I asked here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

if DUers thought it was worth sending an email urging Senators to amend the budget bill passed by the House to repeal the tax cuts extension for the top income categories, that was extorted out of President Obama in Dec of last year, to save the Unemployment Benefits extension for the millions put out of work by the Republican policies.

In the interest of persuasion I offer this article by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities on how ineffectual tax cuts for the top earners are.....


Letting High-Income Tax Cuts Expire Is Proper Response to Nation’s Short- and Long-Term Challenges - CBPP

Extending High-Income Tax Cuts the Least Effective Stimulus Option
Given the economy’s present weakness, some argue that now is not the time to allow the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high-income households to expire. But analysis in a recent CBO report decisively refutes this argument.<1> CBO examined 11 options to stimulate growth and job creation and found that extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts in general came in last in effectiveness. <2> CBO concluded that a job-creation tax credit, funds to help states balance their budgets with fewer cuts in services and tax increases, and extended unemployment insurance benefits would all generate more jobs and growth on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Furthermore, CBO indicated that extending the tax cuts for high-income households in particular would rate even lower in effectiveness than extending all of the tax cuts. This is because, as CBO explained, “higher-income households … would probably save a larger fraction of their increase in after-tax income.”<3> An economy in a recession or the early stages of a recovery needs more spending, not more saving.
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HEre's the CBO's anlaysis of the Economic impact of various expenditures and tax cuts in the ARRA:

Estimate of the economic effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, Public Law 111-5) - Congressional Budget Office


Table 1.The Estimated Impact Of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on Output and the Budgetary Costs, 2009 to 2019 - displying the page showing Transfers to Persons and Tax Cuts to Lower and Middle Income People and Tax Cuts to Higher Income People