The Gangsta of the United States.
Posted on 12/08/2012 6:20:45 AM PST by Kaslin
Republicans are divided. President Obama won't budge. And more and more, it looks like the fiscal-cliff deadline of Dec. 31 will be missed.
It's now clear that Team Obama wants higher tax rates and revenue-raising tax-deduction caps to meet their $1.6 trillion revenue target. Spending cuts and entitlement reforms are vague to nonexistent. In fact, it could be that Obama not only rejects the across-the-board budget sequester, but that he actively seeks to raise spending, not cut it.
I guess it stands to reason that if you puff up his $800 billion revenue increase from last year, and double it to $1.6 trillion this year, the money will be spent. The government will grow larger.
All this should be unacceptable to the GOP.
Sen. Rand Paul, who may have the best idea, told me in an interview this week that he's prepared to pin the tail on Obama's tax-and-spend donkey. "In the Senate," Paul said, "I'm happy not to filibuster it, and I will announce tonight on your show that I will work with Harry Reid to let him pass his big old tax hike, with a simple majority, if that's what Harry Reid wants, because then they will become the party of high taxes, and they can own it."
Other conservatives in the Senate and House agree with Paul. And some House members are talking about a "doomsday" scenario, or what might be called a strategic retreat. Just vote present on the Democrats' tax bill to extend middle-class tax cuts and raise tax rates on income and investment.
A couple dozen other Republicans have signed a bipartisan letter suggesting flexibility on tax rates in return for some kind of entitlement reform -- perhaps moving the top rate from 36 percent to 37 or 38 percent, less than the 39.6 percent Clinton rate, and possibly raising the so-called rich people's threshold to $500,000 or $700,000 from $250,000. But with a vague and un-budging Team Obama, this sounds like a triumph of hope over experience.
The most valiant guy in this process is Speaker John Boehner. He's still trying to cut a deal that would extend all marginal tax rates, including for the upper brackets (he is absolutely determined to prevent an increase in top marginal tax rates, which would really damage the economy), in return for a cap on tax deductions. That would raise roughly $800 billion in revenues, hitting upper-end taxpayers but leaving the middle class alone.
It's like a halfway tax reform, since marginal rates would not be flattened. But it would do less harm to the economy because tax-rate incentives necessary for growth would not be damaged.
The Boehner plan has stalled. And some conservatives are criticizing the speaker for permitting any tax hikes at all. In an anemic recovery, transferring $800 billion in revenues from private hands to the government will do some damage.
Of course, Boehner is trying to leverage this for significant spending cuts and entitlement reforms. It's a worthy objective, but he's just not making headway.
Conservatives shouldn't be so hard on Boehner. He's trying to deal with post-election realities and sincerely believes voters want a compromise. Worth noting: Prominent conservative House leaders, like Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan, are standing behind Boehner.
On the other hand, senior House leadership aides are not happy with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Apparently, McConnell and Majority Leader Harry Reid are ready to do a two-stage deal if the Boehner-Obama talks collapse. The first stage would extend middle-class tax rates and somehow compromise on upper-end rates. Then a process would be set up to produce spending cuts to replace the sequester. But House aides regard this as a nonstarter -- one that could even undermine the Boehner-Obama talks.
Here's the really big principle in all this: Why raise taxes at all in the worst economic recovery going back to 1947? Tax hikes and larger government are economic deterrents.
Furthermore, the whole world is talking taxes rather than spending cuts. What happened to the $1.2 trillion sequester? And what happened to the idea of $4 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax revenues? Some scorekeepers believe Obama's plan raises taxes more than it cuts spending. Not exactly what Simpson-Bowles had in mind. Or even Ronald Reagan, who back in 1982 was promised 3-to-1 spending cuts over revenue increases. He didn't remotely get it.
As an old Reagan supply-sider who believes in the flat tax and strictly limited government, none of this makes sense in terms of promoting economic growth, jobs and prosperity. But the key tactical point is that all these machinations seem unlikely to meet the Dec. 31 deadline for tax extensions and sequester budget cuts.
That may not be the end of the world. But it shows how dysfunctional Washington remains.
Rand Paul’s idea is the best, just vote present. Let the Democrats have their way. The Republicans aren’t going to get anything meaningful from the Democrats and the Democrats will use them as the scapegoat for anything that goes wrong.
The Gangsta of the United States.
1. Go over the cliff. Ignore the MSM.
2. Wait for the request for raising the debt limit. Ignore the MSM.
3. Link the tax rates issue to the debt limit issue. Ignore the MSM.
4. Reduce tax rate retrospectively to Jan 1. Ignore the MSM.
5. Introduce budget REDUCTIONS. Ignore the MSM.
6. PROCEED. Ignore the MSM.
I think the only reason Obama is even playing the negotiation game is so he doesn't get any blame when we go over the cliff (like the liberal media would ever let that happen anyway). Even if the Republicans accepted flat out everything he asked for in his ridiculous proposal, he would quickly raise the bar, because he doesn't want a deal.
“Instead let’s join them.
Let us cut taxes on everyone under 250,000 and cut them even more than the democrats. And let’s give them the tax increases on the wealthy. We could even cut everyone’s taxes (under 250k) to nearly zero.
Republicans want low taxes, and less spending. Democrats want high taxes and more spending.
So let’s give everyone under 250k low taxes, maybe even really low taxes, maybe even zero taxes. Let’s tax the rich a little more, maybe 5 % more.”
Brilliant my dear Watson, absolutely brilliant.
Fixed. And Ryan's entitled to one mistake.
I was just saying to hubby last night that if my wonderful dad could see what is in the WH he just wouldn’t believe it. Every time I see that photo my stomach turns. Oh, how I despise this piece of filth.
“Sen. Rand Paul, who may have the best idea, told me in an interview this week that he’s prepared to pin the tail on Obama’s tax-and-spend donkey. “In the Senate,” Paul said, “I’m happy not to filibuster it, and I will announce tonight on your show that I will work with Harry Reid to let him pass his big old tax hike, with a simple majority, if that’s what Harry Reid wants, because then they will become the party of high taxes, and they can own it.””
Rand Paul is right.
Perhaps the best course for the Republicans would be to just step back, and tell the ‘rats (and the country):
“OK, you won. We recognize that, and we aren’t going to try to stop you. You claim that you have the solutions to the nation’s problems, and that our suggestions are worthless. Fine. Do anything you want. We will not interfere, but we will not be a part of it. It’s up to YOU to fix things.”
And when the ‘rat legislation is put up to a vote, they should vote “present” to the last Republican, or not vote at all.
(Didn’t Hank Rearden make a similar case at his trial in Atlas Shrugged?)
Exactly don. He fully intends to drive off the fiscal cliff in order to steal more property and rights. It is amusing to see how he has shifted so much of the blame to congress and even to republicans. People spend more time condemning congress then the hitler in the WH, even going so far as to have our own people at the throats of their own Republican Party. No one is perfect, but the head of this evil hatred for America is the Kenyan pig, Obama.
Strategy?
WHAT strategy??
WHEEEE DON’ NEED NO STEEENKING STRATEGY!!!!
We jus’ surrender, is all.
We’s RINOs, after all.
Friend in HOnolulu, says Bo was major drug dealer in HS.
Hate to say it but I think you are %110 correct.
I believe what we are seeing is the new reality of PR/media is way more important that facts.
Obama has convinced a majority of Americans that his message is the correct one. The fault is laid square at the feet of the GOP. If they balk at the fiscal cliff it’s their fault. If they embrace it, it’s their fault. No matter what it is a win for team Obama.
Four years of it’s Bush’s fault is now being substituted for it’s the GOP’s fault. No matter the outcome it will still be the fault of the GOP one way or another.
Obama can now do whatever he wants to because it’s the fault of the GOP.
The media is buying it so soon the people will also.
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