In a perfect world, we would have sorted this fiscal cliff situation out last week. I mean it’s not like this isn’t something that both parties knew was coming. They in fact voted for it last year and the sequestration and tax hikes were designed to be so horrible that no one in their right mind on either party would even consider letting it happen. Unfortunately the same extremists with their all or nothing approaches that got us into this mess in the first place are still there. The fact is that think tanks and both parties have been debating FOR DECADES about tax code and entitlement reform. There is nothing new being said about anything and now is the time to make a decision and to compromise.
We have seen the deficit reduction plans from Simpson-Bowles and the Gang of Six to the Grand Bargain all the way to the Super-Committee fail because the absolutists on either sides have decided that the balanced plans weren’t good enough. We’ve seen how this plays out and it’s time for people to suck it up and do what we elected them to! Democrats and Republicans listening to their all or nothing colleagues is exactly what lead to us having a downgrade in our credit rating.
Lobbyists like Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform pledge has for whatever reason put nothing short than the fear of God into Republicans who have even considered crossing the aisle in an effort to compromise. You know who gives money to Americans for Tax Reform? From 2008 to 2011, the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for oil and gas companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil, gave $525,000 to Americans for Tax Reform. In a 2011 giving report, General Electric made a contribution of $50,000 to Norquist’s foundation that year. Consider that—GE gave more to Norquist in 2011 than it paid the IRS for income taxes in 2010, a year the corporation made $14.2 billion in profits.
Republic Report noted last summer, Norquist’s foundation regularly receives large payments from the pharmaceutical lobby group PhRMA—and Norquist deviates from his market values to oppose efforts to import cheaper Medicare drugs from Canada. Ironic? Early in the Obama administration, Norquist sent a letter to FedEx, demanding that the company back off of an anti-UPS campaign website it hosted to fight off a measure that would enable FedEx employees to join a union. It was a surprising move for a conservative like Norquist, who has praised draconian efforts to curb organizing rights in states like Wisconsin. Yet it’s less surprising given the fact that UPS, through its charitable foundation, gave Americans for Tax Reform $25,000 only months prior to the letter. Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to House Republicans urging them to cut deeper into the anti-trust division’s budget at the Department of Justice, the same unit pursuing Microsoft in a high-stakes legal case. Microsoft paid Norquist $40,000 as a registered lobbyist.
Paul Krugman, a liberal writer for the New York Times, wrote that the president should “just say no, and go over the cliff if necessary” instead of participate in what he describes as an economic “hostage-taking” approach to negotiation by the GOP. He goes on to say that nothing bad will happen a few weeks or months into 2013 so there’s time to bargain, “Stand your ground, Mr. President, ad don’t give in to threats. No deal is better than a bad deal.” Did you hear that? Yes, that was exactly what you thought it was. That my dear readers was the sound of a mouse pissing on cotton. No deal is better than a bad deal? Please read my previous posts that really only touched the surface level of what could happen if we don’t make a deal. Bottom line…no deal and the shit is hitting the fan and smacking all of us in the face. Our country’s credit rating will decrease, people will be fired, companies will not be hiring, consumer confidence will be shot. The next recession is at hand! The sad thing is he’s not the first liberal to suggest this. Some say let us go over the cliff then the first week the president will make a motion to pass a bill cutting taxes for everyone except the top 2% and bingo we win!
Everyone knows how a reasonable compromise works. We all know what this looks likes; spending cuts, revenue increase and entitlement reform. A last minute deal or patch job is better than nothing. The sequestrations are the elephants in the room for a lot of government workers. Don’t spend too much for Christmas because come January 1st you may not have a job. The fact of the matter is we have a president who for the last two years campaigned and won on the idea of raising taxes on the wealthy. The Republicans need to accept this and realize that more people in exit polls voted agreeing with this policy than who voted for our actual president. Give the people what they want!
| Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma |
Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma made the most sense out of anyone in his party when said that the GOP should focus on the greater good and make sure that the lower tax rates don’t expire on 98% of Americans at year’s end. Unfortunately his comment was seen as treason! What are the exact numbers that Republicans are fussing over? During the Clinton and almighty demi-God Reagan’s terms in office the tax rate for the top 2% was at 39%. Bush brought the rates down to 35%.
I could be stingy and stick to my guns and say well if it was good for Reagan and Clinton it’s damn sure good for you now. But common sense says that in a compromise you actually….you know, compromise. Close these loopholes the Republicans keep mentioning and then increase the tax rate by 2% to 37% and then an addition half a percentage point after 2 years while you reform the tax code or keep it at 37% and try and gain more leverage in the medicare and defense spending cuts! BOOM!
Unfortunately, we have a Congress that has decided that if their party can’t rule, they will ruin. If they aren’t the ones bringing in all of the success and achieving the glory they will try their hardest to sabotage at the expense of our country and our livelihoods. Years from now in American History books I hope the historians name this Congress something befitting of their clandestine and deplorable behavior. Only expletives come to my mind at the moment so I’ll leave this task to someone wittier.
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