Posted on 09/13/2010 6:58:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Obama has suddenly discovered the virtues of deficit reduction: Having spent all the money, he now thinks it would be downright irresponsible of taxpayers not to pick up some of his tab. His defenders would have us believe that every form of fiscal austerity would sink us deeper into the quicksand — except for tax increases on the most productive individuals and profitable small businesses in the country. The rich don’t spend the money, they argue, so why let them keep it if they’re just going to put it in the bank? Apparently, putting your money into banks is Timothy Geithner’s job, not yours.
This kind of incoherence deserves to be met with a forceful response from Republicans, and House minority leader John Boehner has provided one: a proposal to freeze all tax rates where they are for two years and reduce non-defense discretionary spending to 2008 levels to offset the forgone revenue. From a policy standpoint, we would have preferred making the Bush tax cuts “normal law” (another way of saying “make them permanent”) and a more comprehensive package of spending cuts, but Boehner’s package is simple, achievable, and superior to the administration’s alternative on both politics and substance.
First, on the politics: Republicans should be happy to let this be the defining debate of the fall, notwithstanding those polls that suggest that the public favors extending the middle-class tax cuts and rescinding the rest. The polls don’t really test the argument that raising taxes in a weak economy is a bad idea. Polls that put the question in that context, such as the latest from Ipsos-Reuters, indicate that about half of the country is behind the idea of extending the tax cuts for all Americans.
Have that fight, and let Democrats defend higher taxes — but not all of them will: With the Democrats already suffering from pre-election disarray and panic, many of them will peel off. Several Senate Democrats have already indicated that they do not support raising anyone’s rates in the current economy, and representatives such as Gerry Connolly, a Northern Virginia Democrat, have tried to point out that class-war politics doesn’t play in affluent, purple, suburban districts such as his.
The central Republican economic message right now is that Obama-created uncertainty is holding the economy back. That unease is inspired in no small part by uncertainty about taxes. The Democrats could have passed something to deal with looming middle-class tax increases more than a year ago but preferred to spend their time socializing medicine and trying to ration energy. Having expended so much political capital in those efforts, they now lack a coherent vision when it comes to taxes. Republicans should remind voters at every turn that holding down middle-class taxes has been low on the Democrats’ agenda, to the extent that it has been there at all.
Second, on the substance: Boehner’s tax proposal is imperfect in that it would build in another expiration date, making it more difficult for businesses to make long-term plans. But it would at least reassure them that the big debate over tax policy has been postponed to a time when liberals who wish to raise their taxes will most likely have less power in Washington than they do now, and when election-year politics will again work against the Democrats’ attempts to raise rates. That kind of uncertainty is preferable to certain tax hikes.
As far as spending is concerned, we would rather see deeper cuts and more specific proposals for them. But Boehner’s cut-and-cap approach would still yield substantial savings and serve as a useful counterweight against the president’s claims that Republicans want to cut taxes without offsetting the impact of cuts on the deficit. Even more than most liberals, Obama has the annoying habit of talking about tax cuts in terms of how much they “cost” the government, as though it were the government’s money to begin with. He has gone so far as to say that Republicans “would have us borrow” the money to “give” taxpayers their money back. Very well then: Boehner’s freeze would obviate the need to borrow a dime.
Obama knows he is losing this fight, which is why he has refused to commit to vetoing an extension of all the Bush tax cuts should such a bill land on his desk; Boehner’s proposals have offered moderate Democrats a way to oppose the president, thus paving the way for precisely that outcome. A temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts is not the best policy, and we still have a long way to go toward addressing the real sources of our deficit woes. But given the actual viable options on the table, our best bet is to extend the tax cuts while awaiting a sounder government that can reform our tax code and entitlements more broadly.
Seems to me that John Boehner is playing right into the Alinsky tactics by putting his (well tanned) mug on TV.
Obama wanted to set a trap for republicans.
Fortunately, republicans saw the trap but did not take the bait.
Hold spending? HOLD it?
No. cut it.
Holding means continuing to spend at intolerably and destructively high levels - unsustainable levels. Boehner is showing that he is still in lockstep with establishment RINO thinking. Vote for us, because we are a little less bad than democrats.
And this guy is going to be Speaker? What you will have with Boehner as Speaker is a House acting as the tax collector and financier of Obama’s spending programs.
They still don’t get it.
Most of the Federal budget is Social Security and Medicare, plus interest on the national debt and defense......so is there really enough here to cut to put a dent in the deficit without causing the public to cry uncle or foul???
What’s wrong with 2007 levels?
Or 1997 levels?
Democrats are trying to launch a massive door-to-door get out the vote effort in their base voter districts, such as in Columbia Maryland. But the liberal base is still mad he hasn't raised taxes on ‘the rich’ already and would completely give up if he gave in on this now. So Obama is in a corner on this one, too bad LOL. But in the next congress Obama will likely have a different theme, maybe he will claim Republicans forced him to extend those tax cuts when many Democrats vote for them too.
Hold spending? HOLD it?
Yes, cutting would be better, but think of the politicis here.
2008 levels. That is the last Bush year.
Obama and the Dems have spent the last two years saying it was Bush’s extravagent spending that ran up the deficit.
This puts Obama in a box. He can’t on the one hand complain about spending (which he is hypocritically doing now) and on the other hand refuse to limit spending to a level that he has been railing against as too high.
The idea here is to simply expose Obama for what he is: a person that will SAY anything, but who DOES whatever he wants.
Biased liberal media has made sure that NO ONE KNOWS who John Boehner is, (Except political junkies), by never broadcasting his responses to Democrat outrages.
Now, as Dems start desperately flailing, they are trying to paint a man no one knows as the “Evil Architect”. It’s quite hilarious, really.
Believe it or not 2008 would be a huge cut. I am for it and then walk it back a year at a time all the way to 1950.
Well-played by the minority party.
This is essentially a lame-duck congress issue. Boehner is not the speaker. The GOP are still a minority party. IMHO, he’s doing the best he can given the present set of circumstances.
Once the GOP controls the House, 0 will be cut off from funding his idiotic and damaging agenda. Novemeber, come you will!!
In the mean time, our first and foremost priority is kicking as many libtards out of both houses of congress as is possible and maximizing the extent of control of the House. This election cycle needs to punish the libs for their disregard of the constitution and the will of the people and give 0 the sense that he could be sacked hard on any given play.
0 needs to come out of this election on crutches. He needs to see and acknowledge that he is naked every day from Nov 5 until Jan 2012 when he turns over the keys to the WH.
The constant whining about RINOs right now seems less appropriate than just flat out kicking dimrat butt. The few House RINOs that make it this cycle can be dealt with in 2012.
but his plan to compromise with Obummer on extending the tax cuts is a LOSER!
Holding spending at a 1955 level would be even better.
John is taking a page from the Juan McCain playbook—that is, PRETENDING to be a tough minded, stand up conservative in anticipation of a run for the speakers gavel after Novembers hoped for blow out. Of course, just as actual conservatives know well McCains’ hypocrisy, we are also aware of Boehners’ spineless, sell-out history.
I would be for any tax cut at this point unless a tax increase on any group also was in the same bill.
A recession/depression is no time to raise anybody’s taxes even the so called rich and dare we forget that the so called rich are responsible for much of the job creation that goes on in the US.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.