Obama And GOP Up To Old Tricks

Published by Dick Schaefer, Award-winning, Unpaid, Part-time Contributing Writer; Amateur Investigative Reporter; and Aspiring Photo-Journalist

Date:  1/3/2011
Post:  1,405

The following article was written nearly a month ago by Bob Lonsberry.  Yet it is still worth reading.  The media has been praising the accomplishments of President Obama during the "lame duck" Congress.  And I'm afraid many Americans have taken comfort knowing that the Democrats and Republicans were able to work in a bi-partisan way to make deals.  I'm not sure any of us should be so euphoric.  Bob Lonsberry points this out in his 12/7 article which is copied and pasted hereinbelow.  There are many other thought provoking articles on Bob Lonsberry.  I recomment that you visit his website and read more of his writings.  Look for a list of his writings in date order near the bottom of his Home page.

http://www.boblonsberry.com/writings.cfm?go=4



OBAMA AND THE GOP UP TO OLD TRICKS
boblonsberry.com
Bob Lonsberry
12/07/10
They made a deal.

Last night, Barack Obama and the Republicans in the Congress made a deal.

They all worked together and played nice and got the people's work done.

Which should make me happy.

Unfortunately, it doesn't.

Because much more working together like that, and our country will go belly up.

I don’t want to be negative, and I'm not trying to be a jerk, but this deal is right out of the reality-denying past that has just about bankrupted our country.

You've heard the headlines. The so-called Bush tax cuts are extended, working families get to keep some $3,000, unemployment is extended. Everything is hunky dory.

Except it's not.

Let's go down the list.

Tax cuts, an extra 13 months of unemployment benefits for untold millions, and a reduction in the amount of Social Security tax collected from payrolls.

All of those things may sound nice, and they all have their constituencies, but they all translate into one thing.

More debt.

At a time when we are on the verge of collapse because of deficit spending and the accumulated debt, Democrats and Republicans have agreed on a deal that is financed exclusively in red ink.

Yes, tax cuts are good. But not if they aren't balanced with corresponding spending cuts. Tax cuts without spending cuts are not tax cuts, they are tax deferments. They simply transfer the tax to the future, when the debt comes due, and they add to it compounding interest.

Tax cuts without spending cuts are insane. They do not stimulate the economy, they strangle the future.

Tacking on 56 additional weeks of unemployment checks, to people who have already gotten 99 weeks, means that they can now expect to receive three years of weekly checks averaging $300. The need to find work has been pushed back for three complete years, and untold millions have discovered a new welfare entitlement.

And that costs money.

Then there's the reduction in the Social Security payroll tax, which hasn't been completely described yet. Nonetheless, inasmuch as Social Security goes directly into the general fund and is consequently nothing but a second income tax, the reduction in the payroll tax will decrease the amount of money coming into the federal treasury.

And that will happen without corresponding cuts, so it will not be a true tax cut, it will be a tax deferment.

Further, the deal includes the expansion and extension of various tax credits from the Obama stimulus. Those tax credits are nothing other than welfare payments. More and bigger checks to more people.

And all of that will be covered by more debt.

In the first significant political act of the post-election reality, the Democrats and the Republicans have agreed to dive deeper in the red ink.

One of the overwhelming issues of the recent election, deficit and debt, has been completely ignored in the first political deal after the election.

That's a bad sign for the next two years.

Because, no, Barack Obama didn't learn anything from the recent election. And it looks like Senate Republicans didn't either.

Which brings us to an old adage: When the politicians are agreeing, the people need to worry.

Because if they're not screwing each other, they're screwing us.

And this deal is a big screwing.

It allows them to go forward, it lets them each play nice to their constituencies, and it leaves us the tab.

Like every major federal initiative since the Social Security Act of 1936, the politicians have looked to others to pay their bills. They buy votes with taxpayers' money, bribing with a government check, and sending the tab along to the future. And this deal continues that.

It's like a person with lung cancer, with the oxygen tube in his nose, lighting up a cigarette.

And it's wrong.

The most important thing we can do is balance our budget and pay our debt. And that is going to hurt. One side will have to forego tax cuts, and the other side will have to forego welfare checks. It's that simple. Everything has to be cut.

In this deal, nothing was cut. The age-old purchase of votes continues.

And the hole gets deeper.

Let's hope the Republicans in the House understood the meaning of the election. Let's hope somebody stands up for reason and balanced books.

Let's hope they don't kill our country.

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