KRUGMAN: Let’s disconnect that respirator & let Bowles & Simpson spend more time with their families

[kpete]

February 19, 2013, 2:33 pm42 Comments
Snark That Writes Itself
Erskine Bowles tells a Politico event — now that’s a match made in heaven — that

The idea of a grand bargain is at best on life support.

OK, is there anyone whose immediate reaction isn’t, “Let’s convene a death panel!”

Look, a grand bargain right now is a terrible idea. The simple fact is that our political system isn’t ready. Washington is divided between parties with utterly different visions of what our society should look like; Republicans, in particular, would wait maybe a minute before trying to renege on any bargain that raises rather than cuts taxes on the wealthy, and that leaves the basic structure of Medicare and Social Security intact. So grand-bargain negotiations are, in practice, just an attempt to create facts on the ground for future confrontations, not a good-faith effort to secure the nation’s fiscal future.

Meanwhile, the Kabuki of grand bargain negotiations absorbs all of DC’s political energy, making it impossible to talk seriously about the economic problems we have right now. And while it may be possible in principle to support stimulus now even while talking long-run austerity, as a practical matter all the debt rhetoric leads to short-run austerity too.

So let’s disconnect that respirator, and let Bowles and Simpson spend more time with their families.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/snark-that-writes-itself/

[Dustlawyer]

1. Way to go Paul! At least history will show that they, we, should have all listened to you!

[TwilightGardener]

2. LOL...thanks, Paul.

[caseymoz]

3. Mixed metaphor, but I'll take it. nt

[on point]

4. I am for reducing the debt, but Boles Simpson formula. Use the Maddow formula!

* Increase taxes on wealthy back to where they were, at least 50%, until they pay down the supply side generated debt only they benefited from
* Massive cuts to military - 500 billion / yr
* Single payer to cut medical expense by about 30%
* Social Security is NOT part of the debt problem any more than T-bills are. They are a debt owed to social security fund. Only consider defaulting on this debt by the same percent we default on our T-bills!!!

[SoCalDem]

5. create a transaction tax on every share of atock traded

and perhaps a percentage linkage to the lowest v highest earner at any given company (i.e. CEO to make no more than xx% more than the lowest worker's wage)..highest paid can make whatever they like, but could no longer do it entirely at the expense of their serfs..

and why not also include all INCOME...not only paycheck-stub wages earned by MOST workers..

Generational wealth, stockpiled in protected financial set-ups is still INCOME, and taxes should be paid on it.. regularly..

case in point.. I use Turbo Tax and after I inputted our measly $308 in div/int income, our actual tax owed increased by $95.00.. go figure..