Boehner’s Plan B

Kabuki TheatreJohn Boehner is going to get the GOP to violate their pledge to not raise taxes, via his Plan B.  The DEM/MSM is already portraying Beoehner as having “conceded” on Wednesday.

Boehner will let the Demorats have their way, and then call it a victory.  I quantify it via one word only: capitulation.

George HW Bush broke his word to the taxpayers in 1988, in re “read my lips: no new taxes.”  And it ended his tenure.  Bang.

Yes, the Republicans cannot block tax increases.  But apparently they may sign off on Obama’s will to cut another $100 BILLION dollars from defense.  That is insanity personified — if for no other reason than because of the profligate manner in which Obama himself is applying our American military in numerous theaters around the planet.

And none — none — of the Republicans apparently have the huevos to publicly stand against Boehner and stand on a refusal to increase taxes.  With a singular exception: I listened to Marco Rubio speak on Hannity’s show indicating so.

Hugh Hewitt and his callers excoriated Plan B.  He wrote on Wednesday:

Plan B raises taxes.

A yes vote on Plan B violates the pledge many if not all GOP candidates took, and convoiuted logic won’t change that and Grover’s pardon won’t matter.

After the routine violations of the “Pledge to America” of 2010, GOP credibility is in tatters.

MSM will begin every story on taxes for the next two years with “The GOP once before broke its pledge not to raise taxes, so…”

Plan B cuts defense by $100 billion.

Plan B won’t pass the Senate.

So why exactly did this get pushed forward, without consultation with the Senate leadership and without any chance for the GOP base to weigh in?  At what point does GOP leadership figure out the “representative” part of their job?

This is a huge, indeed potentially catastrophic mistake, and the Speaker ought to withdraw the plan and send everyone home with a vow to make any tax cuts in the new year retroactive.  We will go over the president’s cliff, but the GOP will have some credibility left and may yet remember that the party of Reagan defends the military that defends us and, crucially, doesn’t raise taxes.

Thank you Hugh.  Precisely.

The Fed has already said it will print a TRILLION dollars next year.  Inflation is going to hit, in 2013, in a way and manner that harkens back to 1980 — where I was paying 12% for a home loan with a minimum of 20% down, and vehicle loans hovered around 20% to 25% or more.  Or worse.  Much worse.

Recognize this: HALF of the people in the US don’t have a mortgage, so the elimination of the mortgage deduction means nothing to the bulk of the Free Cheese electorate.  But what might you then conclude about the already-poor health of the housing market if this deduction is eliminated?

Boehner is not taking this crisis seriously.  Obama is not taking this crisis seriously.  No one in Congress is taking this crisis seriously.

Let me state things as bluntly as possible: these assholes have no skin in the game and play, cavalierly, with your “skin.”  That is because Congress does and has historically exempted itself from the bulk of the bills it passes — plus —  by the time each individual has reached DC they have a sufficient layer of fiscal scams and insularity as to guarantee their continued profit but upon retirement.  There is always another high-paying job awaiting for Congress Critters because that is their nature and their history and their linkage.

Congress simply has no skin in the game.  And they are not held to answer save “censure” or harsh language or perhaps a bit of sarcasm or temporary embarrassment via some red cheeks.

This is generational theft.  This is immoral.  It borders on actual evil because it is planned and plotted and designed and calculated to the Nth degree.

Make no mistake: on both sides of the aisle.

It’s all Kabuki Theater at this point.

BZ

 

 

 

Poll: 76 Percent Favor ‘Cutting Government Spending Across the Board’

From The Weekly Standard:

A new poll conducted by Politico/GWU/Battleground finds that 76 percent of Americans favor “Cutting government spending across the board.”

Fifty-nine percent of Americans registered to vote strongly favor the “across the board” cuts and 17 percent “somewhat” favor the cuts. Only 13 percent strongly oppose “across the board” spending cuts, and 10 percent “somewhat” oppose the cuts. Two percent are unsure.

Ladies and gentlemen, imagine that.  76% of Americans actually want a smaller government.

But wait.  Stop right there.

That’s what those people may express in polls.

But that’s not how they voted.

BZ

 

 

The Fiscal Cliff: “Republicans ought to simply walk away.”

I don’t always agree with Charles Krauthammer.  But this time I most certainly agree.  As I wrote on Wednesday, let’s just drive off the Fiscal Cliff:

The so-called “Fiscal Cliff” is looming.

I say: let’s give the Demorats everything they want.  Whatever they want.  Raise taxes, tax raises, a few piddly cuts, and raise taxes.  Kill the Bush Tax Cuts.

Then raise the debt ceiling.

Come January 2nd, something will have to be actually OWNED.

To the GOP: just stand back.  Let it happen.

The transcript:

It’s not just a bad deal, this is really an insulting deal. What Geithner offered, what you showed on the screen, Robert E. Lee was offered easier terms at Appomattox, and he lost the Civil War. The Democrats won by 3% of the vote and they did not hold the House, Republicans won the house. So this is not exactly unconditional surrender, but that is what the administration is asking of the Republicans.

This idea — there are not only no cuts in this, there’s an increase in spending with a new stimulus. I mean, this is almost unheard of. What do they expect? They obviously expect the Republicans will cave on everything. I think the Republicans ought to simply walk away. The president is the president. He’s the leader. They are demanding that the Republicans explain all the cuts that they want to make.

We had that movie a year-and-a-half ago where Paul Ryan presented a budget, a serious real budget with real cuts. Obama was supposed to gave speech where he would respond with a counter offer. And what did he do? He gave a speech where he had Ryan sitting in the front row. He called the Ryan proposal un-American, insulted him, offered nothing, and ran on Mediscare in the next 18 months.

And they expect the Republicans are going to do this again? The Republicans are going to walk on this. And I think they have leverage. Yes, for Congressional Democrats it will help them in the future if Republicans absorb the blame because we will have a recession. But Obama is not running again unlike the Congressional Democrats. He’s going to have a recession, 9% unemployment, 2 million more unemployed, and a second term that’s going to be a ruin. That is not a good proposition if you are Barack Obama.

Short answer: YES.  The Demorats completely expect the Republicans to cave again.

As I have said for, now, decades, to all my current and former supervisors, managers and troops:

The best predictor of future performance or — lack thereof — is past behavior.

Charles Krauthammer indicates what the Republicans should do.

But will they?

BZ

 

 

I say: let’s just drive off the Fiscal Cliff

The so-called “Fiscal Cliff” is looming.

I say: let’s give the Demorats everything they want.  Whatever they want.  Raise taxes, tax raises, a few piddly cuts, and raise taxes.  Kill the Bush Tax Cuts.

Then raise the debt ceiling.

We’re going to tank.  There is no dispute to those four words.  We’re going to tank.

Look at my state.  Look at Fornicalia.  I absolutely love and worship the general topography of Fornicalia.  I love its mountains — where I live.  I love its coasts.  I love its forests.  I love its climate.  And I hate the topography of Texas.  I hate its flat nature.  I hate its heat.  I hate its coasts.  I hate its humidity.  It has no forests.  It has no mountains.  I hate its humidity.  Did I mention that I hate its humidity?  I hate its susceptibility to hurricanes.  Did I mention that I hate its humidity?

But I love its state philosophy.

There are those who believe that not only income should be taxed, but overall wealth.  And if that wealth is not made plain, then literal confiscation of actual property should result.  Jill Stein of the Green Party thinks this is a great idea.  A presidential candidate who was arrested in Texas due to Keystone Pipeline protests.  Right.  An attempt to make the US energy independent.  Stein: you are a complete loser.

Marc Lamont Hill, PhD, thinks that wealth taxation and subsequent confiscation is also a good idea.  He believes that trust funds should be taxed, your net worth should be taxed — in addition to whatever level to which your other taxes rise — and that France has the right idea in terms of taxation.  Despite the fact that any number of wealthy French residents have decided to let their feet do their voting.

Under Dr Lamont’s structure, the government would have to physically make some kind of assessment as to the wealth of an individual or an estate.  The value of furniture.  The value of paintings.  The value of architecture.  The value of homes.  The value of persons employed.  The number of cars owned, the number of bank accounts, wives, ex-wives, husbands, ex-husbands, number of trees, length of driveway, number of doors in a home.

If you don’t or can’t comply: the confiscation of your wealth physically and literally.

Fornicalia is going to tank.  The federal government is going to tank.  No one ever considers, in history, how excessive government managed to kill Rome.

In response I say: let it be so.  To the Republicans: let it go.

Let the Demorats have everything they want.  Every-damned-thing.  Everything.

To the Republicans who tip drinks with Demorats at the end of the day: you.

To the Demorats who tip drinks with Republicans at the end of the day: you.

Come January 2nd, something will have to be actually OWNED.

To the GOP: just stand back.  Let it happen.

BZ