long run, protect the middle class, we re going to continue to see progress in this economy. in fact, i would say if you look deeply in this report the retail trade sector did quite well. that s a sign consumers are feeling more confident. and the last thing we need now is a big tax increase on the middle class to affect that consumer confidence. to the fiscal cliff here. one of the more intriguing parts of the story has been is it actually bad for the economy in the long run if we go over the cliff, and i want to quote back to you, the congressional budget office, their review of the fiscal cliff policies and they made a projection that while 2013, if all of the fiscal cliff things and all is enacted in congress and you do nothing to stop the tax rate increases for everybody, 2013 will be bad but by 2018 and 2020 we will be a better did debt to gdp ratio than we ve had in decades, that we will be running budget
the head. i somewhat disagree with charles. i m not sure he is going to take the leap over the cliff. one possible point of compromise on taxes might be the buffet rule, where you put a minimum tax on people who earn just $1 million and above. i could see republicans possibly swallowing that. but not sure john: charles, lately there has been talk, too, that the republicans may give on tax rate increases if they can hold the president s feet to the fire over spending. when the debt ceiling comes up next, there is talk among democrats hey, mr. president, we will support you if you want to invoke the 14th amendment and call debt unconst. to you think it will come to that? the president disavowed intention. he is committed to the legal position you can t go to 14th amendment route. on the other hand he is demanding that the republicans back off on their debt ceiling threats as well. frankly, you know, i think he does hold the hand here.
obama and house speaker john boehner spoke on the phone yesterday afternoon. that is their first conversation in a week and since republicans offered $800 billion in new tax revenue and more than a trillion dollars in spending cuts. aides refuse to say if the president and speaker are now closer to a deal. for both sides a little more campaigning. president obama heads to northern virginia this afternoon. the white house says he will meet with a middle class family to press congress to protect those making less than $250,000 a year from tax increases and raise rates on those making more. house republicans return to their congressional districts. they will meet with small business owners to underscore how they say tax rate increases will hit those business, jon. jon: are they still hung up on taxes? is that the big sticking point? yes. taxes are the key to this debate. republicans say they will increase tax revenue through cutting tax deductions. democrats say tax rates have to increa
speaker boehner s counteroffer, whatever that may be. he has a very tough position and my view, the speaker understands that mitt romney, who ran on the platform of not raising taxes lost and the speaker knows he has to do it. the problem is, his members ran on the platform opposing tax increases and they won. so, he s got the challenge of trying to persuade people who are against tax increases who ran and won on that platform doing what the speaker knows ultimately has to be done and that s raise revenue from the top 2% of this deal. correct me if i m wrong but based on what i read and what i heard with regards to the math. if you close loopholes and limit deductions, you still cannot generate the kind of revenue that would arrive at 1.6 or even $1.2 trillion. is that correct? i m not sure about that. if you do loopholes and you do tax rate increases, i believe you can rate increases, yes, but not
tacit sort of acknowledgment that, yes, in fact, there are going to be some painful things that we have to swallow on the left-hand side of the aisle. we should. if the right s going to separate increases, we should accept certain things like testing, et cetera, because at the end of the day this is about compromise. this is also very much, thomas, about the president s ability to show leadership. you hear the republicans harp on and on about obama not showing leadership. they did it before the campaign, during the campaign, and now they re saying, mr. president, we need you to show some leadership. accept tax rate increases without forcing his own party to accept other things on our side. both sides have to share the pain to get the budget balanced and promote this theory of economic fairness. that s what he s doing out there. compromise when both sides