With a chip on his shoulder larger than his margin of victory, Barack Obama is approaching his second term by replicating the mistake of his first. Then his overreaching involved health care — expanding the entitlement state at the expense of economic growth. Now he seeks another surge of statism, enlarging the portion of gross domestic product grasped by government and dispensed by politics. The occasion is the misnamed “fiscal cliff,” the proper name for which is: the Democratic Party’s agenda.
I'm not sure what the worst thing would be for the GOP to do, but I am reasonably confident they will find it. --TS
Can you explain how the same people who spent the whole election claiming that the EVIL DEFICIT is going to KILL us, now object so strongly to a plan that would cut that self-same deficit.
Yes, it does that in part by raising taxes...something that they themselves voted for only a couple of years ago. And if they wanted to have the tax cuts back for 98% of the taxpayers, they could have that deal tomorrow too. Actually, given it changes marginal rates, even the top 2% would benefit, just not as much as if their rates were cut too.
I cannot understand it. Unless one accepts the hypothesis that their paymasters would be very angry. (Krugman is more charitable: he says it is about destroying the social safety net at all costs: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/opinion/krugman-hawks-and-hypocrites.html?_r=0 )
Posted by: keynesian | November 29, 2012 at 03:17 PM