Tax "Deal" Makes It Official: America Has Gone Batshit Crazy

[somone]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/tax-deal-makes-it-officia_b_793198.html

Tax "Deal" Makes It Official: America Has Gone Batshit Crazy
David Sirota

Four pieces of news today about the tax debate leads me to the modest conclusion that America - or at least the capital that governs in its name - has gone entirely, unmistakably and undeniably batshit crazy.

1. We just had an election that focused intently on the problems that come with a growing national deficit and debt. Correspondingly, almost every major poll after the election shows the majority of the country therefore doesn't want to extend Bush tax cuts on income above $250,000 a year. Nonetheless, a Democratic president who won the biggest electoral landslide in contemporary history on a promise to rescind those tax cuts - that same president is now pushing to extend those very tax cuts, thus seriously increasing the national deficit/debt.

2. President Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta - a man who, as head of the liberal Center for American Progress, zealously defends the economic record and model of President Clinton - just issued a press release arguing for an extension of all the Bush tax cuts in order to not "abandon the millions of Americans who are struggling to keep their families afloat." In other words, President Clinton's former chief of staff is arguing that returning to President Clinton's tax rates would "abandon the millions of Americans who are struggling to keep their families afloat."

3. The Democratic Party, which for a decade rightly argued that Bush tax cuts blew a hole in our budget and didn't spur serious economic growth, is now suddenly arguing that we must extend all the Bush tax cuts to preserve the prospect of economic growth. Somehow, the party now believes spending $60 billion a year on reducing tax rates for income above $250,000 is a better way to spur economic growth than using the same money to (as just one example cited in the New York Times) make college entirely free for half of all American students.

4. Despite Democrats controlling all branches of America's federal legislative apparatus, Republicans are governing the country. As the Huffington Post reports under the headline "Republicans achieve top goal in Obama tax-cut plan," the GOP "largely dictated the terms of President Barack Obama's proposed tax-cut compromise." This, despite the fact that to stop the Bush tax cuts, all Democrats had to do was pass nothing.

As I said, mark this day down: It's the day it became undeniably clear that we've gone completely batshit crazy.

[jaxx]

1. Another armchair blogger speaks out.

How unique. I wonder what this one would have done about the unemployment extensions, the others are ignoring them.

[MasonJar]

7. Unemployment should have never been linked to this tax cut bill.

That was the pugs doing and the namby pamby dems, including Obama, fell for it. That is unless he initiated it.

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. Oh, how unique....another apologist.

[COLGATE4]

10. Absolutely. They're out in droves now that our Invertebrate-in-Chief

finally showed a little emotion by berating us instead of the Rethugs.

[Caretha]

9. Oh I don't know

Maybe not tied them to a 700 billion dollar a year tax bailout for the wealthy? :eyes:

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

12. Purist need to keep their facts straight. It's 120 billion over two years not 700 a year

Then again they always are the best at exaggeration.

[xchrom]

2. Moderates and centrists in the dem party are doing to 'progressives' what

Reagan did to liberals.

[Common Sense Party]

3. Kucinich/Grayson 2010, running on a platform of 90% tax rates

for those earning above 100K!

[progressoid]

4. Where the fuck have you been for the last decade David?

America went batshit crazy a long time ago.

[tom_paine]

5. It's only even getting mildly obvious now, so powerful is the spell of denial.

And to 99% of the American Subject Populace, there is absolutely nothing going on or going wrong besides whatever infoganda the RW Lie Machine/Corporate Media fusion delivers them, which is usally upisde down, ludicrous, misinformational or simply insane.

It was going crazy in the 80s, but it was still in such early stages and denial is such a powerful thing that almost no one, literally, except for a very few people like Steve Kangas or Danny Castolaro, noticed.

I didn't, even when I was staring right at the initial symptoms/changes. Denial.

Even now, 99% of the American Subject Populace are ignorant to the causes and the reality of what is really going on here (hint: you won't hear about it on TV or in the newspapers) or just how deep this new 1933 Kinder and Gentler Nazi Revolution version 2.0 goes or is going.

Think about that. At this late date, with insanity all around, lies and fraud driving virtually every aspect of public and corporate American life, 99% (or MORE) of our idiocracy is completely and totally without a clue.

Years ago, I thought much more highly of the American People, now so very deserving of our new name The American Subject Populace, such that I never imagine that such things could happen here.

But such things can easily happen here. Much worse can and will happen here. It's already a done deal. Hell, it might have been a done deal back when FDR let Prescott Bush and his Nazi pals off the hook for High Treason.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

[Name removed]

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[mikesm]

11. Limbaugh and Demint are trying to kill the deal!

They are upset that unemployment benefits are being extended - they wanted ALL the cuts but no extensions. Jim DeMint (head R nutbar) says he'll filibuster the deal as well for the same reasons!

If the extreme right feels this way, there could be an odd progressive - conservative majority on stopping this.

But I worry that if it goes down Obama will cave even more...