General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe "cliff" was never intended to be "solved"
Republicans plotted from hour-one of the Obama presidency for it to be over in 1 term.
They planned to stall and stall and stall some more..
It was always about denying him all the successes they could, and when the time came to actually address the deficit, when THEIR candidate won in '12, they would just slash all programs they did not like (like they have been trying to do since FDR), and make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
They would have never cared a whit about an increasing deficit..
The problem they have is that Romney LOST, and now they actually have to address the problems..
their plan was marvelous in formation, but lousy in final execution..
The formation of the fake grassrootsy "tea party" was all about stymieing the health care plan before it could be properly explained and nurtured . and the tea party gang was also necessary to ensure a house-take over in anticipation of the final 2 years'-worth of blocked legislation they needed so that when republicans swooped in in charge of all three branches in '12, they were home free..
They got part 1 accomplished & got rid of Pelosi, but from that point on, they never got their footing, and could only jam up everything they touched.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Republicans and corporate Democrats, including Obama, colluded on this Shock Doctrine scam last spring. They deliberately orchestrated it to use Social Security as a hostage to pass an austerity deal and to garner praise for the participants when the contrived axe of SS benefits did not fall...this time.
The important point here is that they rigged the game to ensure that the country accepted a policy that they would never have voted for...austerity for the masses...and they made sure that it was in the package no matter the outcome.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)100% right. Except I wouldn't place as much blame on Obama. The corporatists didn't want him, and he seems more into the Keynesian school of economics, which the Shock Doctrine fans hate.
datasuspect
(26,591 posts)think about this.
tomp
(9,512 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)I do think he was at least acceptable to them, but Rove and his friends wouldn't have put as much money into trying to get Romney elected if they were the same. He is not as friendly to their interests as the Republicans are at all. Though I agree he buys into this more than I'd like. I'd like someone who rejected the whole framework.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)The "Fiscal Cliff" framework was a bi-partisan deal.
NewsCenter28
(1,835 posts)Read your history better, buddy. President Obama only agreed to the fiscal cliff in the first place because the Republicans held a gun to his head over the debt ceiling in July 2011 remember? Sequestration was what they came up as a way to give Boehner his ransom that wasn't totally horrific. President Obama's re-election must have been so painful to you...
Romulox
(25,960 posts)and signed into law by the President. It wasn't handed to us by Gort the alien--it was passed in the usual way.
To say that the President was limited by political reality isn't saying anything at all, since that is always true. So what exactly are you disagreeing with? Not a damn thing, except how to spin this.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)plethoro
(594 posts)plan. But now on the day before the "fiscal cliff", did we win anything with or without a deal? Without a deal we get defense cuts, tax inceases for the wealthy, etc. With a deal, we get approximately nothing, even less than nothing. Who is to blame in this rigged game, where Social Security was spent by Bush and crew on needless wars and tax cuts for the wealthy so that the corporatists can say, hey, the money is gone, so we have to cut Social Security? That blame is on the corporatists, whom you have mentioned. And they are not done. They will continue to move stealthily until the guns and the ability to get them are gone. Then the real cuts? And who will stop them? Our Maginot Line? What Maginot Line?
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)just beyond elections. Now is the time to insist that actual problems be addressed on all sides.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)So they are "hoist by their own petard" now, metaphorically speaking.
This is totally their strategy: "They planned to stall and stall and stall some more." until they could get their hands on the reins again.
LonePirate
(13,379 posts)They are hypocrites, every single one of them.
Heather MC
(8,084 posts)it should get. I really hope they don't make some last minute rushed deal just to be the clock
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)I'm still expecting that a bipartisan bill exempting the military from sequestration will be put together in the next couple months.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)their racist little minds imagined.
rock
(13,218 posts)you see, because it's always someone in the future that will have to clean it up.
sendero
(28,552 posts)... and neither do the Tea Party liars, or they would address the most blatantly wasteful area of the Federal budget, that of course being defense spending.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due." Attributed to Dick Cheney
Gman
(24,780 posts)madville
(7,397 posts)Next up on deck is raising the debt limit in a few weeks.
lpbk2713
(42,674 posts)They think that would tidy things up nicely. They always say government
should be run like a business, this would reduce the overhead as they see it.
Left Turn Only
(74 posts)The Great Recession of which the fiscal cliff was born appears to be an attempt at a "check mate" after decades of tearing down Progressive gains bit by bit. How do you get rid of unions? Create a global economy based on the cheapest wages. How do you get more money into the military-industrial complex without printing more and more money (which would create a diminishing returns scenario in wealth)? Repeal all the financial laws created by FDR and milk the capitalist system of all it has until it snaps, creating a global recession. At the same time, cut everyone's taxes and spend even more money on the military and war until there's a fiscal crisis that can't be ignored. The Recession is supposed to be the coup d'etat because that would wipe up the last of union power, ending collective bargaining on a state level, and scare the population into expecting less when they retire or get sick. Low wages, lousy benefits, diminished Social Security and more wealth and power for the status quo -- mission accomplished.