Deficit solution will have to wait for 2012 elections
So, the congressional “super committee” failed to agree to a deal that would cut deficits. Maybe the defense-heavy spending cuts will now take effect, or maybe Congress will find a way to finagle its way out of them.
A deal that reformed entitlements and the tax code would have been great. But it was never terribly likely.
As much as people like to wring their hands about partisanship and ideological inflexibility, the fact is that there is a deep divide in this country about how to fix the nation’s finances. Oh, sure, you can find polls whose respondents largely say, “cut spending and raise taxes!” But dig much deeper, and the specifics — usually, cut the spending I don’t like (on programs that amount to peanuts), and raise other people’s taxes — don’t lend themselves to a grand bargain.
There is an election in 11.5 months, and no issue before the electorate surpasses the urgent importance of this one. There won’t be a breakthrough on it before then. Whether we get one afterward, and how soon, will depend a) on the results, and b) how soon the inevitable arrives.
Because the day of reckoning is inevitable: Anything that can’t go on forever, as the economist Herb Stein is said to have pointed out, won’t. And this definitely can’t.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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178 comments Add your comment
Evelyn
November 21st, 2011
11:01 pm
Well I guess we all learned in the end it was all about trying to preserve the Bush Tax cuts tax for those at the top, to the point the Republicans were blatantly going to eliminate mortgage interest deductions, damn the middle class, just to make sure they could say their bill was “REVENUE NEUTRAL”. Revenue neutral means nothing from the bill would go into paying down our deficit, by definition and design. So the hole we dug our country into, with the Bush Tax cuts, did not generate jobs as we were promised, nor did it increase the national product. An expensive experiment, gone badly. Looking to the middle class to make up the tax difference to fund huge tax breaks for the wealthy is very short sighted, though. We need to let young families spend their money on books for their kids, computers, tutors, and such. We need to train our vets coming home next month. We need to win the future.
Ralph
November 21st, 2011
11:20 pm
They are ALL at fault. As far as I am concerned, someone blow the whistle and EVERYONE OUT OF THE POOL.
Carl
November 22nd, 2011
12:37 am
The Super Committee was never intended to achieve anything other than provide cover to kick our problems down the road.The triggered cuts to come about automatically if they fail will be revised or rescinded by the lame duck congress after the 2012 election.As Dan correctly pointed out you don’t put two budget busters like John Kerry and Patty Murray on a committee and expect them to cut anything.The whole thing WAS a farce from the outset and was designed to give Omama a scapegoat he can run against…..Congress!!Once again the American public has been duped into thinking that solutions would be coming from a group of firmly entrenched politicians on both sides.The answer to our economic woes is to remove as many as possible in the next election and replace them with people who are not Washington elites.The fact that congress has an even lower public opinion than Omama should spur us all to vote them out along with Obama.
Michael H. Smith
November 22nd, 2011
4:20 am
The answer to our economic woes is to remove as many as possible in the next election and replace them with people who are not Washington elites.
Something a good number of us have said for years. Saying it is easy, doing it is quite another story altogether and every time a sane movement that just might make things change for the better appears to rise up it isn’t long before one of the established major parties hijack the entire works. The TEA Party is a good example, which started with basic principles in mind began to evolve rather quickly into the pure anti-tax arm of the right. I should know speaking from the right. With this occupier bunch, if they ever had any genuine populism agenda it was soon lost to a take over by the marxist-socialism arm of the left.
So there we are right where we are likely to remain, stuck between the two extremes, unable to get rid of a sufficient number of these extremest on either side to ever make a satisfactory difference for we of the non-elites that don’t want an iron fist or a hand out we just want an even honest hand in all dealings.
Joel Edge
November 22nd, 2011
5:40 am
“There is an election in 11.5 months”
350 days, one hour and twentyone minutes by my clock. We keep the house and get the senate. Maybe some change will come after that.
sheepdawg
November 22nd, 2011
6:13 am
the “r”’s are idiots
sheepdawg
November 22nd, 2011
6:14 am
the people who voted them in are bigger idiots
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
6:28 am
ATF: Bush tax cuts…would have produced something like $2 or $3 trillion in tax revenue over a decade.
———–
Why did Obozo fight to extend them? Seems like a genius Nobel prize winner wouldn’t have done something so obviously wrong.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
6:31 am
“Well I guess we all learned in the end it was all about trying to preserve the Bush Tax cuts tax for those at the top”
———
I guess it would be pointless to remind you that most of our President Bush’s tax cuts went to the middle class. You’re obviously immune to facts.
GT
November 22nd, 2011
7:10 am
You don’t pay taxes, you don’t fight in the arm services, you don’t help your fellow Americans, you just sit scared in your little dark corners of this country like trolls under a bridge. About the only thing you have in common with America is a language. Maybe this is America in 2011 but I don’t think so. I am thinking just like Bush Sr. you say read my lips when it is writing a check your body cannot cash. Then you have an excuse for losing, which was happening long before you got to the tax thing because you lacked character to be a leader. You lied to get us in a war, you bailed out the banks with our tax money, you spent like no other administration, mismanaged like it was a goal and now you find yourself in a dark place and you want the rest of us to suffer with you. The ballot box will cure a lot of this. O is timing his answer to you not to peak too soon, the American public is fickle on short term things. Our southern states almost in a James Dickey kind of world will vote for the rebel cause right or wrong but the greater part of the nation is sick of sickness and will vote to pull the curtains back and let sunshine in the room open the doors and let the snitch of politics, the mental illness of losers, leave the room. The only thing that keeps the Republican Party alive is ignorance, and they by the back door are actually educating a few of us how bad it could be if they are elected again.
theTruth
November 22nd, 2011
7:32 am
Lil Barry: Why did Obozo fight to extend them? Seems like a genius Nobel prize winner wouldn’t have done something so obviously wrong.
Because the republicans where holding the unemployment benefits hostage. He didn’t fight to extend them?
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
7:34 am
In truth, BOTH parties are responsible for the failure. No one wants to step up and propose any real solutions. Republicans are too committed to the idea that we should not pay taxes. Democrats are stuck on handing out money to people who don’t deserve it.
In the area of taxes, how about a compromise: let the Bush tax cuts fall (thereby taxing those stock traders at 35% rather than 15%), but also impose a strict minimum 5% tax in income (business or individual). That will keep GE from paying no taxes on its $14 million in profits. It will also silence those who shout that 45% of all Americans pay no income tax (a number that is sure to go down this year as the $800 credit per couple dropped off this year). The combination of these two will bring in needed revenues.
On the spending side, we need to rein in the spending on Medicaid, welfare (whatever that is, I can’t find it in the budget), and, yes, even military spending. Social Security and Medicare should be matched to income coming in plus receipts from their trust fund.
kawasaki Kid
November 22nd, 2011
7:52 am
Darn! I clicked on Bookman this morning and got a blindered partisan ideologue named Wingfield…
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
8:04 am
Because the republicans where holding the unemployment benefits hostage. He didn’t fight to extend them?
———
Incorrect. At the time Obozo was fighting to keep our President Bush’s tax cuts, the Democrat party controlled both houses of Congress.
Bill
November 22nd, 2011
8:13 am
It is interesting that there is a mounting backlash against the pending cuts to the military on the basis that these cuts will eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. It is ironic that this argument comes from the same people who tell us that government does not create jobs.
carlosgvv
November 22nd, 2011
8:31 am
I suspect all the politicians on the “super committee” deliberately allowed this to happen. Both parties are counting on being more negative and mud slinging in the months to come than the other. If the Democrats can keep the Senate and win back the House, they will stop the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich, among other things. If the Republicans keep the House and win the Senate, they will go on a Social Security, Medicare and Medicade cutting spree. Hey, is this a great country or what!!!!!!!!!
Obozonomics
November 22nd, 2011
8:50 am
You libs are so funny, blame Bush, blame the GOP, blame everyone and take no responsibility for ANYTHING. It seems idiotic to me to blame the GOP without blaming the DNC also, and if you are a lib, like most of you here, how can you possibly not understand that we need to cut spending? We don’t have a tax problem we have a spending problem and NOBODY in the government is smart enough to balance a check book, fire ALL of the incumbents and get some people in there that can do simple math…
Obozonomics
November 22nd, 2011
8:55 am
Again you libs need to learn some math, you keep an talking about the Bush tax cuts, on money that has already been taxed once, yet they keep wanting to tax it AGAIN, and when you die they want to tax it a THIRD time, sounds like we have heroin addicts in charge of holding the heroin….yet the democrats keep crying for more drugs…… time for some tough love here folks…
HDB
November 22nd, 2011
8:58 am
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
8:04 am
Actually…you’re wrong! The Republicans in the SENATE were filibustering the bill to extend the UI benefits. The Democrats wanted to let the Bush tax cuts expire for those above 250K. The compromise was to maintain the Bush tax cuts AND extend UI benefits!!
Your recollection of facts needs some ginko to help your memory….or are you coming down with “sometimers”???
yuzeyurbrane
November 22nd, 2011
9:02 am
I agree with Kyle that this should be sorted out in 2012 election. National priorities will be decided and the facts will separate themselves from propaganda. I hope the election will be decisive and the side that does not prevail accepts the wisdom of the people and the legitimacy of our government.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
9:08 am
Sorry, HDB, but your blame shifting won’t fly. Democrats controlled both houses. If they were unable to craft a compromise that would attract bipartisan support, the failure is theirs alone.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
9:09 am
The budget won’t be fixed while the party of spending and parasitism controls our White House and the Senate.
a dad
November 22nd, 2011
9:14 am
Sarah – so you have two National Defense Service Medals (its not Server by the way). And that’s supposed to impress everyone here. One gets those medals simply for being active duty during specified times. You could be stationed in Kansas and still get one. Biq question is were you ever “in theater?” Do you have a Navy Cross? Purple Heart? Also, we really haven’t used M-16’s for some time now. The M-4 (which happens to be a cut down version of the 16) is the weapon of choice these days. As far as your responses and retorts, I seriously doubt you had access to any of our intell re threrat assessments, response plans, and so on. What did you do in the military? Storekeeper? On a ship far out to sea? One thing for certain ma’am, you did not see any combat or even come close to it. So please, while you are entitled to express your views, don’t try and come across as an expert like Colin Powell (ever meet the General by chance? Seeing as how knowledgable you are I’m certain you must have on numerous occasions) or that you are “in the know.”
I read, and occasionally contribute, to these blogs to learn other viewpoints, hopefully get directed to websties with actual information and facts, instead of reading posts by blowhards like you.
a dad
November 22nd, 2011
9:16 am
Hey y’all. How about someone list, and describe in detail, exactly what the Bush tax cuts are, and what they do so we can all see whether they beneift only the 1% or not.
HDB
November 22nd, 2011
9:18 am
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
9:08 am
So…it’s shifting the blame when the party of the rich hold unemployed Americans hostage so that the wealthy maintain a low tax rate….
RRRIIIIIIIGGGHHT!!
Who has YET to compromise…..who has publiclly stated that their goal is to make Obama a “one-term president”??
The budget won’t be fixed until the Corporate parasites release their influence on the political process!!
joe
November 22nd, 2011
9:29 am
If the Euro-peetards couldn’t solve their debt crisis, and they’ve only been at war with each other for the last ten thousand years, then how can we expect the GOPeetards to help solve our debt crisis, when they’ve only been morons for the last fifty or a hundert year.
bwa
hryder
November 22nd, 2011
9:53 am
Republicans and Democrats that are incumbents should all be voted OUT OF OFFICE. That would cause a sliver of hope in being able to move the country to a fiscally sound position. An arguement has yet to be offered that truely logically and common sense wise satisfies reasoning for any one person being in elected office more than twelve(12) years. The vast majority of elected office holders of twelve(12) years or more indicate by their behavior that they are “entitled”, and wield power as if feudal lords. There should also be the abolishment of any and all “perks”,i.e. retirement, health insurance, tax breaks, travel, reimbursements, automobiles, free vacation facilities, etc., that are not available to all tax paying citizens of the United States. The offering that your specific elected official is not that way is pure B.S., M.S., and PhD.(the S indicating equine fecal matter and piled higher and deeper for the latter). That is exactly how incumbents remain in office. Once this is accomplished term limits at the federal level should be passed as a Constitutional Amendnent. Term limits should also be enacted for all state and locally elected offices.
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
9:54 am
Great job Obama, another failure on your watch! Keep up the good work.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
9:54 am
Nice try HDB. Republicans controlled nothing, and your boy king had to cave because he couldn’t convince Americans to go along with class warfare.
Why do greedy Democrats consistently torpedo compromise with their greedy tax-raising schemes?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
9:56 am
“O” is in “o”ver his head. He should resign now so Americans can reclaim their country.
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
9:57 am
Lil Barry….My wife has a client that is a Secret Service agent for the Clintons. The tone in Washington right now is that Obama is very disengaged. She has a feeling that a big announcement may be made in January.
joe
November 22nd, 2011
10:01 am
Obama is the greatest president ever with the exception of Benjamin Franklin and Aaron Burr, morons.
Voice of Reason
November 22nd, 2011
10:11 am
Sorry, Dems, I don’t believe in the redistribution of wealth. So take your tax hikes and shove ‘em. I don’t want the 1%’s money.
resno2
November 22nd, 2011
10:15 am
Wait, I thought that since obama took office everything was supposed to be Bush’s fault… how could this be blamed on someone else? Gadzooks we’ve been bamboozled!!!
Voice of Reason
November 22nd, 2011
10:15 am
hryder- Booting out all Repubs and replacing them with Dems and booting all Dems in favor of Repubs will do absolutely nothing except change faces. The ideology is still there. The only way the country’s problems will ever get fixed is if the average Joe voter takes the time to research the candidates they are voting for and decide who represents their interests the best.
gm
November 22nd, 2011
10:28 am
Thanks Obama for passing the bill that supports our vets, you have done more for vets then any President ever, Michelle Obama was at Nascar event with some veterans wifes who husband lost their lives for this country and the ingnorant country hicks who attend these events booed her.
Yet these bigots would go out and support Gingert who took millions from government 3 ex wifes and would not give a dime to these low class middle class whites, this shows what a backward society Americans are.
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
10:31 am
Gm…she should have been booed…..that was an idiotic move bringing her there. She should have known what would happen.
Support Gingrich!
JKL2
November 22nd, 2011
10:36 am
Once again the Democrats show their solution to everything is increase taxes. Until we fix the spending, it doesn’t matter what we do on the revenue side. They can’t come up with a budget, so why should we have expected this to work…
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
10:36 am
This is the way that Asians see blacks? How sad…..
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1c7_1321931562
Cant we all just along?
gm
November 22nd, 2011
10:38 am
UGA 1999
I expect that from a Georgia backwoods : tell that to the military wifes who husband that lost their lives for you country hicks, who the first lady was with
typical hypocrite rep support someone with no family values or morals but point the fingers at other people, typical hypocrite white christians”””’
MarkV
November 22nd, 2011
10:39 am
Support Gingrich! He has two opposite views on just about any issue, so he can never be wrong!
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
10:41 am
Gm….no family values or morals…Hey we are not talking about Bill Clinton here.
Most Nascar fans are middle class americans. No president has done more to harm the middle class than Obama. And then you wonder why they booed her? Nice.
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
10:42 am
AND YOU DEMS THINK HE IS NOT A LIAR!?!?!?!!?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bfd_1321923397
Keep drinking that Kool-Aid!
MarkV
November 22nd, 2011
10:51 am
UGA 1999 @10:41 am: “No president has done more to harm the middle class than Obama.”
You must have mistaken Obama with George W. Bush, under whom the middle class income stagnated while the rich prospered, and who brought us the recession that caused the unemployment.
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
10:52 am
MarkV…How many times do we have to tell you….BUSH IS NOT PRESIDENT ANYMORE!
HDB
November 22nd, 2011
10:58 am
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
10:36 am
Since WW2 and Korea, Asians have always had a negative connotation about blacks…..most of which was generated by white American GIs! Asians were told that black people grew tails at night!! Slowly, though, those stereotypes are being disproved by those of us who can speak Japanese, Chinese and/or Korean!!!
HDB
November 22nd, 2011
11:01 am
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
November 22nd, 2011
9:54 am
” Republicans controlled nothing, and your boy king had to cave because he couldn’t convince Americans to go along with class warfare.”
Did you miss the session where the Republicans modified the filibuster rules so that the MINORITY could control the majority?? When the Democrats tried to change it, the GOP FILIBUSTERED…and maintained control!!!
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said: “That’s where the money is!” Who controls the money in this nation: wealthy people and corporate interests — NOT the middle class!! Gotta go to who has the money….right??? Also note that the tax code is skewed TOWARDS the wealthy…and not the middle class! I won’t vote AGAINST my own interests!!
Why do greedy Republicans consistently torpedo compromise with their greedy tax-shifting schemes?
MarkV
November 22nd, 2011
11:02 am
UGA 1999 @10:52 am: “MarkV…How many times do we have to tell you….BUSH IS NOT PRESIDENT ANYMORE!”
Why did you not think about it when you wrote “No president has done more to harm the middle class than Obama.”
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
11:03 am
HDB….There ya go….blame black stereotypes on whites..hahah nice job!
UGA 1999
November 22nd, 2011
11:03 am
MarkV….because it is true.