I'm tired of hearing about them trying to make a deal on budget cuts.

[craigmatic]

Realisticlly Obama should be crushing the republicans' skulls with this deal. All he has to do is go the reagan route and forge a coalition of dems and the non-teabaggers in the repub caucus in the house and push for a bill that has little if any cuts. Yet he's taking these huge cuts in services seriously. None of this is neccessary if we just raise taxes on the rich. Just look at Boner he needs this deal more than the president because he doesn't control his caucus. Why doesn't Obama just tell him to either do things his way or fuck off? Boner holds no cards here.

[brooklynite]

1. Name a non-Tea Party Republican...

...who would be open to that deal.

[emulatorloo]

2. especially in the house. There are some house members unhappy with Boehner because they think

Ryan's budget isn't radical enough.

Ryan's budget is egregious, this is going to be fought out it a battle of public opinion. So far TV media seems to be sugarcoating the GOP budget and acting as it if is rational

[craigmatic]

13. Boner if he knew he could keep his job afterwards.

[Armstead]

3. I think that is what he is trying to do with Boner

Boner and some other GOPers in Congress are bad, but not as bat-shit crazy as the Teabaggers.

[emulatorloo]

4. sounds about right n/t

[Blue Owl]

5. Look at the GOP slash the wrists of this country

Hey let's give them another razor...

[krawhitham]

6. They have a deal in place if Boner is willing to piss off the tea baggers

[SlimJimmy]

17. Personally, I think he will make the deal. He knows it's

political suicide if he lets the government shut down. The far right coalition in the House is not strong enough to overturn what he will push for. Well, that's my 2 cents anyway.

[phleshdef]

7. You must have just recently stepped into this world from an alternate universe...

...otherwise you wouldn't be suggesting that there is any realistic possibility of getting enough Republicans to go along with this President on ANYTHING to forge any kind of coalitions. Thats crazy. When they were in the minority the last 2 years, they voted against shit that wasn't even remotely ideological or controversial, simply because a Dem or the President proposed it. You think that dynamic is gonna get any better now with their majority?

Today's Republican Party will, in near lock step, shoot the hostage and smile all the way to hell. They are really that cold and stubborn.

[craigmatic]

11. All that's true but there is a serious split among the republicans just waiting to be exploited.

Some want tens of billions in cuts bit others would be satisfied with much less. All I'm saying is that if he can find the ones who don't want the radical cuts and do a deal with them along with Boner while keeping the dems in line a deal could be made but what it seems like is happening is that Obama is negotiating in a way that would keep the repubs united.

[phleshdef]

14. I'm pretty sure if the numbers were there, Pelosi would have swung a deal with Boehnor by now.

Thats just my gut. Nancy knows how to count better than anyone else in or outside of Washington. I really believe the numbers aren't there.

[craigmatic]

15. I think they could be if Boner whipped them but it would hurt his position with this party.

[Donnachaidh]

16. so the last two years of *bipartisan negotiations* was a big ole waste of time, yes?

Thanks for clarifying that point. :rofl:

[phleshdef]

19. Aside from the tax bill, the only real negotiations were between progressives and blue dog Dems.

Mainly because the Democratic party is still the only party interested in getting anything significant done and Republicans have became so uncooperative that it has to negotiate with itself.

[tblue]

8. This is Obama you're talking about.

What in his history makes you think he will stand up to the GOP? Repubs will get 90% of what they demand. You can take that to the bank.

[craigmatic]

10. True

[ClarkUSA]

20. Wrong. Pres. Obama "rejected a short-term House Republican demand to cut $12 billion now"

The Teabagger Republican-controlled House and the White House "veered toward a fiscal collision" as the Obama administration "rejected a short-term House Republican demand to cut $12 billion now in exchange for keeping the government open for one more week," the New York Times reports.

Read more facts: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/us/politics/06budget.html?_r=2&hp

I'm glad you're not my financial advisor.

[damntexdem]

9. I'm tired of them TRYING to make a deal on budget cuts.

If enough Dems had any spines, they'd tell the Repukes to go get fucked. They'd dare the GOP to shut down the government.

[craigmatic]

12. Yeah I'm for that too.

[ThomCat]

18. In a time of economic crisis, SPEND MONEY

to reanimate the weakest parts of the economy!

SPEND MONEY on the safety net to make sure the poorest and weakest will survive and be okay. Every dollar you spend directly on help for poor people goes directly back into the economy and circulates, creating more than $1.50 in economic stimulus. This is one of the most effective ways to stimulate the economy.

SPEND MONEY to create jobs, and create work programs. Directly put people to work. Contrary to what republicans keep insisting, the Government IS ALLOWED to hire people, and IS ALLOWED to be an employer. Government does have a lot of expertise in a vast number of fields, and can employ and train a vast number of people, which can greatly help the workforce.

SPEND MONEY on infrastructure improvements to ensuring markets for the businesses that have created those jobs, and to ensure there are places for businesses to do business, and places where they need to buy and use products, and places to put people to work. Government has the ability to be not only a huge employer, but also a massive customer for products and services of all kinds. As schools and hospitals and parks and roads and highways and administrative buildings and bridges and recreation centers get repaired the government can provide a huge business boom for companies throughout the nation, and all of that business, and all of that circulated money can stay within the United States.

RAISE TAXES on unearned income. There is no moral or ethical justification for people to pay a lower tax rate on income that they did nothing to earn, and receive simply because of wealth they already own, compared to the higher tax rate on money that people pay on income they have to work to earn. Morally and ethically, if you have to work to earn your money your tax rate should be lower than the tax rate on unearned money.

One economic justification was supposedly that unearned money would be put back into the economy, and therefore there was a justification for the lower tax rate. But unearned income is usually only put to use to earn the owner more money. It is not put to use in any way that help society or the economy as a whole. Earned income, on the other hand, circulates much more directly throughout the economy as people spend it on necessities. Earned income truly benefits the economy, and therefore deserves a lower tax rate if helping the economy is going to earn any kind of tax benefit.

Another economic justification was that unearned income would be re-invested, and a lower tax rate was a reward to encourage this. But any profit people can make from reinvesting their own money is its own reward. Given the damage wall street has created, and layed upon the backs of small investors while rich investors walked away free, the tax benefits that add up to a significant amount only for the rich are not justified. Let the lower tax rate go to earned income, so that those who work for a living can be shown that their work is valued in our society. Unearned income is not the foundation of our economy.