President Obama’s ‘Compromise’ – or “Why We Should Never Negotiate With Terrorists”
President Barack Obama. Image from http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35287.html
Though I am grateful we have avoided default, I can’t help but feel as though our economy was taken hostage by extremists, Obama negotiated with the terrorists, and we are grateful the hostage was freed safely.
Yes, we are facing a historic national debt level and this needs to be addressed. But there are two ways of cutting the deficit: raising taxes or cutting spending. Raising taxes imply taking money from the wealthy. Cutting spending implies taking money from the poor. Certainly there are exceptions, but these are the implications being expressed.
With the Bush-Era Tax Cuts of 2001 and 2003, President Obama acknowledged that taxes on the wealthy are “at the lowest levels in half a century”. President Obama extended them, albeit this was the ransom to extend unemployment benefits. These taxes affected an inequality of our tax base. As Nobel Laureate Joseph Stieglitz points out, in the past ten years the income of the top 1% risen by 18%, while that of blue-collar workers has fallen by 12%.
The deal Obama hashed out last night only includes spending cuts. As Paul Kurgan pointed out, “It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status.” He continued to point out, “The worst thing you can do in these circumstances is slash government spending, since that will depress the economy even further.”
If cutting spending reduces job growth, then we can expect higher unemployment rates and thus higher demand on government services. This will affect lower tax revenues as more Americans drop below the taxable threshold. Without raising taxes, this will result in further cuts in social services, which will result in further unemployment, and which will continue to drag our economy further down. It is a vicious downward cycle.
But as I write this, raising taxes is not on the table, only the possibility of raising them at some unidentified time in the future. Considering how tax cuts have been held hostage numerous times by the Tea Party and Republicans, it’s hard to believe that it will be easier to raise them in the future. There is enough time for another self-imposed crisis to be manufactured, generating collateral which may also be held hostage in order to prevent discussing of raising tax rates, again.
What incentive will Republicans or Tea Partiers have to discuss raising taxes in the future? They have already successfully held them off three times through extremist, hostage-taking measures. There is little reason to believe that the next results will be any different. There is also little evidence to support the notion that Republicans or Tea Partiers will act any more civilly in the future.
President Obama may be operating on the belief these negotiations are being held in good faith. Yet, the evidence points to the contrary. He may believe that he has prevented the U.S. from defaulting on its debt and Americans are better off with this compromise than without it. I don’t share in his optimism. He has opened the door to allowing the most extremists in our government dictating what policies are discussed and considered. We will continue to be held captive to the terrorist tactics of the Republicans and the Tea Party.
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Author: Silence Dogood
Born near Philadelphia, raised with Quaker beliefs, I write non-professional social commentary on politics and how it affects society.
12:53 pm
Well, I believe this will be the last time I ever visit this site. I have been visiting this site, hoping that I would run across an article with some rationality behind it, that put logic and evidence before political ideology. I have yet to come across such an article.
If I have learned anything from my visits to this site, it’s that moonbats cannot be reasoned with. You simply cannot reason with a person whose beliefs were never based on reason to begin with. All I have seen from the articles on this website is the typical rhetoric (“terrorists,” “extremists,” “class warfare”), talking points (“tax the rich,” “rich are getting richer; poor are getting poorer”), and simplistic black-and-white logic (“Raising taxes imply taking money from the wealthy. Cutting spending implies taking money from the poor.”) that one could expect from a moonbat. I have yet to encounter an article or comment with any evidence, logic, or sound reasoning to back up its claims.
As for the debt crisis, the solution is clear: we need to cut spending. Period. This is not an option. Our current level of government is unsustainable. We cannot continue spending at the current rate we do. Cuts must be made. And that means making tough decisions—decisions you moonbats do not wish to make. You do not wish to cut anything. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Tell me, which is more destructive: making a few necessary cuts across the board, or leaving our budget the way it is?
And when you do suggest spending cuts, the only thing you wish to cut is the military. Don’t get me wrong, our military budget is overbloated. We spend more on the military than the next 17 countries combined. We have 737 bases overseas. Our navy is larger than the next 13 combined. And the two wars Bush started are most certainly the cause of our current economic crisis and debt. So yes, let’s cut the military.
But that’s still not enough. We need to make cuts to other places. We need to stop pretending that everything the government spends our money on is for our best interest. We need to eliminate waste. We need to cut back on the things we spend the most on—and that’s three things: the military, Medicare/Medicaid, And Social Security. On each of those, we spend 20%–combined, it’s 60% of the federal budget. In fact, we spend 21% on Medicare. That means we spend 1% more on Medicare than we do the military. If its unsafe to cut Medicare or SS, then it follows that it is unsafe to cut the military. It’s that simple.
And stop pretending that Medicare and Social Security are so vital. They most certainly are not. At this point, they’re both unsustainable. Medicare will go broke by 2024, Social Security by 2036. They need to be reformed. Heck, they need to be privatized, IMHO. I know both of those options are unpalatable to you moonbats, and you refuse to accept either one. I guess that means you don’t care if either goes bankrupt. Because I have yet to hear any solutions to fix either from you moonbats. Not a single one.
We need to take our current economic crisis seriously. We need to be serious about fixing our budget. Sadly, I have yet to see a single moonbat take it as such. All I see and hear is the typical non-logic, non-thinking rhetoric that moonbats have been spewing all along. All this is going to accomplish is a quicker descent into economic collapse. But you moonbats don’t care. You simply don’t care. You only care about your political ideology.
So this will be the last time I visit. I can expect no reasonable discussion from you all. You have proven to be beyond that. You all are nothing but children throwing temper tantrums because things are not going your way. You cannot be reasoned with. You can offer no reason. You can only offer moonbattery. And its hazardous to our nation’s health.
My final piece of advice: educate yourselves. Learn. Question. Stop taking things at face value. Challenge your assumptions. Try to inform yourselves on the issues. Try to see the argument from the other side.
I offer two links. First, my quiz, “Are You A Non-Thinker?” See if you all are capable of critical thought, or non-thought: http://blamethe1st.blogspot.com/2011/07/are-you-non-thinker.html
Finally, my most recent quiz, “100 Questions For Liberals.” I also have a separate list for conservatives, but you all would probably fare better with the one for liberal. See if you’re capable of having your political beliefs challenged and questioned: http://blamethe1st.blogspot.com/2011/08/100-questions-for-liberals.html