- Jun 6, 2007
- 852
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I don't think there was a time over the last two years where I agreed with the Republican Speaker of the House and the Republican Senate Majority Leader on a matter until this week with the President Obama administration's legislative proposal on how the country avoids the fiscal cliff. Majority Leader McConnell's response where he just laughed at Tim Geithner's delivery of it was spot on as well as was the common response it was not a serious proposal. Considering the stakes for the country if it goes off the fiscal cliff this year where it will certainly fall into a recession, hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their job and America's credit rating significantly drops significantly raising America's borrowing costs it deserves to be said that President Obama and the Democrat Congressional leadership are acting like real creeps with this proposal!
Let's examine the Democrat proposal their asking for $1.6 trillion of additional revenue over ten years through tax changes, nothing wrong with that the country has a budget deficit crisis we can't get the problem under control only through federal spending cuts new revenue is needed and the $1.6 figure is in line with the expert consensus. The problem is that the Democrat proposal is unbelievably short on the side involving federal spending cuts it is only proposing a $400 billion cut that being from Medicare. These guys are acting like real jerks they want the Republicans to do their part to support the revenue side but their not doing their part delivering on the federal spending cuts side. The Democrat position is completely preposterous the major goal of this whole grand bargain "solve the fiscal cliff problem" piece of legislation is to stop sequestration from happening where $1.2 trillion of automatic cuts take place over ten years beginning January 1 2013 half of which falls on defense spending which even the current Secretary of Defense essentially says America can't withstand such cuts, the whole American public especially the business community is waiting for Washington to rid the nation of the sequestration threat and what do the Democrats do in their proposal they just kick the can down the road and give the cuts a one year reprieve this just maintains the status quo of fixing the business and investment community in uncertainty for another year where they won't know what the future holds so they will pull back in investing and hiring; it is unbelievable the Democrats proposal here! The Democrats made this mistake before in ignoring America's business community and it had disastrous effects on the American people, in 2009 for the Stimulus bill the business community panned the bill but the self serving Democrats went ahead any way and passed it resulting in for the next several months tens of thousands of Americans per month losing their job, do we want to repeat that horrible experience!
This proposal and President Obama's "I am a jackass because I don't think I have to compromise" tour around the country makes a big miscalculation. Yes it is absolutely true the Democrats are absolutely right the majority of Americans spoke their will in the Nov. 6 elections that they want the wealthy to pay more in taxes to get the country out of the fiscal hole it is in but the Democrats are ignoring and/or totally oblivious to the other part of the majority of Americans will for the country which is they also want Washington to significantly cut Federal Spending to get the country out of its fiscal hole. If the Democrats think their going to force the Republicans to accept a legislative deal where the Republicans do their end and the Democrats don't deliver on their end by holding on to this one-sided approach past December 31 and using the pressure of dramatic recessionary effects to force the Republicans to pass this one sided bill they are making a big mistake the American public is smart they'll back the Republicans as long as the Republicans are clearly committed to hold up their end! The Republicans are absolutely correct the Democrats behavior shows they are "not serious" about negotiating; in order for the Democrats to show they are serious about this grand bargain deal where the country raises $1.3 trillion additional revenue through the tax code is that they have to put all the entitlement programs on the table and agree to dramatic cuts in them. Democrats and all the American people need to remember that this taking of a pound of flesh from the wealthy in America with these tax increases is the last tool in the tool box the last drug in the pharmacy for fixing Americas deficit problem from a revenue raising side any other dramatic tax increases on the wealthy will be unjust and rightly will bring a backlash so America's got to get as much bang for the buck with this tax increase so America needs to at least see two parts federal spending cuts for every one part revenue raising here. These federal spending cuts need to be reliable, definable, guaranteed "new" spending cuts no lets use the cutting already done with the 2011 debt ceiling deal toward this problem - forget it America is currently running a trillion dollar per year deficits we need new large scale cuts we need to get this problem under control and no accounting gimmicks such as in 2014 America is bring its troops home from Afghanistan so count the difference in spending from 2011 or 2012 compared to 2015 Afghanistan spending as a spending cuts forget that we never should have been in Afghanistan ten plus years in the first place.
This past week showed clearly that there is two persons of President Barack Obama. There is the center left campaigning Barack Obama who publicly recognizes the danger and wrongfulness of huge budget deficits and a huge national debt and talks about shared sacrifice and you can't put it all on the backs of one group in America. Then there is the essentially liberal Barack Obama who green lighted the 2009 Stimulus bill which went over board on social spending and green lighted the 2010 healthcare bill where instead of accepting modest goals that throw everyone a lifeline and act as a bridge to a full solution passed a takeover of America's healthcare system which the country clearly cannot afford! If America is to right its ship and move forward we need the centrist Barack Obama to be in the Whitehouse not this liberal mess!
What the Republicans should do if they want to be great Americans and really lead is put forth a specific bill that does this two for one arrangement and don't play games and don't ratchet the provisions so you've factored in a later compromise the time has runnout for the American people here we have no time for a long drawn out negotiation where each side moves toward the middle a couple of inches at a time we need a bill that is fair to both sides! The bill needs to cut at least $ 4 trillion dollars from the deficit over the next four years. You Republicans need to put at least a third of this that is $1.33 trillion of deficit reduction in the form of new tax revenue since the election numerous Republicans have alluded how to do it and not increase the income tax rate for any taxpayer above 35 %, if you can't come up with the provisions ask me and I will come up with them that will sail through both chambers of Congress. The Republicans should put $2.66 trillion of federal spending cuts in the bill and do all your significant entitlement program changes except drop your privatizing Medicare ideas at this time in its present form it doesn't have majority of Americans support, drop your block granting of Medicaid idea that is essentially throwing a lot of poor people off the Medicaid rolls. If your looking for Medicaid savings how about addressing this consideration currently Medicaid is a piggy bank for the nursing home industry currently America's nursing homes get elderly people to come into their nursing home and these elderly peoples assets pay for the cost of nursing home care for a limited amount of time and then Uncle Sam and the state governments pick-up the tab, this is a scheme, it is understandable for elderly that can't live on their own that absolutely need nursing home care but other than that this grabbing of taxpayer money needs to stop and the Republicans should design a way to stop this unnecessary federal spending. Republicans need to put forth a specific good bill to show to the American people that they are acting good here it is the Democrats that are acting bad so that public opinion can pressure Democrats to stop with the games and the competition!
People live a long time ordinarily seventy-five to eighty years. America has a lot of work to do over the next several years a lot of great legislation needs to be passed. After November 2008, after November 2010 and after November 2012 we see a lot of Americans going around America saying we won in the past elections so we get to pass our agenda forget you the other party. America needs to see this competition garbage end we need Americans especially those that hold national office to be all about doing what is right to be all about doing what is fair to all sides or else there is going to be hell to pay and many people are going to learn the meaning of the word regret like you wouldn't believe!
Let's examine the Democrat proposal their asking for $1.6 trillion of additional revenue over ten years through tax changes, nothing wrong with that the country has a budget deficit crisis we can't get the problem under control only through federal spending cuts new revenue is needed and the $1.6 figure is in line with the expert consensus. The problem is that the Democrat proposal is unbelievably short on the side involving federal spending cuts it is only proposing a $400 billion cut that being from Medicare. These guys are acting like real jerks they want the Republicans to do their part to support the revenue side but their not doing their part delivering on the federal spending cuts side. The Democrat position is completely preposterous the major goal of this whole grand bargain "solve the fiscal cliff problem" piece of legislation is to stop sequestration from happening where $1.2 trillion of automatic cuts take place over ten years beginning January 1 2013 half of which falls on defense spending which even the current Secretary of Defense essentially says America can't withstand such cuts, the whole American public especially the business community is waiting for Washington to rid the nation of the sequestration threat and what do the Democrats do in their proposal they just kick the can down the road and give the cuts a one year reprieve this just maintains the status quo of fixing the business and investment community in uncertainty for another year where they won't know what the future holds so they will pull back in investing and hiring; it is unbelievable the Democrats proposal here! The Democrats made this mistake before in ignoring America's business community and it had disastrous effects on the American people, in 2009 for the Stimulus bill the business community panned the bill but the self serving Democrats went ahead any way and passed it resulting in for the next several months tens of thousands of Americans per month losing their job, do we want to repeat that horrible experience!
This proposal and President Obama's "I am a jackass because I don't think I have to compromise" tour around the country makes a big miscalculation. Yes it is absolutely true the Democrats are absolutely right the majority of Americans spoke their will in the Nov. 6 elections that they want the wealthy to pay more in taxes to get the country out of the fiscal hole it is in but the Democrats are ignoring and/or totally oblivious to the other part of the majority of Americans will for the country which is they also want Washington to significantly cut Federal Spending to get the country out of its fiscal hole. If the Democrats think their going to force the Republicans to accept a legislative deal where the Republicans do their end and the Democrats don't deliver on their end by holding on to this one-sided approach past December 31 and using the pressure of dramatic recessionary effects to force the Republicans to pass this one sided bill they are making a big mistake the American public is smart they'll back the Republicans as long as the Republicans are clearly committed to hold up their end! The Republicans are absolutely correct the Democrats behavior shows they are "not serious" about negotiating; in order for the Democrats to show they are serious about this grand bargain deal where the country raises $1.3 trillion additional revenue through the tax code is that they have to put all the entitlement programs on the table and agree to dramatic cuts in them. Democrats and all the American people need to remember that this taking of a pound of flesh from the wealthy in America with these tax increases is the last tool in the tool box the last drug in the pharmacy for fixing Americas deficit problem from a revenue raising side any other dramatic tax increases on the wealthy will be unjust and rightly will bring a backlash so America's got to get as much bang for the buck with this tax increase so America needs to at least see two parts federal spending cuts for every one part revenue raising here. These federal spending cuts need to be reliable, definable, guaranteed "new" spending cuts no lets use the cutting already done with the 2011 debt ceiling deal toward this problem - forget it America is currently running a trillion dollar per year deficits we need new large scale cuts we need to get this problem under control and no accounting gimmicks such as in 2014 America is bring its troops home from Afghanistan so count the difference in spending from 2011 or 2012 compared to 2015 Afghanistan spending as a spending cuts forget that we never should have been in Afghanistan ten plus years in the first place.
This past week showed clearly that there is two persons of President Barack Obama. There is the center left campaigning Barack Obama who publicly recognizes the danger and wrongfulness of huge budget deficits and a huge national debt and talks about shared sacrifice and you can't put it all on the backs of one group in America. Then there is the essentially liberal Barack Obama who green lighted the 2009 Stimulus bill which went over board on social spending and green lighted the 2010 healthcare bill where instead of accepting modest goals that throw everyone a lifeline and act as a bridge to a full solution passed a takeover of America's healthcare system which the country clearly cannot afford! If America is to right its ship and move forward we need the centrist Barack Obama to be in the Whitehouse not this liberal mess!
What the Republicans should do if they want to be great Americans and really lead is put forth a specific bill that does this two for one arrangement and don't play games and don't ratchet the provisions so you've factored in a later compromise the time has runnout for the American people here we have no time for a long drawn out negotiation where each side moves toward the middle a couple of inches at a time we need a bill that is fair to both sides! The bill needs to cut at least $ 4 trillion dollars from the deficit over the next four years. You Republicans need to put at least a third of this that is $1.33 trillion of deficit reduction in the form of new tax revenue since the election numerous Republicans have alluded how to do it and not increase the income tax rate for any taxpayer above 35 %, if you can't come up with the provisions ask me and I will come up with them that will sail through both chambers of Congress. The Republicans should put $2.66 trillion of federal spending cuts in the bill and do all your significant entitlement program changes except drop your privatizing Medicare ideas at this time in its present form it doesn't have majority of Americans support, drop your block granting of Medicaid idea that is essentially throwing a lot of poor people off the Medicaid rolls. If your looking for Medicaid savings how about addressing this consideration currently Medicaid is a piggy bank for the nursing home industry currently America's nursing homes get elderly people to come into their nursing home and these elderly peoples assets pay for the cost of nursing home care for a limited amount of time and then Uncle Sam and the state governments pick-up the tab, this is a scheme, it is understandable for elderly that can't live on their own that absolutely need nursing home care but other than that this grabbing of taxpayer money needs to stop and the Republicans should design a way to stop this unnecessary federal spending. Republicans need to put forth a specific good bill to show to the American people that they are acting good here it is the Democrats that are acting bad so that public opinion can pressure Democrats to stop with the games and the competition!
People live a long time ordinarily seventy-five to eighty years. America has a lot of work to do over the next several years a lot of great legislation needs to be passed. After November 2008, after November 2010 and after November 2012 we see a lot of Americans going around America saying we won in the past elections so we get to pass our agenda forget you the other party. America needs to see this competition garbage end we need Americans especially those that hold national office to be all about doing what is right to be all about doing what is fair to all sides or else there is going to be hell to pay and many people are going to learn the meaning of the word regret like you wouldn't believe!
