I have to admit that I’m getting a tingle watching the Republicans circle down the drain. The GOP painted itself into a corner and are reaping the rewards of embracing their craziest extremes. We all know that Wall Street lowered the boom on the GOP but Kevin Drum got an email from an investment banker laying it out.
They said it was common knowledge that McConnell was taking very serious back-channel heat from Wall Street because the conclusion was that there was no reliable leadership in the House with Boehner unable to control his caucus and Cantor making his leadership play now. They view Boehner as out. In other words, McConnell is Wall Street’s only viable player and so he is taking all the calls. And those calls are not saying to insist upon cuts only come hell or high water. They are saying raise the F-Ing ceiling NOW.
Yeah, pretty much. A new poll from Gallup confirms that Republicans are out-of-step with the country. They are even out-of-step with their own party. Republican voters want a mixture of cuts and tax increases.
Few Americans, however, take the view that spending cuts alone should be made in a deal, with no tax increases at all. In fact, only 26 percent of the Republican voters surveyed in Gallup’s poll took that position, along with 20 percent of voters overall.
We can also use the Gallup poll to tease out what mix of tax increases and spending cuts the public would like to see in a deal. Assume that the people who told Gallup that they wanted “mostly” cuts would prefer a 3-to-1 ratio of spending reductions to tax increases, and that those who said they wanted mostly tax increases would prefer a 3-to-1 ratio in the opposite direction. (The other choices that Gallup provided in the poll — an equal mix of tax increases and spending cuts or a deal that consisted entirely of one or the other — are straightforward to interpret.)
The average Republican voter, based on this data, wants a mix of 26 percent tax increases to 74 percent spending cuts. The average independent voter prefers a 34-to-66 mix, while the average Democratic voter wants a 46-to-54 mix.
Republicans really missed a historic opportunity to get spending reduction on their terms but their anti-tax religion is getting in the way. I almost feel sorry for John Boehner for reaching his dream job as Speaker and then having to deal with the teajadis.
Wall Street is ratcheting up the pressure. Moody’s announced they are considering downgrading US debt.