Post by the sandman on Nov 21, 2011 10:23:13 GMT -5
So the "Budgetary Supercommittee" is preparing to officially announce that they have utterly failed to arrive at any kind of compromise. Which I'm sure is just such an utter surprise to all of us.
Turns out that there was a sticking point. The Republicans took the position that they would agree to nothing unless the Bush-era tax cuts scheduled to expire in 2012 are not only made permanent, but that tax rates on the wealthiest Americans must be lowered still further. While the Democrats were willing to consider large cuts, even to "sacred cow" entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, they also took the position that there needed to be some revenue increases as well, mainly the pre-scheduled expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. (Which are, as you well know, the majority of our budget problems right now.)
The Republicans refuse. They insist that allowing the tax cuts to expire on schedule would be an unexpected and devastating "tax increase" tantamount to class warfare. How is something you knew was coming for a decade an "unexpected" event? And if the wealthy failed to plan for it, then by the Republican's own logic, isn't that their own fault? Why is it right and proper to foreclose on the middle class when they fail to plan, but also right and proper to cater to the wealthy when they do the same thing?
(And for that matter, why is congress passing legislation to extend FHA housing loan guarantees and mortgage down payment assistance limits up to more than $700K? If you can afford a house that costs three quarters of a million dollars, you do NOT freaking need FHA assistance.)
Wake. Up. Democrats. You can not make compromises with an opposition who has openly sworn to oppose everything you do just because you do it. Once the other party has admitted their primary goal is to destroy you, it's no longer possible to work with them, and by insisting on trying, you are only giving them what they want. The Republicans WANT the economy in the toilet. There's no other possible explanation for their actions, and it does make sense.
While congress has shitty approval ratings (lower than "communism" on some polls in the USA), that's normal for congress. Individual congressmen in their home districts tend to have pretty good approval ratings even though congress as a whole is reviled. (A classic case of "everyone else is causing the problem, not OUR guy" syndrome.) Congressmen do not give a shit about congress's approval rating. It's a meaningless statistic in elections. The Republicans are more than willing to crap all over congress's reputation in order to gain the real prize: the White House.
And the shittier the economy is and gets over the next year, the better the chances of a Republican moving into the Presidential Mansion. It is in the best long-term interests of the Republican Party for the economy to remain as bad as possible. WHY DO YOU NOT GET THAT, DEMOCRATS? You can't negotiate with these assholes because failure is what they WANT.
The "supercommittee" has spent the past few days before the deadline not working on a deal, but desperately spinning the failure to paint the other guys as the villains. Even the Democrats seem more concerned with blaming the Republicans than they are with actually doing anything. The entire thing is a pantomime joke. Congress will not allow the "automatic cuts" to be enacted. John McCain and Lindsey Grahm have already begun work on legislation to shield the traditional pets of the Republican Party (primarily the Pentagon) from any of the "automatic cuts" that a failure of the supercommittee is supposed to trigger despite President Obama saying he would oppose any attempt to circumvent the agreed-upon measures.
The whole thing makes me want to vomit in rage. Especially when I hear idiot Republicans on the radio claiming that the Dems want to "tax the American economy" Um....no. They want to allow the insane Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans expire on schedule. The spin is so severe in Washington right now it's astonishing the entire population of the Potomac valley doesn't go skidding off in the Atlantic.
Turns out that there was a sticking point. The Republicans took the position that they would agree to nothing unless the Bush-era tax cuts scheduled to expire in 2012 are not only made permanent, but that tax rates on the wealthiest Americans must be lowered still further. While the Democrats were willing to consider large cuts, even to "sacred cow" entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, they also took the position that there needed to be some revenue increases as well, mainly the pre-scheduled expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. (Which are, as you well know, the majority of our budget problems right now.)
The Republicans refuse. They insist that allowing the tax cuts to expire on schedule would be an unexpected and devastating "tax increase" tantamount to class warfare. How is something you knew was coming for a decade an "unexpected" event? And if the wealthy failed to plan for it, then by the Republican's own logic, isn't that their own fault? Why is it right and proper to foreclose on the middle class when they fail to plan, but also right and proper to cater to the wealthy when they do the same thing?
(And for that matter, why is congress passing legislation to extend FHA housing loan guarantees and mortgage down payment assistance limits up to more than $700K? If you can afford a house that costs three quarters of a million dollars, you do NOT freaking need FHA assistance.)
Wake. Up. Democrats. You can not make compromises with an opposition who has openly sworn to oppose everything you do just because you do it. Once the other party has admitted their primary goal is to destroy you, it's no longer possible to work with them, and by insisting on trying, you are only giving them what they want. The Republicans WANT the economy in the toilet. There's no other possible explanation for their actions, and it does make sense.
While congress has shitty approval ratings (lower than "communism" on some polls in the USA), that's normal for congress. Individual congressmen in their home districts tend to have pretty good approval ratings even though congress as a whole is reviled. (A classic case of "everyone else is causing the problem, not OUR guy" syndrome.) Congressmen do not give a shit about congress's approval rating. It's a meaningless statistic in elections. The Republicans are more than willing to crap all over congress's reputation in order to gain the real prize: the White House.
And the shittier the economy is and gets over the next year, the better the chances of a Republican moving into the Presidential Mansion. It is in the best long-term interests of the Republican Party for the economy to remain as bad as possible. WHY DO YOU NOT GET THAT, DEMOCRATS? You can't negotiate with these assholes because failure is what they WANT.
The "supercommittee" has spent the past few days before the deadline not working on a deal, but desperately spinning the failure to paint the other guys as the villains. Even the Democrats seem more concerned with blaming the Republicans than they are with actually doing anything. The entire thing is a pantomime joke. Congress will not allow the "automatic cuts" to be enacted. John McCain and Lindsey Grahm have already begun work on legislation to shield the traditional pets of the Republican Party (primarily the Pentagon) from any of the "automatic cuts" that a failure of the supercommittee is supposed to trigger despite President Obama saying he would oppose any attempt to circumvent the agreed-upon measures.
The whole thing makes me want to vomit in rage. Especially when I hear idiot Republicans on the radio claiming that the Dems want to "tax the American economy" Um....no. They want to allow the insane Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans expire on schedule. The spin is so severe in Washington right now it's astonishing the entire population of the Potomac valley doesn't go skidding off in the Atlantic.
