Chained CPI is all a show

[jmowreader]

As is Plan B and all the other fiscal cliff stuff that's come out in the last week or so.

The teabaggers want to repeal Obamacare, both because they hate it and because they know its repeal will neuter the president: if he will roll over on his signature achievement he has no principles.

There are enough teabaggers that any Republican response to the cliff has to be tea friendly - by the time the less-baggy congress comes in we'll be over the cliff, and Allen West would be very happy to trash the place on their way out.

So our president's choices are:
1. Repeal his most important law and destroy any chance of getting anything else
2. Not repeal it and watch Michele Bachmann and her lame duck teabagger allies push the U.S. over the clifg

Anything Obama gives to the GOP now is simply his attempting to put blame where it belongs. After the baggers push they will point to the president and say, "it's his fault. If only he would have compromised for the good of the country..."

[Autumn]

1. Another choice Obama has is to let the tax cuts expire

Show the republicans they fucking lost and get over it. Embrace the cliff so to speak. A lot of us have already gone over it.

[Report1212]

2. Exactly, there is no cliff

It's another hyped up creation

[MNBrewer]

3. The Bush tax cuts were a bad idea. Let them expire.

Lots of stuff enacted during that era should go, including the PATRIOT Act. The Bush era should be erased as much as possible.

[Autumn]

6. Exactly!!!

[tazkcmo]

5. Yup

I fell off in '08 and had to sell all my tools (construction) just to eat. Got about a quarter of their value.

[phantom power]

4. Remember, going over the "cliff" is a perfectly good option.

The GOP wants us to all be afraid of the "cliff" - the only people that need to be afraid of it is them, *not* us.

[unblock]

8. sure, if you enjoy recessions.

the economy still needs deficit spending to keep it afloat.
we're not in a position to have a giant anti-stimulus package, which is what the "cliff" amounts to.

were the shrub tax cuts stupid? hell yes, and they should go away, but with a phase-out. say, for income over $250,000 now, income over $100,000 next year, and entirely the year after. in fact even higher taxes on the upper brackets wouldn't be a bad idea either, not that that's remotely on the table....

but what i think is most damaging to the economy would be the across-the-board spending cuts. long-term, deficits need to get under control, but short-term, we need, if anything, MORE spending, not less. and this will affect jobs and benefits for those in need.


BOTH parties will come under INTENSE pressure if we go over the cliff. republicans might well feel the pain earlier as withholding affects the first paycheck in january, whereas the federal bureaucracy might be able to cushion the impact of spending cuts temporarily. but eventually everyone will be howling.

as a matter of (cynical) negotiating, obama should not be afraid to resolve this in late january. our slightly improved congressional makeup wouldn't hurt.

but if it goes beyond that, everyone loses.

[pscot]

7. Trying to defend the indefensible

leads to this kind of muddled thinking. I feel your pain.

[Johonny]

9. Isn't the whole thing a show?

The Republicans have for 2 years shown no ability to govern the nation. This Republican lead house is an absolute joke. Signing a no brainer lame duck tax hike solution friendly to the white house should have been easy for even the worst speaker of the house. I am having a hard time being convinced the Republicans are capable of controlling their caucus enough to negotiate any sort of grand compromise. I mean they are having a hard enough time passing the most basic part of the deal that you would think is the easiest sell, a tax extension of the Bush tax cuts for those below (X) number. Republicans have been unable to push a tax cut through their own party. I mean it is freaking amazing how much suck is elected to office these days!!!!