Kicking the Can down the Road
December 6, 2012 - by
It was like watching the rerun of a bad old black and white movie: Obama won reelection then, the next day, at a press conference in Washington John Boehner stood up and announced he was ready to compromise and accept new taxes â but only on one condition. Obama had to accept big spending cuts.
Then Obama departed Washington to give a speech at a toy factory in Pennsylvania and, the same day, his Treasury Secretary traipsed over to Capitol Hill and plopped a counter-proposal on the table in front of Boehner: The President wanted a $1.6 trillion dollar tax increase, more spending, eliminating debt ceiling votes, and proposed kicking the can down the road on spending cuts by deferring the sequestration for a year.
Boehner grimaced and said, Weâre getting nowhere.
And Obama fired a broadside at Boehner, saying Boehner was against a tax cut for middle class families because he (Obama) wouldnât give one to millionaires too.
A couple of days passed and Boehner came back with his own proposal: A âcompromiseâ that also included a big tax increase â which started a conflagration among conservatives. By sundown Boehner was catching it from Obama on one side and Jim DeMint to Rand Paul on the other.
So with the âfiscal cliffâ days away hereâs where our political leaders in Washington stand:
The Democrats wonât cut spending because theyâre afraid their supporters will go berserk.
The Republicans are for raising taxes and their supporters are going berserk.
So thereâs only one way to escape the briar patch: More debt.
Itâs like déjà vu all over again.
Kicking the Can down the Road
December 6, 2012/
It was like watching the rerun of a bad old black and white movie: Obama won reelection then, the next day, at a press conference in Washington John Boehner stood up and announced he was ready to compromise and accept new taxes â but only on one condition. Obama had to accept big spending cuts.
Then Obama departed Washington to give a speech at a toy factory in Pennsylvania and, the same day, his Treasury Secretary traipsed over to Capitol Hill and plopped a counter-proposal on the table in front of Boehner: The President wanted a $1.6 trillion dollar tax increase, more spending, eliminating debt ceiling votes, and proposed kicking the can down the road on spending cuts by deferring the sequestration for a year.
Boehner grimaced and said, Weâre getting nowhere.
And Obama fired a broadside at Boehner, saying Boehner was against a tax cut for middle class families because he (Obama) wouldnât give one to millionaires too.
A couple of days passed and Boehner came back with his own proposal: A âcompromiseâ that also included a big tax increase â which started a conflagration among conservatives. By sundown Boehner was catching it from Obama on one side and Jim DeMint to Rand Paul on the other.
So with the âfiscal cliffâ days away hereâs where our political leaders in Washington stand:
The Democrats wonât cut spending because theyâre afraid their supporters will go berserk.
The Republicans are for raising taxes and their supporters are going berserk.
So thereâs only one way to escape the briar patch: More debt.
Itâs like déjà vu all over again.