Well here we are again; same story, different day. Here is another crisis that our glorious leader and illustrious Congress have brought us to. Isn’t it predictable that nothing ever gets done in Washington until the eleventh hour and then it is hastily put together and doesn’t really solve anything anyway?
This fiscal cliff nonsense is just the latest chapter where Congress and the President try to make themselves look relevant. Predictably this is all being blown out of proportion by the media and now that we are only 30 days and counting from a “so-called” disaster, the heat is on.
Turn on any news channel and you hear the same thing. Obama wants a tax rate hike on the wealthiest two percent, the Republicans say no. The Republicans want cuts to entitlements, the Democrats say no. Blah…blah…blah. How long has this storm of hot air been flying around? I’m thinking over a year and a half.
Instead of each side coming out and saying the same thing over and over, causing the stock market to rise and fall on promises of a deal why don’t the Republicans just call Obama’s bluff and walk away from the table?
The media, Obama and the Democrats are brainwashing everyone into believing that they have a mandate because of the November 6th election. Newsflash! They don’t. Republicans still hold the purse strings by retaining the House and Obama did not win a large margin by any stretch of the imagination. Why are the Republicans acting like they just lost everything and have no cards to play in the game?
I agree with Charles Krauthamer who says that Obama has as much if not more to lose if he lets the country go over the cliff. Besides, it’s a no win situation for the Republicans anyway. If they cave and raise taxes with the Democrat promise of spending cuts “somewhere down the road” there will be Hell to pay in the mid-term elections. If they stand their ground and let everyone go over the cliff, they will probably be blamed for that too, so they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. What have they got to lose? The arrogance of this President is staggering when you think that not only does he want the Republicans to cave on everything, but he wants even MORE spending! I fear for the future of the Republican Party if they go along with any of that deal.
They need to walk away and let Obama think about what he and the Democrats will face if they don’t back off. At the least Obama is looking at a double dip recession, 9% unemployment and a grid-locked Congress, plus as Krauthamer suggests, no legacy. They can spin it all they want and demonize the Republicans day after day, but history will show that he let it happen because of his lack of leadership.
This is a serious matter that Washington is playing with. It may already be too late to save this country. With the amount of tax increases suggested and the wimpy figure mentioned for entitlement reform (if any), it isn’t even a drop in the bucket to fix the real problems we face.
Maybe a jump off the cliff is what they need in Washington to wake them up and knock sense into their heads as Nassim Taleb author of “The Black Swan” says. If Taxmaggeden does happen then so be it. Maybe we should just suck it up and fix the problems now while we still can, instead of doing it incrementally. It’s like trying to cure cancer with an aspirin…it’s crazy.
At least half of the American people are aware of the problems we face and I am sure that if they felt a real compromise was forthcoming they would take the hit and make the sacrifice. It is the other half that I fear wants to take that ride over the cliff thinking that they will never reach the bottom.
Morgan Brittany
Politichicks.tv
@MorganBrittany4