[EQAndyBuzz]

“Obama seeks to advance what Alexis de Tocqueville in “Democracy in America” called “soft despotism,” with “a network of small, complicated, painstaking rules” — think Obamacare — to “finally reduce ... each nation to being nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals of which government is the shepherd.””

Easy to do with a complicit media.

[Travis McGee]

"The worse, the better."

Obama, using Lenin's strategy.

[Lou L]

The Depression of the 1930s did a great job of increasing economic equality.

I am not convinced that Obama, when he has the option, ever chooses an economic policy that benefits the US. Furthermore, a sharp economic downturn like a depression, would give him the impetus to impose all sorts of laws, mandates, and "programs" upon us.

[oldbrowser]

One is that going over the fiscal cliff would trigger a sharp recession and a weak economy thereafter.

The sharp recessions is already in the cards due to the incompetent and corrupt policies that Obama has instituted.

Forcing us over the fiscal cliff is intended to create the scenario where the hated republicans and the rich people caused the recession out of sheer greed and blatant racism.

[ridesthemiles]

Obama wants chaos in the USA.

He wants to destroy America and he wants to declare martial law and himself a dictator in the process.

[I am Richard Brandon]

Obama is a Communist, or at the very least, a Socialist. How many of all the communist and socialist regimes that have ever existed have modified their ideology and the way that they run their countries simply to better the lot of the Proles.

Did Communist Russia? Did East Germany? Poland? I can only think of present China.

Obama thinks that he is untouchable, and his Administration has shown that it will manipulate ANY aspect of government - legal or otherwise - in order to gain and retain power. Over the cliff - chickenfeed. He will do it, manipulate the press reporting and expect to come out of it smelling like a rose.

A government shut down cannot be hidden. Starved of money, the government loses power. GOP take note.

[DuncanWaring]

Third, he assumes that Obama, like previous presidents, wants vibrant economic growth and chooses policies that he thinks will stimulate it.

I wonder whether these second two assumptions are true.

The third is definitely not true.

...after Bill Clinton agreed to cut the capital gains rate in 1997 that large enough gushers of revenue poured in to balance the federal budget.

BS.

The federal budget hasn't been balanced since the Eisenhower administration.

The National Debt has increased every single fiscal year since about 1957.

[Paladin2]

""I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness." "

I view fairness in the time domain. It's clearly not fair for me to have to be a slave for 3 to six months yearly working for the benefit of the gov't while the 47% spend NONE of their time working for "the common good".

THAT's unfair. The socialists do nothing to support making Socialism work while those opposed to Socialism are forced to work in the engine room to supply the views for those lounging on the deck.

[KeyLargo]

Newsmax

DeMint: Obama Wants to Take Country Over Cliff

Thursday, December 13, 2012 08:20 AM

By: Martin Gould

Fiscal cliff negotiators are intentionally dragging the talks out to the last minute and will then give legislators a take-it-or-leave-it option with little chance for their own input, outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint has charged.

And he accused President Barack Obama of wanting to take the country over the cliff so everyone will have to pay higher taxes.

“There’s no transparent, democratic process at all — just a few people in a room — which I think they’ll intentionally draw out until the last day and then drop on us so there’s no time for debate, not only to keep us out of it but to keep the American people out of it,” said the South Carolina Republican.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/demint-fiscal-cliff-obama/2012/12/13/id/467592

[jdsteel]

His goal is to crush the Republican party and cement Democrat power for decades. Economics be damned. It is all about power. Look at California. Look at Detroit.

[kathsua]

Obama knows he can get the media to blame everything on the Republicans.

[Lancey Howard]

Fiscal Cliff Creates Problems That Don't Faze Obama

Of course not.
Why would Ubama and his Democrat party base of moochers care about taxes they don't pay or jobs they don't want or need? Why in God's name would Ubama and his Democrat party base of moochers care about "the economy" at all, as long as the "free stuff" keeps rolling in?

No matter what Repubs do they will be blamed for... ...both, raising taxes AND pushing granny off a cliff with "spending cuts". The scumbag Democrats have absolutely nothing at stake, no "skin in the game" whatsoever.

Since it's strictly a lose-lose proposition for the Republicans, let's go over the freaking cliff already and point a finger at Ubama for his insistence on a symbolic, drop-in-the-bucket tax-rate hike on America's employers, a tax hike that would cost jobs while solving only 2% of the deficit problem (if even that much).

(shrug)

There really is no other option that makes sense. Republicans would still get most of the blame - - the Democrat "mainstream" newsrooms would make sure of that - - but at least the GOP wouldn't be committing party suicide. Going over the "fiscal cliff" would demand explanations, and at least the Republican side would get an airing. People admire politicians who stick to their principles even if they disagree with them, and lose respect for those who cave.

I can't bring myself to believe the Republicans are going to cave. They just CAN'T be that stupid. (Can they??) I think (hope?) they are playing Ubama's game merely so they can say at the end - - as the nation goes over the cliff - - that they "did everything they could to get a deal done and save America" but Ubama simply "failed to lead".

No matter what, history will record that the fiscal cliff nightmare that led to global depression happened on Ubama's watch.