Taxes

Progress

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 provides vital tax relief and investments in our workers that will create jobs and accelerate economic growth. The law:

• Extends middle class tax cuts to prevent a typical working family from facing a tax increase of over $2,000 on January 1


• Provides a 2% payroll tax cut to 159 million workers – providing the typical working family with an additional $1,000 tax cut


• Allows businesses to expense 100% of key investments this year  – estimated to spur $50 billion in new investment


• Continues the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides up to $10,000 for four years of college and is helping over 9 million students and their families afford higher education


• Extends expansions of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit that the President fought for, providing a tax cut for 15.7 million families with about 29.1 million children

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a broad range of tax cuts aimed at making the tax code more fair and supporting the middle class:

• 95% of all working families received a tax cut


• 70% of the tax benefits went to the middle 60% of American workers


• Millions of families were lifted out of poverty by the tax cuts in the Recovery Act


• More than $150 billion in tax cuts helped low-income and vulnerable households during the economic recovery


• About 1 Million jobs were created or saved by these tax cuts alone

Guiding Principles

Restoring Fairness

For too long, the U.S. tax code has benefited the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of the vast majority of Americans. President Obama’s aims to restore fairness to the tax system by providing the Making Work Pay tax cut to 95 percent of working families while closing loopholes that prevent wealthy companies and individuals from paying a fair share.

Supporting the Middle Class

The President will also make it easier for more Americans to save for college education, homeownership, and retirement by expanding tax preferences that currently benefit only the wealthy.

Making Taxes Consistent and Simple

In addition, the President supports making refundable tax credits permanent and simplify confusing provisions in the tax code, encouraging saving and creating a tax system that works for all Americans.

Service

Progress

The President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a hallmark piece of legislation.

• The Serve America Act will increase the size of AmeriCorps from 75,000 volunteers to 250,000 by 2017.


• The Act also creates a Social Innovation Fund that will invest in ideas that are proven to improve outcomes and "what works" funds in federal agencies to promote effective and innovative programs.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included $201 million in funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service to support an expansion of AmeriCorps State and National and AmeriCorps VISTA programs.
 

Guiding Principles

President Obama has always been a strong supporter of empowering ordinary people to do extraordinary things by improving their local communities through service. President Obama asks how we – through both existing organizations and individual action – can take an active role in America’s economic recovery and improve our fellow citizens’ lives through our service work.

Promote Sustained Civic Engagement

President Obama believes that service consists of more than a "one-off" occasion. He believes that civic engagement and service should be a lifelong commitment whether at the school, community, city, state, or national level. This includes community service, government service, and military service. By empowering people at all stages of their lives and at all levels of society to stand up and help solve problems in their own communities, the federal government will encourage sustained civic engagement that will transform those serving, the communities they help, and the nation as a whole.

Measure Results

President Obama believes in measuring the outcomes of service – not just the hours served or number of volunteers – to enhance what works and avoid using resources on ineffective programs. He will encourage planning, goal-setting, and execution by volunteers at the local level, so that volunteering is tied into a united and measured effort across the nation.

Reward Innovative Solutions to Pressing Social Problems

President Obama envisions a social innovation framework for the 21st century that reflects a new social contract: citizens actively and effectively serving their communities, solving problems, and connecting their service to a larger effort. Government will serve as an innovative, efficient, transparent, and accountable catalyst for service. The President will expand service opportunities to enable all Americans to enlist in an effort to meet the nation’s challenges and will leverage investments in the nonprofit sector - a critical problem-solving partner and social innovation engine. He will also promote innovations within government by seeking out what works in federal programs and expanding best practices.

Seniors & Social Security

"To put us on solid ground, we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations. We must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable, or people with disabilities; without slashing benefits for future generations; and without subjecting Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market."

-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IN THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, JANUARY 25, 2011

Progress

Many seniors are struggling in the face of the economic downturn, having seen their savings fall, and we acted quickly to help provide relief.  The Recovery Actprovided a one-time payment of $250 to retirees, other Social Security beneficiaries, disabled veterans, and SSI recipients. Fifty-six million retirees and other individuals received this one-time payment, totaling $14 billion. In light of continued economic hardship for too many seniors, the President has called for Congress to enact another $250 Economic Recovery Payment to our seniors this year, as well as to veterans and people with disabilities.

Guiding Principles

Protecting & Strengthening Social Security

President Obama believes that all seniors should be able to retire with dignity, not just a privileged few.  And, he believes that all Americans deserve to know that, if they become disabled or if they lose the breadwinner in the family, Social Security will be there to protect them.  Today, nearly 54 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, including 38 million retirees and their family members, 10 million Americans with disabilities and their dependents, and 6 million survivors of deceased workers.

For many of these Americans, Social Security is a key source of income.  In fact, for more than half of Social Security recipients aged 65 or over, the program provides over 50 percent of their family income and, because of its lifetime income protection and survivors benefits, Social Security is particularly important for elderly women. . Moreover, the program is not just for seniors. Because of features like survivors benefits, Social Security is one of the largest antipoverty programs for children, and disability benefits also help younger workers and their families and are particularly important to minority communities.

The President is committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security—and securing the basic compact that hard work should be rewarded with dignity at retirement or in case of disability or early death.  That’s why he has called on Congress to work on a bipartisan basis to preserve Social Security as a reliable source of income for American seniors and as a program that provides robust benefits to survivors and workers who develop disabilities.  He believes that no current beneficiaries should see their basic benefits reduced and he will not accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations.  The President also stands firmly opposed to privatization and rejects the notion that the future of hard-working Americans should be left to the fluctuations of financial markets.

Strengthening Retirement

In addition to protecting and strengthening Social Security, President Obama will make it easier for Americans to save on their own for retirement and prepare for unforeseen expenses. Currently over 75 million working Americans—about half the workforce—lack access to retirement plans through their employers. The President’s budget lays the foundation for all Americans to participate in retirement accounts at work, proposing simple rules and automatic enrollment—that will automatically enroll workers in IRAs who, until now, haven’t had a workplace retirement plan, while allowing them to opt out if they wish. 

This should dramatically increase savings participation rates.  In 401(k) plans, automatic enrollment has tended to increase participation rates to more than nine out of ten eligible employees. In contrast, for workers who lack access to a retirement plan at their workplace, the current IRA participation rate tends to be less than one out of ten.

Rural

Progress

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included broad support for rural communities.

• The Recovery Act provides USDA with a total of $27.6 billion, most of which will fund increased benefits to low income families through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ($20 billion);


• The Act also provides $6.9 billion in discretionary appropriations for rural development activities such as construction and renovation of rural water and wastewater systems, low income housing loans, broadband infrastructure in rural areas, rural business programs, and construction of Forest Service facilities;


• The Act provides $800 million for biofuels research and development, loan guarantees for renewable power projects, including biomass facilities, and extends tax credits for biomass-based electricity for three additional years; and,


• The Act provides $700 million in mandatory farm disaster assistance.

Guiding Principles

President Obama believes in nurturing strong, robust, and vibrant rural communities. These communities also safeguard our environmental heritage, supply our food, and play a growing role in science and innovation. Today, rural communities face numerous challenges but also enormous economic opportunities. President Obama believes that together we can ensure a bright future for rural America. He will work to help family farmers and rural small businesses find profitability in the marketplace and success in the global economy.

Support Strong Farm and Rural Economic Development

The President believes farm programs should target family farmers and provide the stability and predictability they need. President Obama believes that American farmers should have protection from market disruptions and weather disasters. At the same time, farm program effectiveness should be improved through restrictions on commodity payments to wealthy farmers. The President also supports the implementation of a commodity program payment limit, which will help ensure that payments are made only to those that most need them.

The President supports rural development programs including microentrepreneur assistance, rural cooperative development grants, value-added producer grants, grants to minority producers, and cooperative research agreements.

Develop Rural Broadband Services

Modern technology is critical to the expansion of business, education, and health care opportunities in rural areas and the competitiveness of the nation’s small towns and rural communities. President Obama supports a comprehensive plan and substantial investments in the expansion of rural broadband so that all areas of the country have access to the tools for fair competition in a 21st century economy.

Promote Rural America’s Leadership in Developing Renewable Energy

America’s farmers have been on the forefront of the renewable fuels movement. The President has been a strong proponent for increasing the national supply of home-grown American renewable fuels as an alternative to foreign sources of oil. The President will ensure that the Nation’s rural areas continue their leadership in this arena by supporting additional loans and grants to develop domestic renewable fuels. His efforts will position rural America to produce and refine more American biofuels, provide more renewable power than ever before, and create thousands of new jobs across the country.

Invest in Rural Teachers

Teachers are the single most important resource to any child’s learning, and yet it is challenging to attract and retain talented teachers in the schools that need them the most – especially in rural areas. President Obama will ensure that teachers are supported as professionals in the classroom, while also holding them more accountable. He will invest in innovative strategies to help teachers to improve student outcomes, and use rewards and incentives to keep talented teachers in the schools that need them the most. He supports improved professional development and mentoring for new and less effective teachers, and will challenge states and school districts to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom. President Obama will invest in a national effort to prepare and reward outstanding teachers, while recruiting the best and brightest to the field of teaching.

Support Rural Community Colleges

Community colleges are mainstays of rural communities, and their graduates often remain in rural communities. The President is committed to increasing higher education access and success by restructuring and dramatically expanding college financial aid, while making federal programs simpler, more reliable, and more efficient for students. The President has proposed a plan to address college completion and strengthen the higher education pipeline to ensure that more students succeed and complete their degree. And his plan will invest in community colleges to equip a greater share of young people and adults with high-demand skills and education for emerging industries.

Poverty

• President Obama is a bit of a Poverty Pimp


• Obama was right to promote job training for the unemployed. 


• Obama was right to promote after-school programs for kids. 


• Obama is Pompous to say that he is going to "create a path of opportunity for all hard-working Americans to enter the middle class".


• Too many Americans live without hope for a better future or access to good, family-supporting jobs


• Obama is a great dad, a great role model, and has the right plan to help families. 

From http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/poverty: 

Progress

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included broad investments to alleviate the poverty made worse by economic crisis.

• To fight hunger, the Act includes a $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, as well as funding for food banks and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC);


• The Act also provides for $2 billion in new Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to help maintain ailing neighborhoods and $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention Funds to keep people in their homes or rapidly rehouse them;


• The Act increases funding for the Community Services Block Grant by $1 billion;


• The Act increases the Weatherization Assistance Program by $5 billion to help low income families save on their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient;


• The Act increases job training funds for those who need them most, with $3.95 billion in additional funding for the Workforce Investment system, which will support green job training, summer jobs for young people, and other opportunities;


• The Act provides increased income support, including an increase of $25 per week for Unemployment Insurance recipients and incentives for states to expand unemployment insurance eligibility, as well as an extra $250 payment to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries and new resources for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; and,


• The Act provides tax breaks to working families through the Make Work Pay and Child Tax Credits. These changes will reduce the marriage penalty and provide a larger credit for families with three or more children.

Guiding Principles

President Obama has been a lifelong advocate for the poor. As a young college graduate, he rejected the high salaries of corporate America and moved to the South Side of Chicago to work as a community organizer. As an organizer, President Obama worked with Chicago residents, churches, and local government to set up job training programs for the unemployed and after-school programs for kids. As President, his life experiences inform his efforts to create a path of opportunity for all hard-working Americans to enter the middle class. President Obama will lead a new federal approach to revitalize communities stricken by the economic crisis as well as communities that were hurting before it began.

Expand Opportunity

Too many Americans live without hope for a better future or access to good, family-supporting jobs. President Obama is committed to creating the opportunity for all Americans to grab the first rung on the ladder to the middle class. That includes investing in strategies to make work pay, expanding access to affordable housing, and helping low-income Americans build the job skills to succeed in the workforce.

Stem the Tide

The economic crisis has hit low-income American families particularly hard. President Obama will help vulnerable Americans through this crisis by making sure they have the resources they need to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, while also extending tax credits to low-wage workers.

Strengthen Families

President Obama was raised by a single parent, and knows the difficulties that young people face when their fathers are absent. He is committed to responsible fatherhood, by supporting fathers who stand by their families and encouraging young men to work towards good jobs in promising career pathways.

Mothers who are struggling in poverty also need support to raise healthy children. The President has proposed an historic investment in providing home visits to low-income, first-time parents by trained professionals. The President and First Lady are also committed to ensuring that children have nutritious meals to eat at home and at school, so that they grow up healthy and strong.

Immigration

Fixing the Immigration System for America’s 21st Century Economy

"We are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea—the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That’s why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here…The future is ours to win. But to get there, we cannot stand still."

-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Take Action

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Host a Roundtable

President Obama is calling for a national conversation on immigration reform that builds a bipartisan consensus to fix our broken immigration system so it works for America’s 21st century economy, but he can’t do it alone. Help bring the debate to your community by hosting a roundtable.

President Obama recognizes that our current immigration system is broken and he is deeply committed to building a new 21st century immigration system that meets our nation’s important economic and security needs. In his State of the Union Address, the President laid out his vision for winning the future. To secure prosperity for all Americans, we must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world, and fixing our immigration system plays an important part in that plan. As we work to rebuild our economy, our ability to thrive depends, in part on restoring responsibility and accountability to the immigration system.

President's Vision for Reform

The President plans to create a 21st century immigration system by: 

• Continuing to fulfill the federal government’s responsibility to securing our borders;


• Demanding accountability for businesses that break the law by undermining American workers and exploiting undocumented workers;


• Strengthening our economic competiveness by creating a legal immigration system that reflects our values and diverse needs; and


• Requiring responsibility from people who are living in the United States illegally.

Building on Progress

During the last two years, the Obama Administration has taken important steps to improve our immigration system within the boundaries of existing laws.  For example, the Administration has:

• Dedicated unprecedented resources to secure the border;


• Made interior and worksite enforcement smarter and more effective; and


• Worked to improve our legal immigration system.

It is acceptable to define true as inspiring +0

Reasons to agree

1. Mat 7:15  ¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Mt. 12.33


2. If you believe the Book of Mormon is a standard of truth than Moroni 7:17 supports this idea. It says: "But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil..." With this logic anything that persuadeth someone not to "serve" God is of the devil. This is very black and white logic, but it says that things that are true, can also be of the devil, depending on what they cause to happen in people's lives. This results in problems...
   
   
   
   

Reasons to disagree

1.  Some things are real some things are not. Some things really happened and some things did not. We can't fix our problems if we are not living in the real world.


2. At some point you have to stop believing in Santa, even if a literal belief in Santa might result in "Good". 

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 2

# of reasons to disagree: -2

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: 0

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Saying there are Old Testament scriptures that support something is meaningless, because so many Old Scriptures contradict each other

Reasons to agree

1. Gen.1:27 says that man was created equal, male and female, however Gen.2:18-24 says that woman was created as a companion to the man only after he rejected the animals (Gen.1:27: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”  Gen.2:18-24:  "And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”


2. Gen.1:12, 26 says that Man was created after the plants, however Gen.2:5-9 says that Man was created before the plants. (Gen.1:12, 26: “And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Gen.2:5-9: “Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ¶ But a [fn]mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole [fn]surface of the ground. ¶ Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living [fn]being. ¶The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. ¶ Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”


3. Gen 1:3-5 says that God created and separated light and darkness on the first day. However, Gen 1:14-18 says that God created and separated light and darkness on the fourth day. (Gen 1:3-5: “Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. ¶ God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ¶ God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Gen 1:14-18 says: “Then God said, "Let there be [fn]lights in the [fn]expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; ¶ and let them be for [fn]lights in the [fn]expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. ¶ God made the two [fn]great lights, the greater [fn]light [fn]to govern the day, and the lesser [fn]light [fn]to govern the night; He made the stars also. ¶ God placed them in the [fn]expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¶ and [fn]to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. ¶There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."


4. Prov 15:3, Jer 16:17,and Jer 23:24 all say that God is everywhere and sees everything. However in Gen.4:9 God asks Cain the whereabouts of his brother, and in Gen 18:20, 21 God goes to see what is happening.


5. Gen 10:5, 20, 31 says there were many languages before the tower at Babel. However, Gen.11:1 says there was only one language before the tower at Babel.


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Score:

# of reasons to agree: 5

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

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Saying the Old Testament "support something" is meaningless, because so many Old Scriptures contradict each other

Reasons to agree

1. Gen.1:27 says that man was created equal, male and female, however Gen.2:18-24 says that woman was created as a companion to the man only after he rejected the animals.

Reasons to disagree

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Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

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# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

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God could have changed the DNA of native Americans to test the faith of Mormons

Reasons to agree

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1. God would not test our faith with designed implausibility. 

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Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

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