Fiscal cliff ‘deal’ represents everything wrong with Washington
Only in Washington, D.C., do people raise taxes and fail to cut spending from what they were just a day earlier and call it the “American Taxpayer Relief Act.”
That more or less summarizes what I think about the itsy bitsy deal struck in the Senate earlier this week to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.
I’m not going to rehash all the details of the deal. Nor do I plan to argue about whether we should consider the deal a) a tax cut for most people, because income tax rates were scheduled to go up this year and now will not, possibly resulting in a lower tax bill than many Americans were set to face in 2013 even after payroll taxes rise by 2 percentage points; or b) a tax increase, because the deal does not mean anyone will actually pay less in taxes in 2013 than they did in 2012, and many people will pay more.
It’s a rather stupid debate to have — not least because some of the same people who argue it’s a tax cut because taxes would have gone up anyway are also trying somehow to claim it’s a spending cut, even though the far-larger automatic sequester cuts have been put on hold for at least two months. Either what was going to happen by law on Jan. 1 counts when we evaluate this deal, or it doesn’t.
We have the spectacle of Republicans’ voting to raise taxes for some people and calling it a “tax cut,” as well as President Obama’s spending weeks insisting on keeping taxes the same on the middle class and striking a “balance” between tax hikes and spending cuts, and then accepting the deal even though neither goal was actually accomplished.
In fact, this “deal” is emblematic of everything that’s wrong with Washington:
1. Congress and the president created the fiscal cliff in the first place. First, they passed laws (especially pertaining to taxes) that are temporary. Second, their other “solutions,” in this case the sequester, don’t kick in for months — before which time everyone will be re-elected and then scramble to undo what they previously did. All of this sets up arbitrary future “deadlines” to resolve “crises.” Washington is forever spending the present trying to turn future actions into history before they ever even happen.
2. Congress and the president spend more time worrying about the political fallout of their policies than anything else, crafting their policies with arbitrary inflection points designed to sound good rather than to accomplish good. After all, does Obama now think someone has “made enough money” or doesn’t need a tax break at $400,000 of income rather than $200,000 (for individuals)? Is anyone in America naive enough to believe that the $400,000 threshold was chosen because there’s some evidence-based reason to believe it maximizes revenue or minimizes economic damage? (Does anyone in America even care about such things anymore?)
3. After weeks or even months of haggling, the final legislation was passed in one chamber mere hours after the deal was reached in principle and in the other only a day later — meaning, as with such hasty monstrosities as Dodd-Frank and Obamacare, congressional aides and industry lobbyists probably know more about what’s in the legislation than do the elected officials who voted for (or against) it. All, of course, because of the arbitrary deadlines mentioned above.
4. After all the focus on individual taxes, which by definition affect the most people personally, the final legislation preserved numerous carve-outs for industry (banks, Hollywood, even NASCAR) that never made the headlines during the weeks and months of haggling. Meanwhile, big elements that were discussed at length — particularly regarding entitlements — remain untouched.
5. Worst of all, the “solution” is so far removed from actually solving the original problem at hand — in this case, reducing the deficit — and pushes so much of the action into the future that we will be treated to this whole charade again within months, if not weeks or even days. Until then, however, we will hear about “bipartisanship” and “compromise” in tones suggesting that incorporating the worst ideas and hypocrisies of each side is somehow a good thing for the country.
And, due to the results of last year’s election, the very same cast of characters will be “leading” us through the next series of crises they create in the name of putting out the fire in front of them. Wonderful.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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224 comments Add your comment
Hopeful
January 2nd, 2013
4:17 pm
Taxes is getting on my nerves all the government dose is raise taxes
and dose nothing put filled their pockets they are to have a couple weeks
living in the Projects and serve food to the homeless get out here with the middle class
folks and work live on that pay check ok
Bruno
January 2nd, 2013
4:18 pm
If only the Republicans had pushed through spending cuts to go along with their tax cuts in 01 and 03, Kyle wouldn’t have near as much to complain about.
In case you missed it, Numbers-R-Us, here’s a link which summarized federal revenue and spending.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200
During the Bush years, annual spending deficits averaged about $250 B. Since Obama took office, we’ve been in the hole $1.3 T to $1.4 T every single year.
Are you sure that Republican fiscal policies are to blame here??
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 2nd, 2013
4:20 pm
Is Boehner the damsel in distress? He can turn on the waterworks like a legendary character.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 2nd, 2013
4:25 pm
Are you sure that Republican fiscal policies are to blame here??
Yes. Bush conveniently left out the cost of the Iraq war.
Did you think that was free ?
medicine man
January 2nd, 2013
4:25 pm
A chief selling point for ObamaCare was that it would lower the cost of health insurance. President Obama famously promised that the health law would lower premiums by an average of about $2,500 annually per family. HA HA LOL -anyone on this planet claim this happened?
Numbers-R-US
January 2nd, 2013
4:29 pm
In case you misread, Bruno, I clearly stated “If only the Republicans had pushed through spending cuts to go along with their tax cuts in 01 and 03, Kyle wouldn’t have near as much to complain about.”
Man up and own it (for Kyle), if you can. Then again…
number cruncher
January 2nd, 2013
4:31 pm
Washington Post 5/12
One common way to measure federal spending is to compare it to the size of the overall U.S. economy. That at least puts the level into context, helping account for population growth, inflation and other factors that affect spending. Here’s what the White House’s own budget documents show about spending as a percentage of the U.S. economy (gross domestic product):
2008: 20.8 percent
2009: 25.2 percent
2010: 24.1 percent
2011: 24.1 percent
2012: 24.3 percent
2013: 23.3 percent
In the post-war era, federal spending as a percentage of the U.S. economy has hovered around 20 percent, give or take a couple of percentage points. Under Obama, it has hit highs not seen since the end of World War II — completely the opposite of the point asserted by Carney. Part of this, of course, is a consequence of the recession, but it is also the result of a sustained higher level of spending.
We sent our analysis to Carney but did not get a response. (For another take, Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute has an interesting tour through the numbers, isolating various spending categories. For instance, he says debt payments should be excluded from the analysis because that is the result of earlier spending decisions by other presidents.)
UPDATE: The Associated Press also dug into the numbers and came to the same conclusion as we did. “The problem with that rosy claim is that the Wall Street bailout is part of the calculation. The bailout ballooned the 2009 budget just before Obama took office, making Obama’s 2010 results look smaller in comparison. And as almost $150 billion of the bailout was paid back during Obama’s watch, the [Nutting] analysis counted them as government spending cuts,” the AP said. “It also assumes Obama had less of a role setting the budget for 2009 than he really did.”
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
4:32 pm
Bush didn’t need to cut spending. His deficits were one-fifth the size of Obozo’s.
dcb
January 2nd, 2013
4:32 pm
Wonderful indeed! And the sad part is that 52 percent of our electorate will believe all the garbage that is thrown out by the news media – which in itself is interesting if you read or listen to it not for the content (which is always open to question) but for the angle or spin that it represents. That is really fun, folks – if you can get by the anger or feelings of confusion surrounding the entire issue in the first place.
Bruno
January 2nd, 2013
4:33 pm
Yes. Bush conveniently left out the cost of the Iraq war.
From “Yahoo Answers”:
“Not being part of the regular budget is not the same thing as “unaccounted for.” It was presented, tracked and accounted for as supplemental spending as all things not intended to be PERMANENT always are.”
Bottom line Cheesy is that your man Obama has made Bush seem like a fiscally conservative President.
BTW, I’m not expecting an intelligent answer from you. Your brain is only able to regurgitate empty talking points which were debunked years ago.
Numbers-R-US
January 2nd, 2013
4:46 pm
Republicans should have implemented programs back in 01 and 03 that would cut unemployment benefits, food stamps, medicaid, DoD, etc., spending whenever tax revenues fall if they truly wanted their “dynamic scoring” to work. That way when the private sector dumped those 8 million plus jobs during the Bush Great Recession, those austerity measures would have been automatically implemented and the rise in deficit spending would have been averted. Republicans have no one but themselves to blame for their lack of soulless foresight.
MarkV
January 2nd, 2013
4:58 pm
Kyle Wingfield @ 1:56 pm
“All of which reminds me why I once stopped responding to MarkV at all. Maybe I’ll resume that habit.”
You will be much better off, Kyle, if you stop responding, when you are unable to come with anything better than piling up one ridiculous argument after another.
Although I commented specifically about the Kyle’s sentence in which tried to ridicule the title of the bill “American Taxpayer Relief Act” because it “raise(d) taxes and fail(ed) to cut spending, it goes well beyond just the wording. The whole article is essentially whining that the Republicans did not get what they wanted. And Kyle’s arguments are so ludicrous, it is laughable.
Take the one Kyle came with in his response: “And as for the relief, I noted that neither element of relief — lower taxes or lower spending — was present.” So the bill was, as the title says, about “tax relief,” but according to Kyle, lowering spending is an element of tax relief. One more time, does Kyle even understand the meaning of the words he writes?
The main part of bill is what it says, a tax relief for most Americans. It would be better if there were a bill addressing all parts of the problem, including spending, but to whine because it addressed only a part of the problem is ridiculous.
(As for the grammar, it was only a very minor point in my original comment (I put “grammar” in parentheses), but it is still remarkable when a journalist sees nothing wrong with writing, in effect, “raise taxes … from what they were” (ok) AND “CUT spending …from what they were” (???) [my emphasis], and then pretends that is not what he wrote.)
East Cobb RINO, Inc (LLC)
January 2nd, 2013
5:05 pm
“Not being part of the regular budget is not the same thing as “unaccounted for.” It was presented, tracked and accounted for as supplemental spending as all things not intended to be PERMANENT always are.”
While the spending on the 2 wars fought during the Bush years may not be considered “PERMANENT”, the resulting debt is still real and most likely permanent. Just like my Christmas spending is not part of my regular budget, should I take unpaid days off in December knowing the credit card bills are coming in January?
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 2nd, 2013
5:09 pm
Only in America do we celebrate not solving the problem (debt) we have been debating for the past two years. This problem was turned into just another “crisis” which Barry didn’t want to waste, as he attempts to turn America into some Obamanist dream of his. The “solution” he crafted had nothing to do with the problem of deficits and debt, it actually added to the problem.
America suffers a terrible 4 Trillion dollar wound and Barry spikes the football like he had saved us from the Huns. He is dishonest, dis-ingenious, and deceptive. Many of us know that he is that way and expect it, but it seems he lies just as willingly to his base. They parrot everything he says about a balanced approach, how he wants to bring down the deficit, how he wants to fix medicare and social security, and how he wants to work with the GOP, and yet never hold him accountable, when he pulls his usual bait and switch.
Some in the GOP rolled over like pet dogs and let this farce happen. America is worse off today than yesterday.
independent thinker
January 2nd, 2013
5:15 pm
Rafe Hollister- Sure must get to you and the cons when that Black man in the White House pulls one over on a bunch of white boys. Especially when he uses his white offense team including Joe Biden and Bill Clinton.
What happened to your star quarterback, Mr. Ryan? some one drug him into voting yes? Old Joe picks your wallet and then hands it back without the cash and credit cards and then demands that you smile and say thank you.
Rick in Grayson
January 2nd, 2013
5:23 pm
When is OBAMA going to show us the balance in his “balanced” approach?
JamVet
January 2nd, 2013
5:28 pm
Welcome back and Happy New Year, Kyle!
Here is to hoping that 2013 is as awful for the neocons as 2012 was! (According to Mssrs. King and Christie, it’s sure starting out that way!)
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 2nd, 2013
5:29 pm
IT
Yeah, that is the first thing I thought of this AM, when I woke up 4 T dollars more in debt and our country getting more like Greece, blame the black man. (Sarcasm)
It is his ideology that has put us on the road to third world status not the color of his skin. Yes, he has many light skinned sycophants that go along to get along with the man at the helm, and they are just as harmful for the welfare of the country as he is. He is the one that constantly fools his followers with his bait and switch tactics. Maybe someday they will learn, to watch what he does and not what he says.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
5:47 pm
Rick in Grayson: When is OBAMA going to show us the balance in his “balanced” approach?
——————
Right after all the bars make good on their promise of “free beer”–tomorrow.
Dusty
January 2nd, 2013
5:57 pm
Kyle really got this one right. This fiscal-cliff-deal represents everything wrong.
Lower taxes? NO.
Decreased spending? NO.
Those are the basic problems and they were not solved
Obama failed. The House of Representatives failed. The Senate failed. America citizens were railed, nailed and failed.
You can present history, graphs, wall street, discrimination,religion, insults,references, the whole shebang. But it is still one big mess presided over by abysmal leadership and snarling “supporters”.
“Give me liberty or give me death!” said Patrick Henry. Our government representatives seem to have chosen death by suffocation to the economy and by debt submersion. If this try doesn’t get us then the next try will be in the first political snow fall of new flakes. .
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 2nd, 2013
5:58 pm
A chief selling point for ObamaCare was that it would lower the cost of health insurance. President Obama famously promised that the health law would lower premiums by an average of about $2,500 annually per family. HA HA LOL -anyone on this planet claim this happened?
Maybe we wait and look after several years have passed, eh, sport? Your New Years resolution of 2011 was to lose 200 pounds. Did you check back in March of 2011 to see if you had met that goal and then, after you found you’d only lost 20 pounds grown despondent?
seriously
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
5:58 pm
independent thinker: Sure must get to you and the cons when that Black man in the White House pulls one over on a bunch of white boys.
—————
He just made Our President Bush’s tax cuts permanent for 99% of all Americans.
I’m all broken up about that.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
6:01 pm
Finn: Maybe we wait and look after several years have passed, eh, sport?
———————-
How are those predictions on the unemployment rate with and without Obozo’s stimulus working out, now that several years have passed?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 2nd, 2013
6:06 pm
“balanced” approach
define “balanced”?
MarkV
January 2nd, 2013
6:07 pm
Dusty @ 5:57 pm
Why so much gloom and doom? Is that how you want to start a new year?
Dusty
January 2nd, 2013
6:09 pm
Lil Barry,,
OUR PRESIDENT BUSH! How I miss that man. Honest, straight forward and totally concerned on protecting and promoting our country in every way.
Now we get this mess! Yes, citizens, ask and you shall receive. and look what you asked for. Not me. I knew better. I’m not Dem!
Dusty
January 2nd, 2013
6:15 pm
MarkV
I’m expecting a happy New Year (in about four years). The truth hurts but I say it anyway.
But drift away on your bubble of happiness and let the good times roll!
Did you get any “good” Christmas gifts? .I did but Santa forgot my mink coat. Awwww!!
Hootie Who
January 2nd, 2013
6:19 pm
“I’m expecting a happy New Year (in about four years).”
When the next Democrat President is elected?
nathan's political arsonist
January 2nd, 2013
6:20 pm
i knew the death rattles of the teatards would be entertaining, but this is much better than expected. wait till the changing demographics turn this state blue – it’ll really be a hoot to watch them implode
MarkV
January 2nd, 2013
6:22 pm
Dusty @ 6:15 pm
Dusty,
I am glad you are expecting a happy New Year after Hillary is elected (if her health allows). I will let the good times roll even before that.
I got good Christmas gifts, because I did not long for material things. As for your desire for a mink coat, I sure hope you meant a faux one!
Tap Out
January 2nd, 2013
6:26 pm
It’s hard to worry about Washington when the Ga. Gop is nickel and dime taxing (like the new car sale tax) the middle class and lower middle class out of existence here.
yuzeyurbrane
January 2nd, 2013
6:29 pm
Kyle, this is one of your most irrational columns ever. So much so that I wonder if you have thrown away all pretense and are now just operating as a shill for the Tea Party. Surely you are smart enough to be aware that it is President Obama who won the election with a pretty clear mandate re raising taxes on the top 1%? Surely you are aware that it is President Obama who has twice now initiated negotiations for a grand bargain? Surely, you are aware that the House Republicans have killed these negotiations with a my way or the highway attitude both times? Surely you are aware that the House Republicans were the moving force behind the “fiscal cliff” but did nothing in over 500 days to avoid it? Surely you are aware that Wall Street wanted this deal because to not do it would throw the country into another recession or worse? Surely you are aware that almost 2/3d’s of the House Republicans have clearly expressed their willingness to put party ahead of country. Personally, given his electoral mandate, I think President Obama gave far too much to bring these rightwing anarchists aboard. But I understand he did it because he put country ahead of party.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 2nd, 2013
6:39 pm
yuz – obozo got 9 million fewer votes running against a rich flip flopper from Taxachusetts then he did in 2008 when he ran against a clown that nearly sunk his own aircraft carrier and got his own plane shot down, landed in the arms of a bunch of village women and got his a$$ kicked by the enemy for five years solid.
The only mandate you got was a gay marriage in some of your more freakish blue states.
But I’m glad to see you’re stepping up and owning this impending fiscal disaster, it takes some courage.
JamVet
January 2nd, 2013
6:42 pm
…(McCain) nearly sunk his own aircraft carrier and got his own plane shot down, landed in the arms of a bunch of village women and got his a$$ kicked by the enemy for five years solid.
Ah yes, the sage words of swiftboating white trash…
@@
January 2nd, 2013
6:47 pm
I don’t claim to be a knight, in shining armor or otherwise, but those damsels in distress can become a pain in the butt, fairly quick.
Hillbilly:
Did some damsel pierce your armour or is it just rusty?
(W&S) back at’cha.
MarkV
January 2nd, 2013
6:51 pm
While I do not agree with Aesop’s characterization, it is interesting to see what he thinks about the best the Republican party could offer the nation.
@@
January 2nd, 2013
6:54 pm
AmVet:
Ah yes, the sage words of swiftboating white trash…
I can recall when your leftist friends were typing the same thing. Even went so far as to accuse him of spilling his guts for more comfortable accomodations.
Selective outrage defines you.
JamVet
January 2nd, 2013
6:58 pm
So @@ stands WITH for the swiftboating trash at 6:39.
Color me shocked. Not…
@@
January 2nd, 2013
7:02 pm
Nobel Prize winner, Friedrich A. Hayak — The Pretense of Knowledge
If man is not to do more harm than good in his efforts to improve the social order, he will have to learn that in this, as in all other fields where essential complexity of an organized kind prevails, he cannot acquire the full knowledge which would make mastery of the events possible. He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants. There is danger in the exuberant feeling of ever-growing power which the advance of the physical sciences has engendered and which tempts man to try, “dizzy with success,” to use a characteristic phrase of early communism, to subject not only our natural but also our human environment to the control of a human will. The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson of humility which should guard him against becoming an accomplice in men’s fatal striving to control society — a striving which makes him not only a tyrant over his fellows, but which may well make him the destroyer of a civilization which no brain has designed but which has grown from the free efforts of millions of individuals.
The truth will set us free.
Uh Huh
January 2nd, 2013
7:02 pm
@Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 2nd, 2013
5:09 pm
Some in the GOP rolled over like pet dogs and let this farce happen. America is worse off today than yesterday.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people,
it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
Who’s the BOZO NOW?
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 2nd, 2013
7:04 pm
While I do not agree with Aesop’s characterization, it is interesting to see what he thinks about the best the Republican party could offer the nation.
By far and away not the best choices the Republican party had to offer. Not even close. You could call them the best funded by the Republican party, I’d agree with that.
And don’t ask me why I backed them, that illicit ridicule that you are not prepared for. Just look at who you fielded, a wayward socialist that happened to be on the Plantation at just the right time. And was clean and articulate, of course.
Next time we run one of these big government liberal wannabe aisle reachers I’m staying home with the 12 million or so Repugs that did this year. That ain’t an idle threat.
We aren’t liberals no matter how hard we try to be.
getalife
January 2nd, 2013
7:05 pm
Christie told the truth on why Americans hate congress.
As far as the compromise, it was better than expected but the gop lost the election and the people got what they voted for.
Eat your peas cons.
Take your medicine cons.
You lost so deal with it cons.
Uh Huh
January 2nd, 2013
7:07 pm
@Dusty
January 2nd, 2013
6:15 pm
MarkV
Did you get any “good” Christmas gifts? .I did but Santa forgot my mink coat. Awwww!!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you want to LIVE like a CON….VOTE for a DEMOCRAT.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
7:08 pm
it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
—————
Most people who can’t support themselves vote Democrat.
@@
January 2nd, 2013
7:13 pm
AmVet:
You were there as HUGE when your leftist friends went after McCain’s war record. I don’t recall your outrage of THEIR swiftboating.
False indignation defines you, as well.
Uh Huh
January 2nd, 2013
7:15 pm
@Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 2nd, 2013
7:04 pm
And don’t ask me why I backed them, that illicit ridicule that you are not prepared for. Just look at who you fielded, a wayward socialist that happened to be on the Plantation at just the right time. And was clean and articulate, of course.
We aren’t liberals no matter how hard we try to be.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That WAYWARD SOCIALIST out SMARTED all of you
BACKWOODS PLANTATION BOSSES.
ANNNDDD he is VERY articulate and he SMELLS GOOD TOO.
Sniff sniff
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 2nd, 2013
7:16 pm
I sure hope you meant a faux one!
A Poet Laureate in a fake coat, how gauche. Never spare the rodents when Dusty desires a wrap!
Uh Huh
January 2nd, 2013
7:17 pm
@Lil’ Barry Bailout – OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
7:08 pm
it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
—————
Most people who can’t support themselves vote Democrat.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Annnddd most people who get food stamps vote REPUBLICAN.
JamVet
January 2nd, 2013
7:24 pm
Obsess over your made up stories of yore instead of taking a stand against the depraved filth that your Republican pal just wrote.
You will NEVER denounce his words.
Because you wear that swiftboating stench well.
Uh Huh
January 2nd, 2013
7:24 pm
@Lil’ Barry Bailout – OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 2nd, 2013
7:08 pm
it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
—————
Most people who can’t support themselves vote Democrat.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You are STILL LYING IN 2013. Getalife Barry.
Republican-Heavy Counties Eat Up Most Food-Stamp Growth
LINK: Bloomberg.com By Frank Bass – Nov 5, 2012 12:00 AM ET ..
Seventy percent of counties with the fastest-growth in food-stamp aid
during the last four years voted Republican.