Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we must raise the debt ceiling, period. This is not an opinion, it is a fact. The consequences of failing to act are simply too catastrophic to consider any other course. Negotiations are underway now to seek an agreement to raise the debt ceiling as part of a larger agreement on deficit reduction. But there is a major obstacle to agreement: a refusal on the part of the Republican leadership to compromise, a refusal to understand that sacrifice must be shared. The sacrifice, they say, must come from middle America--those struggling to pay for a college education or for health care for their kids or for long-term care for their parents. The Republican leader demands that this sacrifice be made by the middle class in order to protect the Bush tax cuts and other tax breaks for the wealthiest among us--despite the huge and growing gap in the distribution of income in our country between the wealthy and the middle class. One example of the kind of tax breaks and tax loopholes that we Democrats seek to change is the unconscionable tax break given to hedge fund managers. Hedge fund managers generally make their money by charging their clients two fees. First, the manager receives a management fee, typically equal to 2 percent of the assets invested. Second, the manager typically receives 20 percent of the income from those investments above a certain level.…”