The fiscal cliff debacle: assessing the damage

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coblehat

 

 

 

Anyone giddy over the congressional “fiscal cliff” solution needs to have their head checked.  This whole episode was travesty from start to finish — with people desiring further harm to the US economy as the only real winners.  Let’s inspect the damage:

  • The U.S. Constitution:  The Congress KNEW this episode was coming 18 months ago.  Article I, Section 7 of that constitution “thingie” says taxation / revenue bills need to originate in the House.  What got passed here was a negotiated deal between Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden over on the Senate side.  We spent this whole episode sitting idly by while Boehner and Obama, then McConnell and Biden had closed door huddles.  The Constitution calls out a pretty specific process for legislation in Congress.  This whole affair didn’t even come close.
  • The econ0my.  The payroll tax holiday is officially over.  So, the great majority of people in this country will see smaller paychecks this year. This deal makes a point of targeting the folks who have the most money and are most likely to invest in businesses and hire people.   This deal makes it more expensive to hire / retain quality employees.  That’s before you even start to factor in the damage from ObamaCare.  Increasing government spending and raising tax rates has NEVER EVER EVER been a recipe for an economic turnaround.
  • The Republican “brand”.  The GOP is the party of smaller government.   (Oops.  That one got shot down with the 2011 deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. )  The GOP is the party of low taxes.  (Oops.  Not any more — thanks to this ol’ fiscal cliff thingie. Or the fact that debt and spending has exploded since 2010, when the Tea Party  handed the GOP control of the US House.  Or the fact that spending and debt exploded during the first part of the GWB era, when the party controlled The White House AND Capitol Hill.)

    If we’re going to go with truth-in-advertising for the next election cycle, here’s a thought about a new slogan for the GOP campaign:  *We’re going to regulate you and tax you more efficiently than those donkey guys.  Boehner for President. *
    A special raspberry gets reserved for Congressman Howard Coble, and US Senators Richard Burr and Lindsey Graham.  These three were the ONLY Carolinas Republicans to vote for this travesty, which increases taxes by $41 for every $1 in spending cuts.    Let’s see if Coble DARES — after this — to bring back that “sharpened pencil” slogan for his next re-election campaign.   Burr was babbling about how important it is for the government to live within its means, before doing a 180 and backing this travesty.   For Graham, this only adds to his long record of spineless back-stabbing and disappointments.

Word is leaking out now that a coup is in the works against John Boehner.  People are pointing at Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s vote against the fiscal cliff deal  and suggesting that he might be the ringleader.  How will “Speaker Cantor” fix ANYTHING?  He has aided and abetted surrender after surrender to President Barry.  He helped strong-arm caucus members for votes on the 2011  debt ceiling hike.  He meddled in primaries against Tea Party candidates.  He was right there helping Boehner purge fiscal conservatives from their committee assignments.

This WHOLE AFFAIR makes it loud and clear that folks who favor limited government and lower taxes have NOWHERE TO TURN.