{"id":31262,"date":"2011-09-07T15:18:04","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T15:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/?p=31262"},"modified":"2017-03-04T04:35:56","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T04:35:56","slug":"up-to-800","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/","title":{"rendered":""Up-to-$800" My Precious!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to be honest, I don\u2019t really understand this<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning signs that it might be an errant fact: \u201cbiggest middle-class tax cut in history.\u201d [. . .] We decided to put the president\u2019s claim to the test.<\/p>\n

We took an informal survey in our office and asked people what they thought the president\u2019s statement meant. Everyone agreed he was claiming the biggest tax cut in terms of dollars.<\/p>\n

Imagine our surprise when the White House responded that he wasn\u2019t talking about dollars at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point the president was making that is there is not a tax cut that has been enjoyed by such a broad section of the population,\u201d an administration official said, pointing to a report that said that 95 percent of working families received some kind of tax cut under the Making Work Pay provision in his stimulus bill.<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah\u2026but then there is this:<\/p>\n

In other words, this isn\u2019t about the size of the tax cut, but about the fact that every working family, except those making more than $190,000, received as much as $800 in tax cuts. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh. \u201cUp to $800.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Would it be okay for me to here borrow the words of our First Lady, when discussing the $600 \u201cstimulus\u201d of 2008?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re getting $600. What can you do with that?<\/strong><\/a> Not to be ungrateful or anything. But maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn\u2019t pay down every bill every month..<\/p>\n

Barack\u2019s approach is that the short-term quick fix kinda stuff sounds good. And it may even feel good that first month when you get that check. And then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m not even sure the $800 tax cut<\/strong> \u2014 if spread over twice-monthly paychecks, or included in tax-filings \u2014 was noticed or noticeable. Not to be ungrateful, or anything.<\/p>\n

Read the rest of the WaPo fact-check<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s interesting \u2014 seems John F. Kennedy was the tax-cut king \u2014 but perhaps the most interesting thing about it, is that it exists, at all.<\/p>\n

And Jennifer Rubin has more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

UPDATE:
\nWhile searching<\/strong> for the FLOTUS quote, I found this trip down memory lane<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

February 11, 2009; Accord reached on final stimulus bill: $789 billion for 3.5 million jobs<\/strong> House and Senate negotiators settled Wednesday on a $789 billion package of tax cuts and new federal spending meant to save the US economy from a deep recession, or worse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here comes another 300 Billion<\/a>,<\/strong>; this<\/em> time, we\u2019re told, it\u2019s going to work!<\/p>\n

I really wish they\u2019d stop<\/strong><\/a> saving us<\/strong><\/a>, already.<\/p>\n

Related:
\nThe $13-a-week stimulus<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have to be honest, I don\u2019t really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning signs that it might be an errant fact: \u201cbiggest middle-class tax cut in history.\u201d [. . .] We decided to put the president\u2019s claim to the test. We took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,1],"tags":[4918,486],"class_list":["post-31262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-woe","category-uncategorized","tag-election-12","tag-obama"],"yoast_head":"\n"Up-to-$800" My Precious!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have to be honest, I don't really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Up-to-$800" My Precious!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have to be honest, I don't really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Anchoress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-07T15:18:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-04T04:35:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/files\/2011\/09\/topaz-diamond-earrings-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/\",\"name\":\""Up-to-$800" My Precious!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-07T15:18:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-04T04:35:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\"},\"description\":\"I have to be honest, I don't really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\""Up-to-$800" My Precious!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\",\"name\":\"The Anchoress\",\"description\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":""Up-to-$800" My Precious!","description":"I have to be honest, I don't really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":""Up-to-$800" My Precious!","og_description":"I have to be honest, I don't really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/","og_site_name":"The Anchoress","article_published_time":"2011-09-07T15:18:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-04T04:35:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/files\/2011\/09\/topaz-diamond-earrings-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Scalia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Scalia","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/","name":""Up-to-$800" My Precious!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-09-07T15:18:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-04T04:35:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b"},"description":"I have to be honest, I don't really understand this: The president\u2019s Labor Day speech in Detroit featured an assertion that contained a number of warning","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/07\/up-to-800\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":""Up-to-$800" My Precious!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/","name":"The Anchoress","description":"Elizabeth Scalia","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b","name":"Elizabeth Scalia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Scalia"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}