I Say We Jump!

I feel like Charlie Brown.  This time she's going to really hold the football and I'm going to kick it.  But it's not to be.  Predictable.  But Charlie never sees it.  I feel like Charlie as the news of the negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff take hold.  Thinking that wiser heads will prevail.  That since no one wants it to happen, that the adults will step in.  But I'm not so sure.

After Obama won the election, it was obvious that there would need to be concessions from the Republicans to avoid the fiscal cliff.  From everything I've read, they have done that.  Revenue is on the table.  Simple as that.  But concessions are one thing, capitulation is another.  Of course they thought they'd start from a point, the other side would start from a point, and they'd move to the middle.  To a place that is acceptable to both sides.   I've been in my fair share of negotiations, and that's how it works.  Or you walk away.  Simple as that.  One thing that's really weird is that Obama either can't or won't negotiate.  He either doesn't have the skills or he's an arrogant jerk.  If I were more generous I'd assume the former, especially since he has no real experience.  But I believe it's the latter.  I think he feels comfortable in the campaign mode behind his podium and his TelePrompTer so that's where he goes.  But that's not how to get anything done.  So he's not being serious...yet.  The question is will he ever be?

Obama wants "the rich" to pay more.  His story is that by doing that, it is a good way to reduce deficits.  But every analysis says that the plan to tax the "the rich" more won't do much to reduce the deficit.  There is no way that will have much of an impact.  But let's ignore that for the sake of argument.  He wants "the rich" to pay more.  Okay.  So the Republicans agree to raise revenue by closing loopholes and limiting deductions.  That would get around $750 billion.  Pretty close to the $800 billion Obama wanted last summer.  But no.  Now he wants $1.6 trillion.  So he has doubled the ask.  The natural thing would be to get some of it from the Republican's ideas and some from Obama's.  But Obama won't consider closing loopholes and limiting deductions in the negotiations.  He wants taxes raised on anyone making over $250K.  Period.  Hmmmmm....You have to ask yourself what is behind this.  He's a smart guy.  Or at least has the credentials to claim to be a smart guy.  But he's stuck on penalizing those who make a certain amount of money.  He's not willing to look at other ways to raise revenues.  So the question is, what is the goal...to raise revenue or to punish success?  Given his position, it's clearly to punish success.  Now I know that $250K seems like a lot of money.  But if you go to any metropolitan area in the country, you will see families who are working hard to become successful and they probably break the $250K benchmark.  Is that true in the inner city where Obama was a community organizer?  Probably not as much.  So the only thing I can think is that he saw a lot of suffering and vowed to level the playing field if he ever got the chance.  And that's what he is attempting to do.

So this will impact a lot of folks.  And it won't do much to impact the deficit.  He claims a mandate because of the election (that he won by 3 million votes out of 100 million) and because polls say people beleive "the rich" should pay more.  But of course they do.  The number of people actually paying taxes is below 50%.  So of course those not paying anything wouldn't complain about "the rich" paying more. Now don't get me wrong, I won't complain about paying more taxes if everyone has to pay something.  I believe in our progressive tax system so that "the rich" pay more.  But shouldn't everyone have to pay something to be a part of the team?  Seems only fair to me.  But that's really a different argument.

I just can't come to any other conclusion than his real goal is to divide Americans further and impose a new Socialism on the country.  It's just so European.  So wrong.  So doomed to failure.

Oh, he also wants a new stimulus package.  And he wants unlimited Presidential authority to raise the debt limit.  And to add insult to injury, he won't discuss limits on spending until next year, after the deal is struck.  Huh???  What is this, Venezuela?  In what universe would any Republican remotely trust him to come back to the table to discuss spending cuts.  The sad thing is that Medicare is clearly and badly broken.  And if nothing is done our kids will be in bad shape.  But these guys won't even discuss fixing it.  Sad.  Disgusting.  Shameful.

We live in the best country in the world.  We are free!  We live in a Capitalistic system.   It is not fair.  Just like life.  Work hard and reap rewards.  Maybe.  Or maybe reap rewards temporarily, get beat down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again.  And maybe do it many times.  Or maybe never make it big.  Maybe just get by.  But we are each responsible for ourselves and that's the way it is.

The great democratic experiment has survived worse than this.  If we go over the cliff, we're in for some tough economic times.  But I'd rather suffer tough times than convert the country from Capitalism to Socialism.  Step up, hold my hand, I say we jump...