Political Rant

I just watched Boehner and Cantor announce their "Plan B" for the fiscal cliff.  They claim that the President has not been accomodative and does not want to work with them and until he meets them in the middle (or what they perceive as the middle) they will not budge and will move to Plan B where they keep tax cuts for everyone earning under $1MM.  Now I am all for keeping my taxes low but here is the issue I have w/ the House Republicans... first off, you have been complaining about how Obama will not cut spending so for Plan B you are not addressing spending in any way. That is Plan B?

Here is the big thing. You lost this last election.  You did not win the presidency, you did not win the senate.  You cannot win this Fiscal Cliff argument you can only be a pain in the ass.  Whether I agree w/ the winner or loser the fact is Obama won and now he is in the driver seat.  He does not have to run for re-election and can be as big a dick as he wants.  Folks may speak of his legacy but if this falls apart he will say it was because the House was protecting taxes for the rich and few in this country will fault him regardless of the ancillary issues that actually are in play.  It is all perception.

Secondly... let's take the President out of this.  For months, Republicans have been banging the spending drum.  The issue here is credibility.  For one, when the Republicans controlled the Congress and Presidency they increased the Federal budget by 104%. This included not only defense spending but increases in Social Security, Medicare, and thousands of subsidy programs (1816 according to the Mercatus Center).  You only care about cutting spending when you do not control the wallet.  This goes for the left as well.  The other thing about spending is that the reason the Right will not specify their proposed spending cuts is that they cannot agree on them.  Every member of Congress has their own base and their own spending needs.  Is it any wonder that no one can come to a compromise, they all want different things? I have not heard much from the Arizona or Florida Republicans on Social Security cuts?  Weird! 

This is a mess where no one is willing to actually compromise.  We as a country have elected a bunch of assholes.  We should go over the fiscal cliff.  Take the hit and move on.  Uncertainty has killed business for the last 4 years, not tax rates. If people know what business will cost they will spend their money that has been on the sidelines, they just need to know what their costs will be.

And lastly... f*ck you Grover Norquist.  You are a dick.  You came from a privileged background and take money for granted. Sure, you don't want your parents money taxed. Meanwhile... you are an old Nixon guy who's big hero Reagan raised taxes several times and directly led to the fiscal mess George H. walked into and was later politically lynched for. So you have backed Nixon, G.W., Reagan, Gingrich, and Jack Abramoff.  That is a real Murderer's Row.  Basically, you are the type of unyielding cranky old turd that keeps things from getting done.  The Federal Government needs revenues as well as responsible spending and neither Norquist nor Obama seem to realize that.  A balanced budget is difficult.