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Video at the link too.On the probability that a grand bargain will be reached on the fiscal cliff:
"Probably zero that's why I think we're over the cliff. We're past bargaining states because they will not address those things I just stated. They're going to try to pretend that they are going to do it. The way they handled the debt increase, last summer, that is a pretty good example.
On whether Obama will be able to bring Congress together for some kind of reform before the end of the year:
"Oh no, I think there will be something, but it will be very temporary, it won't be long lasting and restore confidence and fix the problem. But there will be some type of reconciliation of saying we'll do this and a little of that and it may even help the financial markets for a little while, but since it won't solve the problems it will only be temporary. "
It's just a matter of who blinks first. Both sides have aggressively laid down opening demands for budget talks that begin Friday at the White House. President Barack Obama would raise taxes on households with annual incomes over $250,000. Republicans wouldn't and insist federal deficits must be restrained mostly by federal spending cuts, including benefit programs.
Neither side wants to see the government go over the cliff on Jan. 1, when a mountain of tax breaks expire and automatic spending cuts kick in, absent congressional action. That could hurl the economy back into recession. "I'm open to new ideas," said Obama, fresh from his re-election victory. House Speaker John Boehner sees a new "spirit of cooperation."
Thus, Republicans say they could accept some increase in tax revenues but only by trimming deductions and loopholes. And Democrats are OK with more spending restraint so long as benefit programs like Medicare and Social Security are protected. It's a dangerous game.
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Another reason I believe the repubs will cave.Sorry, but they're drunk on power and we don't know what to expect next out of them with all that craziness.
Adopting a plan that extends tax rate cuts enacted during the administration of former President George W. Bush until Congress and the White House agree on a target for new tax revenues would add uncertainty to the marketplace and reduce the incentive both sides have for reaching an agreement, Geithner said. Geithner believes a budget plan could be adopted "within several weeks," The Hill reported Saturday.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, formally proposed a two-step process for negotiations, starting with setting targets for revenue and savings and then determining specific steps to reach the targets. "Once we settle on those targets the Speaker proposed, we can create simple mechanisms, in statute, that would achieve those revenue and spending goals. They would be in place unless or until more thoughtful policies replace them," Boehner's office said. The "fiscal cliff" is a term first used by U.S. Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke to describe a half a trillion dollars in tax increases and spending cuts that are set to kick in Jan. 1.
Timothy Geithner showin' Congress how he can take off like Superman
Economists have said the combination of spending cuts and tax rate hikes would send the economy back into a recession. The plan, which was agreed to after Republicans balked at raising the federal debt ceiling in 2011, includes several politically unpopular policies, including cuts in defense spending and raising taxes for the poor, The New York Times reported.
Allowing the budget plan to proceed would cut the federal deficit from 7 percent of the gross domestic product in 2012 to 1 percent in the fiscal year 2015, the Congressional Budget Office said. By that measure, the fiscal cliff would be a sizable step toward reaching a balanced budget. But many economists question whether the economy can survive such strong medicine.
Read more: Treasury Sec. Geithner: Temp fiscal cliff plan would be backward step - UPI.com
Yup, that raising taxes on the wealthy in a bad economy has always created a worse, economy, eh Avory. Maybe you would like to chime in with when that has ever happened in our economy. But my guess is, we won't here from Avory on this one.Should have been Paul VS Obama... Now the Republican party has to keep pushing conservatives aside or admit they are just progressive liberals after putting someone like Mitt up to lose.
More or less it comes down to a real leader vs people who pretend to care about things like solving the debt problem. Obama wants to raise taxes on a few people, destroy the economy and collect a meaningless amount of revenue, Mitt wants to cut taxes and spend more than Obama and re-make Obamacare in his own image.
Meanwhile , useless liberals like truthmatter, and sniperfire attack Paul and vote for Big Government progressives.
Yup, that raising taxes on the wealthy in a bad economy has always created a worse, economy, eh Avory.
