What we lost: "now the narrative is all about cuts" ...

[iwishiwas]

As he said--it is just a set up for more cuts--social cuts that is.






Budget Compromise a Bad Deal for Democrats, American Economy
Apr. 9 2011 - 10:38 am
By E.D. KAIN

While Republicans may have fallen short of their intended cuts in the deal struck last night between Speaker of the House John Boehner and congressional Democrats, it was a worse deal for Democrats. More importantly, it was a bad deal for the American people and the American economy, still struggling to recover from the crash of 2008 and the housing crisis. Ezra Klein notes the peculiar nature of the deal:

..................

But you would’ve never known it from President Obama’s encomium to the agreement. Obama bragged about “making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” Harry Reid joined him, repeatedly calling the cuts “historic.”

This is obviously a page out of the Bill Clinton playbook. Remember the whole “days of big government are over” speech? Well Ezra explains why that won’t work in 2011:

The Democrats believe it’s good to look like a winner, even if you’ve lost. But they’re sacrificing more than they let on. By celebrating spending cuts, they’ve opened the door to further austerity measures at a moment when the recovery remains fragile. Claiming political victory now opens the door to further policy defeats later.

And policy defeats are what will matter. The Obama White House is looking toward the Clinton model. After all, Clinton also suffered a major setback in his first midterm, Clinton also faced down a hardline Republican Congress, Clinton also suffered major policy defeats, and yet Clinton, as the story goes, managed to co-opt the conservative agenda and remake himself into a successful centrist. The Obama administration has even hired many of Clinton’s top aides to help them recapture that late-90s magic.

That story misses something important: Clinton’s success was a function of a roaring economy.

And now the narrative is all about cuts.
....................

We are now moving backwards, and the president – for all his good intentions, I’m sure – is being swept away in the Republican austerity narrative..

http://blogs.forbes.com/erikkain/2011/04/09/budget-compromise-a-bad-deal-for-democrats-american-economy/

[Octafish]

1. And the warmongering Rich and their Corporations are FREE to skate.

...and profit another day.

[golddigger]

2. Historic I tell you. Where have we heard that before?

[iwishiwas]

3. That word is gotten boring these last 2 years.

[xchrom]

4. Recommend

[grahamhgreen]

5. Taht's it exactly.

[dkf]

6. Would Democrats agree to all these cuts if the economy was doing better?

Wouldn't we say it is even more unfair that in a time of prosperity that we cut funds to the less well off?

When would be a good time to cut these programs?

[upi402]

7. Nah, Democrats wouldn't

But the corporatists in both parties would.