I got no big problem with the Deal (as described)

[cthulu2016]

It sounds like a deal that worries more about retaining fiscal stimulus than to actually cut anything. Works for me. But since this (below) doesn't include a resolution of the sequestration it isn't a whole deal.

In any event, my rule of thumb is that if I could tolerate it, is can't pass the House. And who knows what horribleness would have to be added to actually pass.

The top tax rate rises to 39.6 percent for individuals making more than $400,000 and families making more than $450,000. Capital gains and dividends will be taxed at 20 percent with the same income thresholds. The Personal Exemption Phaseout (PEP) is set at $250,000 and the itemized deduction limitation (Pease) kicks in at $300,000. The AMT is patched permanently. The estate tax would exempt estates up to $10 million and tax them at 40 percent above that.

The various business tax credits — R&D, wind, etc — would be extended through 2013, as would unemployment insurance. The stimulus tax credits — namely, the expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the college credit — would be extended for five years, which is hugely important to the White House. The scheduled cuts to doctors in Medicare would be averted through spending offsets that neither side considers injurious. The treatment of the sequester is still up in the air, as the president is refusing to offset it unless revenues are part of the mix.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/31/why-the-white-house-thinks-its-winning-the-fiscal-cliff/

[ProSense]

1. WTF?

"The estate tax would exempt estates up to $10 million and tax them at 40 percent above that."

These were the original choices:

1) Accept the President's proposal with "dividends to be taxed as ordinary income" and the "estate tax to be levied at 45 percent on inheritances over $3.5 million."

2) Pass the Senate bill, "which currently taxes inheritances over $5 million at 35 percent," but excludes Obama's dividend proposal.

3) Go over the cliff when "the estate tax is scheduled to rise to 55 percent beginning with inheritances exceeding $1 million."

In each case, the tax cuts for the rich end.

G.O.P. Balks at White House Plan on Fiscal Crisis
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/us/politics/fiscal-talks-in-congress-seem-to-reach-impasse.html

[MannyGoldstein]

2. It's unlikely that Obama will ever have more leverage than he does today

When the next round of "debt limit" talks start - which will be almost immediately - the Republicans will have a much stronger position. It will power suck.

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Yup

It looks like defeat is being snatched from the jaws of victory. Programs like SS and Medicare will once again be front and center.