Has Obama helped the economy by continuing the Bush tax cuts?

SPENDING OVER $$$$5 TRILLION DOLLARS NEGATES ANY POSITIVE FROM THESE SMALL TAX CUTS....PAYING ANY ATTENTION TO THE DEBT???

Even the bamster said it might be necessary shortly after he took office and Pelosi had a fit.
Enough Dems actually voted for the extension.
Not forgetting that 1/3 of his tax cuts were all smoke and mirrors, people are really paying more.

It is about the ONLY thing he is has done that is helpful.

so then you admit then, that Obama did the right thing and Bush tax cuts have saved the economy?

Saving the tax cuts simply kept the economy from truly cratering. The worst time to raise taxes is during an economic downturn. That is economics 101.

He should have insisted that the rich pay more.

and the republican congress majority would have gone for that?

Doesn't matter. The main problem with the democrats is that they don't take a stand. Republicans always take a stand. Wrong stand but they take a stand and they end up getting a lot of respect for that. Problem with Obama was that he was too quick to compromise from an already compromised position.

And if he had done this in his first two years, it would probably have strengthened him.

The tax cuts that have been passed have be ridiculously small. What really needs to be done is to completely scrap our current tax system and replace it. It was broken when it was originally designed. It cannot be fixed.

Agreed. We need a consumption tax. Those who spend a lot (and can afford to) pay more and those who exist on necessities pay less. Many other countries have done this decades ago and it works.

Overall I believe so. However, the backbone of America's success has been the small business owner. The over regulation and uncertainty of the future is creating higher unemployment. The out of control spending is causing alarm by the people that are paying attention. I am for smaller government and greater oversite of our tax dollars. Would I pay more taxes if the government was responsible with my tax dollars. YES! Until that happens I will only pay what I must and help individuals with the rest I can spare.

this over-regulation has been in place for a long time though right? Obama hasn't instigated any new regulations per se. When the repubs had control of both houses, they didn't de-regulate on small businesses. What makes you think they've changed their tune?

These tax cuts were, and still are effective. Following their passage, they boosted the economy and led to a near decade long economic expansion.

What I left out is that the economic gains were only for the rich during this period, with the middle class losing 10% of their buying power over this same time frame. As a matter of fact, it is the ONLY time in US history where the economy grew, but the middle and lower classes didn't benefit and actually shrank., giving us the worst recession in 80 years where national debt grew dramatically. Voodoo Eco.

While there is a cliche to never raise taxes in a recession, there's also a cliche about not CUTTING taxes during war time, which is exactly what happened. Who in his right mind would start two wars but refuse to raise new revenue to fund those wars?? Let's not forget the Bush admin didn't even bother including the costs of two wars in their budgets, and didn't pay for them. We still haven't paid for Regan's defense spending.

The Bush tax cuts need to be phased out. The economy is too fragile now for any kind of jolt. The approaching election will offer plenty of that.

Obama has not helped the economy by doing anything. Cutting taxes, and in turn spending more only puts our country's economy in an even more precarious situation.

what do you think Obama's spent money on?

Just about everything, except what he promises and/or claims it will be used for.

Tax cuts only work when corresponding with equal spending cuts. As we have seen through recent years when the US credit rating is downgraded it is a result of our fiscal health. Reducing the size and scope of government affects the economy positively, marginal tax rates do not affect the economy when uncoupled with the size of government.

but the overall size of government has decreased. Look at the job losses. More of them are government jobs than private sector jobs. Every state has cut people and programs. Both republican and democrat.

It has not decreased one penny, the size and scope of government has expanded every year since 1835. For every government employee that is reduced, the hammocks(food stamps, medicare, unemployment insurance) have expanded beyond that number. Sorry but you need a little refresher course in Macro Economics.

so if govt cuts jobs, and you don't want to give them food stamps etc. should we let them die? I'd rather pay higher taxes than live in that kind of sci-fi world. Is it every person's fault if they lost their job? Did they all suddenly become workshy or incompetent?

It is antithetical to American values to transfer from government work to government subsidy, eventually you either sink or swim on your own merit. We became the most prosperous nation in the history of the world in our short time on this planet without a single hammock program, and for your information people were not dying in the streets.

OK but if there are no jobs, how will those people many of whom lost their jobs through no fault of their own... "sink or swim on their own merit"??? If they can't get work.. how can they swim? Charities have seen huge drops in their takings since 2008. They can't pick up all the slack.

You do not understand personally responsibility. It is not the responsibility of another to provide you with work, it is your responsibility to present a skill set that is needed in the labor market. There are millions of positions available, all requiring more than a willing hands and an able back. Also for those opportunities that do not require any skills, there are plenty available there as well, the trouble being is one can gather more suckling the teat of government than working one or two of them.
You are correct private Charities have seen a reduction in donations, primarily because it is now thought that government is charitable and compassionate(which is false). Government can be neither charitable or compassionate because it must first destroy the efforts of one person to give to another. The majority of our citizens have become complacent to the thought of charity because they see 50% of our nation taking from their labor.