Liberals Need To Hold The Line On TPP Vote - Don't Let Obama & Reepos Prevail

Hmmmmm.... If we can just catch the liberals sleeping next Tuesday maybe we can push this bill through!

The news today that the liberal -progressive faction of the House held strain - under Nancy Pelosi's guidance- and torpedoed a key element of the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) fast track trade bill, has to warm the cockles of every true citizen's heart. And despite Obama's high pressure personal pitches in trying to wrangle congressional votes, he fell short  - he and his Repuke allies, at least for now. But, as they say, it's not over til it's over and by some "legislative acrobatics" (to use Rachel Maddow's parlance) Johnno Boehner managed to keep this sick dog on the respirator enough to live another day - next week  - for a re-vote.

It goes without saying all the real dems and allies must hold the line on this and not give an inch. Obama will likely turn on the fake charm and smile again to gain leverage on this TPP abomination but this we can't allow. People need to get hold of their congress critters over the weekend and remind them - as 'Democracy Now' has -  that if they cast a vote for this perfidy they will be left to "rot" next year and be "primaried by a real Democrat" as opposed to being elected as a DINO, Neoliberal traitor.

To remind readers, what happened today is that the worker assistance provision ("Trade Adjustment Assistance") was voted down- which meant the fast track legislation couldn't go forward. This worker assistance provision emerged out of the Senate bill when it was realized that if American workers' jobs were lost (as they likely will be by the millions) they will need specialized re-training to get back in the game.

Normally such a provision would be a no-brainer to vote on but in this case two strikes stood against it: 1) it had to be paid for and the Republicans originally designated cuts to Medicare providers to pay for it - but Dems let them know this was not on, so the 'pay for' part was left for later, and 2) passage of the provision would represent an "enabler" to a bill that is awful on its face with many elements that are hostile to not only workers but the environment, see e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2015/05/so-how-bad-is-trans-pacific-partnership.html

Thus, killing the whole TPP trumped passing any given provision, since if that happened the damned thing would be fast-tracked for Obama to sign and expedite. The last thing any true, red-blooded American  - especially worker - wants.

So, despite Obama's rancid insults to the House Dems - including advising them to "vote straight" - they ignored him, as did House Minority Leader Pelosi.  Well, they ignored him at least on the worker assistance provision vote. The other main TPP vote passed by 219-211. (But I suspect at least twenty rat's ass Dems hid behind that vote knowing in advance the worker assistance part was doomed, to appease their dear Prez.)

But as I said, this isn't over...not yet. Boehner and the House Republican majority plan to resurrect it again next week, and we need to keep the pressure on congress critters not to relent. If this turkey passes, as one blogger observed on smirkingchimp, it will mean a "blood bath" next year for the Democrats. This we do not want no matter what Obama believes about his "legacy".

Find another legacy cornerstone, Mr. Prez!

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-moyers/62622/slam-the-door-on-fast-track

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/gaius-publius/62623/supporting-nafta-was-the-kiss-of-death-for-democrats-why-dems-should-think-twice-about-voting-for-tpp

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/62621/congress-to-vote-on-fast-track-friday-wall-street-or-main-street

Let's Hope For An Internecine GOP 'War' !

Thanks to indolent, stupid American voters - namely in the Democratic ranks - the GOP stands to put a world of hurt on millions of the most vulnerable citizens, including kids, seniors, and workers. All this because critical demographics - including the young voters and Hispanics - didn't turn out for the 2014 midterms to the same level they did for the 2012 general election.

All of this was anticipated by the GOP obstuctionists, of course, acknowledging  progressives' midterm lethargy as well as the general dumbing down of the populace. Recall as recently as 2010, the rodent -faced Mitch McConnell vowed that the GOP Senate’s primary responsibility was to make Barack Obama a one term president   This strategy failed but as  Paul Waldman put it in this insightful piece in the American Prospect:  

“He devised and implemented the strategy of total obstruction in the first six years of the Obama presidency not because he couldn’t stand the president, but because he thought (correctly) that it would be the strategy most likely to get Republicans what they wanted.” 

And, of course, the GOP did get what it wanted thanks to up to 8 percent of the Demo general election voters staying at home. What? Were they stoned? Were they incapacitated? Did they not know that the gates of hell would be unleashed electorally on the majority?

Some of this  - of which most aren't aware - includes:

- Further cuts to food stamps, to increase defense spending, leaving even more poor kids hungry at night (already 15 million since the December, 2013 sequester cuts)

- Putting back on the table cuts to Social Security, mainly via the chained CPI but also more severe and general cuts (up to twenty percent) which I recently was warned about in a letter from the National Committee to Protect Social Security & Medicare.  Excerpt:

"Republicans made a change to their proposed rules package that makes it more difficult to pass legislation to protect millions of current Social Security beneficiaries (disabled workers and their families) from a potential 20 percent cut in their benefits in 2016.

Your National Committee was on Capitol Hill all day long fighting to stop this dangerous last-minute amendment from passing. And we sent a letter to every member of Congress, which you can read here, urging them to vote it down."


- Efforts to annihilate Medicare and replace it with a "premium support" system, i.e. seniors would get a fixed voucher each year to try to get the health care they need - described by one wonk thusly:

"Beginning in 2022, it would create a marketplace in which seniors have a fixed amount of money to buy health insurance. The amount of 'support' would match the price of the insurance premium."

The truth is eighty percent of seniors would find themselves further behind the eight ball on account of rising medical costs -especially for cancer treatments, hip replacement surgery etc.- while the vouchers would be barely $10, 000 a year, if that. This means they'd have to cough up much more out of pocket.

- Gutting a main component of Obamacare by eliminating the 30 hrs. a week of work entitlement to access, and replacing it with 40 hrs. But all that would happen if this was done is the corporatocratic rats would ensure most workers don't make the 40 hr./week cut and leave it at 39 hrs. or less. 

- Passing the Keystone XL pipeline which would be the fastest way to hurl us all into the climate shitcan given the degraded quality of tar sands oil - in terms of CO2 injection into the atmosphere, but also the risk of spills across the length of it especially near the Ogallala aquifer.

At least Obama has vowed to veto the last, and he will certainly veto many others as well, particularly if the Dem spines collapse in the Senate - as I predict they will. The Dems when in opposition never display cojones, they act more like terrified little wimps afraid to act the least bit obstructionist. See also:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/11/harry-reid-turns-out-to-be-another-punk.html

So, in fact, we may have to rely not only on Obama vetoes but splits in the GOP itself - as revealed earlier this week when the Teepees threatened Johnno Boehner's Speaker hegemony in the House.

As salon.com columnist Heather Digby Parton put it ('The GOP's Coming Horror Show'):

"The real battle of the budget may just be between the House and the Senate Republicans with Democrats reduced to popping popcorn and settling in like they’re watching a live version of “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” 

But let' not forget the GOP House also has a faction that is leery of Boehner's leadership and this bunch of renegades (mostly Tea Partyers) attempted to oust him from his Speaker role on the first day. They failed, but their intentions and agenda were clear: they want the party to go all out in its anti-Obama crusade and not give an inch.

Maybe, if we're lucky, the GOP with its fighting factions - extremists vs. not so extremists- will 'blow itself up' and most of their bills won't even reach the sign off stage.

One can always hope!

Keystone Stopped For Now - But Why Are So Many Dumb Americans For It?

"Every dollar that we spend today in developing and using more fossil fuels, is another dollar spent in digging the graves of our grandchildren. I don't want to dig that grave anymore" - Sen. Tom Harkin, on the Senate floor in debate over the Keystone XL pipeline

As the news was revealed recently  that the Keystone XL pipeline approval fell one vote short, one wonders just how much longer it will be before this Canadian abomination materializes. How many Dems will hold out before turning whore, and how long can Obama sustain a spine and use veto power - especially come January? These are questions that keep me up at night, and should also keep you up too,  given how the approval of this monstrosity would allow likely deposition -via spills- of some of the most polluted effluent as well as sky high CO2 emissions. If you think the emergency snow event in Buffalo has been a disaster, wait until even bigger and more prolonged polar vortices are formed (as a result of global warming), and the icy air encounters warm lakes!

What is even more incredible to me is how the Democrats could have wasted so much precious lame duck time dealing with this issue (all to try to secure the Senate seat of Mary Landrieu - which is hopeless, imho) when they could have instead been approving Loretta Lynch, Obama's choice for Attorney General. Do they really believe her chances will be better when the Reepos have a 54 vote majority? As Rachel Maddow put it, she'd like to know what they're smoking. I would too, since it sounds a lot more powerful than what's on offer her in Colorado.

Back to the Keystone: Another gripe I have is how many Americans have consumed the bullshit that this pipeline will actually provide any benefit. According to current polls, cited on Chris Hayes' 'All In', some 59 percent of Americans (the 'Dumbo' brigade)  approve of the Keystone XL, and only 31% are against it. Which means the majority have swallowed the propaganda hook, line and sinker.

These bozos have no clue, not one,  that virtually no benefits redound to our nation's favor- and the few paltry benefits that do, are grossly exaggerated. The pipeline is essentially Trans Canada's and to be put in using OUR land (which will also be at dire risk for spills) and piped to the Gulf where it will be offloaded to tankers and sold ELSE WHERE - not here in the U.S. Most likely to places like China and India. Hence, the crappola that it "lowers energy costs" and "promotes energy independence" is blatant bull pockey. Only a halfwit or ignoramus would buy that! So, it looks like 59% of 'Muricans are halfwits or ignoramuses.

What about the jobs hype? As reported by Chris Hayes, a State Dept. review showed that nearly all the projected jobs (maximum 42,100 or barely enough to satisfy the needs of a town like Pueblo, CO) nearly all would fill only one position for ONE year. In other words, they'd be gone, as in vamonosed at the end of a year. Big deal, all temp jobs! A grand total of 35 permanent employees would be needed once  the pipeline commences service. This is about half the staff needed for your average mid-level department store. Yeah, the pay will be much better, but the health costs will also be a lot higher - and one wonders if that pay will cover all the pancreatic and liver cancers when they appear.

The hype that costs will go down is also bullshit. A study out of Cornell, cited by Hayes, shows that consumers in the Midwest alone could be paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel if the Keystone is approved.

Obama last week hit the nail on the head when he stated:

"Understand what this project is. It is providing the ability for Canada to pump their oil and send it through our land, down to the Gulf where it will be sold everywhere else."

So, in non-euphemistic terms, one is led to ask why so many Americans (the 59 % for) are willing to bend over and allow their nation to be so egregiously used.  Do they really want our country to be reduced to being a "bitch" for the Canadians? On the future promise of thirty five permanent jobs? Come on! Seems that they do! I can understand the Repukes' stand on this - but 59 percent of the people? Give me a freaking break! And as Chris noted, the biggest beneficiaries of the pipeline would be the fossil fuel companies who are increasingly spooked by plummeting oil prices. Thus, it's evident the approval of Keystone assures them of a way to jack the costs up again, and when dumbo 'Muricans howl it will be too late.

Idiot John Boehner, of course, has warned Obama not to use his veto against it, which is exactly why he must.

Boehner bloviated in a recent appearance aired on Hayes' show:

"A pipeline veto would send the signal that this President has no interest in listening to the American people. Vetoing an overwhelming popular bill would be a clear indication that he doesn't care about the American people's priorities. It would be the equivalent of calling the American people 'stupid'"

Sorry to have to bust your nuts, Johnno, but the American people in favor of it ARE stupid! If they haven't read about the consequences, and don't know enough of who is really benefiting, then why the hell should Obama follow the 'stupid' sector and allow this nutso pipeline to pass?

We the opponents, then, are the ones that need to be listened to, since we know  - based on all the facts available- that it is sheer madness to assume the development of new sources of carbon-intensive tar sands oil. This is when we know we can only burn about one fifth of all the known reserves of existing sources and hope to keep the planet from frying in the runaway greenhouse..

Why Boehner is a Liar, Weasel, Punk and Traitor

"They wanted to defund Obamacare, and they lost, and they know it. Now, thanks to the fact that they are frightening everyone, they want the prize they've been seeking since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

For the record: if the Obama administration, in its bottomless desire to Do Something Really Big And Bi-Partisan, actually goes and takes this bait, they should be brought up on three hundred million counts of negligent homicide, because they will have killed the country for all time.-  William Rivers Pitt,  'Boehner, Obama and the Triple Dog Dare', smirkingchimp.com


So this whole freaking shebang shutdown has been all for show, to show the Obama administration, the country and the world that the old South is ascendant again and will call the shots (using 'hostage politics')  whenever the hell it wants. Tea Bagger nation, make no mistake, is the reincarnation of the Confederate traitors in modern form with John Boehner as Chief Enabler.

We now learn, as per the analysis of Chris Hayes last night on MSNBC, the GOP always felt the repeal or defunding of 'Obamacare' wasn't feasible and what they wanted all along was a ransom to extract "entitlement" cuts without having to raise taxes. Who'da thought? Well, we should have realized it was all an act.

As per a recent article in TIME ('Loss Leaders'. p. 24) Boehner never believed that challenging Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) was a viable option since two days after Obama's re-election. According to the article:

"Two days after Obama's victory, Boehner was asked whether Republicans would continue to pursue a repeal of health care reform.

'I think the election changes that', he said, 'Obamacare is the law of the land'.

He flatly rejected the idea of tying funding for the bill to the larger fiscal battle.

'Trying to put Obamacare on a budget resolution risks shutting down the government."

So why in the hell did Weepy Johnno turn around and do just that? As TIME notes it was because his Tea Party Caucus wanted nothing less than Obamacare defunded. Since all those reprobates are invincible in their districts - never having to worry about being 'primaried' on the Right, so long as they adhere to the Teapee line-  it didn't matter to them. It did to the weasel punk  Boehner, who stood to lose his Speakership if he refused to cooperate. So despite his earlier refusal to put the ACA on a budget resolution, the little traitor did just that:  placing his Speakership above the national welfare, to appease his proto-Confederate minions.

Hence, pushed by his whiny punk zealot TPs, here we stand at the precipice of a possible credit default. And a never before event: The nation failing to honor its bond responsibilities for the first time in American history.  Is this "harsh language"? You're damned straight because harsh language to call these cretins out is what's required. Being "civil" is exactly what they don't grasp, and what they interpret as weakness. This is a point Obama needs to comprehend as I noted yesterday.

But lo and behold the demands have now changed. No longer does the GOP- at least its saner elements-  demand defunding Obamacare, , but  rather the full scale slicing and dicing of Social Security and Medicare - with no tax strings attached. Only then will they allow the debt ceiling to be raised and national economic catastrophe to be averted.

Of course, Obama can't give in to this new variant of extortion any more than the old. As blogger William Rivers Pitt has aptly put it ('Boehner, Obama and the Triple Dog Dare', www.smirkingchimp.com):

"President Obama's most significant achievement, his legacy for all time, will be facing down these cretins, holding the line against any and all concessions on elemental pieces of legislation like the budget and the debt limit, and ending the vile and vicious cycle of hostage politics that has done so much damage already.

If he doesn't, well...that's a legacy, too."


To which I totally agree. For Obama to even remotely consider doing a "grand bargain" that includes cutting Social Security and Medicare to allow even a temporary increase in the debt ceiling would be an abomination to tarnish his legacy permanently.

Obama Must Be As Good as His Word and Not Let Himself Be Rolled Again by the PUKES!

Depiction of Obama from two years ago when he basically allowed the country to be extorted by the Reepo Economic Terrorists. This time he needs to approve the debt ceiling limit increase under Executive order- under the 14th amendment - even if brings on a constitutional crisis.


In a heartening speech yesterday Obama basically said that the nation was being held hostage on two counts - with the upcoming potential gov't shutdown if  Obamacare isn't defunded for a year, and with raising the debt ceiling to pay the nation's bills. In the latter case, if the GOOPs are allowed their extortion gambit again, it may well mean another credit downgrade, stocks crashing and people suffering.  One news anchor, Scott Pelley, on CBS New last night noted from his correspondent (Nancy Cordes) in the field, that Social Security checks could well stop going out by early November if a shutdown ensues and the debt ceiling isn't raised. For sure, all 401 National Parks will close, and service members' checks as well as military death benefits will be delayed. Thank your local Tea bagger fascist for that!

Obama responded that such a debacle would "not occur on my watch". In other words, he is not prepared to deal again with these terrorists "with bombs strapped to their bodies"  - which is literally what it amounts to. In this case, an economic "bomb" that will affect tens of millions of innocent citizens.  But will Obama hold strain, or allow himself to be rolled again by the extremists in the Tea Party? As Bill Clinton observed last night on a CBS news segment, their tactic is simply to try to dictate to Obama their terms, and not negotiate at all. This is the standard terrorist modus operandi, and in that case it requires the standard response: NO deals, no matter what transpires.

Now, it is a shame, a pity in fact, that some 33%  (in a recent CBS News poll) place the blame on the Dems for this impasse and impending economic crash, but they are either congenitally dumb, fundamentally ignorant or Reepo Foxites.  Anyone with more than air between the ears knows the reprobates are those who threaten a nation via extortion , i.e. "You will do so-and-so or these will be the consequences.",  or seek to dictate their own terms with horrific results for millions if they aren't accepted.

This time the way to deal with these thugs is obvious. In the case of the potential shutdown, given more sane Reeps are against it in the Senate, there is no issue on refusing to make any deals. The fallout will be largely on the heads of the Teepee House which Boehner has shown he can't control. That means someone must exercise adult authority over them, and that has to be Obama. So, don't give in, let the cards fall where they may, but don't yield....not one inch, not one nanometer!

They will demand "spending cuts" in return for paying debts already owed, but this nuts. The graph below shows the spending cuts ought to have occurred under Bush II's term, since the spending increases were actually MUCH greater during his rein, yet the debt ceiling was raised 7 times without fanfare!
The numbers in the chart come from Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2012. They are just the amounts that the government spent and borrowed, period, Anyone can go look then up. People who claim that Obama "tripled the deficit" are either misled or are trying to mislead, stupid or outright lying to gain specious political advantage.

One can easily see that over his tenure Bush's deficits consistently increased and at his last budget showed a $1.4 trillion deficit. This was fobbed off directly onto Obama.

Bush's overall spending increase was 88% over his time, vs. 7.2% for Obama. If anything, Obama's spending immediately after he took office wasn't enough, and we ought to have had at least double the stimulus he implemented and with NO tax cuts!


In the case of the next round, over the debt ceiling, the solution is also clear as day. If the Reepos won't raise it to pay existing debts then Obama needs to do so on his own, and fuck them and their terrorist ways. The Constitution (Amendment XIV, Section 4),  stipulates:

The validity of the Public Debt of the United States, authorized by law, includes debts incurred for payment of pensions ....and shall not be questioned.

It is clear to me that if the Republican Congress refuses to act to raise the debt ceiling (and thereby honor the validity of paying the Public Debt) then President Obama can and MUST issue an Executive Order to override a putatively derelict Congress and invoke Article 4 of Amendment XIV to raise the debt ceiling himself. If this triggers a "constitutional crisis" then let it be! If the Reepos are going to act in an extremist way you must be MORE extremist in the interest of the nation. You cannot roll over again. Or evince a scenario such as depicted in the bottom cartoon from two years ago.

We have in fact, because of the Teepees and their lot, been leading up to a showdown for some time, given the polarization in the country. What better way to resolve it than via a constitutional crisis?  I am fully convinced, given what's at stake, that even the Roberts Supreme Court will see where the national interest lies and side with Obama  - if he has the courage to raise the debt ceiling limit on his own authority - given the congress has devolved into reckless simpletons who can't be trusted with the keys to the congressional rest rooms, far less the nation's economic welfare.

Give in to these turds again, as he did two years ago, and Obama will only be recalled as a weak and timid wuss who was unable to deliver more than tough rhetoric in the nation's moment of need.

Boehner and Ryan Admit Repuke Deficit Hysteria is a Hoax

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but as I’ve been writing over and over on my blog the GOP –fomented deficit crisis is all horse manure. It was invented by Right wing ideologues and billionaires as an excuse to justify gutting social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare. This has now finally been openly admitted by both Boehner and Ryan on the Sunday Talk Show circuit.


Boehner finally came clean on yesterday’s edition of ABC’s “This Week” and admitted that “we do not have an immediate debt crisis.” (His admission was followed up by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who quickly echoed much the same sentiment on  CBS’ Face the Nation).

Boehner's confession finally revealed the fact that the GOP’s fiscal alarmism is not some natural reaction to reality, but a calculated means to other ideological ends, namely destruction of the social contract embodied in Social Security and Medicare. Since these rats couldn't do it for decades by way of the front door, they are trying to break through the back door using a deficit crisis. They are aided and abetted in this by the long time ideologue, Peter G. Peterson. ((To learn more about Peterson, his contrived campaign, and his millionaire CEO buddies, go to www.petersonPyramid.org)


TIME finance columnist Rana Forhoohar (March 18, p. 18) also observes that "if you combine cuts previously agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011, with the tax increases secured by Obama at the end of last year and add to that things like the associated interest savings and shifts in deficit expectations by the Congressional Budget Office, we are already two thirds of the way there ." (to the $4 trillion 'grand bargain' so many Neoliberals are ga-ga over.)

Indeed, two simple steps (ok, two and a half)  could get us all the way there, or netting the remaining $1.3 trillion: Cutting the defense side of the budget by the $600b allocated for in the sequester, and raising the income tax level to cover the $200,000 income level while raising the payroll tax threshold to the $200,000 level. With these accomplished, neither Obama or anyone else has to make draconian and 'superlative' cuts to Social Security or raise Medicare premiums.

Besides, as Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman has pointed out, “Even if we do run deficits, federal debt as a share of GDP will be substantially less than it was at the end of World War II” and “it will also be substantially less than, say, debt in several European countries in the mid to late 1990s.” It is also lower than the 80 percent of GDP level that many economists say starts to put countries in a precarious position.

    But WHY be surprised at Boehner's dishonesty? Over and over I had related their tactics (and their history) along with their prime directive and objective, emphasizing that Obama had to be smart enough not to play into their game. However, as we beheld in 2011, Obama let his guard down by allowing himself and the nation to be taken to the brink by GOP –Tea Party economic terrorists in the debt ceiling crisis. Panicked, he signed on to a “sequester” which cut equally from the domestic and military sides. The official rationale was that neither party would actually be insane enough to let it go through, but again- he underestimated GOP ideology and insanity. They were prepared to let anything happen, even take the country down a dumpster, in order to cut social benefits.


Now that the GOOPr Deficit game has been exposed, it’s time for Obama to grow a steel spine and reject all their spending cut plans and schemes (UNLESS it’s for defense). If another debt ceiling increase appears like it may be blocked, Obama needs to do what he ought to have two years ago: invoke the 14th amendment! Amendment XIV, Section 4, stipulates:


"The validity of the Public Debt of the United States, authorized by law, includes debts incurred for payment of pensions ....and shall not be questioned."


It is clear to me that if the Republican Congress refuses to act to raise the debt ceiling (and thereby honor the validity of paying the Public Debt) then President Obama can and MUST exercise an Executive Order to override a putatively derelict Congress and invoke Article 4 of Amendment XIV to raise the debt ceiling. The alternative, of not doing so, would also violate Article XIV and be lawless while also violating Sec. 8 of Article I:

"The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay Debts and provide for the common defense and General Welfare of the United States"


As for the GOP -Pentagon warmongers and their media hacks, who want us to believe Afghanistan and Iraq were real wars, this is bollocks. And the proof is in the pudding, i.e. of taxes (as opposed to tax cuts) to pay for them! Real patriots understand that wars have to be paid for out of the common public sacrifice - via higher TAXES. As my dad once told me before he passed away in July, 2009: Anyone calling for no taxes or tax CUTS during a putative wartime (as in WWII) would have been branded unpatriotic at best, and a traitor at worst. So you never heard anyone bitching, pissing and moaning when gas was rationed. Or when income taxes went up!

Not one person complained about heavy new taxes during the four years of the U.S. fighting in the Pacific theater, or in Europe, though we've seen no similar pay-go with over ten years in Afghanistan. Nor did people bitch in the immediate post-war period when the high taxes helped to finance the Marshall Plan - to help pay for the reconstruction of Europe. People were smart enough then to grasp that Europe's stability meant their own - and if they paid NOW (in higher taxes) they would be less likely to pay later in another war.


Indeed, many of those post-war taxes were still in place when the Korean War broke out. Despite ALREADY high taxes, congress passed new taxes in 1950 and 1951 to pay for the costs of the conflict. They had enough sense to know, unlike the useless miscreant tea baggers today, that if you engage in military actions - especially prolonged- they HAVE to be paid for! You can't keep signing a national credit card and expecting future generations to pay the debt!

If the Repukes want to continue to hide behind their phoney baloney deficit lies and obstruction, let them be the first to come out and either fess up that those two "wars" we've allegedly fought were phony wastes of blood and treasure, OR, they were real wars that now have to be PAID for! If the latter and they don't allow the taxes to be raised to do so, they are not merely dissemblers but traitors!

The Austerity Barbarians At the Gate: And What's with the Chained CPI Still in Play?

John Boehner blubbered and huffed all through his interview with Scott Pelley yesterday. "We need the Senate to stop sitting on its ass and pass that bill!"

Huh? WHO was taking a vacation the past ten days, Mr. Speaker? Are you still in a parallel universe? Anyway, Mr. Boehner still demands more spending cuts in order to appease his austerity Barbarians, now salivating at the gate.

But I don’t get it! We’ve already had by proportion two dollars of spending cuts for every increase in revenue, despite the fact it was a revenue implosion (via unpaid for ‘wars’, tax cuts) that dug us into this mess. So why are even more spending cuts being demanded as a way to preserve the existing small growth economy?


Even this morning (MSNBC), Pat Toomey (R-PA) was bleating nonsense about closing loopholes to then be able to LOWER marginal tax rates and “unleash the power of the economy”. NO! NO! NO! You aren’t going to unleash anything but larger deficits and debt as you grind the economy to a halt. The evidence has already been manifestly shown that NO tax cuts of ANY kind work for enhancing growth!

Matt Miller showed this in spades in his ‘The Tyranny of Dead Ideas’ (tax cuts being a ‘dead idea’ still retained out of a long held supply side mythology). Meanwhile, The Financial Times in its issue of 9/15/10 showed the Bush tax cuts to be the frauds they are by not even having achieved the most modest growth objectives. Their main conclusion? "The 2000s were the weakest decade in U.S. postwar history for real, non-residential capital investment. Not only were the 2000s by far the weakest period, the tax cuts did not even curtail the secular slowdown in the growth of business structures. Rather the slowdown accelerated to a full decline".

So why do Repuke tax cut fetishists hold on to them? Because they are a convenient means of “starving the Beast” along with unpaid for wars. In this way they believe they can ensure cooperative Dems will cut domestic spending, when they ought to be increasing it!


Flash forward to the current situation and the coming “sequester”. Barring an unlikely last minute deal, here's a short list of some of the massive, national bi-partisan-created austerity cuts arriving by Friday, according to the New York Times:


-600,000 food stamp recipients will be cut from the program

-Massive education cuts


The first will be murderously brutal given 1 in 3 kids in marginal income families ($24,000/yr for a family of 4) is already going to bed hungry and the mean benefit is only $3 /day with food stamps running out for most families within 3 weeks. A new documentary film, ‘A Place At the Table’ will highlight this abomination in the alleged “richest nation” on Earth. The sad thing is now these people will be in worse straits, all because the Repukes don’t want to even close one tax loophole for the richest hedge fund managers, or stock brokers, traders. See my earlier blog ( http://www.brane-space.blogspot.com/2013/02/scarborough-bwwaaaahaha-we-cant-have.html) on why the Rs are wrong, dead wrong on not increasing taxes!


Meanwhile, we learned this morning (‘Morning Joe’)that  most college students don’t even want to hear the word “sequester” and they flee from any subject tag for a blog, or tweet bearing it. Well, I hope not! The fact is they will be adversely affected in terms of being able to secure further (government-based)  college loans if this thing goes through. When your future interests are at stake you do pay attention, and you try to learn how your own welfare is threatened. In addition, thousands of teachers will be laid off as the federal support purse strings dry up, including for ‘Head Start’ and ‘Race to the Top’.

Other impending cuts:

-12 billion in Medicare cuts (more to come after 2013)

-Millions receiving unemployment will see their checks cut by 11% (an average of $132 a month)


So don’t tell me that the amount of the cuts ($85b) is ‘trivial’ or regurgitate the Repuke line that “Obama is using scare tactics”.

Note this is just for 2013. The current plan for the austerity "sequester" cuts is $100 billion of federal cuts every year for ten years, equaling massive cuts to jobs, Medicare, education, and completely destroying federally funded social programs.

We will be laid waste as never before, and left as a marginal Third World nation, perhaps even worse than Barbados.

Now, WHO is to blame? Despite the finger pointing in Washington, D.C. and the sequester being described as “stupid” (e.g. no targeted cuts) in many quarters, in reality both Democrats and Republicans created these "sequester" cuts (back in 2011 with the really stupid debt ceiling increase and Obama unwilling to invoke the 14th amendment instead) , and they can just as easily undo them with a snap of the finger. But both parties are choosing not to delete the cuts. They just don't want political responsibility for the fallout, which many economists have predicted will push the U.S. economy over the edge into official recession.


Obama could also just as easily appeal to the American public —over the heads of congressmen — to demand that the cuts be shelved forever. Instead, he's still proposing a "grand bargain” deal that he knows the Republicans won't go for.  What's in Obama's grand bargain deal? According to the White House website :


-$130 billion in "savings" [cuts] to Social Security, by implementing a ‘superlative CPI'
-$35 billion in "savings" [cuts] to the retirement of federal employees.

- $400 billion in health care "savings" [cuts], much of it Medicare cuts.


Obama (cynically, in the minds of some) fails to mention the words Social Security or Medicare in the above plan, choosing instead to write in code "superlative Consumer Price Index". But there’s nothing ‘superlative’ about prolonged, corrosive cat food cuts that demeans seniors, especially those who do not have the wealth to sustain lowered adjustments to inflation over time. Already Bernanke and his Beltway Club of “serious people” (e.g. assholes) are pushing the BS there’s “no inflation”, despite fuel, food, and medical costs soaring. Seniors even with moderate incomes therefore will be shafted as the chained CPI kicks in and woe betide them if a medical catastrophe strikes – especially with Medicare cuts on a $400 b scale.

Most real progressives’ jaws dropped last week when, incredibly, White House spokesman Jay Carney  told a press conference that Obama is a  "macho man". He told the reporters that President Obama is still willing to cut Social Security benefits by using the Chained CPI as the basis for the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).  Believe me, Mr. Carney, there is nothing "macho" about sending 45 million seniors into cat food diets, and  forcing them to grovel in dumpsters for remains of kibbles when their meds end up breaking the bank!

This willingness to cut the benefits of retirees is presumed to establish President Obama as a “serious person” in elite (read: NEOLIBERAL)  Washington circles. But in progressive circles it defines him as a wuss and enabler of the Repukes. Moreover, it will defame the Dem brand in perpetuity if he goes through with this BS, marking him as the destroyer of the primary principles first put forward by FDR, JFK etc. Is THAT really worth a “legacy”?


Likely most of the D.C. Neoliberal insiders (e.g. Fareed Zakaria, Bob Woodward, Joe Klein etc.) probably don't understand the Chained CPI. However, everyone else should recognize that this technical fix amounts to a serious cut, never mind the odious PR to disguise it. It reduces benefits compared with the current schedule by 0.3 percent annually. This adds up over time. After someone has been getting benefits for 10 years, the cut in annual benefits is 3 percent, or equivalent to one whole month of Social Security. After 20 years, people would be seeing a benefit that is 6 percent lower, and after 30 years their benefit would be reduced by 9 percent. (For those interested, AARP has a nice calculator that shows how much retirees can expect to lose from the Chained CPI.)

Now, one can certainly debate whether the Chained CPI should be viewed as a "large cut," but there is no debate that Chained CPI cut imposes a bigger hit to the typical retiree than the ending of the Bush tax cuts were to the typical high-end one percent earner. Social Security provides more than half of the income for almost 70 percent of retirees. This means that the 3 percent cut in Social Security benefits amounts to a reduction in their income of more than 1.5 percent.

Let us sincerely hope that Obama isn’t gaming us, and trying to disguise an underlying Neoliberal instinct with progressive rhetoric. We didn’t go “all in” with him last November just to put a Neoliberal plant into office, when voters chose him because the alternative, “Mittens”, planned to do just what Carney proclaims Obama is “macho” enough to do now.

We deserve better. It’s time for Obama to show he is a fighter and for the Middle Class, including not enabling cuts to cripple seniors in their most vulnerable years.

Mr. President, take DOWN that CPI proposal from the White House site! Do NOT, I repeat do not, seek any "grand bargain" with the Republican ratfuckers!

Obama's State of the Union Speech: A Veritable Masterpiece

As my wife and I sat down to watch the State of the Union speech last night, we didn’t know exactly what to expect. Would Obama come across strong and principled, or appear like he planned to appease the Repukes? Recall that earlier in the day, at a breakfast, Bonehead John Boehner declared that Obama “doesn’t have the guts to do the heavy lifting” regarding the economy.


But as Obama waded into the most masterful State of the Union I’ve ever heard, one could assess his success and hitting the right notes by the somber visage of Boehner seated on the dais to one side. As my wife put it: “He looks like a constipated Gnome that’s just been seized by a combination of brain fart and  freeze.” And so he did!

Obama singled out attention in a way that challenged his obstructionist opposition to find their own national conscience and place their future actions above spiteful reproach and party lines. The themes included:


- The Sequester. Obama vowed to continue to fight for the middle class, protecting “entitlements” from the Repug rapists who he noted actually wanted to preserve the defense budget at the expense of cutting Social Security and Medicare. Obama advanced more cost saving ways to help Medicare, though I’d have liked to see included in his prescriptions the ability to bargain for lowest prescription drug prices like Medicare. This alone would save $100b a year.

- Obama made a powerful push to help the poor by demanding the minimum wage be increased to $9 an hour. He correctly argued that NO one in the wealthiest nation on Earth, who works 40 hours (or often more) per week should be living below the poverty line. That must mean increasing the federal minimum wage to at least the liveable minimum. Obama observed that this increase will: 1) mean more customers for businesses since people will now have more $$$ to spend, 2) will mean fewer people dependent on government for food stamps since they will now have the wage support to reduce that dependency.

- Infrastructure: Obama called eloquent attention to our crumbling infrastructure, which is now approaching the level of a third world nation. The crumbling roads, bridges, sewer and water mains are now estimated (by the American Society of Civil Engineers) to need $1.7 trillion in maintenance just to bring them back to serviceable standards. This means money needs to be forthcoming by which to hire hundreds of thousands of people to assist in this national effort. But this means the Repukes will have to cease with their military welfare state, or using defense spending to the tune of $1 trillion a year (according to David Cay Johnston on Chris Hayes last Saturday) as their own military jobs program. We need now domestic jobs, not millions of military jobs which only serve to keep the funders looking for more wars or occupations!

- Energy. Obama correctly noted we are nearly energy independent but that we also need to look at alternative energy sources. He made it clear that it’s not good enough to have the Chinese going all in for solar, for example, while we sit on the sidelines with fossil fuels. Solar IS the way of the future – at least one major form – and we need to get all hands on board in a national initiative.

- Guns: Alluding to more than two dozen – the families of gun victims – in attendance, Obama made an eloquent plea for a vote to be taken to pass common sense gun legislation, including a universal background check that could eliminate felons from gun purchases. Obama repeated the clarion call of ‘Let us bring it to a vote’ over and over as the families clapped and cheered. Will the Repukes do it, or as more likely, will the cowards punk out and let the bill rot unattended, as they’ve done so many others?

- Global warming: Obama referenced superstorm Sandy and that we can no longer look the other way as global warming-climate change devastates nation after nation. Obama references that 12 of the past 15 years have been the hottest on record, and clearly, only an imbecile would deny global warming, especially after the events of 2012. (See my earlier blog on ‘Puhleeze tell me people can’t be this stupid’)


But despite Obama’s masterpiece SOTU speech, make no mistake that the braying Neoliberal enclaves will be pushing at him to make a “grand deal” that will include serious social insurance cuts. Already Neolib hack Fareed Zakaria has written a column (‘Will He Fight or Compromise?’, TIME, Feb. 18, p.20) that opines Obama has already disclosed himself to be a “centrist searching for compromise”. But this would be a tragic error, given the mandate Obama received in the recent election. Also, I believe this is at least on his political radar after the SOTU.

In terms of “entitlement reforms” which Zakaria claims Obama is still eyeing, he writes:

“Obama might be doing this because he wants to notch some legislative accomplishments and leave a legacy”.


But make no mistake that any “legacy” which includes putative cuts such as a chained CPI for Social Security would be a severely tarnished one. It would perhaps grant Obama a lasting “ Neoliberal legacy” in the minds of the corrupted corporate media and the wealthy Washington Elites, but at the cost of destroying the Democratic Party brand in perpetuity. Rather than Repukes undermining Social security a Dem – one of their own – would have done it. Sorry, this can’t wash all of Zakaria’s bellyaching (at the prospect of Obama fighting) to the contrary.

At least for the moment, nerves are calmed after the SOTU. But we still have to see how Obama deals with the upcoming Sequester (March 1) and the ensuing 27 days before the government account runs dry. Will be blink and surrender to the Repuke terrorists, or fight? The whole world is watching.

We will see. If he fights, then in retrospect the SOTU speech will have been the war cry from a guy who’s finally found his spine. A guy no longer interested in making nicey with Repuglicans or appeasing the Neoliberal media bastions.

"Spending Cuts?" REPUKES Need to Make 'Em!

As noted in multiple prior blogs, despite all the palaver over the national debt, and $16 trillion deficits, it has really been the GOP, aka the Repukes, that created it over the past 11 years. The charts shown illustrate the primary contributors to the massive debt, and where we'd really be minus the "wars" (actually prolonged occupations) and Bush tax cuts. And yet, the obscene narrative promoted by Neoliberal stooges and hacks in the Beltway is that it's been "entitlements" such as Social Security that have caused the massive deficit, and debt. Not by a frickin' longshot!

Looking at the left side chart we see that (current)  debt without the tax cuts and the wars would have been about 40% of GDP.  Without the tax cuts, wars plus the 2009 stimulus the debt would've been around 37% of GDP. I have always argued that the stimulus was needed, to help us escape another Great Depression, so I don't deem that factor as useless like the other ones. (Military types might argue that the "wars"-occupations were not useless additions to the debt but my point is they ought to have been paid for by higher taxes as all other wars have. Real wars, that is!)

On Friday, I wanted to punch Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) right in the face for saying on national TV (MSNBC, Rachel Maddow show with Ezra Klein standing in) that the debt was now "160% of GDP" thereby arguing for major entitlement cuts. The truth is disclosed by the chart at the right, which shows in fact the total of all contributors to be roughly 68% of GDP at 2012 - with two of the contributors (again tax cuts and "wars") unjustified. Factoring in the stimulus, which was justified, one arrives at debt at about 42% of GDP. Add in Medicare ongoing over -expenses, and it rises to about 50% of GDP. (Over -expenses means the money Medicare must shell out over and above what the beneficiaries themselves pay for treatments, etc. Much of this arises from the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act and introduction of Medicare Advantage plans which yearly runs higher imbalances than standard Medicare.)

See also:http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/47383/deficits-were-on-purpose-to-cause-this-crisis


All of the above discloses that the hair-on fire screeching of the Repukes to cut "entitlements" is so much PR codswallop fueled by the shameless Neoliberal media and politicos. It is not entitlements - other than the misbegotten "Medicare Modernization Act" of 2003 (which essentially sought to privatize Medicare and increase premium costs on standard beneficiaries) that have contributed to the massive debt load but rather unpaid for wars and military expenditures- many of which have actually siphoned off Social Security monies to try to make deficits appear smaller.

Let's also recall here that the end-of-decade $5.6 trillion surplus forecast by the Congressional Budget Office in 2000 was more than eviscerated by the two unfunded "wars",  plus two indefensible rounds of Bush tax cuts, and the unpaid for Medicare prescription drug benefit along with the TARP bank bailout. By all standards of reason, NO tax cuts ought to have been implemented once two invasions and occupations had been planned, as we now know ad been the case even before Bush Jr. entered the WH.

Lastly, please recall that in order to accommodate those "spend and not tax" (e.g. massive credit increase) policies, Bush and his GOP allies in Congress voted seven times to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. As it turns out, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) voted for all of it. And yet now, the Repukes - dastardly vermin that they are - plan to use the debt ceiling to take the country hostage as they did last year. Refusing to raise it unless Obama and the Dems give in to them! (Which is why I say this time Obama must cease showing them any "respect", or treating them as rational equals, thus invoking the 14 th amendment to raise it on his own. Thereby for once acknowledging his Reepo opposition in the House as economic terrorists!)

Given this, it makes sense that a last ditch effort by these shameless Reep-turds to interject Social Security cuts into a late, limited "fiscal cliff" deal  (via the chained CPI)was shot down by the Dems.

At least it shows they have some cojones. As I've said before, if a terrible deal is on the table, it's better to dive over that cliff one time and let all the tax rates rise - since there's no way the Repukes would ever have willingly voted for them with Norquist holding a phoney no-tax pledge gun to their heads.

Brace yourselves people, and be ready for whatever comes next!

Boehner's Reepo Party Revealed as Rogues and Jackals

House Republican leaders yesterday evening canceled a vote on a bill aimed at partially averting the so-called fiscal cliff as it became apparent they didn’t have enough Republican votes to pass it. John Boehner in a brief speech basically admitted that his hands were tied, and given he didn't have the votes - on account of being held hostage by Tea Party Nutsos, there was no choice other than to mothball his "Plan B".

Even so, his "plan" was more bollocks and BS than substance. It ignores the wishes of 66% of the American people (in recent polls) who have demanded the richest pay their fair share in taxes and that means starting at the income level of $250k a year, not $400k as Obama and the Dems have offered.

Meanwhile, this morning, one of the cretins in his caucus - from Louisiana- bleated that he refused to support Boehner's Plan B because "there weren't enough in spending cuts"! This fool either is mentally deficient or unable to read, otherwise he'd have seen that HIS party lost the Nov. 6 election and therefore isn't in any position to make demands on spending cuts. As for Boehner's "tax rate increase" offer, it's a joke and a half! You're going to only allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for those making OVER $1 million! Are you NUTS! That's the top 0.5%!  And you expected the winner of the election, Barack Obama, to give up to $800 million more in spending cuts when he's already put Social Security on the table (using the device of Chained CPI to the cost of living adjustment) and Medicare.

This is totally insane, but it shows how totally deranged this party is, and as even Eugene Robinson pointed out this morning on MSNBC, likely going the way of the Whigs. (Please let it happen fast!)

As Sen. Bernie Sanders has noted,  Social Security has a $2.7 trillion surplus, can pay all benefits owed to all eligible Americans for the next 21 years and, because it is funded independently, has not contributed one penny to the deficit. Not one! So why is it even on the table? Because Obama's advisors told him it could be used as leverage with the public opinion gate keepers to show HE was serious in any bargaining with Boehner. It would show people that he would even go so far as to put liberal "sacred cows" out there to toss the Reepos as bones, just to show the lengths Obama was willing to go to escape the "fiscal cliff". The cost, of course, is that his approval ratings are already going down (latest to 49% from 52%) as many progressives are livid at this latest concession, especially after he made "iron clad" promises before the election win to keep the $250k/yr level as the minimum tax cut threshold and not to cede Social Security and Medicare as part of any "bargains".

 Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders agrees with AARP, the National Coalition to Preserve Social Security and Medicare,  and virtually all seniors’ organizations that Social Security should not be part of any deficit reduction negotiations. From its original mention, Sen. Sanders has opposed the so-called chained CPI, which would lower benefits for the typical Social Security recipient who retires at age 65 by $653 a year at age 75 and by $1,139 a year at age 85.

Further, Sen. Sanders like all right thinking and genuine liberals, has made it abundantly clear he will vigorously oppose Republicans and President Obama and anyone else who wants to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the infirm or disabled. This is NOT what a decent, respectable nation does, only what a vile, scoundrel nation does -  the one that the Reepos and their Tea Party Terrorists seem to want (especially as they have also inveighed against plans or initiative to deal with control of automatic weapons). The Reeps have, for six years, not even permitted a true Chief of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the branch of government that regulates weapons.  As I said, terrorists!

The fact that so many in Boehner's House caucus showed they wouldn't even accept a deal that left taxes unchanged for all but the top 0.5%, while demanding even more spending cuts from the WINNER of the election shows they aren't serious, and indeed, are likely a pack of deranged jackals or "rabid ferrets" as columnist Gail Collins referred to them today.

If nothing else, it also shows Obama that the only way to deal with these rogues is NOT to deal! If they will not voluntarily raise the tax rates on the richest, then there is NO choice - we must JUMP over that fucking fiscal cliff. Once and for all! By simply not doing anything all the tax rates will increase automatically and as Gail Collins pointed out, we will automatically get a $ 4 trillion deal good for ten years. Enough to keep the entitlement -cutting  Neoliberal scolds and wolves off our backs, for a relatively small bit of sacrifice.

Now step up there boldly, don't look back, do not whimper or cry....just JUMP!

See also:  http://www.salon.com/2012/12/21/john_boehner_failure/

Is Obama Starting to Get Weak-Kneed over the 'Fiscal Cliff'?

Today's three- inch blaring headlines in The Denver Post embodied the media hysteria behind the fiscal cliff bunkum:

IF WE GO OVER THE CLIFF…..

The article then proceeds to expatiate on all the perceived and projected major and minor disasters that may be expected to transpire, from defense contractors losing their money and jobs lost (no biggie - you need to find jobs that don't depend on war-making and weaponry - like $0.3 billion each F-35s that are of little use in asymmetric warfare anyhow),  to middle class folks having to suck up $2200 and more in extra taxes.  Again, no biggie - assuming you want your "entitlements" intact down the road. I.e. take the hit now, or take it when you're a geezer- via eviscerated benefits -  and no one will hire you. You can't have your 'cake' (tax cuts) and 'eat it' (future benefits). Look on higher taxes as a "gift" or at least practical device to support your future retirement, something like a 401k outlay!

In respect of the last, The New York Times today had a feature story wherein we learned that, contrary to all the hype, blather and mock consternation, that Americans have paid less in taxes than a generation ago. According to The Times, after quoting a sorehead who expressed the conviction that he wasn't getting ahead and merely "financing an expansion of government":

"“But in fact, most Americans in 2010 paid far less in total taxes — federal, state and local — than they would have paid 30 years ago. According to an analysis by The New York Times, the combination of all income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes took a smaller share of their income than it took from households with the same inflation-adjusted income in 1980.


Households earning more than $200,000 benefited from the largest percentage declines in total taxation as a share of income. Middle-income households benefited, too. More than 85 percent of households with earnings above $25,000 paid less in total taxes than comparable households in 1980. "


The Times notes that if a deal is not struck by year’s end, "a wide range of federal tax cuts passed since 2000 will expire and taxes will rise for roughly 90 percent of Americans".  But as I noted before, THIS is what the average classes must not fear - indeed, they must embrace the fiscal cliff, e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/11/fear-not-fiscal-cliff-embrace-it.html    The true fact, is that it's the Romney-backing plutocrats - the very ones who lost the election and now want to prevail by the back door-  who are terrified - because their free lunch Bush era tax cuts will finally end.

What this means to me, as an old class warrior,  is that WE - among the putative 98%- must take this temporary fiscal pain on in order to let the plutocrats PAY....their fair share in perpetuity. We cannot and must not allow ourselves to be used as willing pawns to trade fleeting protection from current minor tax increases for major sacrifice of future social benefits, especially Medicare (without which I'd have been dead or in the poor house now) .

We must face the fact, harsh though it might be, that the Repukes will never EVER of their own agree to the minor hike in tax rates that Obama and the Dems have proposed (merely going back to the Clinton era rates.)  We see this intransigence played out day after day, with ever more diminishing "optimism" - according to the blow dried. Newsflash: I NEVER had any such faux optimism anyway because I knew that despite all the early back slapping between Obama and Boehner that he'd never agree to a real tax rate hike. Only the phoney -baloney nonsense of closing loopholes and deductions, and then - with no enforcement provisions. And in return for which, WE - the side that won- would be expected to undergo major entitlement reform!

Fortunately, many ordinary citizens do get it, such as a commentator in the New York Times, following the tax article, who wrote:

"The idea that you trade-off Social Security and Medicare to get a small tax increase on the wealthy and super wealthy should be treated as a sick joke. Here's the problem, however: somewhere in the bowels of right wing sponsored "think tanks", it was discovered that you can make any demand, repeat it endlessly and sooner or later it gets treated as a reasonable idea. Why? Because the Democrats went intellectually bankrupt several decades ago. They lost their way, forgot their purpose and failed to articulate an updated version of why they exist. Into this vacuum, spurious ideas fly like the 50,000 bats out from underneath the Congress.

One basic tenet of American fairness should be better pay for all workers. "Because you, plutocrats, don't pay the workers for their contribution, we, Democrats, insist that you not touch Social Security. Got it?".-  St. bridge in Austin.

 These are sentiments I share 100% but now many begin to wonder if Obama does, or if he's starting to crack under the media fiscal cliff hysteria. Many are saying "It's deja vu all over again". According to the Wall Street Journal (which got the information from GOP leaders), the President’s opening bid to Republicans is:


— $1.6 trillion in additional tax revenues over the next decade, from limiting tax deductions on the wealthy and raising tax rates on incomes over $250,000 (although those rates don’t have to rise as high as the top marginal rates under Bill Clinton)

— $50 billion in added economic stimulus next year

— A one-year postponement of pending spending cuts in defense and domestic programs

— $400 billion in savings over the decade from Medicare and other entitlement programs (the same number contained in the President’s 2013 budget proposal, submitted before the election).

Here's where the bear sits with the buckwheat:  The Obama administration, by signaling its willingness not to raise top rates as high as they were under Clinton  (which was not that much anyway - 39.6%) and to cut some $400 billion from projected increases in Medicare and other entitlement spending,  has ceded important ground. In fact, instead of hanging tough it's sent up the first hint of a white flag of surrender - or at least it's been interpreted by the Repukes that way, which is why they're more dug in than ever! (And as Richard Wolfe noted on Ed Schultz last night, those Medicare cuts WILL inflict pain and on ordinary beneficiaries. It means greater costs will be passed on by insurers, and fewer conditions will be covered)

Given this hint of white flag, Republicans now obviously want much, much more.

Most of us on the extreme Left  (which was moderate-Left  45 years ago) were afraid of Obama getting weak-kneed as the media pressure continued. We saw how he collapsed with the debt ceiling war last year and it left us sick to our guts. But we believed in him enough to get him re-elected hoping a solid win would introduce much needed testosterone into his system and turn him into a true class warrior, a fighter, as opposed to a squeamish Centrist wimp. We do hope that he concedes no more to the Reep imps and stands his ground. Elections do have consequences, besides which 60% of citizens in a recent poll want taxes increased on the highest earners, vs. 37% who don't. Meanwhile, only 44% approve of the Reeps phoney revenue increases by closing off deductions, loopholes. So why go the route of offending the majority? Let the 'pukes do that!

Let me quote Paul Krugman from his piece in today's NY Times:

"The point is that the class war is still on, this time with an added dose of deception. And this, in turn, means that you need to look very closely at any proposals coming from the usual suspects, even — or rather especially — if the proposal is being represented as a bipartisan, common-sense solution. In particular, whenever some deficit-scold group talks about “shared sacrifice,” you need to ask, sacrifice relative to what? "


I totally agree, and do hope most readers do as well. Meanwhile, Obama needs to understand we didn't go "all in" with him just to see him cave once more to the Repuke turds! Those of us who were "all in" during the election, are now ALL IN again for the class war and going OVER the fiscal cliff if the Reeps don't come to their senses. We'd rather THAT than a bad, half-assed deal not in the interest of the middle class, or the working class!

Elections HAVE Consequences: Time to Bring Repukes to Heel!

“So, let's get this straight: A Republican President is reelected in 2004 with 284 electoral votes and the pundits say he has the "political capital" to push an extreme right-wing mandate. A Democratic President gets reelected in 2012 with 303 electoral votes, and they're telling us he needs to "unite a divided country."


Nonsense.This election was a clear and unequivocal victory for the populist positions the president took on the campaign trail”. – Richard Eskow, www.Smirkingchimp.com blog
------

Listening to newly re-elected Prez Barack Obama a couple nights ago, one could forgive him for flighty, over-generous, fantasy rhetoric in the wake of his resounding electoral victory – which now lo0ks like it will conform with Nate Silver’s forecast of 332 electoral votes to 206 for Mittens. That is why we need to take with a grain of salt his oratory about “working with Mitt Romney” or any of the other Gooper Fiends who, if they’d won would have had THEIR way and all of us eating out of bird feeders and dumpsters. So, let’s drop the bipartisan bull shit one time. Those fuckers would not give one nanoscale crumb to us had they achieved the same result, and we owe them nothing!

While the rarefied rhetoric can be accepted – temporarily – it must not be the basis of any policy decisions, and certainly not in any pandering to the ‘pukes for any “Grand Bargain” of the odious form floated two years ago. With the Reptiles yielding maybe one fourth in revenues, with the other THREE-fourths in egregious spending cuts – including to Medicare and Social Security, i.e. the “entitlements” the ‘pukes have had a boner to cut since the year dot.

Boehner’s plea yesterday for “fiscal cliff compromise” based on yielding a wee bit of revenue in the form of closing some tax loopholes must therefore be spat upon, with large globs and laughed at – howler style. People in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere didn’t stand in line for eight hours – sometimes barely making it to the ballot casting – for the sake of bald appeasement and give away to these ass- suckers. No –they stood in those lines, wherever the lines were – despite the Repuke efforts to suppress votes- because they believed Obama’s campaign speeches were based on genuine populism - not cynical political manipulation which in the end would sacrifice the very self-interest the 60 odd million Obama supporters cast ballots for!

This is why – especially after the nasty lessons of the debt ceiling crisis of 2010, Obama must not give ONE inch to these turds! Let them sink or swim, or suck shit. That’s putting it as nicely as I can. (And, oh btw, I’m in a good mood today after seeing a hilarious video on one idiot Wingnut blogger’s website – which compensated for having to get dental work done!)

Let’s understand a few things here, which I hope Obama does: Boehner, McConnell and the rest of their Klan have nothing to stand on – no room to maneuver. THEY are the ones who most desperately want to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” because it will mean automatic repeal of all the tax cuts – including those for their millionaire beneficiaries. THEY are the ones that have the most to lose and are in the worst bargaining position, so it makes more sense to adopt Sen. Patty Murray’s “cliff diver” paradigm and go over!

If the asinine repukes don’t want that then let THEM cede the most – by which I mean at LEAST HALF in new revenues from pure marginal tax INCREASES, not just pissant loophole closings or “simplifications”. Then, Obama can reasonably consider a judicious spending cuts aspect. But…..let’s make this clear once and for all:  the ¼ tax hikes and ¾ spending cuts formula is now passé. That was last time and 'pukes passed on it. THIS time the formula changes to ½ spending cuts and ½ pure tax hikes and at the marginal rates (at least) of the Clinton years – when, btw, 20 million new jobs were created.

There can be NO other deal and if Whiny Boehner and his Tea party crew don’t like it let them all take a long long walk on short pier.

As for the sequestration coming on Jan. 2, and the fear instilled in McConnell, Boehner and the other boneheads because of the imminent $600 b in military cuts – TOUGH SHIT! They brought it on by the failure of their members on the Supercommittee to deal, or compromise with the Dems. Now they must live with the fiscal consequences, humble as they are (the $600b is actually spread over ten years and merely reduces the rate of growth for the Pentagon, not in any sense an absolute cut in funding!)

As for the “fiscal cliff” itself, as Ezra Klein of the WaPo noted, it’s more a fiscal “bump”. All this hysteria is merely fomented by the corporate blow dried bimbos and himbos to try to frighten the policy makers into taking precipitous action. Meanwhile, the Wall Street sharks are using DOW nosedives as blackmail to try to get favorable action, i.e. extending ALL Bush tax cuts.

Sorry! This we cannot afford, if debt-deficit gurus like David Walker, Ernest Bowles, Alan Simpson and others are to be taken at their word. Yes, on average, the typical American Middle class family earning $60,000 will see a net increase of $2,200 in their bills to the IRS. But this is a small sacrifice to make compared to seeing their future Medicare cut in half, with premiums raised 100% or more and Social Security sliced by using a new COLA formula – with seniors losing up to $900 a year, every ten years. This would be catastrophic given that up to 55% of seniors are already living on only $21,000 a year and this is mostly coming from Social Security.

As for the Right’s warmongers, they also will be doing a full court press for Obama to attack Iran, prodded on by bellicose Israelis, but this he cannot do. For one, it will truly wreck the economy (unlike the mythical “fiscal cliff”) sending oil prices up over $250 a barrel. For another, the Russians will not sit back passively and watch as their investments go up in smoke and flames. To give in to the warmonger punks would therefore be the most colossal stupid thing ever done.

Once more the election delivered at least massive political capital to Obama. He needs to have the cojones to use it, not squander it by pussyfooting around with his sworn enemies, trying to make nicey-nice.

Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Obama, but we ARE divided by Red and Blue states! (One reason that secession of the 'Reds" may be the only sane and ultimate solution.) The sooner you acknowledge that fact and accept it,  the sooner you will be the proud PARTISAN you ought to have been in your first term, and pave the way for being a genuine leader…..as opposed to a Wuss.