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Today is the 27th of December and just four days remain until the fiscal cliff, or would taxmageddon be a better term. The House of Representatives is out of session, although on 48 hour notice to return. The Senate is back on Capital Hill, although they haven’t done a thing for the last four years, as evidenced by the fact that they have failed to pass a budget in that period of time. That’s a violation of law, but they seem to believe that laws are for everyone else, but not them! But, fear not, as Barack Obama has come riding Air Force One in to save the day. Is he really?
Obama has no intention of any type of compromise. A true compromise would entail drastic spending cuts. His proposals contain none. His political philosophy is to spend as much as possible. If there is a problem, throw money at it and it will go away. It’s the viewpoint of the liberals from at least the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which ironically is the time the United States started running deficits in the billions of dollars. Obama is salivating over the 1st of January, because, from that day on, he gets the tax dollars of hard-working Americans to spend as he sees fit. His agenda is much more important than the health of the country. It’s in his best interests to allow the nation, and the economy, to go over the cliff.
The Senate is planning to do the same thing as the past two years, sit on their… political agenda; doing absolutely NOTHING unless it goes along in lockstep with their progressive belief. For the last two years,over thirty bills passed by the House of Representatives have sat on Harry Reid’s desk gathering dust, not seeing the light of day. Evidently, they subscribe to Dire Straits song, “Money For Nothing”, as they collect OUR pay and do nothing! Harry Reid then has the nerve to complain that the GOP won’t negotiate. Check your desk Harry. Several of those bills on your desk would go far toward the betterment of the economy and the nation. Personally, I’m tired of hearing your whining about negotiations.
The House of Representatives and the Speaker, John Boehner, are free from blame in this whole repugnant affair. The idea of delaying every difficult problem until a better time, or someone else’s watch, has caused great problems for a while. It has caused this great country to go from a AAA rating to a AA rating with an unfavorable outlook from several credit rating companies. While the House is the ONLY legislative branch doing anything, they are not the glowing example of conservative thought I would like, although they do have a few brief moments. Giving in to Obama’s talking points and starting negotiations by allowing tax increases was never one of them!
So, here we are; our nation is being wheeled into the hospital on a gurney, only to find out that all the doctors are arguing about whether or not to bring food into the auditorium as they settle down to watch a movie, perhaps “Thelma and Louise”. The House will give tax increases. but want some cuts, which historically never come. The Senate wants only tax increases, but don’t touch entitlements. Then, there’s Obama, who thinks he’s owed something for being him!
Truth is there’s no time to cobble an agreement together. Everytime a last-minute agreement has been passed, it’s been a bad plan for the country. Until those in Washington realize the problem America has isn’t a revenue problem, but a spending problem, all we’ll get are more bad plans. With a bit over four days remaining in which to act, I’ve come to think that no plan is better than a bad plan. Let’s go for the ride.
Hopefully, the first order of business in the House of Representatives on 3 January, 2013 will be a call to vote by secret ballot for the Speaker position, resulting in someone with a spine of steel and conviction of principles to replace John Boehner. When the debt ceiling issue comes up in January or February, the call for no increase without deep, meaningful spending cuts is loud and strong. By that time, the government will have spent all revenues garnered by the Obama Tax Increases of 2013. We need to cut actual spending, not reduce the baseline increases. Anyway, it’s going to be an interesting next few weeks.
