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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Tax Cuts and Unemployment

So...let me get this straight. Republicans and Tea Party members who were overwhelmingly elected on a platform of cutting spending because of the doomsday scenario of our debt and deficit....are OK with extending unemployment benefits with money that we don't actually have.

And...Democrats are willing to not raise taxes, or revert them back to pre-Bush era rates, even though they know there is no way to dig ourselves out of debt until we bring in more income into the government in order to pay for things that we have already bought.

This is the worst of both worlds and part of why our country is so screwed up.

Politicians are not capable of unflinchingly doing what needs to be done. Either keep the tax cuts and don't continue to spend money we don't have....or spend money to alleviate the financial woes of the citizenry and raise taxes to help pay for it.

This makes Republican leaders look bad because it seems as if they are really only concerned with saving people within their own tax brackets from paying into the system.

It makes Democrats look bad because it seems like they are willing to just spend and spend and spend money that we don't have.

I don't think this is what "bipartisanship" is supposed to look like.

4 comments:

MInTheGap said...

I don't trust any of them with my money. I believe that I'd be willing to pay more to get rid of the deficit, but there's no way that could actually be accomplished. Accounting gimmicks would be used so that there'd be more money to spend.

I think that the problem is worse than you let on, though.

The Republicans, to some degree, wanted government spending to get out of control so that they could cut programs that they wouldn't be able to touch otherwise.

However, that gave Democrats the opportunity to get the populace hooked on government dollars, government programs, and it's very difficult to remove a government program once the people love it.

Which is part of the reason that we're in the mess we're in-- where polls say "don't raise my taxes" and "don't cut my government program."

The truth is it would probably take both, and highly disciplined people to fix the ship of state.

Can you really trust elected officials that spend millions to get elected and save millions in campaign chests to run again to be disciplined to cut the debt when their constituents want their programs?

You're asking too much! *sarcasm*

terri said...

The truth is it would probably take both, and highly disciplined people to fix the ship of state.

You're probably right.

Who's going to vote for that candidate?

"Elect me! I promise to raise your taxes and cut your programs!!"

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Agreed. PJ O'Rourke's new book is entitled Don't Vote, It Only Ecourages The Bastards.

terri, I know that thread at my site made you crazy, but I think you'll like how it ended. I just left the question of how I knew "Jonathan" is married teed up for my son, Jonathan.

terri said...

AVI...The thread itself didn't make me crazy. I knew I was dealing with a troll from the start...so I wasn't terribly hurt by his insults.

Now, following all of those links he provided to other blogs, and then from those blogs to more of the same...well that felt like descending into the seven levels of hell.

Especially after reading the comments sections on those posts...pure vile drivel...and a lot of it.

It's hard to believe that there are so many people who have no compunction in the midst of their unabashed hatred of females....labeling them parasites and viruses.

I'm sure a lot of it is bluff and bluster, or at least I hope some of it is, but to know that out of all the over-the-top comments there are probably men who believe those things about women and actually act on them...or the thought that somewhere, someone is reading that stuff over and over again and feeding an angry, bitter store of emotion that might eventually overflow into real life....

Well...I find it very disturbing.

I thought about mentioning you r son was married....but I figured that was his point to make.

Also, considering that the mob mentality of those sites generally see marriage as a scam enacted upon men by women playing them....I wasn't sure it would sore any points in his favor. ;-)

He has defiled himself by aligning himself with one of my kind!

It's so ridiculous that it's both sad and funny at the same time.