Republican President Dwight Eisenhower’s idea of a significant marginal rate cut was to push the top rate down to 91 percent from 92 percent. Corporate taxes hit 50 percent. Jobs proliferated, wages rose, and the economy prospered.

No one in Boston thinks this can only be about the economy anymore, one top aide said last week

Let`s start with fat cat. I`m glad he [Pres. Obama] used the word fat cat. It helped me go on a diet, I lost 30 pounds.

Let`s be blunt here. We had been called a lot of different things by a lot of different people. Whether he used that term or another term, it`s really meaningless, and what we have accomplished over the last four years, which now segues right into the Lehman weekend. No disrespect to everyone who talks about the Lehman weekend. I was one of the 12 individuals sitting there for the three days of the Lehman weekend. When Governor Romney or Congressman Ryan say, are we different than four years ago? I mean, come on. January 2009, we lost 800,000 jobs. The most in 60 years. OK? The stock market`s up since the president took office almost 100 percent. We have 500,000 more manufacturing jobs than we`ve had. That`s the best since the `90s. Our exports as a percent of GDP have been gaining double digits ever since he`s been in office. …

They all give the president grief about clarity. This is very straightforward. We could pass right now tax relief for 98 — the extension for 98 percent of this country. Let`s do it. Then let`s have the argument on the last 2 percent and see which way it goes, but let`s bring clarity to 98 percent of this country.

If an elementary school student has an excellent teacher even for a single year, it boosts their income by an average of about 2 percent per year. To put that in perspective, if we can find a way to raise gross domestic product (GDP) by 2 percent, you’re talking about nearly ending the Great Recession every year. By economic standards, it’s a huge deal.