my tea leaves reading of the obama presser / boner's 'plan b'

[unblock]

we're going over the "cliff".

neither obama's proposal nor boner's 'plan b' will go be agreed to or approved.

both sides are trying to show they're making concessions to the other side, so that they're both in a position to blame the other guy when no deal is reached.




discussions will continue and we will see a deal in the new congress. i imagine it will be done (not coincidentally) just prior to the state of the union address.


hopefully, with more democrats in congress, filibuster reform, and republicans whining about their january withholdings, it will be better than either plan, though i'm not particularly optimistic.

[gkhouston]

1. That's entirely possible, even likely. Here's the thing, though.

After we go over the cliff, I don't want to see that as an excuse to demand even deeper cuts in entitlements. They're trying to substitute ideology for math when addressing this problem. If they want to actually address the deficit, they need to honestly discuss what would work and how it would affect people. I'm not seeing a logical basis for assuming that spending cuts must be 1:1 with revenue increases, or that the entitlement programs should bear the brunt of those cuts.

[unblock]

2. republicans are never going to be big on logic.

they like to say things like "the government should never take more than 1/3rd of your income".

as if a 33.3333% marginal tax rate on adjusted gross income beyond a certain amount was some bright ethical line.



the ratio of tax side vs. spending side is just one more example of false equivalency. it's a 1:1 ratio only because democrats and republicans are equal partners. notwithstanding that obama won re-election and we picked up seats in both houses....

[global1]

3. I Am Now Of The Opinion That We Should Be Taken Off The Fiscal Cliff.....

Let all the tax cuts expire and then come back with the new Congress and put up a bill that tax cuts be reinstated for those with incomes under $250,000. Make the Repugs have to vote against that.

It's about time the Repugs come up to the plate and do something for this country. After all it was their doing - their reckless spending - their president - that got us into this mess we're in anyway. Either they do the right thing for this country or they should be made to pay for it.

There was all this strong rhetoric before the election as to what needs to be done and we will not compromise on the backs or the poor, the middle class, the students, the elderly and the sick. Now all of a sudden the election is over - and again we are the victims of 'bait and switch'.

There is no need to compromise with the Repugs.

So I'm for letting us go over the 'fiscal cliff'. Then lets see what the Repugs will do.