to enable him or her

Good or bad, stimulating or not, how in the world does welfare help the economy? Make no mistake, unemployment checks are welfare. It’s money that you get for not working. I have friends that refer to their unemployment as a paid vacation, and are annoyed when they actually have to go find a job when their benefits run out.

How does requiring employers to pay former employees for NOT WORKING free up more cash for them to hire new people? Someone please explain this to me.

H/T Breitbart TV