From 3:13 p.m. this afternoon.
A ‘fiscal cliff’ deal is near: Here are the details
All at once, a “fiscal cliff” deal seems to be coming together. Speaker John Boehner’s latest offer doesn’t go quite far enough for the White House to agree, but it goes far enough that many think they can see the agreement taking shape.
[...]
On the spending side, the Democrats’ headline concession will be accepting chained-CPI, which is to say, accepting a cut to Social Security benefits. Beyond that, the negotiators will agree to targets for spending cuts. Expect the final number here, too, to be in the neighborhood of $1 trillion, but also expect it to lack many specifics. Whether the cuts come from Medicare or Medicaid, whether they include raising the Medicare age, and many of the other contentious issues in the talks will be left up to Congress.
While this doesn't surprise me, it surprises me. And shame on Obama and any Democrat who agree to this deal. They're "supposed" to be the good guys, or so I used to think.
And would Ezra Klein post this is it weren't true? I don't know his track record, so I can't say what the odds are.
Comments
Well, this is one piece of good news, unrelated.
Obama loses fight to limit lawyers' visits with Guantanamo detainees
Well, they had already lost in court, were going to appeal it, but last Friday the DOJ said they would not appeal the decision.
"Martin Scorsese to direct Bill Clinton documentary"
And the LaTimes will soon spellcheck their pieces for double words.
It's true Ezra was told this, I'm sure.
He's a White-House-friendly trial-balloon floater. And it sounds a lot like the shit sandwich we expected -- cuts to Social Security, and probably Medicare, Medicaid, and plenty of other necessary programs. Democrats abandoning the New Deal. But hey, rich people pay a bit more pocket change -- so the shit sandwich comes with Gray Poupon.
If I were an optimist, which a lot of times I am, I would
be happy to read, " White-House-friendly trial-balloon floater," which would give me some hope that we can squash this deal, if it's truly a trial balloon.
But with 14 days until the end of the year, not a lot of time to mobilize and hit back, especially since people are doing the holiday thing, not to mention minds are elsewhere still trying to come to grips with the massacre in Sandy Hook, and past experience during the end of the year of continuing the Bush tax cuts for the uber wealthy, I don't have a lot of hope we can do anything about this.
And we will lose the hyperpartisans in this fight with the same old tired pom pom excuses, Obama didn't have a choice, we need 60 votes in the Senate, So you want tax increases for the middle class if you fight this,? Obama doesn't have a magic wand, yet all the while if George W. Bush was president and he agreed to this deal, ALL the Democrats, including the politicians in Congress, would be PUSHING BACK at this with all their might.
Nothing to see here, folks, move along, enjoy your holiday.
Obama was quite clear where he stood on this in 2011, and most recently in his debates with Romney. It's shameful.
ha!
Floater is right.
Shit sandwich with grey poupon is a classic. The alitteration is even good.
I hope someone is keeping track of comments like this.
And it will hardly make a dent in the deficit and
certainly won't stop the national debt from rising. If that was the purpose, they will fail miserably. It would seem the only purpose is the chance to change SS, Medicare and other social programs. Never let a crisis go to waste.
No, the Republicans never let a crisis go to waste.
Too bad that the Democrats can't seem to master same.
Why would one expect much from the Democrats
They are the slightly more moderate wing of the corporate funded Washington establishment and kleptocratic oligarchy.
Cutting Social Security and Medicare is not about ..
.... cutting the deficit, its about undermining the attachment of voting blocks to existing government programs.
Cutting the deficit is just a cover story. It doesn't have to stand up to scrutiny, it just has to appear plausible to the already heavily indoctrinated populace.
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