A $700 billion, 10-year windfall for the wealthiest Americans who need it least. With both parties generally supporting the continuation of middle class relief already on the books, that's the difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to making the expiring Bush tax cuts permanent.
But just one day after his former budget director Peter Orszag endorsed a compromise featuring a two year delay in returning upper-bracket tax rates to their Clinton-era levels, President Obama said no. Despite wavering from many in his own party, at a time of record income inequality and massive budget deficits, Obama refused to join the Republican $700 billion club Paul Krugman recently described as "eager to cut checks averaging $3 million each to the richest 120,000 people in the country."
As the New York Times reported, the President linked that stand to a package of new business tax breaks unveiled Wednesday in Cleveland. Apparently, Obama has decided that good policy is also good politics:

Mr. Obama's opposition to allowing the high-end tax cuts to remain in place for even another year or two would be the signal many Congressional Democrats have been awaiting as they prepare for a showdown with Republicans on the issue and ends speculation that the White House might be open to an extension...

Politically, however, the president is, in effect, daring Republicans to oppose the plan, in that way proving Democrats' contention that they will block even their own ideas to deny Mr. Obama any victories. And by proposing business tax breaks that, according to nonpartisan analyses, would do more to stimulate the economy than extending the Bush tax rates for the wealthy, Mr. Obama hopes to buttress Democrats' opposition to extending those rates.

In response, House Minority Leader John Boehner Wednesday claimed "I'm open to the president's ideas" and proposed a two-year freeze on all tax rates. But that posturing followed his own speech in Cleveland two weeks ago in which Boehner demanded, "President Obama should work with Republicans to stop ALL of these job-killing tax hikes."
But what Boehner and his Republican allies are really advocating is yet another payday for the gilded class. To fully appreciate its magnitude for the $700 billion club, a few charts and graphs help tell the tale.
Here, then, are the Bush tax cuts in pictures.