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Posted on 11/25/2012 11:04:56 AM PST by Moseley
America faces a Fiscal Cliff in January. Well, no, actually, it doesn’t. In politics, alarmist language – like elections – can have real consequences. Political spin can be deceitful. Shakespeare asked “What’s in a name? A rose is a rose is a rose. That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
This may be thought-provoking and controversial: Yet the Tea Party should embrace the “Fiscal Baby Step” coming on January 1, 2013. Republicans should do absolutely nothing and sit on their hands. One exception: When the next vote comes up to raise the debt limit, Republicans should vote against raising the debt limit. Then just let the consequences fall at the Democrats’ feet.
This vastly-misnamed “Fiscal Cliff” is the Tea Party’s friend. It was a condition we demanded in exchange for raising the debt ceiling in 2011. We insisted on it because conservatives wanted to ensure the national debt will be cut. Congress passed it in the Budget Control Act of 2011 as a fail-safe. The “Fiscal Cliff” was designed as a net under the trapeze artist, in case all other measures fail. Well, all other things did fail on November 6.
It is all we now have left. If we don’t cut the budget deficit, that will be the true fiscal cliff. The automatic 10% budget cuts from the Budget Control Act of 2011 may be our last remaining hope. Yet official Washington is hysterically attempting to avoid cutting the budget.
Next January’s “Fiscal Baby Step” has two parts:
(1) “Sequestration:” The Federal budget will automatically be cut by $110 billion in 2013 – cutting the federal deficit down from this year’s approximately $1.1 TRILLION to $0.9 TRILLION per year.
(2) The Bush tax cuts will expire. The tax increases could theoretically also raise additional tax revenue, but might not.
Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire is very bad public policy. But elections have consequences. Do we want the Bush tax cuts to expire? Absolutely not. But we do not have the ability to implement ideal policies.
So is it worth selling our soul? Most of the Bush tax cuts are as good as dead already, with Obama winning re-election as President, the Democrats controlling the U.S. Senate, and too many Republicans having the willies in their tummies and watery knees.
And more worrisome, Democrats want to extract damaging concessions from Republicans in return for avoiding the Fiscal Baby Step. I would never want a Republican to actually vote to raise those taxes. But now Republicans can simply stand back and do nothing. Refuse to be blackmailed.
Of course, next January’s Fiscal Baby Step is very, very far from a perfect solution. It is a total mess. But allowing it to occur is the best remaining course of action standing from where we find ourselves. In business, it has become a cliché to analyze the “Next Best Alternative.”
All government spending will be indiscriminately cut by 10% -- including defense. But what is the alternative? Failing to cut spending is truly going over a fiscal cliff.
Democrats are bluffing and posturing, as those fakers always do, trying to force Republicans to give up the ghost. But it is Democrats who have far more to lose than Republicans.
At midnight, Dec. 31, the payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare) holiday enacted under Obama will expire; emergency unemployment benefits will end, and the automatic spending cuts will cut domestic spending programs with which the Democrats buy votes. The $1,000 child care tax credit for poor parents will drop to $500. The alternative minimum tax which applies to 4 million people today, could ensnare nearly 30 million people, raising their tax bills by an average of $2,700. Keynesians, who believe that government spending drives the economy, predict a recession from lower spending.
But that will be Obama’s recession, and a Republican victory in the US Senate in 2014. In other words, the Democrats have far more to lose than Republicans do.
Would I knowingly choose a bad result for the nation for political gain? Hell no! Never! But we also have to acknowledge when we don’t have the ability to force the country to do what is right. Part of maturity is recognizing your limitations.
But Democrats are better poker players. They bluff. Republicans are atrocious at the political game. And Republicans lack courage.
Our nation’s leaders – chosen by its people – have failed to get our nation’s finances under control. Concerned conservatives search for some hope: What will fix it? Well, that’s why Republicans and Democrats reached a compromise to create the “Fiscal Cliff” in the first place – as insurance that the Federal budget will get cut one way or the other. The Tea Party and Republicans should depend upon it and embrace it – not run from it.
If they give in to blackmail, Republicans will once again destroy their identity and “brand” by adding their names and public support to bad public policy. When the car goes off the cliff, Republicans will have put their agreement and stamp of approval on Obama’s disastrous plans. Instead of being able to point to the Democrats after the crash and say “Don’t vote for them again,” Republicans will be part of the problem and seen as such
So, call the Democrats’ bluff. Don’t make a deal. Let the tax cuts expire.
A GPS unit will recalculate the best path from where you find yourself to where you want to go. You have to know where you are in order to know how to get from here to there.
But won’t Democrats and the media blame Republicans? Of course. But that is a constant. That will always be true no matter what we do. So it is not a relevant variable. If a factor exists, exactly the same, no matter which path you choose, than it is not relevant in deciding between various options.
There is no other way. Conservatives have to learn how to argue public policy in the public arena. There is no way to bob, dodge, or weave our way out of it. We have to learn to present and explain our positions in persuasive ways.
In Colorado, the Denver Post reports, welfare debit cards are being used for cash withdrawals by the supposedly “poor” at casino’s, strip clubs, etc.. The welfare programs are paying $1 million just in ATM fees alone at casinos, strip clubs, etc. The same experience is found in California, according to the Los Angeles Times, and in Oregon.
If Republicans cannot learn to persuade the public that government spending is out of control, with such an abundance of convincing material, nothing else can save the GOP. I would suggest that Republican operatives should quit and sell insurance. But even that requires making one’s case effectively.
Even though that will cost me higher taxes on dividends, I prefer the fiscal cliff. At least it will curb spending on borrowed money.
I fear that there is no other way for democrat voters to learn their lessons, and letting Obama and the democrat “leadership” take us into the “mother of all depressions” might be it.
Greece and Spain are in depression, yet, the people there still haven’t learned their lessons. so, a prolonged depression might be the best lesson before those people, and we, come to grip with reality.
I’ve been thinking the same thing since the beginning of this latest Kabuki dance. The best policy for the GOP is to just let this happen. They will be blamed for the fall out, but ultimately the Dem’s won the election, so whatever follows is on them.
Let's not forget that the MSM will not let this message get out. True, we have alternate media via the Internet, but there are still too many people who watch and believe what they hear from the likes of Sam Donaldson, Matt Lauer and Katie Couric.
Until someone with half a brain can take over one of these outlets and starts broadcasting the truth the mindless liberal masses out there will never hear of the mess we're in until the rioting, robberies and arsons start.
Agree? Disagree?
The GOP, with boner at the helm, will do everything possible to undermine itself. You can take that to the bank.
IMHO the GOP should agree to a tax increase for the rich in return for the cuts in spending. Result will be a rebellion by the Dems against the deal because they truly do not want cuts in entitlements. We keep forgetting the deal is not just tax increases, but also entitlement cuts. If the Dems try to modify the entitlement cut schedule, GOP has the pretext to back out of the deal by pointing out that they concede on taxes the Dems must make concessions also. Dem hardliners may argue that the GOP agreed to modified tax increases on the rich only, thus the Dems have the right to modify entitlement cuts. Problem is Dems now argue against sparing the middle class from tax increases???!!! If this game is played properly, the Dems can be hung on their own arguments. Obama gave the GOP an opening, I say take it and agree tax increases for rich. Now the Dems will gag over entitlement cuts and the mess they will be in as they try to squirm out of it.
It could cost me my job, but it is the only leverage we have.
I honestly believe these people will never, ever show the courage to turn off the fiscal spigot. And as a result, I do not care what they do..as I believe none of it will have an impact.
These idiots will do their best to kick the can down the road, while at the same time waving flags and flashing lights in order to distract the people.
Americans will wake up sometime next year to find China and Russia in charge and tel aviv, Damascus, and Cairo in smoldering heaps.
I love my country. I despise those in government so concerned with their personal reelection that they refuse to make changes. In the end there not a lot of alternatives, and none of them are good.
The only trouble with that is that it will be just like it was with Reagan and Bush I. GOP will raise taxes and Dems will promptly renege on spending cuts.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." --Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.Given that the states have never delegated to Congress via the Constitution the specific power to tax and spend for healthcare purposes, Congress has no Section 8 authority to establish or lay taxes for programs like Obamacare for example.
Next, here's my estimate for the ceiling of how much Section 8 should be costing taxpayers per year which I really don't see other patriots also questioning for some reason. Given the plurality of clauses in Section 8 are defense related, and given that the Department of Defense (DoD) budget for 2011 was $600+ billion, I will generously round the DoD annual budget for '11 up to $1 trillion, probably much less, as a rough estimate as to how much Section 8 should be costing taxpayers per year.
In other words, we shouldn't be hearing about multi-trillion dollar federal budgets that the corrupt media, including Fx News, is often reporting while ignoring Justice Marshall's case precedent in public policy discussions.
And for the record, I'm convinced that Fx News' silence about Section 8 and Justice Marshall's case precedent in conjunction with constitutionally indefensible federal taxing and spending programs like Obamacare is evidence that Fx is a part of the Left's propaganda machine.
Finally, speaking of Congress's constitutionally limited powers, below is third-party evidence that Congress is wrongly ignoring its Article V (Constitution) requirement to successfully petition the states to ratify amendments to the Constitution to grant Congress specific new powers. Such amendments are necessary to grant Congress the power to regulate, tax and spend for federal programs like Obamacare for example.
Regarding the evidence, consider that (former?) House member Jessie Jackson Jr. has been repeatedly proposing a resolution for a healthcare amendment for years. But govtrack.us notes that any proposal beginning with "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution," is wrongly ignored by Section 8-ignoring Congress (my wording).
"The resolution's title starts with "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United." (-10%)" --H.J.Res. 30: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding the right ...
Thanks for posting that link. And I did I watch parts of the video.
Regardless that the narrarator and people interviewed seemed genuinely concerned about the debt and government money policy, or lack thereof, I didn’t hear anything concerning Congress’s Article I, Section 8-limited powers or Justice John Mashall’s official clarification that Congress is prohibited from laying taxes in the name of state power issues.
Most constituents in both political parties are dependent on government for their incomes and will push against the spending cuts, but the spending cuts need to happen and shouldn’t be stopped.
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