Grand Bargains -- Another Occasional Reminder

[phantom power]

I know nobody listens to me, but for those engaged in finding the Grand Bargain here are a few points:

1) There is no such a thing as a grand bargain. You cannot tie the hands of future Congresses. That a deal has been struck does not mean that other lawmakers will not continue to fight for their priorities.

2) Republicans care only about tax cuts for rich people. They will not agree to anything which increases taxes on rich people. At "best" they'll agree to things like getting rid of the mortgage interest deduction, something which in dollar terms benefits rich people a lot, but in "this matters to me" terms benefits middle and upper middle class people a lot.

3) Putting Social Security into some CBO or Trustee scored actuarial balance will not stop Republicans and the Washington Post from trying to gut it even more. They gave away the game when they asserted that the Trust Fund is a fantasy. In other words, prefunding future benefits is just a way to tax poor people instead of rich people, and they have no intention of honoring that deal if they can manage to not do it.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2011/04/another-occasional-reminder.html