We may yet get a budget deal without a government shutdown, but it won’t be any credit to the Tea Party absolutists who see ANY compromise as a betrayal of their core principles. It will be because feckless Democrats caved on theirs. The last I heard, the Dems were so desperate for a deal they were considering selling out the EPA. They’ve already given way too much on so-called discretionary spending. The cuts will be painful to the poor, to schools, to women, to the unemployed, but not, of course, to the wealthy or to big corporations, who will not be asked to sacrifice in any way. Right now, a handful of Tea Party freshmen appear to be driving the entire GOP agenda, which must be driving Speaker Boehner nuts. He’s been around long enough to understand that compromise is how things get done, and that the Tea Party radicals will destroy his party’s advantage in short order if they insist on getting their way at all costs. I only hope the Democrats don’t bail him out by caving even more.
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They will. It’s what they do best.
The Dems should let the Republicans shut down the government, it worked out so well for the Republicans last time.
I’m not sure the Repubs had quite the propaganda machine that they do now.
Does anyone realize that taxes went up in 2010 for the middle class and down for the rich? The rich no longer have the phase outs they did before. The middle class lost the extra deductions for property taxes for those that don’t itemize. And does anyone care that the rich are getting richer and the middle class losing buying power?
I got a robocall from Huckabee last night. I thought he was supposed to be one of those Christians. “Here is how to repeal Health care reform” which is when I went “click” Where am I wrong?: “Remove health care from the work place. Rich pay with the repeal of tax cuts to the rich. Price of goods go down as health care is such a big part of employment costs. Better export prices. More jobs. More tax payers from the lower income people. More profit for the rich from their corporations. Goods are down for purchasing.” What is not to like? And why does no one stress the drop in goods cost such as groceries?
The plan put forth by Paul Ryan calls for a cut to upper-class taxes from 35% to 25%. If the plan is supposed to reduced the deficit and pay back our debt, doesn’t it make sense to NOT cut taxes for the rich by nearly a third? So much for reasonable fiscal conservatism.
I hope voters are paying attention. The Republicans took over the house and many state governments because people were still unhappy with the progress of the country and were scared about the economy. What the Republicans have done is use the opportunity to push their ideological social agenda and attack unions, Planned Parenthood and the EPA while stepping on the gas on their OLD economic ideas about cutting taxes for the rich and corporations as a “solution” to spur economic growth.
So we threw them out in 2006 and 2008 because of exactly this behavior, we gave them a chance in 2010 because the Democratic leadership was out of touch, and they have proven that they need to be thrown out again – and this time, to stay out.
I am completely supportive of having all voices heard and everyone at the table to address our significant challenges, but the country can not afford to have people at the table with fingers in their ears, chanting slogans, and refusing to make any compromises.