Well this is embarrassing.

While President Obama pretended raising taxes on those earning $250,000 $450,000 a year and making the rest of the Bush tax cuts permanent was some kind of achievement in fiscal discipline, he spent more than the revenue those taxes will bring in giving welfare to some of the richest corporations in the world.

The Joint Committee On Taxation estimates the Corporate Welfare or “tax extenders” included in the bill will cost $68 billion in 2013. The tax increases on those making over $450,000 are projected to raise $620 billion over 10 years – meaning in 2013 the restored rate on $450,000 and up will raise roughly $62 billion. So the deal is at best a wash if not a net loss due to the Corporate Welfare inserted into the deal.

The only significant increase in revenues from the “fiscal cliff” deal will come from raising the payroll tax on middle class workers.

What a fun shell game – raising taxes on rich individuals and households while giving the corporations they work for tax breaks that are roughly the same amount you are taking in taxes from their employees. Oh, I get it, the rich individuals and households could be anyone but the corporations who are getting the tax breaks are firms that knew someone in Congress and/or the White House and know how to return a favor.

The real losers, besides the middle class workers who just saw a tax increase, will be seniors and the poor who are now in the line of fire for cuts to entitlements and social programs. Cuts ironically justified in the beltway back and forth by the absurd notion that Congress and the White House just made progress on the revenue side of the equation by taxing the rich. Fail.