At about 2 AM on New Years day the US Senate voted for tax increases on Americans who earn more than $400,000 per year. I’m wondering how any of them had time to read the bill before they voted for it.

Legal Insurrection has the details of the deal, which still needs to be voted on in the House.

The bill raised taxes by over $600 billion, in addition to Obamacare taxes already coming on line, yet the Senators can claim it was a massive tax cut because the vote took place after midnight, so technically the Bush tax cuts already had expired.

The basic details are in last night’s post.  The index to the bill is here, and the full bill here. (Read More)

Go to Zero Hedge to see a simple image that puts this whole thing in perspective.

As for the spending cuts – ha!

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the last-minute fiscal cliff deal reached by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama cuts only $15 billion in spending while increasing tax revenues by $620 billion—a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.

Now we have a big fight over the debt ceiling and the sequester that they put off to look forward to. No doubt those will be decided in the middle of the night with nobody reading the bills.