I Guess the Deficit Doesn't Really Matter

[jsteele]

Obama and the Republicans just agreed to a tax plan that will add over $300 billion to the national debt. We had better not hear the word "deficit" come out of the mouths of any of them again. Life is good in America if you are an investment banker or a millionaire. But, if you are a government worker, you get a pay freeze. Next step is to unleash Alan Simpson on social security. I'm so glad we elected that Marxist, Obama.

[Anonymous]

I completely agree. Most disappointing is the legislation regarding the estate tax. What a joke!

[Anonymous]

The only saving grace is hopefully this will come back to kick the Republicans in the ass 2 years from now. This is so absurb, criminal, to give tax breaks to the most wealthy but not extend unemployment benefits. Yes, I know the benefits were extended but not because of the Republicans. Obama has lost my vote in 2012.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:The only saving grace is hopefully this will come back to kick the Republicans in the ass 2 years from now. This is so absurb, criminal, to give tax breaks to the most wealthy but not extend unemployment benefits. Yes, I know the benefits were extended but not because of the Republicans. Obama has lost my vote in 2012.

This is a twofer for the Republicans. They will take credit for the tax cuts but blame Obama for the deficit. The Democrats are inept beyond belief.

[Anonymous]

Listening to the DCUMers now is like listening to Freepers in fall/winter 2008 ... "if only Bush had been MORE conservative, we'd have all been ok."

The guy saying Obama's lost her/his vote ... LMAO. So you'd rather see Palin? Suuuure.

Get over the butthurt. The Dems failed to make an noticeable improvement in the malaise, so the Republicans won large numbers of seats.

Throw in the de facto 60-vote requirement to get anything passed in the Senate, and you have a recipe for endless negotiating. We all know President Christie will be stymied by Democrats in the Senate in 2013.

Never mind that past Congress was probably one of the most productive in history. More, more, more!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, this is just like when Reagan got elected after campaigning against the deficit and then ran up a HUGE deficit. Crazy!

[Anonymous]

Bush II was never really blamed for how his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts caused huge deficits. Have Obama's staff learned nothing? This is a lose-lose for the dems.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only saving grace is hopefully this will come back to kick the Republicans in the ass 2 years from now. This is so absurb, criminal, to give tax breaks to the most wealthy but not extend unemployment benefits. Yes, I know the benefits were extended but not because of the Republicans. Obama has lost my vote in 2012.

This is a twofer for the Republicans. They will take credit for the tax cuts but blame Obama for the deficit. The Democrats are inept beyond belief.

Yep, you're right. Same thought I had last night. The kicker is he won't stand up for himself, get mad, and scream the truth.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Listening to the DCUMers now is like listening to Freepers in fall/winter 2008 ... "if only Bush had been MORE conservative, we'd have all been ok."

The guy saying Obama's lost her/his vote ... LMAO. So you'd rather see Palin? Suuuure.

Get over the butthurt. The Dems failed to make an noticeable improvement in the malaise, so the Republicans won large numbers of seats.

Throw in the de facto 60-vote requirement to get anything passed in the Senate, and you have a recipe for endless negotiating. We all know President Christie will be stymied by Democrats in the Senate in 2013.

Never mind that past Congress was probably one of the most productive in history. More, more, more!

Nice rant. Now explain how adding over $300 to the national debt solves the deficit crisis. Remember, last week the deficit was the most important thing ever.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listening to the DCUMers now is like listening to Freepers in fall/winter 2008 ... "if only Bush had been MORE conservative, we'd have all been ok."

The guy saying Obama's lost her/his vote ... LMAO. So you'd rather see Palin? Suuuure.

Get over the butthurt. The Dems failed to make an noticeable improvement in the malaise, so the Republicans won large numbers of seats.

Throw in the de facto 60-vote requirement to get anything passed in the Senate, and you have a recipe for endless negotiating. We all know President Christie will be stymied by Democrats in the Senate in 2013.

Never mind that past Congress was probably one of the most productive in history. More, more, more!

Nice rant. Now explain how adding over $300 to the national debt solves the deficit crisis. Remember, last week the deficit was the most important thing ever.

It doesn't, not one bit, unless these tax rates will magically stimulate hiring in 2011 when they did not in 2004-07.

Now, demonstrate how anything I said up there is untrue. The Democrats didn't make a noticeable improvement in the malaise, so the Dem base got discouraged, and the GOP base decided that this time, tax cuts would solve all our problems.

[Anonymous]

The problem being that there seems to be no adult supervision nor rational approach to things over there on the R side. If the deficit and the debt matter (which I really think they do - particularly the latter) then we can't keep handing out money hand over fist. The only good thing to like about the deal is that it's only for 2 years, as a stimulus should be.

For the love of God though at some point we actually have to get serious abotu the deficit and debt and that means both taxes and - more imporantly considering what's going to be driving the astronomical increase in the deficits in the very very near future - Medicare/Medicard changes. Cuts in everythign else may be useful to help balance thigns but if we don't figure out how to get an actual handle on the health care costs eating our budget alive, they will crowd out everything else. Unfortunately, decisions like approving the cancer drug that extends life 3 months for $90,000 (!!!) are not taking us in the right direction. We need to recognize that we can't keep writing a blank check on health care costs.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Now, demonstrate how anything I said up there is untrue. The Democrats didn't make a noticeable improvement in the malaise, so the Dem base got discouraged, and the GOP base decided that this time, tax cuts would solve all our problems.

First, I don't think that you can fairly say that the GOP base strongly supported extending all the tax cuts. According to this poll:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20024494-503544.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Only 46% of Republicans supported extending all tax cuts versus 41% that supported only extending the cuts below $250.000. This was an issue with the GOP leadership, not the GOP base.

I think that all liberals understood that Obama came into office facing huge problems that were not of his making. Nobody expected him to change everything over night. What they did expect, however, was an honest effort. Instead, we saw capitulation after capitulation. Take health care. When Obama had his famous roundtable which was supposed to include all players, he didn't invite single-payer supporters. That alternative was never given a voice in the subsequent negotiations. As a result, the "far left" position in the healthcare debate became the public option. Obama, dutifully gave that up and, as a result, we have healthcare reform that primarily benefits the insurance industry. Just wait until the mandate kicks in and people are forced to become customers of Aetna, UHC, and the like. You think people are turning against Obama now, but you haven't seen anything.

That sort of self-defeating method of negotiations is not an exception, but a hallmark of the Obama administration. As is collapsing in helplessness at the first sign of Republican opposition while turning on his liberal supporters. When did an Obama admin official ever refer to Republicans as "fucking retards" or suggest that Republicans should be drug tested? And, let me tell you, it was not for lack of opportunity.

The left is not dispirited because Obama and the Democrats didn't make an improvement in the malaise. We are dispirited because they didn't try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem being that there seems to be no adult supervision nor rational approach to things over there on the R side. If the deficit and the debt matter (which I really think they do - particularly the latter) then we can't keep handing out money hand over fist. The only good thing to like about the deal is that it's only for 2 years, as a stimulus should be.

For the love of God though at some point we actually have to get serious abotu the deficit and debt and that means both taxes and - more imporantly considering what's going to be driving the astronomical increase in the deficits in the very very near future - Medicare/Medicard changes. Cuts in everythign else may be useful to help balance thigns but if we don't figure out how to get an actual handle on the health care costs eating our budget alive, they will crowd out everything else. Unfortunately, decisions like approving the cancer drug that extends life 3 months for $90,000 (!!!) are not taking us in the right direction. We need to recognize that we can't keep writing a blank check on health care costs.

The problem is that we, the public, are the adults, but we act like children. We want it all and want it paid for but we don't want to do the paying. This is why both parties have failed us. We fail ourselves.

[Anonymous]

We want it all and want it paid for but we don't want to do the paying. This is why both parties have failed us. We fail ourselves.

true. But also why we have a republic and not a democracy. We the people are acting like children. But what we need are some politicians to do what's actually in the best interest of the country to avoid a melt-down in the next decade and bite the bullet even if it means they get voted out. That's why the TARP stuff for instance was so very much the right thing to do (and why I was pleasantly shocked that both parties somehow mangaged to realize what actually needed done) despite the fact that most people hated it.

[Anonymous]

Nice rant. Now explain how adding over $300 to the national debt solves the deficit crisis. Remember, last week the deficit was the most important thing ever

It seems like you've bought the Republicans' line, Jeff - you're assuming there actually is a "deficit crisis." I'd argue that, in the midst of a deep recession, and attempting to stave off a depression, the deficit isn't actually a bad thing. Or rather that feer of a deficit shouldn't keep us from attending to other, more pressing, priorities.