Gridlock already started.
Nov. 20th, 2010 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillNew York Times article here.
This part particularly caught my eye.
The tax breaks are particularly interesting. The tea party types, and the Republicans, say they want to reduce the deficit. Not once stimulus has made the economy healthy again, but right now. Okay, let the Repubs block extending the tax breaks for the middle class, as publicly as possible. Make sure everyone sees the Repubs do it. When the tax breaks expire--as planned by the Bush administration in what at the time appeared to be a cynical ploy to reduce the apparent long-term cost but can still, with adequate stewardship, be converted to an actual reduction in the long term cost--congratulate the Repubs on doing their part to solve the "deficit problem." Because it will--or at least it will be a significant step toward reducing the deficit.
They get some of what they want--a reduced deficit. We get some of what we want--people remembering just who is responsible for their economic woes. Everybody's happy.
Well, everybody except the unemployed, who won't be getting any extensions on unemployment in the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. And who won't be seeing the economy pick up anytime soon either, because that would require an economic stimulus that actually worked (CCC and WPA type stuff, where the government creates jobs by, you know, creating jobs) which the Repubs would never agree to.
Anyway, of course, this deficit reduction / truth plan would require that the Democrats actually 1) grow a spine 2) call out right-wing lies, clearly and consistently, all the time (requiring 1).
While I'm at it, I'd like a pony too, please.
Guys, if you have time or money to donate to food banks and organizations that help the poor; now would be a good time. Seriously. Because you may think things are bad now, but I think we're all about to learn what bad really is.
This part particularly caught my eye.
One week into a lame-duck session, Democrats have been unable to gain traction on their top priorities, leaving them casting about for ways to avoid a year-end pileup of expired tax breaks, exhausted jobless benefits and federal agencies running out of money.Seems to me you can't stop the Repubs from gridlocking, so make them fillibuster out in public, and make sure everyone knows who is responsible. What else can you do?
The tax breaks are particularly interesting. The tea party types, and the Republicans, say they want to reduce the deficit. Not once stimulus has made the economy healthy again, but right now. Okay, let the Repubs block extending the tax breaks for the middle class, as publicly as possible. Make sure everyone sees the Repubs do it. When the tax breaks expire--as planned by the Bush administration in what at the time appeared to be a cynical ploy to reduce the apparent long-term cost but can still, with adequate stewardship, be converted to an actual reduction in the long term cost--congratulate the Repubs on doing their part to solve the "deficit problem." Because it will--or at least it will be a significant step toward reducing the deficit.
They get some of what they want--a reduced deficit. We get some of what we want--people remembering just who is responsible for their economic woes. Everybody's happy.
Well, everybody except the unemployed, who won't be getting any extensions on unemployment in the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. And who won't be seeing the economy pick up anytime soon either, because that would require an economic stimulus that actually worked (CCC and WPA type stuff, where the government creates jobs by, you know, creating jobs) which the Repubs would never agree to.
Anyway, of course, this deficit reduction / truth plan would require that the Democrats actually 1) grow a spine 2) call out right-wing lies, clearly and consistently, all the time (requiring 1).
While I'm at it, I'd like a pony too, please.
Guys, if you have time or money to donate to food banks and organizations that help the poor; now would be a good time. Seriously. Because you may think things are bad now, but I think we're all about to learn what bad really is.
