Paul Ryan, Reep Budget Guru, and Dem Patty Murray introducing 'Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013'
It was permanent tax hater Grover Norquist who some years back defined bipartisanship as "date rape" - i.e. on behalf of the Reepo maggot against the willing Demo. Well, it appears he's been proven correct again, as one inspects the just trotted out 'Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013'. This anomaly of budgeting, which is the most generous way I can put it, virtually gives everything to the GOP without demanding virtually anything in return. It redefines what is meant by the term 'Pyrrhic victory' in the context of enabling some semblance of government stability (avoiding "political gridlock") but at the cost of allowing the putative "rape" of the submissive Dem party.
As one press release put it:
"Aspects of the deal may alarm both parties, particularly Democrats, who are being asked to accept additional spending cuts, no new taxes and increased pension contributions from public sector workers."
That's putting it mildly! If passed by the House and Senate, the two-year deal would reduce the blanket sequester cuts by $63bn over two years, split equally between defense and non-defense spending, although Republicans also succeeded in negotiating a further $20-$23bn in deficit reduction. In other words, the Reeps succeeded in raping the Demos to the tune of an additional $20-23b on their side, while not paying any new taxes!
Much of this comes by their refusal to extend unemployment benefits at the end of this month - leaving millions in the lurch at the worst time of year. Kids will do without presents, but also food - since the food stamp cuts over the next ten years (amounting to $40b ) are still to come. Reepos haven't budged from that.
Oh, I forgot, not only did the Dems submit to Norquist -style date rape they willingly submitted the air traveling public to it as well - instead of raising taxes for all. According to this farce of a deal, additional government revenue will be raised through fees, such as airport charges and by demanding that federal workers pay more toward their pensions. Why should they? Do they not work as hard as any others in this country, and at often thankless tasks - such as collecting taxes from a tax phobic, hysterical public, and inspecting rodent-infested places of business to ensure Americans don't get salmonella poisoning from their peanut butter?
Why is it these public servants are the first ones to have to sacrifice? Well, because the GOoprs demand it that way. And the Dems comply .....submissively. The AFL-CIO, has already hit out at the proposal, arguing that federal workers were acting as a “punching bag” for Republicans. What we need is a group to punch back at these Reepo rats. But who will do it? Not our pussified weasel Dems.
Senator Patty Murray, Democratic chair of the budget committee, admitted much was missing from the deal, as she observed:
"We need to acknowledge that there are long-term structural problems that this deal does not address. This deal does not solve all of our problems but it is an important step.
For far too long here in Washington DC, compromise has been a dirty word, especially when it comes to the budget. For years we have lurched from crisis to crisis. That uncertainty was devastating to our fragile economic recovery.”
This is all true, of course, but a whopping Neville Chamberlain -scale appeasement of the Right is not the path to go. "Compromise" yes, but not full retreat, surrender and tossing hard working federal workers under the bus! Especially as our nation -according to recent stats I will show in a future blog - has become just another poverty -stricken casualty of Neoliberal economic engineering.
A real compromise, in other words, would have insisted on those unemployment benefits being extended in return for no new taxes. As it is, if this farce goes through, it will mark another shafting not only of the Dems but the American people.
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