The Dem’s Agenda 22
1) Allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire.
2) Reinstate the middle class tax cuts separately as the “Obama tax cuts”
3) If blocked by GOP house, vote them out in 2014.
4) If not blocked by GOP house members, vote them out in 2014 anyway.
I can live with that. Good agenda.
Also let the sequesters happen, including defense. All of this would be much easier to sort out at the bottom of the fiscal cliff than at the top. Fuck people who whine about recession; the CBO reports the recession would be shallow and last only two quarters, and besides we’d fix it in January so the recession wouldn’t happen anyway. It would only increase the pressure on Repubs to agree with the Democratic solution in January.
Republicans killed Democrats (and the economy) for twelve years by coupling middle class tax cuts with tax cuts for the rich. After expiration we can easily decouple taxes, and then we can pull the same shit on them by coupling defense spending increases with domestic spending increases.
Tell ’em: “You want defense increases? Fine, here’s your homeowner rescue package and investments in education – sign here.”
yeah, the Republicans have an uphill battle here. Obama doesn’t have to stand for election again and the tax cuts expire if they do nothing.
Also, this is not the first time Obama has had Republicans over a barrel. Remember when business leaders were going to swoop in to make the GOP House agree to tax increases to extend the debt ceiling? Remember when Boehner said he would vote for the middle-class only tax cut extension, if that was the only choice? Good times.
So now they are over an even bigger barrel on taxes and spending simultaneously. In fact Republicans are now irrelevant to taxes and spending, unless Obama once again bestows relevance upon them.
Is the GOP’s current predicament the last two minutes of the long game? Eleven-dimensional checkmate? Or did Obama just improvise and stumble into it? Does Obama know what to do with it now?
“Is the GOP’s current predicament the last two minutes of the long game? Eleven-dimensional checkmate? Or did Obama just improvise and stumble into it? Does Obama know what to do with it now?”
Yes.
Look at Ben being all positive and fired up! 😉
In fact Republicans are now irrelevant to taxes and spending, unless Obama once again bestows relevance upon them.
As long as the filibuster rules are in place, they are not quite irrelevant yet. And you better hope that Manchin or the Louisiana chick won’t want to join the GOP on the taxes thing. A bet I certainly would not take.
And I think that if I were Obama, I’d not pay attention to the Bush tax cuts — just let them go.
Boehner was everyplace this AM talking about tax reform, so I think I’d start with a tax reform package and use sequestration items as negotiating chips. It is the sequestration portion of the fiscal cliff that is poised to do the larger economic damage.
Pandora…. since you brought it up, all my fear was misplaced and crazy and ive never been happier to be wrong. I half-bought the polling BS and half thought there would be cheating which equaled certainty that Romney would win. I gotta say, my expectations were so low, that the cascade of good news all night was one hell of an emotional trip.
All that said, we still have a GOP controlled house, and my skepticism remains. this coming tax/budget fight will show what Obama and the Dems learned from the past 4 years. They should be campaigning for public support for legislation the way they campaign for office.
All of my darkest fears welled up in me when Romney failed to concede and Rove came on to object to Ohio being called for Obama. I was sitting in an airport bar, envisioned Florida and Ohio recounts descending into chaos with court battles morphing into riots.
All praise to Vishnu and Nate Silver that it didn’t happen. My plane began boarding just after Romney finished his speech.
Where the hell were you fleeing to? And where are you now?
I was at a conference and forgot to get my absentee ballot in time, so (to my eternal shame) I never voted. Don’t tell anyone, but I am one of the four “no” votes in that poll up there.
Let the sequesters–especially Defense–happen.
I vote for the sequesters to happen.
Except I think that the political energy to get rid of them is about the most bipartisan thing we’ll see in the next 4 years. If bargaining chips are needed, this is where I’d start. Because I think they will try to chip away at them anyway.
But I think that legislators who whine about reducing spending and reducing deficits need to be called out for the hypocrites they are on this thing. Letting the Bush tax cuts go and the sequesters happen actually achieve some of their goals.
“As long as the filibuster rules are in place, they are not quite irrelevant yet.”
Fortunately the laws providing sequester and automatic tax cut expiration are already passed and are filibuster-proof.
Indeed. But it doesn’t stop them from taking other stuff hostage. But I’m sure I’ll have occasion to remind you of this.
Whatever Obama does, he should do it soon.
The 2014 Senate races look like a disaster waiting to happen for the Dems.
Maybe Patty Murray has another white rabbit in her hat??
After two cycles of teabags giving the Democrats Senate seats as gifts, I don’t think they are stupid enough to give us a third pass.
“Whatever Obama does, he should do it soon.”
Starting in January, that is. We’ll get a better deal at the bottom of the fiscal cliff than at the top.
“After two cycles of teabags giving the Democrats Senate seats as gifts, I don’t think they are stupid enough to give us a third pass.”
I don’t think they can stop themselves. Can you imagine a Don Ayotte or a David Anderson looking at a wacko teabag running in a Senate primary and saying “Nah, he’s unelectable – too conservative.”
Krugman on the fiscal cliff:
I can’t see Ayotte or Anderson saying that, but I could see a Dave Burris type getting his shit together enough at this point to make a difference.