Replies to post #203613 on Simply Politics & News (GOV)

[wall_rus]

Republicans Prioritize Their Rich Buddies Over Deficit, "Certainty," Principles

By Steve Benen | Washington Monthly
Posted on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 @ 09:53 AM

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/382397/republicans_prioritize_their_rich_buddies_over_deficit%2C_%22certainty%2C%22_principles/#paragraph4

When it comes to explaining the weak economy, Republicans have limited rhetorical options. They can't blame tax increases, because there haven't been any. They can't blame the recession that began in 2007 on Bush, since they still support his economic policies.

So they end up talking an awful lot about "uncertainty." Businesses would start hiring more aggressively, the argument goes, if entrepreneurs knew for sure what their tax rates would be going forward.

The argument has always been a fairly transparent sham. But in light of recent events, Jon Chait notes that the fight over tax policy represented "a perfect experimental study" of Republicans' "actual commitment to that principle."

Republicans wanted to end uncertainty by making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Democrats wanted to end uncertainty by making the tax cut on income below $250,000 permanent, while returning to Clinton-era tax rates on the rich. Neither had the votes for a permanent victory.

So, Republicans had a choice. They could accede to certainty with Clinton-era rates on the rich, or uncertainty with Bush-era rates on the rich. They chose uncertainty. The Bush-era rates will live on for two years, after which nobody knows if they'll be extended or not.

For those still clinging to any naive notion that Republicans meant this as anything more than a slogan, the answer is now clear. They want low tax rates for the rich. They don't care about certainty.

Well, no, of course not. It was always a rhetorical ploy -- unfortunately, a fairly effective one -- but it's not the least bit surprising that the "uncertainty" talk was a charade.

Indeed, the agreement's illustrative qualities don't end there. When Republicans aren't talking about the "uncertainty" they're supposedly desperate to address, the GOP is prioritizing deficit reduction above all. Indeed, it was a key conservative theme of the 2010 midterms.

But notice that, just as certainty was cast aside for uncertainty, so too was deficit reduction -- the tax policy agreement Republicans favor will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, all of which will be deficit financed.

Is it any wonder why it's hard to take the GOP's stated principles seriously?

[veloyt]

i agree and on top of that how much money is spent to go line by line and by how many groups. Government spends an enormous amount of funds creating agencies to police and analyze the very thing they are trying to cut. As americans we can not live high on the hog for the rest of our time without it costing some one money in the future. And the gov't needs to understand that the money supply is not endless.

[mlsoft]

kop...

I had an experience that I'll never forget when it comes to budgets and planning. Group project. It was a simple task, take the budget and cut 200 billion from it. Sounds easy.

When you take every line item and search and search. I can assure you it was one of the hardest tasks. In every case, any cut lost jobs, hurt the program, and even hurt or hindered help for people.

My point is, these programs must be looked at from a whole perspective, not individual. That's why it's broke. There are not 4 pies to take slices from, there is only one.

Frankly, that is nonsense, especially if you are talking about the federal budget. Cutting 200 Billion out of the federal budget would take about 5 minutes with some of the time being used for a coffee break. There are not just "4" slices of the pie to be trimmed, there are probably 40,000 slices that can be worked on -- virtually all can be cut, and many bloated bureaucracies can be completely eliminated.

The place to start is the Constitution, where it gives specific authority in some areas to the Federal Government, and then says that everything else is expressly the province of the individual states. Just by abiding by the Constitution would save enormous amounts of money and would be a gigantic first step to getting this nation back on the right track, not only economically, but socially and legally as well.

mlsoft