So, James Clyburn has correctly identified the problem behind the resistance to solving the impending budget crisis. The Republicans have taken a “no new taxes” pledge, like they always do, and have decided that closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and multinational business community is equivalent to new taxes.
Congress and the White House could reach a budget deal if only Republicans would relent on their pledges to not raise taxes, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Tuesday on MSNBC.
Speaking on “Morning Joe,” the third-ranking House Democrat said talk of the GOP being open to closing some tax loopholes may be a non-starter among Republicans who have signed no-tax pledges.
“If you consider closing loopholes raising taxes, that keeps us from having a good conversation about where to go from here,” Clyburn said. “And that’s the problem.”
Ok, great, now we’re getting somewhere. The bastards are never going to budge from their “starve the beast” theology. Their whole goal in life is to make sure that they NEVER have to pay for some slacker working dude, no matter how hard that person works. “Who the F%^& do these working people think they are anyway? Pensions, health care, social security, where does it stop? Oh, sure, they deferred their compensation for their future retirements but that’s because they’re suckers. It’s not our fault they were stupid enough to think we were really going to give it to them. They’re LOSERS in life. If they can’t figure out how to eat what they kill, is that OUR fault?”
It’s a good thing that Clyburn is on the case. I’m sure he will protect the interests of the working class (that’s anyone who doesn’t live on their interests). By golly, he’s going to hold firm. He’s not going to yield an inch.
If lawmakers don’t raise the debt ceiling before the Aug 2. deadline, the federal government will default on its obligations. Should that happen or even come close to happening, creditors have warned, the nation’s credit rating could plummet.
Clyburn said Congress may resort to a short-term deal to avoid default “if we can’t get a longer term deal.”
Noooooooo!
No short term deals. That’s just what they want. You need to hold the line, throw down the gauntlet, take no prisoners. You need to say there must be shared sacrifice or there will be no deal and then, get them to vote on their share of the sacrifice *first*.
Can we get some new players here? Is there no one here who knows how to play this game?
Jeez.
Filed under: General | Tagged: dope slap, James Clyburn, loopholes, no-new-taxes, Republicans |
The Confluence 
oh the drama!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Actually, Clyburn, as much as I loathe him, has finally described in easily understandable terms, what the Republicans are trying to do. Obama, Biden, Geithner and every other Democrat should be making the same point over and over. Most people only hear the soundbites. The Democrats need some soundbites that will drown out the “No new taxes” that the GOP has been parroting for years.
No, he hasn’t. Just this morning, someone said to me that the reason we need to keep taxes low on businesses is so they can create new jobs. I just stared at her. If that were true, we would have had full employment since 1980. That’s CLEARLY what we don’t have and the only time we came close was under Clinton after he got Congress to raise taxes on the rich.
It’s not explained. People don’t understand it. And the media is in cahoots to keep them confused for as long as possible. Democrats have an obligation to be as aggressive and clear with the counter message as humanly possible.
They are failing, miserably.
I don’t know that it’s so much the actual tax rate, as it is the tax code and loopholes that allow business to escape paying their taxes, i.e. General Electric. Allowing businesses to move their higher taxed products to countries that have more favorable tax rates, etc also takes a whole lotta money out of our country. All in all, the tax code has become WAY too complicated and unfair for everyone, IMO.
It won’t work. People are not interested in knowing the facts. Slogans and jingles they can respond to but not much else. Both sides are playing the game. It just isn’t the one we want them to play. And they are scared after what happened to Gifford. That one wasn’t in the story. A head injury like that means she will never be the same again. However many times they trot her out to smile and wave.
What does Gifford being shot by a psychopath have to do with the debt ceiling?
The Perfect Crime is in effect. People have been robbed of their imaginations, their ability to contemplate, and they have been programmed to react react react. Distraction has replaced contemplation as normal behavior. Walter Benjamin 1936 The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
No short term deals, indeed. Call their goddamned bluff, just like Clinton did.
Hmmm. “Oh, sure, they deferred their compensation for their future retirements but that’s because they’re suckers.”
Yes, let’s eliminate pensions and health care for those “other suckers” who truly suck — our elected officials. Put them in the same basket as everyone else and watch things start to improve.
djmm
”Knock, knock.”
(Who’s there?)
“Unlimited union and corporate campaign contributions.”
(Unlimited union and corporate campaign contributions who?)
“That’s the thing. I don’t think I should have to tell you.”– Stephen Colbert
(H/T my sister Julie)
Of course Clybrun knows how to play the game. The legacy parties (and their owners) are on one side, and the American people are on the other.
The owners vs the owned.
Land of the free my dear aunt Fanny.