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Supercommittee Fails: Congratulations!
This article originally appeared on the Daily Capitalist on November 21st, 2011
COMMENTARY
Now that the supercommittee has failed to reach a budget compromise we hear about how things don’t work in D.C. any more. There is a nostalgic longing for the good old days when collegial legislators could get together and act for the benefit of the nation.
What a crock.
Another way to look at it is that finally someone stood for something and refused to compromise basic principles.
If you are looking for a golden age of politics your search will be futile. It never existed. Any study of the political history of the U.S. reveals, if anything, politics today are cleaner than they ever were. After George Washington’s presidency, it didn’t take long for the mud to fly. Crooked deals, patronage, nepotism, vote fixing, and smoke filled rooms were the rule not the exception. Jack Kennedy understood his father bought him a presidency. Lyndon Johnson was in the pocket of Brown & Root who bought his election to Congress. Spiro Agnew was taking bribes while he was Nixon’s VP. Etcetera.
It’s easy to be collegial when your party is in power as the Democrats were from 1932 (FDR) to 1968 (Nixon). In those days the Republicans were for the most part powerless and the good old boys who ran the place, Democratic Speakers from Sam Rayburn to Tip O’Neill, did what their president commanded. They didn’t lose their hold on Congress until 1994 when Gingrich pulled off a Republican victory.
So now, when Washington’s reckless fiscal stewardship of the U.S. has run us insolvent, the mainstream media complain when legislators can’t get together and “do something.” They blame these politicians for putting politics ahead of the country. La-di-da, la-di-da, la la, as Diane Keaton said in Annie Hall.
Republicans were dead set against tax increases, the third rail of right wing politics, and the Democrats wouldn’t compromise on their demand for increased taxes on the “rich.” Both parties were playing to their bases in an election year, so everything is entirely understandable.
Perhaps we should be celebrating someone on the Hill for standing up for a principle that they weren’t willing to compromise. I will assume, and the reports seem to support this, that the main problem was the Republicans who wouldn’t agree to any tax raise. If that is the case, then I salute those intransigent bastards for finally showing some courage in defense of a no tax increase pledge.
When you think about it automatic across the board spending cuts is a good thing. If they can’t figure 0ut how to cut $120 billion (3.3%) each year out of a $3.6 trillion budget, then you understand the depth of the problem.
The problem is that the federal government is too important. It was not designed that way. Originally it was the States that were important. But their power has been drained away and the Constitution has been jettisoned to create an all powerful federal government. Now money flocks to Washington to seek favors because politicians have the power to grant them.
The system is broken, but not in the way the MSM is saying. What’s broken is a system that can’t be fixed. Kumbayah is not the answer. Perhaps forced cuts are the only way to achieve fiscal sanity. The message to voters is: you decide.
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msm = ponzeconomy deniers
"I will assume, and the reports seem to support this, that the main problem was the Republicans who wouldn’t agree to any tax raise."
Hey Econophile, ever heard of the Interwebs?? Quote from WSJ:
In this morning's Wall Street Journal Stephen Moore reports in the 4th paragraph of an op-ed that super-committee co-chairman Jeb Henserling (R-Tex.) told him: "We have no interest in raising rates--period." (Emphasis added here.) This could imply there is interest in raising taxes without raising rates. Paragraphs 6 and 7 confirm the implication. Republicans would agree to cuts in big-ticket tax breaks (like the mortgage interest and charitable deductions) in exchange for keeping the top individual rate at 35 percent. This would be a tax increase relative to the intuitive current policy baseline that Republicans almost always insist on using. (It might not technically be considered a tax increase against the current law baseline. But if Republicans resort to this argument they would merely be using a gimmick to obfuscate what they (in the past) and the public consider a tax increase.)
-Meanwhile, in Democrat-land (from New Media Journal):
'Super Committee' Dems Ignore GOP Offer of New Revenues
http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/3607
--Hey, I know it's fun to only watch MSNBC and share tingles with Chris Matthews, but this is Zero Hedge, not HuffPo--get informed before you mindlessly post opinions as news.
Politics has always been brutal and ugly. However, things tended to work better because each party had regional wings they needed to support by compromise. Democrats needed to retain their southern moderates and republicans their northeast liberals. Those two wings have now been pretty well wiped out. (or defected to the other party)
Worse yet, by the time the allocations are distributed, the Military Industrial complex will have found a work around any percieved "auto" cut. You may have heard of it..War?
Nice analysis Econophile.
Is that a 3.3% cut from a 6% increase (or whatever it is) ??
Or a real 3.3% cut?
Yes, I am starting to think that gridlock is the preferred solution because it is clear that the politicians in power don't get it and if they did they would enact something that fails to fix it. Doing nothing and letting the market take over here may be the best solution. The only time I have faith in Congress is when they get together in a real crisis like war...the rest of the time they can sit on their hands...
See? Ron Paul is needed, as a -3.3%/yr cut is a non-event.
Much more Gubmint Failure would be such a good thing for citizens far and wide.
They were always slated to fail. Now Congres can force-feed budget cuts to the nation and only blame it on 12 stooges Vs. all the stooges. BRILLIANT!
Actually, since CONgress can't solve the problem we'll have to have an unelected "CONsultant" from Goldman Sucks come in and run the country just like what's happening to the PIIGS.
Agreed. What we need is another (Pabst) Blue Ribbon Comission to suggest ways to let old folks die and tax the shit out of young people.
Why doesn't strikethrough work? It appears correctly in the edit window.
The international bond markets will school these fools.
Not as long as The Bernank is happy to keep printing.
Oh no, someone is actually thinking !
Thanks.
At some point however, the cheap crooks have to realize that principled idiocy is still idiocy.
Even JP Morgan recognized that saving the banking system from complete collapse was in his own best interest and that his interest and the economies interest were aligned (ok, the guy was a crook, but at some point, people don't need to steal any more. Even Buffet, while still continuing down his crooked path of grandfatherly misdirection, has set in motion a grand philanthropic effort.)
The best thing for voters is simply to un elect every elected official, clean slate the whole bunch. Then all of the newbies will at least be clueless as to what to steal, and some might even be duped into thinking they really are there for the good of it all.
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My decision was made in 1982: Throw the bums out!
The above article says, astonishingly:
« ... the political history of the U.S. reveals, if anything, politics today are cleaner than they ever were ... »
Smokin' that strong struff, eh?
Scrary eh? But it is true to a point. The current system is morally corrupt and bankrupt but perfectly legal..
Good food for thought. Thanks.
I for a long time have felt that the core problem is with the voters. Unless they make time to get educated on the risks we face and apply pressure to reduce them I see no hope. This applies to all the big issues we face today, not just the deficit.
They'll have the super duper committee next month and then the super dooper stooper, after that.
Then the ECB will nationalize everything to "save" the system. NWO bitchies.. that's how you do it.
The replacement of problem-solving education with ideological, agenda-driven indoctrination has been successful in eliminating the thinking, educated Voter. Voluntary civic duties have been discouraged. Until there is a change from indoctrination back to Education, the statists will continue to accrue power until the money is gone. Ubiquitous economic disaster provides the kindling for civil war. All it takes is a match, The Demagogue, to set it all on fire. The woodpile is ready, we just don't know yet who will strike the match.
Why blame the voters? They're only doing what the TV tells them to do.