Monday, November 21, 2011

The [not so] "Super committee".

There must be a lot of kryptonite in Washington these days. It sure seems like it took out that so called "Super committee". The "Super committee" wasn't so super after all, and after months of wrangling they did not come up with a way to cut 1.2 trillion (that's trillion with a T) from A-merry-ca's deficit.

There is no bipartisanship in Washington these days, elections are just around the corner and we have to get that beige dude and his Afrocentric wife out of the people's house.

"Obama said Republicans in Congress rejected what he called a balanced approach to deficit reduction that included tax increases on the wealthy.

"Despite the broad agreement that exists for such an approach, there are still too many Republicans in Congress that have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of Washington," Obama told reporters after the super committee announced its failure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Democrats "were prepared to strike a grand bargain that would make painful cuts while asking millionaires to pay their fair share, and we put our willingness on paper," but Republicans "never came close to meeting us halfway."

His GOP counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, argued that an agreement "proved impossible not because Republicans were unwilling to compromise, but because Democrats would not accept any proposal that did not expand the size and scope of government or punish job creators."

Somebody is lying, and I suspect that it's my man from Blue Grass Country. I am no Phi Beta Kappa from the London School of Economics, but it doesn't take an economic genius to figure out that you have to do more than just cut government programs to reduce the deficit. You have to raise revenue as well, and in order to do that we have to....wait for it...wait for it....yep, raise taxes.

But republicans will not do that, because they have pledges to keep. If you want to find where all the kryptonite is kept in Washington you might want to look under Grover Norquist's bed. This dude has some serious powers. Let's just call him Lex Luthor.

"Steve Kroft: A lot of people think you're the most powerful man in Washington.

Grover Norquist: The tax issue is the most powerful issue in American politics going back to the Tea Party. People say, 'Oh, Grover Norquist has power.' No. Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform focus on the tax issue. The tax issue is a powerful issue.

Grover Norquist is trying to be modest. Since creating Americans for Tax Reform at Ronald Reagan's behest back in 1985, Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party.

Norquist: The Republicans won't raise your taxes. We haven't had a Republican vote for an income tax increase since 1990.

Kroft: And this was your doing?

Norquist: I helped. Yeah.

It began with the simple idea of getting Republicans all over the country to sign an oath called the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," promising their constituents that they would never, ever vote for anything that would make their taxes go up."

But we will see how serious these republicans are when it comes to sticking to their pledge. Come midnight tomorrow night the fallback plan kicks in, and that could mean cuts in...(*Gasp!*) defense. Not to mention other programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and Veteran's benefits.

Lex Luthor, you are a baaaad man.


 

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