With the debate raging about whether or not to extend all of the "Bush tax cuts," a lot of Republicans really are feeling good about themselves these days. One scenario that is making the rounds is that the GOP laid a trap for Democrats in 2000 and the Dems are falling into it today.
The other way to look at this situation -- one that I contend history bears out -- is that this gambit was no "trick" at all, it was a conscious ploy. The Democrats agreed to it in 2000 because it would provide them with later political cover. In this way, they can now take the ideological stance that they don't favor tax breaks for the egregiously rich, while voting to grant those tax benefits in the same breath.
If a person doesn't accept the ploy rationale, then it leaves us in a very uncomfortable position. It means that Democrat legislators, by and large, are imbeciles!! It was common knowledge in 2000 (for anyone with a functioning brain, that is) that the scenario that is playing out today was built into the tax package. If the Democrats in Congress in 2000 truly didn't see this coming, then they had no business being in congress in the first place.
I simply don't accept the notion that the entire roster of Democratic senators and representatives in 2000 could be so cerebrally-challenged. Therefore, I think most of them KNEW how difficult it would be to allow any portion of the tax cuts to expire, including those that have bankrupted the country.
In other words, while a lot of progressives are vilifying the GOP for this sad state of affairs, the Democrats are just as, if not more, culpable.
When the tax cuts were enacted, with an expiration date, Republicans and Bush officials understood the political advantages of the “fiscal time bomb” they were setting. As Kurtz puts it: “At some point in the way distant future, Democrats could be accused of raising taxes if they tried to undo the Bush breaks and return to Clinton-era levels of taxation.” Democrats understood this, too: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) told the Washington Post at the time that “[Bush is] going to be out of office when the roof falls in.”Okay, that's one way to look at this situation. Of course, many of us on the left pointed this out in the year 2000, but the Democratic leadership waved their hands at us as if to say, "Don't worry your pretty little heads!"
There was a more sinister motive for sunsetting the tax cuts beyond politics, as well. It allowed the administration to pass the bill with a lower vote count in the Senate than would otherwise be necessary. Card freely admits to Kurtz that the administration wanted “the law to be permanent but couldn’t muster the votes to trump the Byrd Rule,” which would have required a 60-vote margin for a measure that significantly increases the federal deficit more than 10 years in the future. By setting the tax cuts to expire just short of ten years, the measure passed with 58 votes...
The other way to look at this situation -- one that I contend history bears out -- is that this gambit was no "trick" at all, it was a conscious ploy. The Democrats agreed to it in 2000 because it would provide them with later political cover. In this way, they can now take the ideological stance that they don't favor tax breaks for the egregiously rich, while voting to grant those tax benefits in the same breath.
If a person doesn't accept the ploy rationale, then it leaves us in a very uncomfortable position. It means that Democrat legislators, by and large, are imbeciles!! It was common knowledge in 2000 (for anyone with a functioning brain, that is) that the scenario that is playing out today was built into the tax package. If the Democrats in Congress in 2000 truly didn't see this coming, then they had no business being in congress in the first place.
I simply don't accept the notion that the entire roster of Democratic senators and representatives in 2000 could be so cerebrally-challenged. Therefore, I think most of them KNEW how difficult it would be to allow any portion of the tax cuts to expire, including those that have bankrupted the country.
In other words, while a lot of progressives are vilifying the GOP for this sad state of affairs, the Democrats are just as, if not more, culpable.
Everything the GOP does is a ploy with ulterior motives designed to reflect poorly on the Dems. That said, there's an awful lot of truth in the assertion that the Dems are truly imbeciles. I'm convinced that they are willfully ignorant and in fact are playing their part in a drama designed to keep the population thinking there really are two different philosophies vying for power up there in DC when in truth, they are more literally two sides of the same coin than most of us could ever imagine.
ReplyDeleteright before a presidential election, the leading candidates of both parties were both in favor of the wall street bailout, when the public was opposed 90% or more.
ReplyDeletehow can that be? both parties are owned by the bankers.
you also saw it a couple years before, when the bankruptcy "reform" bill passed, which turned individuals into debt slaves for life (while corps get a free pass. eg, enron, $60 billion blowup, and only 2 people prosecuted.) not a surprise that the republicans voted for it, but the dems didn't even kick up a fuss in passing the bill!
all part of the planning for the debt crisis. if the elites didn't see the crisis coming, why is it that bernanke, supposedly and expert on the great depression, was pulled out of a professorship, and put on the fed reserve bank in 2002? just luck? god whispered in bush's ear? or they all knew it was coming, and have been putting into place all the pieces to make sure they survive just fine?
it will only get worse. look at iceland and ireland, where the bankers have tried to get the population to pay the price for the follies of their respective bankers who made innumerable bad loans. the icelanders rioted, booted a bunch of politicians out of office, and finally they got the hint and let the banks fail.
ireland, on the other hand, has just been sold down the river by their politicians in the latest "bailout", leaving an unpayable debt ($40k/irelander), for the follies of the private irish banks, all so the german and french banks who loaned money to the irish banks don't have to go belly up, and foist the bill off the banks, and onto the gov't and taxpayer of ireland. and note that there are no bankers going to jail, or paying back any bonuses. no regulators being shamed.
and just so you don't get confused, this is not "capitalism". capitalism is when corps or banks fail when they make mistakes, not get bailed out. it's fascism when corps keep the profits, and the gov't (taxpayer) eats the losses.
we've now seen the opening acts in greece, iceland, and ireland. watch this same story play out in portugal, italy, spain, belgium, and a likely a few more. it should be a bumpy ride.
it was obvious to me, from reading a bunch of blogs way back in 2002, that there was a housing bubble, and it would end painfully. the crisis wasn't unpredictable, it was inevitable. there's no doubt in my mind that all the big players in gov't and biz know what's going on, and are part of the game. everything they do is for plausible deniability. "Hoocoodanode?" is their scheme to avoid responsibility.
--sgl