“Our Economy is in Danger”
The Teapublicans are in charge of the House of Representatives which really only points out that Americans have a shorter attention span than Floyd from True Romance. And now the GOP is about to spread misery to the poor and the middle class. Bob Herbert writes:
You just can’t close the door on this crowd. The party that brought us the worst economy since the Great Depression, that led us into Iraq and the worst foreign policy disaster in American history, that would like to take a hammer to Social Security and a chisel to Medicare, is back in control of the House of Representatives with the expressed mission of undermining all things Obama.
Some more from Herbert:
This is a party that has mastered the art of taking from the poor and the middle class and giving to the rich. We should at least be clear about this and stop being repeatedly hoodwinked — like Charlie Brown trying to kick Lucy’s football — by G.O.P. claims of fiscal responsibility.
And this:
We’ll see and hear a lot of populist foolishness from the Republicans as 2011 and 2012 unfold, but their underlying motivation is always the same. They are about making the rich richer.
Oh yeah, the quote on in the title, that was said by George W. Bush in September 2008. Remember that? Probably not.
Tags: Republican Crazy, Teapublicans
The party that brought us the worst economy since the Great Depression, that led us into Iraq and the worst foreign policy disaster in American history, that would like to take a hammer to Social Security and a chisel to Medicare, is back in control of the House of Representatives…
As centrists/moderates/pragmatists are fond of saying, “there is plenty of blame to go around.”
As bad as the Republican agenda is, the opposition is signing onto the Republican agenda one crucial item at a time. Unfortunately the horrible Republican agenda is now a bipartisan agenda. At the moment the Democrats are the owners and loving caretakers of the Republican agenda.
Democrats have surrendered and merged with Republicans on the issues of public health care and progressive taxation, key factors driving the downward slide of the middle and working class for the last ten years. There really is no end in sight for these destructive policies. And now we are waiting for the other shoe to drop on Social Security and austerity.
There is no policy in the pipeline that might even remotely have a chance at restoring the middle class. Both parties now are trying to habituate us to a permanent acceptance of a lower standard of living.
There is a possibility that the natural resiliency of the US economy will allow the middle class to recover somewhat over time, even while the rich continue to get richer. But that would mean the pie would have to get bigger. And if the rich see a bigger pie, they won’t rest until they increase their share even more.
As we have seen over the last decade, any asset accumulated by the middle class becomes a target for the rich to take away from you: Your ownership of your house, your pension, your wage, is just temporary and illusory, given current policy.
If we have given up on health care, progressive taxation, and Social Security – Will the last Democrat left please turn out the lights?
anon wrote Democrats have surrendered and merged with Republicans on the issues of public health care . . .
Seriously, you have no grasp of reality.
Who has no grasp of reality?
Universal health care – off the table from the get-go.
Public option – Democrats kneeled down on 4th and goal.
Expanded Medicare – off the table.
Negotiated drug prices – off the table.
Privatized delivery of health care – FULL AGREEMENT
The fight over HCR repeal is a sham – heads Republicans win, tails Democrats lose:
– If HCR is repealed, health care is controlled by private insurance companies. GOP WIN!!
– If HCR is NOT repealed, health care is controlled by private insurance companies. GOP WIN!!
Do you think they are serious about repealing HCR? It is just a stunt vote to keep the Teabaggers at bay.
anon, you might not be happy with all of health care reform, but there would have been NO health care reform without Obama and the Democrats.
there would have been NO health care reform without Obama and the Democrats.
The jury is still out on whether this is a good thing or not. There are now 50 million uninsured. It’s not a win until people start getting health care.
I’m willing to keep an open mind, considering the major portions don’t kick in until 2014.
But ironically, the battle to win HCR might contain the seeds of its own destruction. Obama chose to use his one shot at reconciliation to pass HCR rather than his economic plan. And without reconciliation, the Obama economic plan failed in the Senate (while Obama winked at Dem defectors and flew to Afghanistan). Then to add insult to injury, instead of stopping there, Obama signed a Republican economic plan.
So as a result of prioritizing HCR over the economic plan, we are now staggering toward 2014 with the economy still operating under Bushonomics and the resulting lack of jobs and wage growth. With that underlying economy, Obama will very likely not make it to 2014. And a Republican president will figure out a way to stop HCR.
So in other words, the way in which we passed HCR might guarantee that it never gets implemented.
nemski, We didn’t get health care reform. The democrats blinked. They had the chance to pass anything, and they passed almost nothing. It is a crime.
Come to sussex county and you will see how bad health care can get, and then you will see why the reform is a joke.
Down here most of the doctors use the same billing service, which has basically advised the doctors to stop accepting assignment on any government insurance where they have the option to not accept the full assignment.
Not only is it turning into price fixing, but it is basically rationing by the doctors.
The real sad part is that Beebe will accept assignment, but the doctors who bill seperately from the hospital do not.
Our Economy is in Danger, and health care will bring it down. Federal money is subsidizing the private health care profits, yet people on government insurance are being targeted.
This is the Not Grasping reality:
Universal health care – off the table from the get-go. You should take that up with the President, Delaware Congressman and Delaware Senators who promised you that in their campaigns.
Public option – Democrats kneeled down on 4th and goal Lovely imagery, but not having 60 votes is not having 60 votes. And while you spent your time railing at President Obama (who would have signed off on a public option), the opposition was making sure that 60 votes were not possible.
Expanded Medicare – off the table This was a late in the game effort to try to get something close to a public option.
Negotiated drug prices – off the table. True, but the $80B pledged by the pharmaceuticals pay for the 50% decrease in donut hole costs.
Privatized delivery of health care – FULL AGREEMENT Which, I hate to tell you, is what we’ve always had and what a fair number of people still want (at least those with some coverage now).
It is really tiresome to relitigate the same BS, when you — David Anderson-style — never, ever are able to look at the playing field in a clear-eyed way. Because reality is in the possible — not in what you’ve fantasized to be true.
The point was that Dems are aligning with Republicans on key policies at an increasing rate. Thank you for sharing your list of rationalizations though.
One good rationalization deserves another. Pity you can’t reach the *good* part.