Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said that he "burst into laughter" Thursday when Treasury Secretary Little Timmy 'The Tax Cheat' Geithner outlined the administration's proposal for averting that much talked about fiscal cliff. He wasn’t trying to embarrass Geithner, McConnell says, only responding candidly to his one-sided plan, explicit on tax increases, and more than a little vague on spending cuts. Geithner’s visit to his office left McConnell feeling a bit discouraged about reaching a "balanced" deal on tax hikes and spending reductions designed to prevent a shock to the economy in January. "Nothing good is happening" in the negotiations, McConnell says, because of Obama’s insistence on tax rate hikes for the wealthy but unwillingness to embrace serious spending cuts.
Geithner actually suggested what amounts to $1.6 trillion in tax increases, McConnell says, but showed "minimal or no interest" in making any of the spending cuts that I think anyone with a brain knows are needed. When congressional leaders went to the White House three days after the election, Barry talked of possible curbs on the explosive growth of food stamps and Social Security disability payments. But since Geithner didn’t mention either of them, those reductions appear to be now off the table, at least that's how is appears to McConnell. Barry continues to push the raising of tax rates on couples earning more than $250,000 and individuals earning more than $200,000. But there's simply no way that such cuts would produce revenues anywhere near $1.6 trillion over a decade.
The "guess" of those involved in the negotiations, Politico reported, is that a bipartisan deal "will include a rate hike, higher taxes on carried interest and probably capital gains and dividends, and either a cap on total deductions for rich people or some form of a minimum tax rate for them." However, at this point in time Speaker John Boehner has said that nothing has thus far been agreed to. "No substantive progress has been made." Besides raising taxes, Timmy "The Tax Cheat" was reported to have proposed a one-year delay in scheduled $1.2 trillion spending cuts to defense and domestic, and a $400 billion reduction in Medicare funding. The $1.2 trillion in cuts was mandated after Congress failed to reach an agreement in 2011 on reductions. Point number one, there should be NO delay accepted in making spending cuts!
Barry has talked up what he fondly refers to as being a "balanced" approach to averting the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts in January. But he’s offered very few actual specifics on the spending side. I can only guess that that's a little like his "all of the above' approach regarding his nonexistent energy policy that focuses pretty much on 'green energy,' ignoring completely those nasty old fossil fuels. The bottom line here is that this is but one more example of the Democrat's my-way-or-the-highway philosophy when it comes to their understanding of 'compromise'. I assume that the Democrats fully expect that, as usual, Boehner & Co. will simply rollover and allow Barry to do pretty much whatever he wants. But I got a little warning here for the Speaker, DON'T DO IT!
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