I told you so...

I really can't wait to see what any Obamaistas have to say about this story, which was obvious to me last year...you can't raise spending and lower taxes at the same time, at least not the extend Obama is. Since the top 5% of salaries starts at $153,000 in this country( according to tax information from IRS) how is taxing only those that make over $200,000 going to pay for not billions, but TRILLIONS of new spending?? Its not, thats how. You can't get enough money, even at 90% tax rate. So what about the tax cut to 95% of Americans (forgetting that a sizable % of the public pay nothing)?

Think taxes are too high now? Just wait:

Congress is all but certain to raise them . Tax increases will hit both businesses and individuals -- and not just singles making more than $200,000 a year and married couples over $250,000 a year. They’ll be the first to get pinched, but not the last. There’s just not enough revenue that can be drawn from the wealthy without crippling the economy, so in time, middle incomers will feel a bigger bite, too.

Higher taxes will be part of a major overhaul designed to simplify the tax code, though it won’t do more than tinker around the edges. Here’s what’s rising to the top of the list of probable hikes for individuals:

• Boosts in top marginal rates from 33% and 35% to 36% and 39.6%. No change in the other marginal rates seems likely.

• A higher rate on capital gains and dividends, but only for those in the top brackets. They will probably be hit with a 20% rate, though it could go a little higher.

• Caps on itemized deductions. Obama’s push to limit the value of deductions at 28% ran into a wall of opposition from charitable groups, but he’s not giving up. Some way of eliminating the tax break still seems likely by 2010.

• No repeal of estate taxes, but count on an exemption of at least $3.5 million, and it could be set as high as $5 million if the Senate prevails. Estate tax legislation will include spousal transfers, making the exemption $7 million or more for couples. The estate tax rate will be capped at 45%, the same as it is now.

• More easings for the alternative minimum tax, but no repeal.

But there may be a silver lining, at least for big corporations: Congress will consider lowering the 35% top corporate tax rate by several percentage points.

Longer term, tax hikes will go even further and hit more people and businesses. The only other option is deep cuts in spending, including Social Security, Medicare and defense, and the public won’t buy that.

The increases will make many unhappy. They already see the burden as high, a point made clearly at those “tea parties” on April 15. Lumping together income, excise, payroll and other taxes, the average rate paid today is 21¢ on every dollar of income, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis of data from 2006, the most recent year for which data are available. That’s the same as in 1982, after the Reagan tax cuts, and 2¢ less than at its peak under Clinton. For the top 20% of taxpayers, the average rate is higher: 26¢. That compares with 24¢ in 1982.

This is a free market economy??

At Chrysler on Friday, lenders prepared to make a new offer to the U.S. Treasury Department to the tune of 46 cents on the dollar for $6.9 billion in debt, according to a report in The New York Times DealBook.

Meanwhile, the Treasury has also directed Chrysler to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing which would be ready as soon as next week.

Chrysler has one week to come to terms with a deal to lessen its debt and decrease its labor costs. The company is also soon to come to an agreement or merger with Italian auto maker Fiat SpA, according to numerous reports.

Ok, I admit I am somewhat confused here...Chrysler and the lenders are trying to make a deal and Treasury is saying no, file bankruptcy???  Wouldn't it be better for us as taxpayers to get something back and out of this business, and not let Chrysler go under, and then do what Treasury next proposed??

This marks the fourth counteroffer between the lenders and the Treasury’s auto task force, and comes after Thursday’s news that the Treasury offered Chrysler $1.5 billion of first-lien debt and a 5% equity stake in the restructured company, according to a Reuters report.