The Tax Deal

One reason I have not written a post for awhile is that I was really disappointed with the tax compromise Obama made with Republicans. It is well established by now that the wealthiest Americans are getting a bigger and bigger piece of the pie under Republican policies, and continuing tax breaks for the richest of them just doesn't make any sense.

For me, the problem boils down to this: The deficits that we are running up now are similar to a credit card balance. At some point, someone will have to pay for them. And my question is, who will pay for the extra deficit we incur because the richest 2% are getting a tax break they do not need? I understand that the same could be said of any of the tax cuts, but couldn't we have started to get back to a reasonable financial state by taking a little back from the people who have benefited the most?

That said, events of the last couple of weeks have surprised me, in a good way. The tax cuts passed, and also DADT repeal (a huge deal)and the 9/11 first responders health care bill, and the START treaty was ratified. Republicans have come to the table, for the moment, and now the Senate is talking about changing the filibuster rules.

Life goes on. Obama and the Democrats disappoint me sometimes, but they are still the good guys in this fight.

Messaging

I often hear or read about Republican messaging, how it is so much better than Democratic messaging. This is how I see the messaging issue.

As an example, let's take the stimulus. Republicans never say the word "stimulus" without saying "failed" first, or some variation. John Boehner called it the "job-killing stimulus" recently, a nice change of pace, but the same idea. And that's Republican messaging. "Failed stimulus." People hear it, and they get it.

But what is the truth? The truth is, when Barack Obama became President, we had a few economic problems:

• The banking system was on the verge of collapse.
• People were concerned that we might be starting a depression.
• We were losing more than 500,000 jobs per month.
• Economic output was declining.
• The stock market was in the toilet.
• The American auto companies were close to closing their doors.

Since then, the banking system has stabilized, no one talks about a depression anymore, we have started to gain back some jobs (though not nearly enough), the recession (not depression!) is over and the economy is expanding, the stock market has increased by about 40%, and the auto companies have recovered very nicely. TARP ended up costing less than $100 billion rather than the $750 billion originally authorized by the Bush administration. American companies are now reporting record profits. Oh, and the Congressional Budget Office, the group of people who are paid to make these estimates, says the stimulus created between 1.4 and 3.2 million jobs.

Democratic messaging tends to sound a little like that paragraph I just wrote. Republican messaging is "failed stimulus." You have to pay a little more attention to get the Democratic messaging, and you have to think a little bit. Republicans just have to remember two words, and they don't even have to make any sense.

Glenn Beck Stupidity of the Day

Read this article and you will see that Beck is flat-out lying. Lying, lying, lying. The Center for American Progress never tried to cut history, the constitution, or economics out of education. Beck just made that up.

This guy figures he can just say anything he wants, no matter how dishonest, because of the network he is on and the nitwits who are his audience. And so far, he's right.

Republican Stupidity of the Day

I think serious people can debate whether it's a good idea to let tax cuts expire, even for the very rich, in the middle of a lousy economy. But Republicans are so desperate to reward rich people for their financial support that they are willing to hold the START treaty hostage until the wealthiest Americans get their tax cuts. Some are even talking about voting against the treaty regardless, presumably because it was negotiated by President Obama, so ratifying it would give him a victory. Never mind that the process was initiated by Ronald Reagan and continued with broad support from both parties ever since, until now.

I understand wanting to extend tax cuts at the rich, but at the risk of jeopardizing our nuclear security? These people have lost all sense of responsibility to their country.